shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Clarivate?

Discover **Clarivate** - clarivate.com

Depends. Buy only if you're an institution, pharma company, or IP/legal team that needs proprietary citation, life-sciences, or IP data. Individuals and small teams should skip it — this is contract-priced enterprise data licensing, not self-serve software.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; company and employee reviews are plentiful but buyer-side product reviews are thin.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo usable product-usability evidence
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityAlmost no public buyer-side support feedback
  • Security posture

Pricing

Not disclosed

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed

Best for

  • Universities and research offices
  • Pharma and life-sciences teams
  • Corporate IP and legal departments
  • Academic libraries and publishers

Not for

  • Startups and small teams — contract-priced data licensing
  • Individual researchers without institutional budgets
  • Anyone wanting transparent, self-serve SaaS pricing
  • Generic sales/market intelligence — lighter tools fit

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Pricing is opaque; third-party negotiators like Vendr and SpendHound exist specifically to cut Clarivate costs

medium

Active litigation (OCLC metadata suit, investor class action) means extra vendor-risk homework

medium

Thin public buyer reviews make pre-purchase vetting of support and fit nearly impossible

low

Middling employee sentiment may affect service quality

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Deep proprietary data: Web of Science, Cortellis, Pivot-RP, Journal Citation Reports
  • Decades-old citation indexes; JCR is an industry standard for journal metrics
  • Runs a HackerOne bug-bounty program with a published response policy
  • Public Trust Center with documented security compliance practices
  • G2 standout performer recognition for its IP solutions

Cons

  • No public pricing; contracts negotiated through sales
  • OCLC sued Clarivate over WorldCat Metadoor metadata in 2022
  • Investor class action filed against Clarivate (CLVT)
  • Librarians criticize ebook licensing shifting to subscription-style access
  • Only five Trustpilot reviews; little public buyer feedback

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/26/2026 - 12 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x2review x6security x2news x2

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. No public pricing; negotiated enterprise deals
  • Ease of use. No usable product-usability evidence
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Web of Science, Cortellis, Pivot-RP, IP intelligence
  • Support quality. Almost no public buyer-side support feedback
  • Security posture: 4/5. Trust Center, HackerOne program, compliance disclosures
  • 362 G2 reviews across Clarivate products
  • 3.7/5 AmbitionBox employee rating 900+ employee reviews
  • 2,230 Glassdoor reviews employee sentiment, mixed
  • 5 Trustpilot reviews very thin buyer-side feedback

Pricing

Not disclosed

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Buyer-side reviews are thin; the loudest feedback comes from librarians and researchers criticizing licensing changes and citation-data accuracy.

“Clarivate is making ebooks like journal subscriptions.”
Reddit, r/PublishOrPerish
“I am (slightly) incorrectly cited in others' papers.”
Reddit, r/PhD

Alternatives

Compare Clarivate with each alternative.

  • Zotero

    Free, open-source citation manager — the popular EndNote escape hatch.

    Clarivate vs Zotero

  • Elsevier (Scopus)

    The main rival to Web of Science for research analytics.

  • Salesmotion

    Lighter life-sciences intelligence alternative; G2 4.8/5 claimed.

Companies that use it

  • Western Digital12
  • Vistra
  • University of Melbourne

Companies that could

  • OCLC⁸ Uses its own WorldCat service instead
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; company and employee reviews are plentiful but buyer-side product reviews are thin.

Enterprise research/IP/life-sciences data giant. Powerful but contract-priced; individuals and small teams should look elsewhere.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; company and employee reviews are plentiful but buyer-side product reviews are thin.

Sources

  1. Clarivate Products | G2 Reviewsg2.com
    review
  2. Clarivate Reviews — Glassdoorglassdoor.com
    review
  3. Clarivate Reviews — AmbitionBox (3.7/5, 900+)ambitionbox.com
    review
  4. Clarivate — Trustpilottrustpilot.com
    review
  5. Clarivate Analytics — Vendr marketplace (pricing)vendr.com
    official
  6. Clarivate — HackerOne Response Policyhackerone.com
    security
  7. Clarivate Trust Center — Security Complianceclarivate.com
    security
  8. OCLC vs Clarivate Complaintlibrarytechnology.org
    news
  9. Investor Class Action Filed Against Clarivate Plcktmc.com
    news
  10. Clarivate is making ebooks like journal subscriptions — Redditreddit.com
    review
  11. Clarivate vs Elsevier comparisonpolaris7.io
    review
  12. Western Digital Case Study — Clarivate IPclarivate.com
    official

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