shouldiuse.io

Comparison

JabRef vs Mendeley

JabRef and Mendeley both land on Depends.

JabRef versus Mendeley
CompareJabRefMendeley
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forLaTeX/BibTeX researchersStudents needing a free citation manager
Who it's not forWord/Docs-only writers . BibTeX-first design gets in the wayAnyone starting from zero . Reddit overwhelmingly points to Zotero
PrivacyOpen-source code public on GitHub; CVE tracker records 1 vulnerability; official security page not found.⁷No public security page found; a 2019 Elsevier server leak exposed Mendeley user emails, usernames, and passwords.
Support qualityNo support evidence foundTrustpilot service reviews average 2/5
Public sentimentSources describe JabRef as a powerful, free, user-friendly tool, though in-depth independent reviews are scarce.10Sentiment is sharply negative on Trustpilot and Reddit, though G2 users praise its sorting and tagging speed.15
Biggest gotchaGuess: migrating from Zotero/Mendeley requires BibTeX export checks before committing.11Free tier now 2GB of PDFs . fills quickly, pushing you toward paid storage plans.16

Pick JabRef when

  • LaTeX/BibTeX researchers
  • PhD students on a budget
  • Privacy-minded users wanting local storage
  • Cross-platform desktop workflows

When JabRef is not a fit

  • Word/Docs-only writers . BibTeX-first design gets in the way
  • Casual users with a few PDFs . overkill
  • Teams needing cloud collaboration or shared libraries
  • Anyone expecting vendor support or SLAs

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

  1. JabRef official sitejabref.org
    official
  2. JabRef GitHub repositorygithub.com
    official
  3. JabRef documentationdocs.jabref.org
    official
  4. JabRef on Xx.com
    official
  5. JabRef LinkedIn post (donations)linkedin.com
    official
  6. SourceForge listingsourceforge.net
    official
  7. CyStack CVE databasecystack.net
    security
  8. JabRef security page (no page found)jabref.org
    security
  9. ResearchGate: JabRef BibTeX-based softwareresearchgate.net
    review
  10. Glarity overviewaskai.glarity.app
    review
  11. Literature & Latte forum threadforum.literatureandlatte.com
    review
  12. ScamAdviser reviewscamadviser.com
    review
  13. SiteLike alternatives (EndNote)sitelike.org
    review
  14. PMC article citing JabRefpmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
    news
  15. Trustpilot reviews of mendeley.comtrustpilot.com
    review
  16. Mendeley Reviews . G2g2.com
    review