LitKernel
LitKernel is a web-based tool for organizing systematic literature reviews.
What LitKernel is
LitKernel is a web-based tool for organizing systematic literature reviews. It provides screening workflows, AI paper summaries, full-text analysis, and support for systematic review work. The free Scholar plan includes one workspace, two research questions, capacity for 40 papers, five simplified AWARE screenings per month, and one read-only viewer per workspace. Researcher expands the allowance to two workspaces, five research questions, 200 papers, and one editor plus one viewer per workspace. Thesis provides unlimited workspaces and research questions, capacity for 750 papers, and three editors plus two viewers per workspace. LitKernel uses a freemium model, with Scholar listed as free. The service runs on the web, so the plan limits define how many questions, papers, workspaces, screenings, and collaborators each project can include. Collaboration seats vary by plan, making access requirements an important part of choosing an option.
Good
- Free Scholar plan is available
- Includes screening workflows and paper summaries
- Supports full-text analysis
- Higher plans increase paper capacity
- Plans specify editor and viewer access
Watch out
- Scholar is limited to 40 papers
- Scholar allows five screenings monthly
- Scholar includes only one workspace
Who it suits
It suits researchers conducting systematic reviews who need screening, paper summaries, and full-text analysis in a web service. Scholar fits smaller projects, while larger plans provide higher listed allowances and more editors.
Verdict
LitKernel offers a clear freemium structure for systematic review work, from a constrained free workspace to larger paper and collaboration allowances. Choose based on the number of papers, questions, workspaces, and editors your review requires.
Plans and prices
From LitKernel's own pricing page, checked 15 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Scholar | Free | 1 workspace · 2 RQs · 40 papers · 5 simplified AWARE screenings/month · OpenAlex search & AWARE lookups 100/month · Google Scholar excluded · bring your own AI keys · 5 citation analytics tools · core manuscript templates · notes, tasks, gap matrix & presentations · 1 research plan · 1 viewer |
| Researcher | $9 a month | 2 workspaces · 5 RQs · 200 papers · 40 hosted AI credits/month · 15 AWARE full reviews/month · 15 citation analytics tools · OpenAlex 500/month · Google Scholar 50/month · AI activity summaries · workspace export · 10 research plans/workspace · 1 editor + 1 viewer/workspace · manuscript comments & version history · bring your own AI keys · Billed monthly, cancel anytime |
| Thesis | $19 a month | Unlimited workspaces & RQs · 750 papers · 150 hosted AI credits/month · OpenAlex 2,000/month · Google Scholar 200/month · 60 AWARE full reviews/month · 30 AI activity summaries/month · unlimited research plans · 3 editors + 2 viewers/workspace · global activity · lit-mcp connections · priority compile · Billed monthly, cancel anytime |
The facts
Each one read from LitKernel's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- AI key support
- Users may enter their own provider keys in Settings and are responsible for those keys' legality, security and billing.checked 15 Oct 2026
- AI limitation
- LitKernel warns that AI outputs can be inaccurate, incomplete or unsuitable and requires human review of decisions and generated text.checked 15 Oct 2026
- AI screening
- Its AWARE workflow produces include, exclude or flagged decisions with matched criteria and quoted evidence.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Availability limitation
- The terms disclaim guaranteed uninterrupted access and assign third-party outages, policy changes and rate limits to external providers.checked 15 Oct 2026
- AWARE meaning
- AWARE expands to Agentic Workflow for Appraisal and Relevance Evaluation.checked 15 Oct 2026
- AWARE modes
- Simplified Review uses one agent per dimension, while Full Review uses dual agents and cross-critique.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Citation analytics
- The product advertises 15 citation-analysis tools across five groups, including citation frequency and co-occurrence analysis.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation
- The Help Centre contains guided articles covering workspaces, paper browsing, AWARE screening, WebCLI and research plans.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Gap analysis
- Gap intelligence includes a filterable gap matrix, interactive 3D gap view, reports and presentations.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Governing law
- The terms specify New South Wales, Australia as governing law and jurisdiction.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Terms name Auth0, Google Gemini, Google Scholar, Elsevier, OpenAlex and Heap as integrated third-party services.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Legal operator
- The service identifies its operator as The LitKernel Team.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The software is proprietary under a revocable, non-exclusive web-access licence; copying, modification, reverse engineering and redistribution are restricted.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Live presentations
- Slide decks support 21 themes, 12 chart styles, presenter notes, full-screen presenting and PDF export.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Manuscript tools
- The manuscript workspace offers citation mapping, linked notes, PDF preview, comments and saved versions.checked 15 Oct 2026
- MCP extensibility
- The Thesis plan advertises lit-mcp connections for Claude, ChatGPT and other AI agents.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Paper import
- Papers can be found through academic providers or added by uploading PDFs, with metadata, abstracts and full text extracted automatically.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Public API
- The pages reviewed describe integrations and lit-mcp but do not document a public REST API or SDK.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on Capterra
- No LitKernel product profile or user rating appeared in Capterra search results checked on 2026-10-15.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on G2
- No LitKernel product profile or user rating appeared in G2 search results checked on 2026-10-15.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on Trustpilot
- No LitKernel company profile or user rating appeared in Trustpilot search results checked on 2026-10-15.checked 15 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- App stores
- No LitKernel app listing or rating was located in Apple App Store, Google Play, Chrome Web Store or Microsoft Store searches checked on 2026-10-15.checked 15 Oct 2026
- Rating on GetApp
- No LitKernel product profile or user rating appeared in GetApp search results checked on 2026-10-15.checked 15 Oct 2026
Money
- Plan templates
- Templates cover doctoral, masters, honours, systematic-review, journal-paper, conference-paper and funded-project workflows.checked 15 Oct 2026
Alternatives to LitKernel
- 1
ASReview
Free planOpen sourceWebAPILinuxmacOS7.7Free plan - 2
LASER AI
AndroidiOSWeb7.6From $3,000 a year - 3
Rayyan
Free planAndroidiOSWebAPI7.5From $4.99 a month - 4
RobotReviewer
Free planOpen sourceWebAPILinuxmacOS7.5Free plan - 5
Scholarcy
Free planWebAPIExtension7.5From $90 a year - 6
Sysrev
Free planWebAPISelf-hosted7.5From $50 a month