Lune

Comparisons

Lune vs PapersGPT

PapersGPT lives inside Zotero and talks to the library you already curated, with local models if you want it fully offline. Lune has no library. It searches the venues, reads the full text and quotes it back.

Install the connectorSee pricingpapersgpt.com

Start with the one you should not buy from us

If the first list is you, take PapersGPT.

Choose PapersGPT if

  • Zotero is where your papers live and you want the AI to come to them.
  • You need local models and offline processing for confidentiality.
  • A lifetime license beats a subscription for how you work.

Choose Lune if

  • The papers you need are not in your library yet.
  • You want claims checked against published text, with a locator.
  • You want the same tools in Claude Code and Cursor, not only in Zotero.

From a question to a citation

PapersGPT

  1. Open your Zotero library
  2. Chat across PDFs
  3. Answer with citations

Lune

  1. Search top-tier venues
  2. Read the full text
  3. Quote with a locator
One works your library. The other works the venues.

Line by line

Marks the side we think wins. We mark the ones we lose.

  • Where papers come from

    Lune

    Lune wins this row. A curated index of top-tier venues, plus your uploads.

    PapersGPT

    Your Zotero library, and PDFs you add to it.

  • Where it runs

    Lune

    Any MCP client, plus a CLI and three miniapps.

    PapersGPT

    Inside Zotero, with an MCP server for Claude Desktop.

  • Privacy posture

    Lune

    Hosted. Your documents stay scoped to your team.

    PapersGPT

    PapersGPT wins this row. Local models run fully offline.

  • How deep a citation goes

    Lune

    A verbatim quote and its locator, per claim.

    PapersGPT

    Answers cite the PDFs in your library.

  • Discovery

    Lune

    Lune wins this row. Search, sweep, related papers, citation graph.

    PapersGPT

    Literature review over what you already hold.

  • Entry price

    Lune

    $4.99 a month ($47.90 a year), or free for 10 requests a day.

    PapersGPT

    From $7 a month, or a lifetime license from $39.

Where the difference comes from

The library problem and the discovery problem

PapersGPT assumes the hard part is already done: you found the papers, they are in Zotero, and now you need to read them faster. Inside that assumption it is excellent, and running a local model over your own PDFs is a genuinely good answer for confidential work.

Lune assumes the opposite. The papers that would change your argument are the ones you have not read, so they are not in the library. Nothing inside Zotero can find them.

Both speak MCP, so compare the tools

PapersGPT ships an MCP server for Claude Desktop, so an agent can reach your library through it. Lune ships one too, and both work in the same clients.

What differs is the reach. PapersGPT's tools operate over your collection. Lune's operate over accepted papers you have never opened, and answer with the sentence rather than the file.

What your agent can call

  • search_papers
  • search_papers_many
  • search_related_papers
  • get_paper_fulltext
  • get_paper_citations
  • extract_from_papers
  • verify_claims
  • gather_evidence
  • list_conferences
  • get_conference_papers
  • search_research_guidance
  • get_research_guidance_doc

One connection, in Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, ChatGPT or anything else that speaks MCP. The same tools back the miniapps in the Lune dashboard.

Price

Lune

Free
$0 10 requests a day, every tool
Pro
$4.99 a month or $47.90 a year, 300 requests a day
Max
$9.99 a month or $95.90 a year, 600 requests a day
Credits
$0.99 300 extra requests, no expiry

PapersGPT

Paid
from $7 a month, AI credits included
Lifetime
from $39 one-time license

PapersGPT includes chat credits, so no separate API key is needed. Prices move; treat this as a snapshot, not a quote.

What we read

Questions

Is Lune a PapersGPT alternative?
For finding papers and checking claims, yes. For chatting with a Zotero library offline, PapersGPT does something Lune does not.
Does PapersGPT have an MCP server?
Yes, for Claude Desktop. It also supports local models through Ollama-style runtimes.
Does Lune work with Zotero?
Not directly. Lune returns paper metadata and quotes; your agent or reference manager handles filing.

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