Zotero Reviews

User Rating

4.6/5 (Based on 96 Ratings)

Rating Distribution

Excellent
64.6%
Very Good
28.1%
Average
7.3%
Poor
0%
Terrible
0%

User Sentiments

Ease of Use, Extensive Integrations, Efficient Citation Management, Free and Open Source

Occasional Syncing Issues, Limited Free Storage Space, Outdated User Interface, Inconsistent Metadata Extraction

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Review Summary

User reviews of Zotero highlight its effectiveness as a free, open-source reference management tool, particularly for organizing research materials and generating citations across multiple devices. Many users praise its ease of use and browser integration, which allow for quick saving and retrieval of resources. However, some users express concerns about its outdated interface, limited storage capacity in the free version, and occasional issues with citation accuracy and syncing. While Zotero offers a reliable solution for many, its limitations may necessitate exploring alternative platforms for specific needs.

Pros

Zotero is free for basic usage, saving users significant costs.
Its browser extension simplifies adding sources & PDFs to your library.
Zotero effortlessly integrates with popular word processors, including Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
It allows collaborative research with shared libraries, enabling seamless team work.

Cons

Zotero's interface might be considered outdated compared to modern software, and navigation can be challenging.
The free version has limited storage capacity, potentially hindering large research projects.
Zotero's syncing functionality can be unreliable, causing frustration for users relying on cloud access.

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Reviews

Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness

July 16, 2024 Source: G2.com

Great at keeping me organized!

What do you like best about Zotero?

I love the Chrome browser add-on. That makes it very easy to save articles I'm researching for and save them to the correct folder. I use it regularly to sort research and analyze research articles.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Nothing about the platform aside from the interface is a little outdated.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

It helps me to keep all of my references organized and share references with other users.

Verified User in Research

May 1, 2024 Source: G2.com

Plus - the zotero + notion plugin is super super helpful! Using Zotero for PhD

What do you like best about Zotero?

The reference management system is perfect, bar none. The sync capabilty across ALL devices is my absolute favourite thing! I use my laptop for searches, switch to ipad for reading and notetaking, and back again to my laptop to use Overleaf to write my stuff.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

The switch from Mendeley to Zotero was a bit frustrating at the beginning - till I found out an easy way to do that! Honestly, the only thing I dislike is the "look" but that's superficial and overall it's been great for me to use.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

As a graduate student, conducting literature reviews and using online sources is common pratice. The plugins and cross-device functionality has made it super easy.

Afsar K

November 24, 2023 Source: G2.com

candidate.

What do you like best about Zotero?

I am a scholar of literature, and Zotero helps me in many ways in my writing. such as reference management, automatic citation and bibliography generation, tagging and categorization, advanced searching, and many other features that are yet to be discovered.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

I think it should have a writing section too that includes some important writing services such as grammar checkers, paraphrasing, plagiarism checkers, and translation.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Zotero helps me to read lots of study material, like research papers and thesis, and I can track all my reading by referencing. I can also categorize my study material into limitless sections and sub-sections. It can generate citations in any format you like that you can download for your writing. Its beneficial nature does not stop here; there are also a lot of things to do with this software. This is very useful software for writers or any Ph.D.

Vandana K

October 20, 2023 Source: G2.com

Zotero can optionally synchronize data across devices, keeping my files, notes, and bibliographic records up to date It's great help for writing research paper especially review of literature

What do you like best about Zotero?

Zotero is very much helpful for me it organize my research content or manuscript . I can sort my searches or reviewed article into collections and tag them with keywords also create saved searches that automatically fill with relevant materials as i proceed with work. We can work collaboratively with co writer mabers with same application.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Its open source also free software so there is nothing as such I dislike but yes I need to be trained myself to use it effectively

Recommendations to others considering Zotero?

It's very useful for researcher

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

colllabratively write a paper with a sgare course materials as well Zotero library with students and colleagues, at no cost.

Sukran Bahar S

September 8, 2023 Source: G2.com

Being able to integrate with Notion has helped me a lot with keeping track of my readings as well Great citation manager/organizing my papers

What do you like best about Zotero?

I am a PhD student so I often write papers where I need to manage my citations, but I also use Zotero so I can sync my readings across devices (my desktop computer on campus vs my personal laptop). I love that I can integrate Zotero with Word and Google Docs and that I can take notes on Zotero, organize by tags, make different libraries and also search text. It has been a tremendous help in graduate school!

What do you dislike about Zotero?

