OpenAlex
- Android app
- Not listed
- Free plan
- Yes
- Paid plans from
- $416.67/mo
- Runs on
- api, Browser extension, self-hosted, Web
Summary
OpenAlex is an open catalog of scholarly research for people who need to find, query, or work with research records. Its REST API links works, authors, sources, institutions, topics, and other entities, with tools to search, filter, sort, group, page results, select fields, and retrieve individual records. Researchers can download the full database snapshot from Amazon S3 without an AWS account; the data uses the CC0 public-domain license. An official CLI supports bulk downloads with parallel transfers, checkpoints, rate limits, retries, and resume. Full-text access provides PDFs and machine-readable TEI XML, with each file download priced at $0.01. Website exports include CSV, RIS for EndNote or Zotero, and TXT, and VOSviewer can connect through the API. OpenAlex also offers Unpaywall's legacy-format open-access API, browser extension, and integrations with SFX, EBSCO Discovery Service, and 360 Link. It covers multidisciplinary material including journal articles, conference papers, books, datasets, dissertations, and preprints. The project is run by a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit, and its code is open source.
Who it is for
OpenAlex suits researchers and developers who need a broad research catalog, API access, or bulk data downloads. Teams using its unsanitized external text fields should follow its guidance to escape output and apply OWASP XSS-prevention practices.
What is good
- Free database snapshot download from Amazon S3.
- CC0 public-domain data license.
- API offers search, filters, sorting, and grouping.
- Exports include CSV, RIS, and TXT.
- Official CLI supports resumable bulk downloads.
What to know first
- Full-text file downloads cost $0.01 each.
- Partner plan starts at $20,000/year.
- External text fields are not sanitized.
Verdict
OpenAlex combines a broad scholarly catalog with API, snapshot, CLI, and export options. Its free data access is useful, while full-text downloads and higher support plans have listed charges.
OpenAlex plans and pricing
All plansCompared on academic research databases
- Free plan
- Yesopenalex.org
- Full-text access
- Yesopenalex.org
- Advanced search
- Yesopenalex.org
- Subject coverage
- multidisciplinaryopenalex.org
- Content types
- journal articles, conference papers, books, book chapters, datasets, dissertations, preprintsopenalex.org
- Theses and dissertations
- Yesopenalex.org
- Conference proceedings
- Yesopenalex.org
- Institutional access
- Yesopenalex.org
Facts
- Product
- OpenAlex is a free and open catalog of the world's scholarly research system.explore.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- API
- The REST API is a connected graph of works, authors, sources, institutions, topics, and more, with list, filter, search, sort, group, page, field selection, and single-entity queries.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Website
- The website supports search, filtering, and exporting result lists without coding.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Snapshot
- The complete database snapshot is free to download from Amazon S3 without an AWS account.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Data license
- OpenAlex data is released under the CC0 public-domain license.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- CLI
- The official CLI handles parallel downloads, checkpointing, rate limiting, retries, and resume for bulk terminal workflows.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Full text
- The full-text service provides PDFs and machine-readable TEI XML, with per-file downloads priced at $0.01 each.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- Website exports support CSV, RIS for EndNote or Zotero, and TXT, while VOSviewer connects directly through the API.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Unpaywall
- Unpaywall is OpenAlex's legacy-format open-access API surface, including a browser extension and integrations with SFX, EBSCO Discovery Service, and 360 Link.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Security guidance
- OpenAlex passes externally sourced text fields through without sanitizing them and advises users to escape output and follow OWASP XSS-prevention practices.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Support
- Member includes community support, Member+ includes ticket-based help for critical API bugs, and Partner includes full ticket-based support for API and data issues.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
- Organization
- OpenAlex is operated by a US 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all code is open source.help.openalex.org · 30 Sept 2026
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Sources
- explore.openalex.org/about· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/api/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/overview/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/snapshot/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/pricing/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/cli/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/how-to/integrations/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/unpaywall/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/member-plus/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/member/· checked 30 Sept 2026
- help.openalex.org/access/partner/· checked 30 Sept 2026