shouldiuse.io

VERDICT

Should I use Clarivate?

Web of Science Reviewer Recognition Service (publons.com now serves Clarivate) - publons.com

Depends. Buy if you're an institution, pharma company, or IP firm needing curated citation, patent, or drug-pipeline data and can absorb enterprise contracts. Skip it as an individual researcher or small team — the reviewer-recognition side is free, and lighter alternatives exist.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources; no public pricing tiers found.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of useNo usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth
  • Support quality
  • Security posture

Pricing

Custom / not public

Enterprise contracts

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed

Best for

  • Universities and research libraries
  • Pharma and life-sciences R&D
  • IP firms tracking patents
  • Government research agencies

Not for

  • Individual researchers wanting quick citation lookups
  • Small startups without data budgets
  • Buyers needing transparent, self-serve pricing
  • Teams wanting lightweight single-purpose tools

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Pricing is negotiated per product and seat; expect sales-led contracts, no self-serve checkout.

medium

Portfolio sprawl (Cortellis, Derwent, IPfolio, FoundationIP) — confirm exactly which product you're buying.

medium

Vendor risk: near penny-stock price and an active investor class action before signing multi-year contracts.

low

Publons has been folded into Web of Science; some reviewer-profile features migrated or retired.

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Enormous curated datasets across citations, patents, and drug pipelines
  • G2: 4.1/5 across 362 reviews
  • Products used by 2,700+ libraries worldwide
  • Public Trust Center and HackerOne vulnerability disclosure program
  • Investors describe products as 'very sticky'

Cons

  • Trustpilot rating just 2.8/5
  • No public pricing; custom enterprise contracts only
  • Investor class action filed over company disclosures
  • Mixed employee sentiment: 63% recommend; 3.7/5 AmbitionBox
  • Stock near penny levels (~$1.90)

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/20/2026 - 12 sources - Mature program: Trust Center, HackerOne disclosure program, and advisories issued for third-party CVEs in its software.

official x1review x5security x3news x3
  • Apache Tomcat CVE-2020-1938 advisory, Clarivate published an updated advisory for the Apache Tomcat vulnerability in its software.
  • Spring4Shell (CVE-2022-22965) advisory, Clarivate issued a security advisory covering the Spring4Shell Java vulnerability.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 2/5

    Rating

  • Not disclosed

    Starting price

  • 12

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 2/5. Trustpilot 2.8; no transparent pricing
  • Ease of use. No usability evidence in sources
  • Feature depth: 5/5. Citations, patents, drug pipelines in one portfolio
  • Support quality: 2/5. Trustpilot 2.8 average
  • Security posture: 4/5. Trust Center, HackerOne VDP, published CVE advisories
  • 4.1/5 G2 rating 362 reviews
  • 2.8/5 Trustpilot clarivate.com reviews
  • 3.7/5 Employee rating 900+ AmbitionBox reviews
  • $1.90 Share price NYSE: CLVT

Pricing

Enterprise contracts

Not disclosed

  • Negotiated per product (Web of Science, Cortellis, Derwent)
  • Sales-led; no published tiers found

Security

Mature program: Trust Center, HackerOne disclosure program, and advisories issued for third-party CVEs in its software.

  • Apache Tomcat CVE-2020-1938 advisoryClarivate published an updated advisory for the Apache Tomcat vulnerability in its software.⁷
  • Spring4Shell (CVE-2022-22965) advisoryClarivate issued a security advisory covering the Spring4Shell Java vulnerability.⁷

What users say

Sentiment splits: solid G2 product ratings (4.1/5) but weak Trustpilot scores (2.8) and lukewarm employee reviews.

“Very sticky product.”
Reddit, r/ValueInvesting
“Clarivate itself is an ok place to work”
Indeed employee review

Companies that use it

  • Western Digital
  • Vistra
  • University of Melbourne⁹
  • Acibadem
  • Abes (French national academic library system)
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources; no public pricing tiers found.

Enterprise research & IP data giant — powerful for institutions, overkill and opaque for individuals and small teams.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources; no public pricing tiers found.

Sources

  1. Clarivate Products on G2 (4.1/5, 362 reviews)g2.com
    review
  2. Clarivate on Trustpilot (2.8/5)trustpilot.com
    review
  3. Clarivate Glassdoor reviews (63% recommend)glassdoor.com
    review
  4. Clarivate AmbitionBox reviews (3.7/5, 900+)ambitionbox.com
    review
  5. Clarivate HackerOne vulnerability disclosure programhackerone.com
    security
  6. Clarivate Trust Centerclarivate.com
    security
  7. Clarivate Spring4Shell security advisoryknowledge.ag-software.clarivate.com
    security
  8. Investor class action against Clarivatektmc.com
    news
  9. Clarivate–University of Melbourne partnership (2,700+ libraries)prnewswire.com
    news
  10. Clarivate pricing marketplace (spend data)spendhound.com
    review
  11. Clarivate official siteclarivate.com
    official
  12. Clarivate historic share prices (CLVT $1.90)ir.clarivate.com
    news

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