Higher education 🇬🇧 London, United Kingdom Since 2007 4.3 · 250 ratings

Mendeley

A reference manager with a Word citation add-in, owned by Elsevier.

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free personal storage
2GB
a month for the lowest paid plan, Plus
$4.99
users in April 2013, according to TechCrunch
2.3M
on G2, 250 reviews
4.3

About Mendeley

Mendeley is a reference manager for researchers and students. Three German PhD students founded it in London in 2007, and the Dutch publisher Elsevier has owned it since 2013. The free plan gives 2GB of personal storage, and paid plans cost $4.99, $9.99 or $14.99 a month for 5GB, 10GB or unlimited storage with AI reading tools. Mendeley Reference Manager runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and the web, and the Mendeley Cite add-in inserts citations in Microsoft Word. The legacy Mendeley Desktop still works and gets security fixes, but Elsevier adds no new features to it.

Mendeley stores PDFs and references in a cloud library. Users read, highlight and annotate papers, sort them into collections and tags, and share them in groups. The Mendeley Cite add-in pulls references from the library into Microsoft Word and builds the bibliography in the chosen citation style.

Victor Henning, Jan Reichelt and Paul Foeckler, German PhD students, founded Mendeley in London in November 2007. The name comes from Gregor Mendel and Dmitri Mendeleev. The first public beta came out in August 2008. Early investors included people from Skype, Last.fm and Warner Music.

Elsevier announced the purchase on 9 April 2013, when Mendeley had about 2.3 million users. In 2019 Elsevier announced a new app, Mendeley Reference Manager, and a new Word add-in, Mendeley Cite. The mobile apps left the stores in March 2021. In December 2025 Mendeley added paid AI features for reading and comparing papers.

History

  1. 2007 Victor Henning, Jan Reichelt and Paul Foeckler register Mendeley Limited in London on 6 November.
  2. 2008 Releases the first public beta in August.
  3. 2009 Raises $2 million in a round led by ASI, a fund of Skype’s founding engineers. Wins Plugg’s European Start-up of the Year.
  4. 2013 Elsevier announces the purchase of Mendeley on 9 April. All 50 employees join Elsevier.
  5. 2013 Launches iPhone and iPad apps in September.
  6. 2015 Buys Newsflo, a service that tracks press coverage of research.
  7. 2016 Mendeley Data, a platform for citable research datasets, leaves beta in April.
  8. 2019 Announces Mendeley Reference Manager and the Mendeley Cite add-in for Word in May.
  9. 2020 Mendeley Reference Manager replaces the Web Library on 7 September.
  10. 2021 Removes the mobile apps from the App Store and Google Play on 15 March.
  11. 2025 Says on 9 July that Mendeley Desktop stays, with security fixes and no new features. Adds Reading Assistant, Ask My Library and Compare Experiments in December.
  12. 2026 Releases Mendeley Reference Manager v2.149.0 on 24 August.

Mendeley funding and investors

just under $12 million raised in disclosed rounds
  1. February 2009
    Early round $2 million

    Lead: ASI Stefan GlaenzerSpencer HymanAlejandro ZubillagaAcademics from Cambridge and Johns Hopkins

    Source: TechCrunch

Total raised before the Elsevier deal, as reported by TechCrunch in 2013. TechCrunch named Access Industries, Passion Capital and Tom Glocer among the investors. Only the 2009 round has a public date and amount in the sources we opened.

How Mendeley works

free personal storage
2GB
free groups of up to 25 people
5
shared storage across free groups
100MB
  • PDF reader with highlights and notes
  • Collections and tags
  • Watched folders
  • Mendeley Notebook
  • Shared group libraries
  • Mendeley Cite for Word
  • Custom citation styles
  • Web Importer for the browser
  • Reading Assistant
  • Ask My Library
  • Compare Experiments
  • Export to RIS and BibTeX

Products

  • Mendeley Reference Manager The current desktop and web app. It imports PDFs, organises them in collections and tags, opens them in a reader with highlights and notes, and syncs the library through the cloud. Download
  • Mendeley Cite A free add-in for Microsoft Word. It inserts one or several references, builds a bibliography and switches citation styles, including custom ones. It works without the desktop app installed. Microsoft Marketplace
  • AI features Reading Assistant answers questions about one PDF with citations. Ask My Library searches the whole library. Compare Experiments sets up to 10 papers side by side. The free plan has 5 Reading Assistant questions. Plans
  • Mendeley Web Importer A browser extension that saves references and PDFs from web pages to the library. Chrome Web Store
  • Mendeley Desktop The original desktop app, version 1.19.8. It still works and gets critical security fixes, but gets no new features. It works with the older Word plugin. Mendeley Cite works with Reference Manager libraries. Status
  • Mendeley Data A repository where researchers publish datasets with a citable record. data.mendeley.com

How much is Mendeley?

