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Paperguide vs Yomu AI: which one fits your assignment?
Paperguide and Yomu AI both keep a library of your sources, both search for new ones, and both will write a draft if you ask. What separates them is the document they expect. Paperguide is shaped around literature and systematic reviews. Yomu AI is an editor for writing the paper itself, with a Document Assistant and draft feedback built in.
Doing a lit review or a systematic review? Paperguide. Writing an essay in one editor, with drafting and feedback in the same place? Yomu AI, with the integrity questions any drafting tool brings.
Prices and features checked on October 17, 2026.
At a glance
Writing assistants help you write; essay generators write the essay for you.
| Product | Type | Paid from | Free tier | Citations | Ghostwriting |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paperguide | Writing assistant | $12/month | Yes | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Drafts text when asked |
| Yomu AI | Writing assistant | $10/month | No | Your sources, or papers it finds for you | Writes the essay |


Citations and how you check them
Paperguide's search covers four indexes (PubMed, arXiv, OpenAlex and Semantic Scholar) for 200M+ papers and runs alongside your library, and you can click from any claim to the sentence in the paper behind it. It says it doesn't invent references for AI-written text, and its reference manager covers 1,000+ citation styles with imports from Zotero or Mendeley.
Yomu AI saves sources to a library you can reuse across documents and finds new ones through a citation tool powered by Sourcely, formatting them in 700+ styles. You can also chat with PDFs, images and web search. A review based on public information likes having all of that in one workspace but warns its citations still need checking against the sources. Paperguide states the higher style count, though both counts are lower bounds.
Both draft. Here's how far
Yomu AI writes for you by design. Its new-document flow “writes a full, researched draft”, and the Document Assistant helps “write entire sections”. Its ethics statement asks that it be used alongside your own writing, “not as a replacement for” it.
Paperguide's AI Writer can “Generate a citation-grounded draft from a research question”, so it writes for you on request too. The other option it offers is to write the piece yourself with the agent alongside. If your course bans AI-generated text, both tools need that discipline from you.
Feedback inside the editor
Yomu AI added Get Feedback in September 2026: focused academic reviews of your draft that you can preview and then apply. Applying a suggestion changes your text, so read each one first. Paid plans also let you choose among models from several AI providers for chat and editing.
Pro's 1,000 AI actions a month is the limit to watch if you lean on the Document Assistant and feedback; only Ultra is unlimited.
Nothing on this page describes draft feedback in Paperguide. Its review features are about evidence: dual independent screening, a PRISMA diagram from a review's own counts, and Extract Data, which tabulates details from many papers with every value linked to its source statement. For a systematic review, that's the feedback that matters.
Those are the Paperguide features reviewers praise, along with its literature search and support that fixed problems such as a Zotero connection quickly. Others found its results unhelpful for university assignments, which is worth knowing if your project is an essay.
What you pay, and what's free
Both publish annual prices, so this one compares cleanly. Yomu AI Pro is $10 a month billed annually, with 1,000 AI actions a month, and Ultra, with no cap, is $17. Paperguide Plus is $12 a month per seat and Pro $29, both billed annually. Yomu costs less at both levels. Month to month, Yomu Pro is $21 and Ultra $35; Paperguide only says yearly billing saves 41% over monthly.
Paperguide has a free plan: 2,000 AI credits a month across its Research Agent, reports and AI Writer, plus up to 4,000 words of plagiarism checking. Yomu AI lists no free plan for the editor, though its pricing FAQ says you can start for free to try it, and it has separate free tools such as an outline generator and citation generators.
Independent reviews of Yomu are scarce; the only Trustpilot review complains about a renewal without notice. Paperguide's complaints include crashes on an annual plan and slow PDF uploads.
Which should you choose?
Choose Paperguide if your project is a literature or systematic review: screening, extraction, citations tied to source sentences, and a free plan to start on.
Choose Yomu AI if you're writing a paper in one editor and want drafting, citations and feedback you can apply there, at a lower annual price than Paperguide. Its editor has no listed free plan, so try the free start first.
Feedback and citations without the drafting tool is the combination EthiWrite, which we make, goes for. Examiner Mode flags unsupported claims and gaps but can't rewrite your text, and citations come only from your Library. It formats APA, MLA and Chicago only, far fewer styles than either of these.
FAQ
- Is Yomu AI or Paperguide cheaper?
- On annual billing, Yomu AI: Pro is $10 a month against Paperguide Plus at $12 per seat, and Ultra is $17 against Paperguide Pro at $29.
- Which one writes more of the essay?
- Both will write a draft. Yomu AI writes a full, researched draft from a description and helps write entire sections; Paperguide drafts from a research question with citations attached. Check your course policy before using either draft.
- Is Yomu AI free?
- Its pricing page lists only paid plans for the editor, but the pricing FAQ says you can start using Yomu for free to try the service. Its single-purpose tools, such as the paraphrasing tool, are free.
- Can Paperguide run a systematic review?
- Yes, with dual independent screening and a PRISMA diagram; the final screening call stays with a human. The paper limit is 1,000 on Plus and 5,000 on Pro.
- Does Yomu AI check my draft?
- Its Get Feedback feature, added in September 2026, runs focused academic reviews that you can preview and apply. Nothing on this page describes an equivalent in Paperguide.