Comparison

Web of Science vs OpenAlex

Web of Science lands on Depends, and OpenAlex lands on Worth it.

Web of Science

Depends

Confidence: Medium

Buy through your institution if you need rigorous citation tracking for bibliometrics, systematic reviews, or tenure files . nothing free matches its curated citation data.

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OpenAlex

openalex.org

Worth it

Confidence: Medium

Buy if you need free, open scholarly metadata at scale and are comfortable with an API-first research database.

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Web of Science versus OpenAlex
Compare	Web of Science	OpenAlex
Verdict	Depends	Worth it
Best for	University libraries	Bibliometric researchers
Who it's not for	Individual researchers without institutional access	Sole database for clinical systematic reviews
Privacy	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.¹¹	No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support quality	No reliable evidence found	Help center plus community Google Group only
Public sentiment	Forums debate whether its recognition and citation features justify the cost versus Scopus and free Google Scholar, and G2 shows 4.9/5 but from just 11 reviews.^¹	Academics and open-science communities broadly praise OpenAlex as the best free alternative to Scopus and Web of Science.
Biggest gotcha	Licences get cut: Twente ended access Dec 2025, Jyväskylä Jan 2026, both citing cost^⁸	February 2026 pricing shift: API keys now mandatory; apps built on free access face new costs¹⁵

Pick Web of Science when

University libraries
Bibliometrics researchers
Systematic review teams
Tenure and grant committees

When Web of Science is not a fit

Individual researchers without institutional access
Startups or businesses needing quick literature lookups
Anyone fine with free Google Scholar
Small libraries that cannot absorb price hikes

Pick OpenAlex when

Bibliometric researchers
Librarians tracking scholarly output
Developers building research apps
University research offices

When OpenAlex is not a fit

Sole database for clinical systematic reviews
Buyers needing validated, Scopus-grade citation counts
Non-technical users wanting a polished search UI
Teams needing SLA-backed enterprise support

Sources

Web of Science Reviews 2026: Details, Pricing, & Features | G2g2.com
review
Which is better: Scopus or Web of Science? : r/academiareddit.com
review
Web of Science & ProQuest - why do they exist? : r/Librariesreddit.com
review
Open Science Alternatives to Scopus and the Web of Sciencemdpi.com
review
Web of Science Platform | Clarivateclarivate.com
official
Web of Science Core Collection | Clarivateclarivate.com
official
Web of Science Coverage Detailswebofscience.zendesk.com
official
Web of Science licence will end on 31 December 2025 (Univ. of Twente)utwente.nl
news
The subscription to the Web of Science database will end on January 1, 2026 (Univ. of Jyväskylä)jyu.fi
news
Web of Science gets cut, educators aim to adapt - The Equinoxkscequinox.com
news
Security compliance - Clarivate Trust Centerclarivate.com
security
Clarivate Security Rating, Vendor Risk Report - UpGuardupguard.com
security
OpenAlex: The open catalog to the global research systemopenalex.org
official
Pricing Overview | OpenAlex Help Centerhelp.openalex.org
official
OpenAlex API Key Now Required: Usage-Based Pricing . CASRAIcasrai.org
news
The OpenAlex database in review: Evaluating its applications, capabilities, and limitationssciencedirect.com
review