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PaperQA2 vs Local Deep Research: catalog facts
PaperQA2	Local Deep Research
Free Free and open source under the Apache 2.0 licence; model API usage may cost extra.	Free Free, with source code published on GitHub; cloud model providers may charge.
Command line	Self-hosted
Answers include citations to the source documents Fetches paper metadata with citation counts and retraction checks	Works with local models or cloud providers Searches arXiv, PubMed and more than ten other sources
Needs a language model, either through an API or run locally Setup and tuning assume comfort with Python	Good results with local models need a capable GPU Self-hosting setup is more involved than a hosted service
Downloadable app	Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: Apache-2.0	License not stated
Not stated if an account is needed	Not stated if an account is needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked September 24, 2026

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