How is this research ranking decided?

Mechanically. The 7 approved research listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.

Is this list re-ordered for small businesses?

No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the small businesses framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Small businesses are usually replacing spreadsheets rather than another tool, so the deciding factor is how much of the job one purchase covers. Watch for capabilities that only appear in the upper tiers.

How much does research software cost?

Across the 7 research tools listed here, paid plans start between $4 and $15 a month, with a median entry price of $9.50. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $500 a month (Roam Research).

What is the cheapest research software?

Among the ones that charge, Obsidian has the lowest published entry price at $4 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.

Is there free research software?

Not in this set. None of the 7 research tools listed here publishes a $0 plan, and the cheapest paid entry is $4 a month. Some vendors offer time-limited trials, which are listed on each product page rather than here.

How is research software usually billed?

freemium (3), quote (1), subscription (1), counted across the 7 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not.

How many research tools are listed on Softwr?

7 approved research listings appear on this page, including Elicit, Mendeley, NVivo, Obsidian. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/research, which ranks the same set by published rating.

Research · ranked shortlist

Best Research software for Small Businesses in 2026

7 approved research listings, ordered by published rating with the method stated below rather than assumed. Small businesses are usually replacing spreadsheets rather than another tool, so the deciding factor is how much of the job one purchase covers. Watch for capabilities that only appear in the upper tiers.

Tools ranked: 7
Entry price range: $4-$15
Publish a $0 plan: 0 of 7

How this ranking is derived

The sort key

Published rating, highest first. Ties break on the number of ratings behind the score, then on product name so the order never depends on what the API happened to return first. That is the whole rule, there is no weighting, no score of our own, and nothing paid: no sponsored slot runs on these pages.

Where the ratings come from

No listing in this set carries a rating, so the order falls back to name. Those scores are aggregated from public sources rather than collected here, Softwr hosts no reviews of its own, which is also why no rating on this page is marked up as ours in structured data.

What the pool is

Approved research listings, capped at 20 per page; 7 came back for this one. It is not the whole market, and a tool being absent means we hold no record of it rather than that it failed a test. The unranked full set is on the research category page.

The ranking

Each entry lists why it sits where it sits, drawn from its own published rating and pricing.

#1
Elicit
Highest rated here
The AI research assistant
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
Billing
freemium
Elicit breakdown Compare with Mendeley
#2
Mendeley
The free all-in-one reference manager
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
Billing
freemium
Mendeley breakdown Compare with NVivo
#3
NVivo
Easy-to-use, collaborative qualitative analysis software
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
Billing
quote
NVivo breakdown Compare with Obsidian
#4
Obsidian
A powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $4 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $8.
Billing
Model not published
Published tiers
2 tiers
Tags
note-taking, knowledge-base, markdown, privacy
Obsidian breakdown Compare with Paperpile
#5
Paperpile
Reference management essentials
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
Billing
subscription
Paperpile breakdown Compare with Roam Research
#6
Roam Research
A note-taking tool for networked thought
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
- Paid from $15 a month, with no free plan.
- 2 published tiers, topping out at $500.
Billing
Model not published
Published tiers
2 tiers
Tags
note-taking, research, knowledge-graph, linking
Roam Research breakdown Compare with Zotero
#7
Zotero
Collect, organize, annotate, cite and share your research
- No rating on record, so it ranks below everything that has one.
Billing
freemium
Zotero breakdown

What research software costs

Counted from the published pricing of the 7 listings on this page. A tool counts as free only where it publishes a $0 plan, an open-source licence or a starting price of zero.

Paid entry price: $4Obsidian

Paid research plans in this set start anywhere from $4 a month for Obsidian to $15 for Roam Research. The median entry price across the 2 tools that publish one is $9.50, half of them start below that figure and half above it.

Entry price is not the ceiling. The dearest published tier anywhere in this category is Roam Research's at $500 a month, 33.3× the highest entry price on the page. Read the top of each ladder as well as the bottom, because that is where you land after two years of growth.

Nothing in this category publishes a $0 plan, all 7 listings are paid from the first day.

Obsidian pricing Roam Research pricing Roam Research plans

How these vendors bill

The billing model each of the 7 research listings publishes, counted. Two tools at the same headline price are not the same purchase if one of them charges per seat.

freemium: 3
quote: 1
subscription: 1

How to choose between them

Four things the numbers above should change about your shortlist.

Budget for day one, because nothing here is free

No listing in this category publishes a $0 plan, and the cheapest way in is $4 a month with Obsidian. That changes how you evaluate: ask for a trial in writing before you shortlist, and treat any tool you cannot try as a tool you cannot verify.

Read the spread before you read the features

$4 to $15 is a $11 spread on entry price alone, and a spread that wide is never about polish, it is about who the vendor built for. Tools at the bottom of this ladder are priced for one person or a small team; tools near $15 are priced for a department with a procurement process. Decide which of those you are before you compare capability, or you will shortlist four tools that were never competing for the same buyer.

The billing model matters more than the headline number

This category splits across 3 billing models: freemium on 3 listings, quote on 1, and 1 other arrangement across the rest. A per-user price and a flat subscription at the same headline figure are not the same purchase, the first one grows with headcount and the second does not. Multiply by your real team size before you compare two numbers side by side.

Compare research tools directly

Every pairing below is a full comparison: the same checklist applied to both, so a gap in one is a gap in the other.

Go straight to the numbers

Build your own comparison See the shortlist instead

Questions people ask about research software

Answered from the listings on this page, and nowhere else.

How is this research ranking decided?: Mechanically. The 7 approved research listings on this page are sorted by their published rating, highest first, with the number of ratings behind each score as the tie-break and the product name as a final tie-break so the order is stable. Those ratings are aggregated from public sources, not collected from Softwr readers, this site hosts no reviews, so the order is a summary of what is already published elsewhere, not a verdict of our own. Nothing on this page is paid placement.
Is this list re-ordered for small businesses?: No, and it would be dishonest to imply otherwise. The catalogue records no data about which team sizes or roles each tool suits, so the ranking is the same published-rating order as the unsegmented list. What the small businesses framing changes is which of the figures below matter most. Small businesses are usually replacing spreadsheets rather than another tool, so the deciding factor is how much of the job one purchase covers. Watch for capabilities that only appear in the upper tiers.
How much does research software cost?: Across the 7 research tools listed here, paid plans start between $4 and $15 a month, with a median entry price of $9.50. The most expensive single tier published in the category is $500 a month (Roam Research).
What is the cheapest research software?: Among the ones that charge, Obsidian has the lowest published entry price at $4 a month. Cheapest and best value are different questions: check which tier the capability you need actually appears in before you compare starting prices.
Is there free research software?: Not in this set. None of the 7 research tools listed here publishes a $0 plan, and the cheapest paid entry is $4 a month. Some vendors offer time-limited trials, which are listed on each product page rather than here.
How is research software usually billed?: freemium (3), quote (1), subscription (1), counted across the 7 listings on this page. The distinction that costs money is per-seat versus flat: a per-user plan at the same headline price scales with your headcount and a flat subscription does not.
How many research tools are listed on Softwr?: 7 approved research listings appear on this page, including Elicit, Mendeley, NVivo, Obsidian. Each links to a full breakdown with its pricing tiers and plan detail, and the category can be filtered by price and sorted by rating above. You can also read the shortlist view at /best/research, which ranks the same set by published rating.

Keep reading

Neighbouring categories

Adjacent in the same taxonomy, not a ranking.

How this ranking is derived

The sort key

Where the ratings come from

What the pool is

The ranking

Elicit

Mendeley

NVivo

Obsidian

Paperpile

Roam Research

Zotero