Mendeley vs. Zotero

Msimky · July 3, 2014

What can Zotero do that Mendeley can't? What can Mendeley do that Zotero can't?
What does each program do better?

I'm under the impression that meta-data extraction generally works better in Zotero, and with Plugins and add-ins (like for full text PDF search), Zotero can duplicate most Mendeley functionality other than suggested reading (which I can get from google scholar).

Is that right?

I can use a PDF viewer for annotation, so no need for Mendeley's built in.

Anything else to think about in deciding?

fbennett · July 3, 2014

Mendeley and Zotero use the same citation formatter (written by yours truly). I can't speak for either project, but Zotero is probably the more likely of the two to introduce full legal style support in the main product in the medium term (say within the next couple of years).

adamsmith · July 3, 2014

Generally speaking, Mendeley puts more emphasis on social features--by that I don't mean collaboration, which works just as well (and much cheaper/free) in Zotero, but things like presenting yourself via a profile page, getting article recommendations, and finding other users interested in similar issues.
The other issue that Mendeley is investing heavily in is tighter PDF integration--things like displaying the ToC and key figures from PDFs, integrating PDF annotations into the references manager (which ZotFile does in a similar way, but Mendeley arguably does more smoothly).
Mendeley also has a native iOS app and is developing and Android app. There are two (free) iOS apps by 3rd party developers for Zotero that people are very happy with, but there is no good Android solution.

Zotero does a lot better for import from a broader range of sources. In terms of legal sources that includes basic support for LexisNexis and HeinOline, though not WestLaw (and I don't believe there's much hope for that). It handles non-PDF sources much better. It is more customizable, both natively and via add-ons. As I allude to above, it's collaboration features are much, much more affordable (groups are free regardless of size--you only pay for storage, which a) isn't required and b) is 10/month max. You can pay >$50/month for groups in Mendeley depending on their size. I think Zotero's Word integration is a lot nicer.

Finally, to the extent that it matters to you, Zotero is open source and run out of a public university, Mendeley is proprietary and owned by Elsevier.