Comparison

Zoho Writer vs CiteSight

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Zoho Writer

Create and edit documents with a clean, distraction-free interface. Collaborate with others in real-time, import and export various file formats, and access your work across all devices. Your changes are automatically saved and synced.

Highlights
  • Create and edit documents
  • Real-time collaboration
  • Import/export MS Word, PDF, ODT
  • Sync across devices
  • Offline access
  • Automatic saving
Features
Read full description

Simple, slick word processing app to create and edit documents, and collaborate on them with your friends. Sync docs across devices and access them wherever you go.   Writer is carefully designed to create a clean, blank paper-esque writing experience across your smartphone, tablet and computer. And it's free forever! Collaborate with your team - Join discussions, even when you're away from your desk. Add your thoughts to documents, reply to friends' comments, or just appreciate them by clicking "like."   Work with multiple formats - Import and edit your existing Microsoft Word documents. Take stories off your world by exporting it as an MS Word, PDF, ODT, HTML, or TXT file.   Get access to the full-blown web version - One of the best advantages of using Writer is that it features a powerful word processor on the web. It's incredibly easy to jot down notes on the move, and continue working on it on the web when you're back to your desk. Create beautiful looking documents - Format your documents. Add images, tables, and more. Work offline - Apart from a "Make available offline" option, 20 of your most recent documents will available offline by default too!   Forget saving documents - Forget clicking save, and manual back up. Your changes are saved and synced across all your devices as you make them. What's stopping you now? Get started. Write away!

About

CiteSight

Organize, read, and understand academic PDFs with AI-powered chat. Ask questions, get summaries, and find information in seconds. Features nested folders, real-time search, and secure storage.

Highlights
  • AI-powered chat with research papers
  • Organize PDFs into nested folders
  • Real-time search across entire library
  • Built-in PDF viewer
  • Secure, private data storage
  • Automatic text extraction
Features
Read full description

CiteSight — Your AI-Powered Research Companion Managing research papers shouldn't feel like a second job. CiteSight brings together everything you need to organize, read, and understand your academic PDFs — all in one beautifully designed app. Upload & Organize with Ease Import your PDF research papers and organize them into nested folders that mirror how you think. Navigate effortlessly with breadcrumb paths, search across your entire library instantly, and keep your research structured — whether you have ten papers or ten thousand. Chat with Your Papers Using AI Select any paper or an entire folder and start a conversation. Ask questions, request summaries, explore key findings, ask for a citation from the paper or dig into specific sections. CiteSight's AI reads your documents so you can get answers in seconds instead of hours. Responses stream in real-time, and you can copy them with a single tap. Built for Serious Researchers Automatic text extraction from uploaded PDFs AI processing status tracking so you know when papers are ready for chat 2,000-character message input for detailed, nuanced questions Persistent chat history for every paper and folder context Scanned PDF detection with clear warnings Read PDFs Without Leaving the App Open and read your papers in a built-in PDF viewer. No switching between apps, no losing your place. Your Library, Your Way Create folders and subfolders to match your workflow. Move between them with intuitive breadcrumb navigation. Use real-time search with instant results to find any paper in your collection. Privacy & Security First Your research is yours. Every document is stored securely with row-level security policies, ensuring only you can access your papers and conversations. No shared databases, no data mixing between users. To use the AI features, you need to consent to sharing the papers and chat messages to the AI Engines (OpenAI, Anthropic) Free & Pro Plans Get started for free with monthly upload and message allowances. Upgrade to Pro for higher limits for paper uploads and AI conversations — perfect for active researchers, graduate students, and academics. Account You Control Email-based authentication with secure password management Password reset via email Account deletion with a 14-day grace period and full data removal Restore purchases anytime Dark Mode Support CiteSight adapts to your system appearance. Whether you prefer light or dark mode, the interface looks clean and feels natural — day or night. Why Researchers Choose CiteSight Traditional reference managers help you store papers. CiteSight helps you understand them. By combining smart organization with AI-powered conversations, CiteSight turns passive reading into active learning. Spend less time searching and more time discovering. Download CiteSight today and transform how you work with research. Al Data Sharing: CiteSight uses Al to help you understand your research papers. To provide this service, we share some of your data with Al providers. What We Share: Paper content (PDFs and extracted text), Your chat messages and questions Al Providers (Your data is processed by): Anthropic (Claude), OpenAl These providers process your data to generate Al responses. Your data is subject to their respective privacy policies. Privacy Policy: https://www.lenahvalley.com/privacy Terns of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/

Screenshots

Zoho Writer4 screens
CiteSight4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: CiteSight at 5.0 against Zoho Writer's 2.9. Zoho Writer's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 2) and ratings volume (136 vs 2). On price, ads, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. CiteSight sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Zoho Writer asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

CiteSight holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 2.9. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Zoho Writer has 136 ratings behind it against 2, so its average is the more settled of the two.

Scorecard4 real differences · 6 level
Zoho Writer versus CiteSight: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterZoho WriterCiteSight
PriceFreeFree
Rating2.9 (136 ratings)5.0 (2 ratings) — better
Positive reviews29.8% of reviews—
Number of ratings136 — better2
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeks—
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesNo — betterYes
MonetizationFree — betterFreemium
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone, iPod
Requires iOS15.0 — better15.1
Further details — not scored
Size132 MB42 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperZoho CorporationPrateek Prakash

Customer experience

Zoho Writer

All ratings136 ratings
Positive40.4%
Neutral14.0%
Negative45.6%
Written reviews151 reviews
Positive29.8%
Neutral13.2%
Negative57.0%

CiteSight

All ratings2 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Zoho Writer

Reported bugs

23 issues
  • App crashes on document open
  • Cursor jumps randomly in document
  • Keyboard disappears during typing
  • Punctuation disappears after saving
  • Text erased or goes missing
Show 18 more
  • Undo function behaves erratically
  • Diacritics cause app crashes and data loss
  • Apple Pencil input causes immediate crashes
  • Documents fail to load with permission errors
  • Data migration errors on new accounts
  • Offline mode loses documents on sync
  • Lag increases with document size
  • Copy-paste corrupts text formatting
  • App freezes on tutorial screen
  • Documents deleted after app update
  • Sync fails to reflect web version changes
  • Microphone input text disappears
  • App locks up during formatting operations
  • Blank page display in read mode
  • Random extra spaces between words
  • Cursor placement in middle of words
  • Update failure notifications
  • App crashes when using WorkDrive integration

Requested features

18 requests
  • Dark mode for mobile app
  • Text wrapping around images
  • Adjustable image sizing
  • Cover page and page formatting options
  • Document list view (not just icon view)
Show 13 more
  • Search within document contents
  • Ability to save to specific folders
  • Multi-select for batch operations
  • Select all functionality
  • Landscape view support
  • Split-screen iPad support
  • Cloud import from Dropbox/OneDrive
  • Track changes feature
  • Outline navigation on mobile
  • Font size customization
  • Margin adjustment controls
  • Document templates
  • Alphabetical document sorting

CiteSight

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

None

Zoho Writer

No in-app purchases

2 purchases

CiteSight

Subscriptions2
  • Pro-Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Pro-Annual$49.991 Year

Questions

Is Zoho Writer free?
Zoho Writer is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Is CiteSight free?
CiteSight is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Which has better reviews, Zoho Writer or CiteSight?
CiteSight is rated higher. Zoho Writer averages 2.9 out of 5 from 136 ratings, while CiteSight averages 5.0 from 2 ratings.
Do Zoho Writer or CiteSight have ads?
Neither Zoho Writer nor CiteSight shows ads.

Other comparisons