I don't really have any downsides of using Zotero. Sometimes the integration with Word can be wonky and it can be a little difficult to edit citations when writing the paper but I think that is expected with basically any citation manager

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

I use it to reference other papers, I can quickly download citations from sources to use them in papers I write. But I also use it to organize my papers by using different tags and libraries so I can access both the papers and my notes easily in the future when I am trying to refer back to what I have read on a particular topic.

Syrus J

August 24, 2023 Source: G2.com

A Must for Long Term Research Projects

What do you like best about Zotero?

Zotero really solves a few major issues that I'd otherwise have. It makes it easy to save research progress or sources, it makes it extremely easy to organize sources, and it enables me to keep track of sources and potential leads across devices thanks to its syncing. Its browser extension works extremely well. I really wouldn't be able to manage a multiyear research project without it.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Zotero has an issue with syncing where it sometimes syncs while I'm in the middle of updating an entry title, meaning that it erases whatever I just wrote. This has been going on for months but it's difficult to replicate, meaning that I've had to just deal with it.

Recommendations to others considering Zotero?

Additionally, free users are limited in storage, and won't really be able to use it as more than just a bibliography manager. Its premium version is inexpensive, however.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Zotero solves the issue of trying to save resources easily. By using a browser extension, Zotero also saves enough extra information about a source that I can usually track it down even if the URL or link gets broken. That's a problem otherwise, because when it's laborious for me to save information and write down a bibliographic entry, I might initially just save the URL (obviously a problem because URLs break all the time). It helps me navigate my resources more easily through tags, too.

Jorge C

June 7, 2023 Source: G2.com

Managing references has never been easier!

What do you like best about Zotero?

I love so many things about Zotero! I love that it is free, to begin with. But regardless of being an open access resource it is very easy to use and highly functional. The browser add-on makes it very easy for me to add any kind of source to my library and almost all of the time Zotero will find the pdf file for me as well as all of the documents metadata. I also like its Word add on, which makes it very easy for me to create a reference list while working on a new project.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

I'd love to see two things improve in future versions of Zotero. First, I would love to see in a document's info section what folder or folder are they in. Second, I'd love if Zotero files could be stored in the cloud instead of in a folder in my computer because that makes that some of my files get duplicated.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Keeping my references organized by topic, project, class, etc. I use the iPad app so I can keep all of my sources synchronized. On the iPad I can highlight documents and take notes. On my desktop I keep my files in order and use Zotero to manage my references for projects.

CRISTIAN EDUARDO B

March 23, 2023 Source: G2.com

Zotero: un gestor bibliográfico gratuito ideal

What do you like best about Zotero?

Antes que nada, es gratis. Detrás de está herramienta hay un grupo de desarrollo y soporte excelente y atento. Esta herramienta ofrece una interfaz sencilla, ideal para el trabjo sin distracciones, especialmente para los los académicos. Por otro lado, ofrece el plugin para los navegadores y poder capturar rápidamente los metadatos de los materiales a referenciar, así como un proceso de integración entre las versiones. Por último, la integración con Word facilita la citación y referenciación de los autores sin necesidad de moverse entre aplicaciones.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Quizás la interfaz gráfica podría actualizarse a una mejor propuesta visual para adaptarse a una vista más minimalista o de acuerdo a los sistemas operativos.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Lo mejor es que me permite la organización y gestión del material bilbiográfico de mis proyectos de investigación.

Vladislav I

November 13, 2022 Source: G2.com

Excellent choice for bibliography management

What do you like best about Zotero?

Free software with all needed feature.

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Due to community support, it is easy to get answers to questions and even ask for new features.

Recommendations to others considering Zotero?

Any complain about Zotero can be rephrased into – fix it yourself. Some do not like particular features – they can write a plugin or a style. Others do not like size and price limits – they can setup an unlimited server through webdav or just store Zotero files in Dropbox. In a way, Zotero is limitless. That means everything in Zotero can be patched or extended. Even if you do not have skills for that – there is a community of users ready to help.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Bibliography management for scientific writing.

Verified User in Research

October 15, 2022 Source: G2.com

Must have for researchers

What do you like best about Zotero?

Easy to keep track of the papers and annotations. Extracting it for later use

What do you dislike about Zotero?

Sentences across two pages are split and it adds citation to both parts. Makes it cumbursome to edit.

What problems is Zotero solving and how is that benefiting you?

Organising literature, bibliography, notes, tags

Zotero Reviews

User Rating

Rating Distribution

User Sentiments

Do You Use Zotero?

Review Summary

Pros

Cons

Verified User in Health, Wellness and Fitness

Verified User in Research

Afsar K

Vandana K

Sukran Bahar S

Syrus J

Jorge C

CRISTIAN EDUARDO B

Vladislav I

Verified User in Research

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