Question 1

Is Scholar really free forever?

Accepted Answer

Yes. No credit card needed, no trial period, no expiry. Scholar is free indefinitely with unlimited documents and sources.

Question 2

What AI features are included free?

Accepted Answer

Scholar includes a monthly allowance of Research & start, Scholar AI, and Proofreading, which resets on the 1st of each month (UTC). Literature search is free too, up to 40 searches a day, and so is adding sources by link, DOI, ISBN or PDF. Scholar also includes 5 citation or claim checks a month, run when you ask. Checking claims as you write, daily checks and Document Audit are on Fellow and Chair. Fellow turns the monthly allowances into daily ones and adds version history; Deep Scan, briefing audio and Scholar AI in co-editing chat are on Chair.

Question 3

What's the difference between Fellow and Chair?

Accepted Answer

Chair gives you 2× higher AI query limits, unlimited proofreading, more Discovery Agents with Deep Scan and briefing audio, Folio Surveyor with no response cap per study (each survey link takes up to 1,000), priority support, and direct founder access.

Question 4

Do you offer annual billing?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Switch to Annual at the top of this page to save 17% versus paying monthly ($99/year for Fellow, $250/year for Chair). Once you subscribe, Plan & billing in your account links to the Lemon Squeezy customer portal, where you can move between monthly and annual, or between Fellow and Chair, on the same subscription.

Question 5

How do seasonal discounts work?

Accepted Answer

When a seasonal offer is running you will see it above the plans, and it is applied automatically at checkout, with no code to type. It covers your first billing period only: the monthly figure takes that percentage off your first month, and where an annual figure is shown it takes that percentage off your first year. After that the plan renews at the normal price listed on this page. Offers apply to Fellow and Chair; Scholar is free, so there is nothing to discount. Each offer runs through the end of the date shown on the banner, in UTC, and a few occasion-based offers are only shown in the regions they are meant for.

Question 6

Can I cancel anytime?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Cancel through our payment provider anytime. Your plan stays active until the end of the billing period.

Question 7

Is my data safe?

Accepted Answer

Your documents and sources are stored securely. We never train AI models on your data. You can export everything at any time from Account settings.

Question 8

Using Folio through your school or university?

Accepted Answer

Every workspace feature on your institution's subdomain is on regardless of tier. If you are staff and your institution turns on AI assistance, Folio Review or Research Radar for staff, you get those through the institution. As a student, your AI allowances (Cold Start, Scholar AI, and the rest) come from your own personal plan here, not your institution's. Upgrading raises your limits everywhere you use Folio, including on your institution's subdomain.

Question 9

I got a free month first (referral, promo code, or comp). When does my refund window start?

Accepted Answer

Not until you're actually charged. A $0 month from a referral reward, promo code, or comp doesn't start or count against our 7-day refund window. The window opens on the date of your first real charge. See our Refund Policy for details.

Feature	Scholar	Fellow	Chair
Core
Unlimited documents & sources	Included	Included	Included
All citation styles	Included	Included	Included
DOCX export	Included	Included	Included
BibTeX / RIS / CSL export	Included	Included	Included
MCP connector (Claude, ChatGPT & more)	Included	Included	Included
AI essentials (free taster)
Research & start briefs	3/month	1/day	2/day
Scholar AI (ask your sources)	10/month	20/hr	60/hr
Proofreading	3/month	10/day	Unlimited
Citation Suggestions	Included	Included	Included
Integrity & verifiable AIWhat do these mean?
Authorship certificates & reports	3/month	Unlimited	Unlimited
Attested writing (timestamped record)	Early access	Early access	Early access
Citation & claim checks (run when you ask)	5/month	20/day	60/day
Claims checked as you write	Not included	Included	Included
Document Audit	Not included	1/day	2/day
Discovery & synthesis
Literature search (Semantic Scholar, CrossRef, OpenAlex & more)	40/day	Unlimited	Unlimited
Literature discovery (AI synthesis, related, cited-by)	Not included	Included	Included
Synthesis matrix	Not included	10/day	30/day
Research Radar + email digests	Not included	Included	Included
Discovery Agents
Always-on discovery agents	Not included	3 agents	10 agents
Ask your agents about findings	Not included	30/day	100/day
Deep Scan (live web, not just scholarly APIs)	Not included	Not included	20/day
Briefing audio	Not included	Not included	10/day
Cross-agent synthesis	Not included	5/day	20/day
Workspace
Collaboration	Not included	View & comment	Included
Scholar AI in your co-editing chat	Not included	Not included	40/day
Version history	Not included	Last 50 versions	Last 50 versions
Document templates	Included	Included	Included
Folio Surveyor	50 responses	200 responses + AI analysis	No study cap, 1,000 per link + AI analysis
Support
Priority support	Not included	Not included	Included
Direct founder support	Not included	Not included	Included

Plans for every stage of research

Scholar

Fellow

Chair

Frequently asked questions