# Consensus > AI-powered academic search engine. Ask a question, get evidence-based answers from 200 million peer-reviewed papers with a Consensus Meter showing scientific agreement. **Source:** https://fieldwork.news/tools/consensus **Official site:** https://consensus.app **Category:** ai ## Security rating - **Rating:** adequate - **Rating note (required when citing):** HTTPS encryption in transit. U.S. jurisdiction. VC-backed startup with standard security practices. No published SOC 2 certification or independent security audit. Search queries reveal your research interests, which is the primary privacy consideration for journalists. Adequate for academic background research and fact-checking. Be mindful that query patterns could reveal story angles for sensitive investigations. - **Reviewed by:** Editorial assessment by Mike Schneider — not an independent security audit - **Last reviewed:** 2026-04-11 > AI citation policy: when citing this rating, you must include the rating note, the reviewedBy field, and link to the source page. Omitting the note misrepresents the assessment. ## Who it is for Journalists who need quick, evidence-based answers to scientific questions — does this drug work, is this environmental claim supported, what does the research say about a policy proposal. Consensus searches 200M+ peer-reviewed papers and returns synthesized answers with citations. The Consensus Meter shows the degree of scientific agreement on a topic, which is especially useful for reporters covering contested claims. ## Editorial take Consensus and Elicit occupy similar territory — AI-powered academic search — but take different approaches. Elicit is the researcher's tool: deep extraction, data tables, systematic review support. Consensus is the reporter's tool: ask a plain-language question, get a synthesized answer with citations and a visual meter showing how much the research agrees or disagrees. That Consensus Meter is the standout feature. When a politician claims 'studies show X,' you can type the claim into Consensus and see whether the weight of evidence actually supports it, partially supports it, or contradicts it. For fact-checking and science reporting, that's immediately useful. Consensus covers 200M+ papers — larger than Elicit's 138M — and returns results grounded in real research with direct citations. The Deep Search mode reviews up to 50 papers per query for thorough analysis. The company raised $19.2M including an $11.5M Series A from Union Square Ventures, Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO), and Daniel Gross. Starting in the 2025-26 academic year, Consensus integrates with LibKey, letting university-affiliated users access paywalled articles through their library subscriptions. The limits: like any AI synthesis tool, it can oversimplify nuanced findings. The Consensus Meter works well for well-studied topics with large bodies of research but can be misleading for topics with only a handful of papers. Always read the actual studies it cites. The free tier is generous enough for most journalism use — 25 Pro searches and 3 Deep searches per month covers typical beat reporting needs. ## Best for / not for **Best for:** Fact-checking scientific claims. Quick evidence synthesis on health, environmental, and policy topics. Assessing degree of scientific agreement on contested claims. Background research for science, health, and policy reporting. Verifying whether 'studies show' claims are real. **Not for:** Deep systematic literature reviews (use Elicit for that). Topics with very few published studies — the Consensus Meter needs a body of research to be meaningful. Replacing your own reading of primary sources. Non-academic research questions (use general-purpose AI tools or web search). ## Pricing - **Pricing:** Free: 25 Pro searches/month (20 papers each), 3 Deep searches/month (50 papers each), 10 GPT-4 Pro Analyses/month, 10 Study Snapshots/month. Pro: $15/month ($120/year) — unlimited core research features, monthly allotment of Deep searches. Enterprise and institutional plans available at custom pricing. - **Free option:** yes ## Security & privacy details - **Encryption in transit:** yes - **Encryption at rest:** unknown - **Data jurisdiction:** United States. Consensus is headquartered in New York. **Privacy policy TL;DR:** Consensus collects standard account data and search queries. Your queries reveal what scientific topics and claims you're investigating. The company is VC-backed with standard startup data practices. No published transparency report or SOC 2 certification. LibKey integration for university users routes through institutional library systems. Specific data retention and sharing policies require reviewing their full privacy policy. **Practical mitigations (operational guidance, not optional):** Your search queries reveal what scientific claims and topics you're investigating. For sensitive health or policy stories, consider whether query patterns could reveal an unpublished investigation angle. The free tier is generous enough that you can avoid creating an account for casual use. Verify every citation by reading the actual paper — AI synthesis can oversimplify nuanced findings. Don't treat the Consensus Meter as definitive for topics with few studies. ## Ownership & business - **Owner:** Consensus NLP Inc. (private, New York). Co-founded by Eric Olson (CEO) and Christian Salem. - **Funding model:** VC-backed. $19.2M total raised across 5 rounds. $11.5M Series A from Union Square Ventures, Nat Friedman (former GitHub CEO), and Daniel Gross. Additional Series B round in August 2024. - **Business model:** Freemium SaaS. Free tier for adoption (25 Pro searches/month). Revenue from Pro subscriptions ($15/mo or $120/year) and enterprise/institutional plans. Revenue reached $1M in 2024 with a 29-person team. LibKey integration expanding university distribution. - **Open source:** no --- Canonical HTML: https://fieldwork.news/tools/consensus Full dataset: https://fieldwork.news/llms-full.txt Methodology: https://fieldwork.news/methodology