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BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine) vs The Lens: catalog facts
BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)	The Lens
Free Free to search in the browser.	Freemium Free to search, with paid subscriptions offered for some features.
Web	Web
Focused on open-access academic content Draws on thousands of institutional repositories	Patents and scholarly works in one search Built-in charts and analysis of results
Anti-scraper check requires modern JavaScript and can slow page loads Covers repository content, so some paywalled literature will be missing	Analysis of very large result sets can time out Some features require a subscription
Web application	Web application
Closed source	Closed source
License not stated	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	No account needed
Needs internet	Needs internet
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 26, 2026

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