Getting Mendeley

Cost: Free

Platform: Web and Desktop for Windows, Mac, or Linux

Pros: Free, Web importer to add articles from any supported website, Browser plugin, Mobile apps for Apple and Android, Citation plugin for Word and LibreOffice, PDF annotator

Cons: No easy way to share with colleagues, organizing is more difficult than in the other options.

From the website: "With the Medeley Reference Manager, you can easily organize and search your personal library, annotate documents and cite as you write."

Getting EasyBib

Cost: Free (MLA only)  to $19.95/month for different plans

Platform: Web-based

Pros: Plagiarism checks and grammar error checks - only with paid plans

Cons: The free plan only uses MLA and does not check for plagiarism. 

From the Website: "EasyBib is an intuitive information literacy platform that provides citation, note taking, and research tools that are easy-to-use and educational."

Getting EndNote 21

Cost: Depending on discount and version purchased.

Platform: Web

Pros: Read, review, annotate, and search PDFs, create rules to automatically organize references as you work, share part or all of your library as read only or write, access research from your desktop, online, or your iPad

Cons: No tablet support other than iPad, expensive, learning curve

From the website: "EndNote 20 is the reference management software that not only frees you from the tedious work of manually collecting and curating your research materials and formatting bibliographies, but also gives you greater ease and control in coordinating with your colleagues."

Getting Sciwheel

Cost: Basic is free, Premium is $6.99/month

Platform: Web

Pros:

Basic - Free, unlimited references, instantly save and annotate articles online, Find and cite references in Microsoft Word and Google Docs, Access your references and PDFs from any device, easy collaboration

Premium - All the items in the Basic package plus unlimited projects, article suggestions, unlimited storage, smart citation suggestions in Microsoft Office and Google Docs, access to article recommendations in Sciwheel Prime

Cons: Basic only allows three projects at a time, so organizing is difficult. Not web based.

From the Website: "An easy and intuitive way to discover, read, annotate, write and share scientific research."​

Dr. Paper for Mac - $24.95

Dr. Paper for Windows - $24.95

ProCite 5.0 5-User Lab Pack - $874.95

Noodle Tools - $15.00/year for an Individual License

Power Notes - $4.99/month or $49.99/year

Paperpile - $2.99/month