Comparison

Paperpile vs Zotero

Paperpile and Zotero both land on Worth it.

Paperpile

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you're a student or academic who writes in Google Docs . it's fast, cheap, and reviewers repeatedly call it the most intuitive reference manager.

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Zotero

zotero.org

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you write papers or manage more than a handful of sources . it is free, open source, and taught by university libraries.

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Paperpile versus Zotero
Compare	Paperpile	Zotero
Verdict	Worth it	Worth it
Best for	Google Docs / Workspace users	Grad students and academics
Who it's not for	Anyone needing a free tool . use Zotero	Casual bookmarkers . browser folders suffice
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	No support-quality evidence in sources	Docs and community forums only
Public sentiment	Users praise its speed, clean interface, and Google Docs citing; main gripes are library-size limits, broad permissions, and network blocks.^⁹	Users and librarians consistently call Zotero the best free reference manager, especially for students and literature reviews.
Biggest gotcha	Web- and Google-account dependent; schools and workplaces have blocked it mid-writing.^⁷	Sync storage is capped on the free tier; large PDF libraries push you into paid plans

Pick Paperpile when

Google Docs / Workspace users
Grad students and academics
Labs sharing PDF libraries
Literature review and grant writers

When Paperpile is not a fit

Anyone needing a free tool . use Zotero
Libraries of 5,000+ papers
Users on locked-down school or work networks
Non-Google shops wanting mature Word support

Pick Zotero when

Grad students and academics
Literature review-heavy projects
Group bibliographies and labs
Zero-budget researchers

When Zotero is not a fit

Casual bookmarkers . browser folders suffice
Teams wanting AI research summaries
Market research teams needing survey platforms
Firms requiring vendor SLAs and dedicated support

Sources

Paperpile Pricingpaperpile.com
official
Paperpile subscriptions explainedpaperpile.com
official
Paperpile - Google Workspace Marketplaceworkspace.google.com
official
Zotero vs Paperpile: Complete Comparison (2026)paperguide.ai
review
Paperpile Reviews 2026 - Capterracapterra.com
review
Paperpile Reviews, Pros and Cons - Software Advicesoftwareadvice.com
review
My university blocked paperpile mid-writing - Redditreddit.com
review
Alternative to Zotero and Paperpile (5,000-paper limit) - Redditreddit.com
review
Using Paperpile for academic writing - Redditreddit.com
review
Permissions even more unreasonable - Paperpile forumforum.paperpile.com
review
Paperpile vs Zotero - Paperpile forumforum.paperpile.com
review
Paperpile - Harvard Medical School ITit.hms.harvard.edu
official
Paperpile - University of York IT Servicesyork.ac.uk
official
JabRef vs Paperpile: Pricing and Reviewsspotsaas.com
review
How We Rebuilt a Research SaaS Used by 200,000+ Academicscreativecomplete.com
news
About BibGuru (Paperpile, founded 2013)bibguru.com
official