EasyBib
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Fine for a student who needs quick MLA citations for free; do not pay for it.
Comparison
EasyBib vs Mendeley
EasyBib and Mendeley both land on Depends.
Mendeley
Depends
Confidence: Medium
Only worth it if you're already inside Elsevier's ecosystem or just need a free citation tool and can live with 2GB.
| Compare | EasyBib | Mendeley |
|---|---|---|
| Verdict | Depends | Depends |
| Best for | Students writing cited papers | Students needing a free citation manager |
| Who it's not for | Professional researchers . Zotero or Mendeley manage libraries better, free | Anyone starting from zero . Reddit overwhelmingly points to Zotero |
| Privacy | No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed; no public security page found.³ | No public security page found; a 2019 Elsevier server leak exposed Mendeley user emails, usernames, and passwords.15 |
| Support quality | No support evidence in sources | Trustpilot service reviews average 2/5 |
| Public sentiment | Forum users treat EasyBib as a quick free shortcut for MLA citations, with the recurring caveat that APA requires paying.⁵ | Sentiment is sharply negative on Trustpilot and Reddit, though G2 users praise its sorting and tagging speed.⁷ |
| Biggest gotcha | APA citations cost ~$10/month despite the 'free' headline . the free tier is MLA only⁵ | Free tier now 2GB of PDFs . fills quickly, pushing you toward paid storage plans.⁸ |
Pick EasyBib when
- Students writing cited papers
- MLA users (genuinely free)
- One-off essay bibliographies
- Export to Google Drive or Word
When EasyBib is not a fit
- Professional researchers . Zotero or Mendeley manage libraries better, free
- Teams or businesses . this is a student tool, no collaboration
- Budget users needing APA or Chicago . those styles cost money
- Anyone building a long-term reference library . generators aren't managers
Pick Mendeley when
- Students needing a free citation manager
- Researchers already using Elsevier tools
- People sorting and tagging large reference piles
- Desktop-first users
When Mendeley is not a fit
- Anyone starting from zero . Reddit overwhelmingly points to Zotero
- Systematic review teams . university guides say it's not the best choice
- People who value annotation portability and open formats
- Anyone with big PDF libraries expecting free storage
Sources
- EasyBib homepageeasybib.comofficial
- EasyBib MLA source generatoreasybib.comofficial
- EasyBib security page (none found)easybib.comsecurity
- Educators Technology review of EasyBib by Cheggeducatorstechnology.comreview
- DegreeForum thread on free MLA citations, APA $10/monthdegreeforum.netreview
- easybib.com domain and registration datasiteencyclopedia.comnews
- Trustpilot reviews of mendeley.comtrustpilot.comreview
- Mendeley Reviews . G2g2.comreview
- Mendeley Reviews . Capterracapterra.careview
- Mendeley Reviews . SoftwareAdvicesoftwareadvice.comreview
review
- Mendeley annotations lock-in . MacPowerUsers forumtalk.macpowerusers.comreview
- NOTICE: Elsevier Data Leak . Brown University Librarylibrary.brown.edusecurity
- Mendeley Cite . Microsoft 365 App Certificationlearn.microsoft.comsecurity