# AI research and search tools: 16 tools for office work > 16 AI research and search tools for office work, including Perplexity, NotebookLM and Elicit: what each one does, whether it is free, and free lessons… Source: https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/research-search · Updated 2026-10-13 · Free from Stepthrough (https://learn.ynteractive.com) Updated October 13, 2026 · By [Robert Breen](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/about) Good decisions need sources you can check. AI research tools search the web or academic papers and answer with citations, read your own documents and only answer from them, and dig through many sources at once. Use them for market scans, client prep and fact-checks, and always open the source before you quote it. 16 tools · 14 free or with a free plan · 2 with a free trial · 0 paid only ## New this week 16 tools added since October 8, 2026. New tools are added every day. Tavily · Exa · Felo · Brave Search · Kagi · You.com · Undermind · Connected Papers · ResearchRabbit · Semantic Scholar · SciSpace · Scite · + 4 more ## 16 AI research and search tools Each card says what the tool does for a working professional and whether it is free, has a free plan or trial, or is paid. One has a free Stepthrough lesson where you practice it step by step. - [Perplexity](https://www.perplexity.ai): Free plan. An AI answer engine that searches the web and cites its sources. Good for quick research and fact-checks. - [NotebookLM](https://notebooklm.google): Free. Upload your documents and get cited answers, briefings and audio overviews from only those sources. [Free lesson: NotebookLM (Now Gemini Notebook): Cited Answers and a Briefing from…](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/notebooklm-gemini-notebook-cited-answers-briefing-doc) - [Elicit](https://elicit.com): Free plan. Finds and summarizes research papers and pulls data from them into tables. - [Consensus](https://consensus.app): Free plan. Answers questions from peer-reviewed research and shows how much the studies agree. - [Scite](https://scite.ai): Free trial. Shows how research papers have been cited, supporting or contrasting, so you can trust a claim. - [SciSpace](https://scispace.com): Free plan. Read, explain and summarize research papers, with a literature review assistant. - [Semantic Scholar](https://www.semanticscholar.org): Free. A free AI-powered search engine for academic papers with short TLDR summaries. - [ResearchRabbit](https://www.researchrabbit.ai): Free plan. Maps related papers and authors so you can explore a research topic visually. - [Connected Papers](https://www.connectedpapers.com): Free plan. Builds a visual graph of papers related to one you choose. - [Undermind](https://www.undermind.ai): Free plan. An AI research agent that searches deeply for papers that match a complex question. - [You.com](https://you.com): Free plan. AI search and research agents for business, with cited answers. - [Kagi](https://kagi.com): Free trial. Ad-free, private search with AI summaries and an assistant. - [Brave Search](https://search.brave.com): Free. Independent, private web search with AI answers at the top of results. - [Felo](https://felo.ai): Free plan. AI search that answers in many languages and can turn results into slides and mind maps. - [Exa](https://exa.ai): Free plan. A search engine and API built for AI, which finds pages by meaning rather than keywords. - [Tavily](https://www.tavily.com): Free plan. A web search API made for AI agents, returning clean, citable results. ## Learn it free, step by step Practice in a safe copy of the real tool, with every step checked as you go. - **NotebookLM**: [NotebookLM (Now Gemini Notebook): Cited Answers and a Briefing from Your Docs](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/notebooklm-gemini-notebook-cited-answers-briefing-doc) (7 min) ## More AI tool categories [LLMs & chat assistants (18)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/llms-chat-assistants) · [AI agents & agent builders (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/ai-agents) · [Automation & workflows (15)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/automation-workflows) · [Email & inbox (16)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/email-inbox) · [Writing & content (16)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/writing-content) · [Meetings & notes (18)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/meetings-notes) · [Sales & CRM (18)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/sales-crm) · [Marketing & social (19)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/marketing-social) · [Customer support & chatbots (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/customer-support-chatbots) · [Image generation (18)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/image-generation) · [Video & avatars (21)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/video-avatars) · [Voice & audio (18)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/voice-audio) · [Presentations & docs (15)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/presentations-docs) · [Data & spreadsheets (16)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/data-spreadsheets) · [Coding & developer (21)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/coding-developer) · [Design & UI (15)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/design-ui) · [Productivity & tasks (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/productivity-tasks) · [HR & recruiting (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/hr-recruiting) · [Finance & accounting (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/finance-accounting) · [Legal & contracts (16)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/legal-contracts) · [Website & no-code builders (17)](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools/website-no-code) [The full AI tools directory](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/ai-tools) · [Tool comparisons](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/compare) · [AI glossary](https://learn.ynteractive.com/content/glossary)