Life & fun · alternatives · 2026

Community-written abstracts for research papers is a platform where users collaborate to create simplified summaries of academic research. It allows communities to crowdsource the process of making scientific papers… Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes. Community-written abstracts for research papers launched in 2024; newer entries below may have overtaken it.

1. 1
   Collabwriting▲380

   Add structure and collaborate around stuff you find online

   2022 · its alternatives →

2. 2
   Collabwriting for PDF▲295

   Collaborate around what you find online on the Web or PDFs

   2023 · its alternatives →

3. 3
   Collabwriting for Teams▲689

   The easiest way to capture, store & find knowledge

   2024 · its alternatives →

4. 4
   SciSpace AI Academic Writer▲680

   Write like a scientist

   2024 · scispace.com · its alternatives →

5. 5
   Paperguide▲645

   Discover, read, write and manage research with ease using AI

   2024 · paperguide.ai · its alternatives →

6. 6
   Dropbox Paper▲568

   Collaboration tool built for teams

   2015 · dropbox.com · its alternatives →

7. 7
   Abstract▲14

   An AI research paper abstract writer, using title/keywords

   2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

8. 8
   Writing.Social▲96

   Collaborative short story writing

   2022 · its alternatives →

9. 9
   Now I Get It – Translate scientific papers into interactive webpages▲305

   Understanding scientific articles can be tough, even in your own field. Trying to comprehend articles from others? Good luck. Enter, Now I Get It! I made this app for curious people. Simply upload an article and after a few minutes you'll have an interactive web page showcasing the highlights. Generated pages are stored in the cloud and can be viewed from a gallery. Now I Get It! uses the best LLMs out there, which means the app will improve as AI improves. Free for now - it's capped at 20 articles per day so I don't burn cash. A few things I (and maybe you will) find interesting: * This is…

   Feb 2026 · nowigetit.us · its alternatives →

10. 10
    TLDRead▲132

    SparkNotes for research articles - a COVID initiative.

    2020 · tldread.org · its alternatives →

11. 11
    Paperguide AI Writer▲444

    Easily write well researched articles & academic papers

    2024 · paperguide.ai · its alternatives →

12. 12
    Collabwriting 2.0▲324

    Highlight, share, collaborate, 3 steps to build knowledge

    2023 · appsumo.com · its alternatives →

13. 13
    Consensus▲407

    A search engine that finds you answers in scientific papers

    2022 · consensus.app · its alternatives →

14. 14
    TLDR This▲361

    Automatically summarize any article or webpage in a click.

    2019 · tldr.hackeryogi.com · its alternatives →

15. 15
    Studies.Show▲206

    140 character summaries of interesting research papers.

    2015 · studiesshow.app · its alternatives →

16. 16
    PaperTalk▲104

    A community platform for state of the art research

    2024 · its alternatives →

17. 17
    Open Paper▲289

    Hi HN! Open Paper allows you to annotate and understand your research papers with an AI copilot. I wanted a paper-reading assistant that let met actually dig into papers in-place while benefiting from AI tooling. When it comes to studying, I'm not a fan of the typical chat interfaces that obfuscate uploaded files and turn them into black box 'content'. Hence, I've implemented a split-pane view. To mitigate the risk of hallucinations, all AI responses come with grounded citations that refer back to the source material in-flow. Some feature highlights: - Actually read your papers in one place…

    2025 · openpaper.ai · its alternatives →

18. 18PT
    Paper Time – Listen to abstracts of CS papers, like a custom podcast▲161

    2021 · papertime.app · its alternatives →

19. 19IM
    I'm building an app to replace Overleaf and Notion▲82

    Hi HN, Since 2019, I’ve been working on a writing platform designed for creating complex documents (e.g., theses). I personally use it for everything as it also allows to classify documents in categories so you can organize them efficiently. As of a few months ago, the app is also available in the browser, and you can now invite coworkers to collaborate on a document in real time. The app is somewhat inspired by LyX. It offers an intuitive, modern editor, but users don’t need to know any LaTeX. When it’s time to export, they can choose from a range of templates (IEEE paper, thesis, etc.). A…

    2025 · its alternatives →

20. 20
    Reader - Uniting Writers and Readers▲96

    The complete blogging ecosystem for readers and writers

    2023 · its alternatives →

21. 21
    SciSummary▲67

    Use AI to summarize scientific articles

    2023 · scisummary.com · its alternatives →

22. 22
    Summarify▲185

    Summarize PDFs, webpages, Youtube videos, blogs & more

    2023 · summarify.me · its alternatives →

23. 23
    Bibcitation for Chrome▲78

    Cite websites and articles in one click

    2021 · chromewebstore.google.com · its alternatives →

24. 24
    Sources by Readory▲208

    Discover your next favourite blog, aggregator, or community

    2018 · readory.com · its alternatives →

Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →