# Zotero, Paperpile or Nerdi: which do you need?

They solve different problems. Zotero and Paperpile are reference managers: they store the papers you have found and turn them into citations. Nerdi is a reading app: it brings you a few new papers a day so you find them in the first place. Most researchers need one reference manager, and some also want a reading app; Nerdi exports to both Zotero and Paperpile.

## At a glance

| | Zotero | Paperpile | Nerdi |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main job | Collect and cite papers | Collect and cite papers | Discover and read papers |
| Finds new papers for you | No | No | Yes, three a day |
| Citations in Word or Google Docs | Yes | Yes | No |
| BibTeX and RIS export | Yes | Yes | Yes, with Plus |
| iPhone app | Yes | Yes | Yes (iPhone only) |
| Price | Free; paid storage | Paid, from about $4.15 a month billed yearly | Free to read; Plus $29.99 a year |

Paperpile's price is from its [pricing page](https://paperpile.com/pricing/) at the time of writing.

## Choose Zotero if

You want a free, open-source library that works with Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs, and you are happy to set it up once. Zotero is the default for students on a budget.

## Choose Paperpile if

You write in Google Docs or Overleaf and want the smoothest citation workflow in the browser, and you are willing to pay for it.

## Add Nerdi if

Your problem is not citing papers but reading enough of them. Nerdi shows three papers a day from the fields you choose, out of 20, with the original abstract and the free PDF when one exists. When a paper matters, save it, and later export your library as BibTeX or RIS into Zotero or Paperpile.

## Can I use them together?

Yes, and that is the intended setup: Nerdi for discovery, a reference manager for writing. Neither replaces the other.