reference-manager-comparison
Compare Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Paperpile for research use
Profile →npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill reference-manager-comparison --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Reference Manager Comparison A skill for selecting and configuring the right reference management tool for your research workflow. Provides an in-depth comparison of Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Paperpile across features, pricing, integration, collaboration, and discipline-specific needs. ## Feature Comparison ### Overview Matrix | Feature | Zotero | Mendeley | EndNote | Paperpile | |---------|--------|----------|---------|-----------| | Cost | Free (300MB cloud) | Free (2GB cloud) | ~$275 or institutional | $36/year (academic) | | Platform | Win/Mac/Linux | Win/Mac/Linux | Win/Mac | Web + Chrome | | Word plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes (Google Docs too) | | LaTeX export | BibTeX, BibLaTeX | BibTeX | BibTeX | BibTeX | | PDF annotation | Basic (built-in reader) | Yes | Yes | Yes | | Group libraries | Yes (unlimited, 300MB free) | Yes (limited free) | Via EndNote Online | Yes | | Browser extension | Excellent (Zotero Connector) | Web Importer | Capture (limited) | Excellent | | Open source | Yes (GPLv3) | No | No | No | | Offline access | Full | Full | Full | Limited | | Storage upgrade | $20/year (2GB) | $55/year (5GB) | Unlimited (desktop) | Unlimited | ## Zotero ### Strengths `
- Feature Comparison
- Overview Matrix
- Zotero
- Strengths
- Zotero Setup for Researchers
- Mendeley
- Limitations
- EndNote
- Paperpile
- Decision Guide
- Choosing by Use Case
- Migration Between Tools
- Exporting and Importing
- What Transfers and What Does Not
What does the reference-manager-comparison skill do?
Compare Zotero, Mendeley, EndNote, and Paperpile for research use
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills --skill reference-manager-comparison --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From brycewang-stanford/Auto-Empirical-Research-Skills, a repository with 3,244 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.