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The Lens vs Semantic Scholar: catalog facts
The Lens	Semantic Scholar
Freemium Free to search, with paid subscriptions offered for some features.	Free Free to use in the browser.
Web	Web, Browser extension
Patents and scholarly works in one search Built-in charts and analysis of results	Index of more than 238 million papers across all fields of science Free to search without cost
Analysis of very large result sets can time out Some features require a subscription	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
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 September 23, 2026

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