Folio
Folio is a workspace for research, reading, writing, citations, and proof of work.
What Folio is
Folio is a workspace for research, reading, writing, citations, and proof of work. Folio Search sends a query across papers, books, the web, and video, and its Synthesizer cites retrieved material. Writers can insert citations from a source library and have Folio build the bibliography. Existing libraries can be imported from Zotero, along with reference files in BibTeX, RIS, CSL-JSON, MODS, and EndNote XML formats. An MCP connector links Folio with Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other compliant clients.
The free Scholar plan supports unlimited documents and sources, with limits on several research and writing tools. It costs nothing. Fellow costs $9.99/mo and adds features including unlimited literature search, Research Radar, and version history; Chair costs $25.00/mo and includes team and supervisor-oriented capabilities such as priority support. Folio is available through the web, an extension, and an API. Its browser extension works with Chrome, Edge, Brave, and Arc, but not Firefox or Safari. Native iOS and Android apps are not available yet, though the web app is laid out for small screens. Folio says users can export data or permanently delete accounts from settings, and that it does not sell user data or train models on users’ writing.
Good
- Search spans papers, books, web, and video.
- Automatically builds bibliographies from inserted citations.
- Imports Zotero libraries and common reference formats.
- MCP connector supports several AI and coding clients.
- Users can export data or delete accounts.
Watch out
- Native iOS and Android apps are not available.
- Firefox and Safari are not supported by the extension.
- Scholar has quotas on several tools.
- No SOC 2 report or ISO 27001 certification today.
Who it suits
Folio may suit students, researchers, and writers who need literature search, source-based writing, or citation management. Its Scholar, Fellow, and Chair plans address individual writing, field monitoring, and supervisory or team needs.
Verdict
Folio combines research search, citations, writing, and data controls, with a free plan and paid options. Check the plan quotas and extension support for your browser before choosing it.
Plans and prices
From Folio's own pricing page, checked 15 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Scholar | Free | Unlimited documents and sources · 40 literature searches/day · 3 Research & start briefs/month · 10 Scholar AI answers/month · 3 proofreads/month · 5 citation/claim checks/month · 3 authorship certificates/month · Surveyor up to 50 responses · MCP connector · Free forever |
| Fellow | $9.99 a month | Unlimited certificates · 20 citation/claim checks/day · Document Audit 1/day · 3 Discovery Agents · Research Radar · Discovery and synthesis · 50-version history · Surveyor up to 200 responses · View/comment collaboration · Monthly; $99/year annual billing |
| Chair | $25 a month | At least 2× Fellow AI limits · Unlimited proofreading · 10 Discovery Agents · Deep Scan · Briefing audio · Scholar AI in co-editing chat · Surveyor up to 1,000 responses per link · Priority and founder support · Monthly; $250/year annual billing |
| Standalone and extracurricular institutions | $79 a month | Tutoring centers, academies, bootcamps and test-prep programs · From $79/month billed annually, or $99 billed monthly |
| Higher education | Priced on request | University, college or faculty deployment · Custom, quoted per institution |
| K–12 school or district | Priced on request | Institution deployment · Custom, quoted per institution |
The facts
Each one read from Folio's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- Academic search
- Its search spans OpenAlex, Crossref, Semantic Scholar, arXiv, Europe PMC, DOAJ and other sources, with results saved directly to a library.checked 15 Oct 2026
- AI assistant integration
- Folio provides an MCP connector for Claude, ChatGPT, Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and other compliant clients.checked 8 Oct 2026
- AI writing boundary
- The product says its AI does not write into documents; it searches, checks citations, reviews arguments and proofreads instead.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Audience
- Folio presents Scholar as a free plan for writing and proving work, Fellow for keeping up with a field, and Chair for supervisors and teams.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Changelog news
- The September 25, 2026 release added clearer failed-search messages, safer BibTeX and Chicago exports, Qualtrics import, Prolific completion handling, scheduled retraction checks and video submission receipts.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome extension coverage
- The extension listing says it supports sources including arXiv, Nature, Science, PubMed, IEEE, books, government pages, YouTube and general web pages.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome extension details
- The listing identifies version 1.4.3, updated July 18, 2026, with a 174 KiB package and developer Tarek Gara.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Chrome privacy disclosure
- The Chrome listing says the extension handles personally identifiable information, authentication information and website content.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Classroom
- Folio Classroom is free for individual instructors and attaches a verifiable writing-process record to each student submission.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Compliance
- Folio describes its posture as GDPR-aligned, offers a data-processing agreement on request and publishes a subprocessor register.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Data control
- Users can export their data in machine-readable formats or permanently delete their account from settings.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Discovery synthesis
- Discovery follows citation links and can assemble a structured synthesis matrix whose cells link back to sources.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The help center lists 126 articles covering account setup, imports, citations, audits, surveys, institutions and technical integrations.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Export formats
- Library exports include BibTeX, RIS and CSL-JSON, while documents can be exported as DOCX, PDF, LaTeX or web pages.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Founder
- Tarek Gara identifies himself as building Folio and provides a usefolio.co contact address on his personal site.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Identity integrations
- Institution single sign-on supports OpenID Connect and SAML 2.0, with SCIM provisioning.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Imports
- Folio supports importing libraries from Zotero and reference files in BibTeX, RIS, CSL-JSON, MODS, and EndNote XML formats.checked 8 Oct 2026
- Inline citations
- The editor inserts library citations through a double-bracket picker and resolves them inline.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Institution API
- The institution console provides signed webhooks and a read API, plus JSON and CSV record exports.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Institution LMS integration
- Institution deployments launch from existing learning platforms through LTI 1.3 and import accounts and rosters through SCIM 2.0 and OneRoster 1.1.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Integrity reports
- Folio produces authorship reports and certificates, checks references, flags retractions and matches quotations to source pages.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Browser extension
- The free extension saves papers, pages and links, verifies page references and lets users ask questions about a page.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: desktop app
- The help center lists a native Mac and Windows offline app as a feature request, indicating it is not currently available.checked 15 Oct 2026
The company
- Company facts
- The opened official and founder pages do not state a legal entity name, headquarters location or founding year.checked 15 Oct 2026
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