Overview

cytado is a citation and source-discovery service for academic writers working across documents and AI tools. It is best suited to teams and individual researchers who need to substantiate claims, not just format references. Its strongest advantage is connecting claims with sources and page-specific fragments; its usage caps and some limits on source content make it a less obvious fit for high-volume or full-text research.

Key features

cytado finds academic sources for claims and provides citations with quotations, links, and printed page numbers where available. That source-finding step can help writers check whether a reference supports a statement rather than merely dressing up metadata they already have. But page numbers are not available for documents without printed pagination, and some sources return only metadata and short quotations, not full text.

It formats footnotes and bibliographies in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago, Harvard, and numbered footnote styles, with in-text citations and BibTeX and RIS support. Bibliographies can be exported to Word, PDF, LaTeX, BibTeX, or RIS. Users can also submit a bibliography for checking against Crossref, OpenAlex, and Google Books. This makes cytado useful during both drafting and reference cleanup, though five styles may not suit writers who need a broader style catalog.

Integrations include Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Claude via MCP, ChatGPT, and a Chrome extension. The Citation API has endpoints for finding a source for a claim, retrieving sources for a chapter, and checking usage. Its source corpus covers English, Polish, and German publications, a meaningful fit for work in those languages but not a basis for assuming coverage of others.

The Chrome extension receives only text a user selects and submits, rather than other page content or browsing history. The Google Docs add-on receives the highlighted sentence and user-entered thesis topic, not the rest of the document or other Drive files. Unpaid use is constrained: only one project can be active at a time, and daily and monthly caps apply to source searches.

Pricing

cytado combines free entry points with monthly subscriptions and a one-time project option. The free tiers are useful for trying the workflow, but their project and source allowances are modest.

Test: 0.00 USD per month, with 100 resolved citations and 3 new topics. It is a free tier with no card required, suited to a limited trial of citation work.
Free: 0.00 USD per free, billed at 3 full sources per project, with summaries and quality scores and no card required. This is the more relevant no-cost option for evaluating source quality within a small project.
Unlocked project: 13.00 USD per once. One payment covers the project for as long as you write, with all found sources, printed-page fragments, a paragraph source finder, and Word, PDF, LaTeX, BibTeX, and RIS export. It fits a single sustained project better than recurring monthly billing.
Basic: 19.00 USD per month for 400 citations and 5 new topics. Extra citations cost $0.04 each and extra topics $1.00 each. This suits lighter recurring use, with overages relevant if the monthly allowance is exceeded.
Start: 49.00 USD per month for 1,200 citations and 15 new topics, with extra citations at $0.04 and topics at $1.00. It raises the monthly allowance for more active research.
Pro: 99.00 USD per month for 3,000 citations and 40 new topics, with the same extra-unit prices. It is the plan for heavier monthly workloads among the listed subscriptions.

The monthly plans meter both citations and new topics, so teams should consider both quotas rather than comparing citation totals alone. The plans are presented as usage allowances, not seat counts; no seat-based distinction is part of the offer.

Platforms

cytado is offered through an API, browser extension, and web app, with integrations for Google Docs, Microsoft Word, Claude via MCP, and ChatGPT. That range is useful for writers who move between editors and AI assistants. The one-project unpaid limit and search caps still matter regardless of entry point.

Who it's for

cytado is a strong fit for students, researchers, and writing teams that need to discover academic sources for claims, retrieve page-level evidence where available, and carry references into common document formats. It is less suitable for writers who need full source texts from every result, depend on page numbering for unpaginated documents, or expect unrestricted free searching. Teams should also confirm that their work aligns with the stated English, Polish, or German corpus.

Pros and cons

Pro: Source discovery is paired with quotations, links, and printed-page references when available, helping users assess support for claims.
Pro: Multiple editor and AI integrations, plus API endpoints, let builders use citation workflows across several parts of a stack.
Pro: The one-time Unlocked project plan includes exports and project-long access, avoiding a monthly subscription for a single piece of work.
Con: Free use is restricted to one active project and subject to daily and monthly search caps, limiting sustained unpaid research.
Con: Some sources provide only metadata and short quotations, while unpaginated documents lack page numbers; users needing full text or consistent page citations should look elsewhere.
Con: Only five citation styles are supported, which may not cover specialized style requirements.

Alternatives

AI Citation Generators is a useful directory starting point for comparing citation tools across the category.

Choose CitePlex if a broad style range and ongoing free use matter more than source discovery: its free plan offers 11 styles, unlimited generate-and-copy, 20 saved citations per month, and two projects. Choose cc.com.ai Citation Generator if a lower-cost monthly option is the priority; its free plan provides 30 monthly credits and its Starter plan is $7.00 USD per month, though cytado is the more directly evidenced choice here for claim-based source finding and page fragments.

Paperpal is another freemium option with extension and web access and a free trial. Yomu AI Citation Generator may suit writers who want DOI, URL, or title lookup, 15+ styles, and free bibliography and in-text formatting. AutoCaret Citation Generator is an alternative with a free tier that includes 20 credits, roughly four documents, and DOCX export, plus a free trial.

Citation Generator Canada is a free web tool with AI-powered metadata lookup and DOCX and TXT export. Conch AI Citation Generator offers free citation generation without registration for APA, MLA, and Chicago across websites, books, and academic journals. FixTools AI Citation Generator is a free web option with five daily runs on eligible text tools and a 600-character free citation-generator input.

Verdict

Choose cytado if your work needs academic source discovery tied to claims, page-specific fragments when available, and exports that fit an existing writing stack. Its API and integrations add flexibility, while the one-time project plan can suit a single long-running assignment. Look elsewhere if your workflow requires full source texts, reliable page numbers across all documents, more citation styles, or uncapped free searching.

	cytado	Solvely
Free plan	Yes	No
Free trial	No	Yes
Paid from	$19/mo	—
Open source	No	No
Platforms	api, extension, Web	Android, extension, iOS, Web
Free plan	Yes	Yes
Citation styles	5	—
In-text citations	Yes	—
Bibliography export	Yes	—
Document integrations	multiple	—
Citation formats	multiple	—

cytado vs Solvely

cytado

Solvely