Reference manager and academic social network for organizing research and PDFs.
Mendeley combines a desktop PDF library, a citation plugin for Word/LibreOffice, and an academic social network where you can follow researchers and discover papers. Its PDF reader with highlighting and annotation sync has made it a staple for graduate students and lab groups.
Who it's for: Graduate students, academics, and lab teams who want a single place to read PDFs, cite, and discover related literature.
Import, tag, and annotate PDFs; highlights and notes sync across devices.
One-click citations and bibliographies in 9,000+ styles inside Word and LibreOffice.
Save references and PDFs from your browser with the Mendeley Web Importer extension.
Follow researchers, join groups, and get paper recommendations from your library.
Mendeley remains a safe default for students who live in PDFs and Word. If you prize open-source and extensibility, Zotero edges it; if you want the smoothest reading + discovery experience in one place, Mendeley still delivers. Free tier is enough to start.