JabRefOrganise research references, import publication details and maintain bibliographies for your writing.
Free local software · MIT · No library-entry quota · Windows, macOS and Linux
Notes, tasks & docs
Zotero
Free optionOpen sourceLocal
Collect and annotate research, insert citations and generate bibliographies while you write.
What you can use it for
Collect and annotate research, insert citations and generate bibliographies while you write.
- Capture publication metadata, organise references and annotate research PDFs.
- Insert citations and bibliographies with supported Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs integrations.
Workflow coverage and comparison notes
Collect, organise and cite research instead of a paid EndNote desktop licence, using Zotero’s local library and supported writing integrations. Free hosted attachments are limited to 300 MB; additional hosted attachment capacity is paid. This is not a claim of complete EndNote feature parity.
Before you switch
Local capacity depends on your disk; free Zotero-hosted attachment storage is 300 MB and larger hosted storage is paid. Metadata sync is separate from file storage. Check imported fields, reference styles and document integration before migrating. Large-document citation changes can need troubleshooting. Not every EndNote AI or institutional feature.
Alternatives to these paid apps
Each comparison covers the workflow described above, rather than every paid feature.
More for the same workflow
See alternatives →JabRef