Mendeley Reference Manager
Free reference manager from Elsevier for organising papers, annotating PDFs and citing in Word.
- Verified facts
- 5 of 5
- Alternatives ranked
- 2
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About Mendeley Reference Manager
Mendeley Reference Manager is a desktop and web app for building a library of research papers. You can drag in PDFs or whole folders, let a watched folder import new files automatically, or save references from the web with the Mendeley Web Importer browser extension. Papers can be sorted into collections and tags, read and highlighted in the built-in viewer, and annotated, with notes collected in a notebook. Mendeley Cite is a Microsoft Word add-in that inserts citations and builds bibliographies in thousands of styles. Groups give co-authors or lab members a shared library. The app is free with 2 GB of cloud storage, which is enough for many students; the service is run by the publisher Elsevier, and an AI research companion called LeapSpace is promoted alongside it. It runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, plus a web version. It replaces the older Mendeley Desktop, which is no longer the main app.
Best for: Students and researchers who want a free, cloud-synced library with a Word citation add-in.
Pros and cons
What works
- Free to use with 2 GB of cloud storage included
- Desktop apps for Windows, macOS and Linux plus a web library
- Watched folders and a browser importer make adding papers quick
Why people leave
- Mendeley Cite works in Microsoft Word only, with no Google Docs plugin
- Not open source, and your library lives on Elsevier's cloud
- No current mobile app for reading papers on a phone
Top Mendeley Reference Manager alternatives
See all 2
Why people left Mendeley Reference Manager
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
No switching stories yet. If you moved away from Mendeley Reference Manager, review the app you switched to and tell us why.
Reviews
No approved reviews yet. How we verify reviewers
Write a review of Mendeley Reference Manager
Mendeley Reference Manager: common questions
Is Mendeley Reference Manager free?
Yes, Mendeley Reference Manager is free to use.
Is Mendeley Reference Manager open source?
No, Mendeley Reference Manager is not open source.
What platforms does Mendeley Reference Manager run on?
Mendeley Reference Manager is available for Windows, macOS, Linux, Web and Browser extension.
What are the best alternatives to Mendeley Reference Manager?
The highest-ranked Mendeley Reference Manager alternatives right now are Zotero and Paperpile. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.