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Paperpile vs BibDesk: catalog facts
Paperpile	BibDesk
Paid Paid subscription with a 30-day free trial.	Free Free and open source.
Android, iOS, Web, Browser extension	macOS
Built-in PDF viewer with annotation tools Citation plugins for Google Docs and Word	Links references to their PDFs and web pages One-click import from Google Scholar, arXiv and PubMed
Requires a Google account Sign-up only on Chrome for now, Safari and Firefox in beta	macOS only Built around BibTeX, less suited to Word-based workflows
Downloadable app, Web application, Browser extension	Downloadable app
Closed source	Open source
License not stated	License not stated
Account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026

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