Citation management software allows you to create your own personal database of references. These references can be imported from research databases or manually entered. When you are writing a paper, you can then get citations from the reference management software and format them in hundreds of different citation styles.
| Feature | Mendeley (Institutional) |
Mendeley (Standard) |
Zotero | EndNote X8 Desktop |
EndNote Basic |
| Cost | Free for current MSU faculty, staff, and students | Free | Free | See Barnes & Noble’s ThinkEDU.com for latest prices. A free 30 day trial also available. | Free |
| Access Options | Desktop and Web | Desktop and Web | Desktop and Web | Desktop and Web | Web |
| Personal Storage Allocation |
100GB | 2 GB | 300 MB | Unlimited | 50,000 references; 2 GB attachments |
| Total Shared Storage | 100 GB | 100 MB | Based on group owner storage | Unlimted | 2 GB |
| Additional Storage Available for a Charge | N/A | Only for Personal Storage, Not Shared Storage Click here for details. | Yes. Click here to see plans and rates. | N/A | N/A |
| Private Groups | Unlimited | 5 | Unlimited | 1 | N/A |
| Maximum Group Members | 100 | 25 | Unlimited | 100 | N/A |
| Allows annotations of PDFs | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Desktop Version Required to Work with Word Processors | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? | No |
| Microsoft Word Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| LibreOffice Plugin | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Reference list for each chapter available | No | No | No | Yes | No |
| Citation Styles | 8,500+ | 8,500+ | 8,500+ | 6,000+ | 21 |
| Operating Systems for Desktop Version | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac, Linux | Windows, Mac | Windows, Mac |
| Mobile App Available (Allows managing citations, but not working in Word) |
iPad, iPhone, Android | iPad, iPhone, Android | No | iPad | iPad |