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

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