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BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) vs Semantic Scholar: catalog facts
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)	Semantic Scholar
Free Free to search in the browser.	Free Free to use in the browser.
Web	Web, Browser extension
Focused on open-access academic content Draws on thousands of institutional repositories	Index of more than 238 million papers across all fields of science Free to search without cost
Anti-scraper check requires modern JavaScript and can slow page loads Covers repository content, so some paywalled literature will be missing	Semantic Reader is in beta and only available for select papers Web only, with no offline use
Web application	Web application, Browser extension
Closed source	Closed source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Needs internet	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 23, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.