  • Free $0/mo Free, 2GB, 5 AI questions
  • Lowest paid plan Plus $4.99/mo $55 a year, 5GB, unlimited Reading Assistant
  • Pro $9.99/mo $110 a year, 10GB, adds Ask My Library and Compare Experiments
  • Max $14.99/mo $165 a year, Unlimited storage, all AI features

Is Mendeley free?

The free plan includes 2GB of personal storage, 5 Reading Assistant questions, 5 groups of up to 25 people and 100MB of shared group storage.

Prices on mendeley.com/pricing on 7 October 2026, in US dollars, as shown to us. The yearly price equals 11 months, “one month free”. The page does not say whether tax is included. Plans differ by storage and AI features. Plans can be switched in Account Settings and cancelled at any time, according to the pricing page.

Ratings

2.1Trustpilot · Bad 32 reviews · profile not claimed by the company

Is Mendeley worth it?

What users like

What users criticise

What users write in reviews, not our rating. The free plan gives 2GB of storage, and paid plans start at $4.99 a month.

Mendeley reviews

  • Good citation manager in the free version
    “Good citation manager in the free version; easy to use.”
    Samuel Ďuriš · 13 September 2026 · App Store
  • Horrible
    “Had to switch to Zotero in the middle of paper submission because Mendeley would not let me add new references.”
    Sidra. · 15 July 2025 · App Store
  • Absolutely horrible experience
    “It duplicates citations in the same document, keeps ‘ghost’ citations after text is deleted, messes up formatting.”
    customer · 17 October 2024 · App Store

Latest news

  1. Mendeley Reference Manager v2.149.0 release notes
  2. Boost your research efficiency with Mendeley’s new AI features
  3. The future in Mendeley: AI features are here
  4. Mendeley Desktop is here to stay
  5. Elsevier has bought Mendeley for $69M–$100M, TechCrunch
  6. Elsevier acquires Mendeley, RELX press release

Contacts and company data

Legal entity
Elsevier Limited, 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS, United Kingdom
Founding company
Mendeley Limited, 06419015, incorporated 6 November 2007
Founding company status
Dissolved on 11 July 2023, Companies House
Mendeley Cite publisher
Elsevier Limited, Microsoft Marketplace
Terms of use
English law, last updated 21 January 2022
Data protection officer
Elsevier Limited, London

Alternatives to Mendeley

How we built this profile

  1. Sources. Facts come from the company’s own website, press room, imprint and careers page, from Wikipedia, the App Store, Google Play and Trustpilot. Every source is listed on the page.
  2. Checks. Kinescope checked every number on 7 October 2026. Prices, ratings and job counts change, and we refresh them with each update.
  3. Our words. Descriptions are written by the Kinescope team. Quotes from reviews are marked with the author and source, and we do not rate the company ourselves.
  4. Corrections. The company can send new facts or corrections, and we update the profile.

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Mendeley FAQ

Yes. The free plan gives 2GB of personal storage, 5 Reading Assistant questions, 5 groups of up to 25 people and 100MB of shared group storage. Mendeley Reference Manager and Mendeley Cite are free to download.

On 7 October 2026: Plus costs $4.99 a month or $55 a year for 5GB, Pro $9.99 or $110 for 10GB, and Max $14.99 or $165 for unlimited storage. Paid plans add unlimited Reading Assistant questions, and Pro and Max add Ask My Library and Compare Experiments.

Extra personal storage comes only with a paid plan. Upgrades add personal storage. They do not add shared group storage.

Mendeley Desktop is the original app, now at version 1.19.8, and works with the older Word plugin. Mendeley Reference Manager is the current app for Windows, macOS, Linux and the web, and works with Mendeley Cite. Elsevier releases new features only for Reference Manager.

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