Endnote, Zotero and Mendeley all operate similarly, with different advantages and disadvantages.
Ultimately it is up to you as to which one to use, you may just find one of them suits you better than the others.
Hopefully this guide will help you with that choice. Take a look at the quick comparison table below, then try out the interactive videos, and from there decide which one might work best for you.
| Endnote | Zotero | Mendeley | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Support available? |
•EndNote website provides online training materials and a blog.
|
•Zotero website provides training materials and discussion forums/blog.
•Open source (cannot be acquired by a company)
|
•Mendeley website provides online training materials and blog
|
| How much do they cost? |
•Waikato students can download a free copy from the Waikato website to a personal computer.
•If you leave the university, you will need to pay for your own licence.
|
•Free
•Pay for extra online storage
|
•Free
|
| Devices and online versions |
•Desktop
•Online – EndNote Online
•Official mobile app
•Sync between devices and online library
|
•Desktop
•Online
•Official mobile app
•Sync between devices and online library
|
•Desktop
•Online – Mendeley Reference Manager
•Sync between devices and online library
|
| Storage capabilities |
•Unlimited local storage
•2GB online storage
|
•Unlimited local storage
•200MB free online storage
|
•Free account: 2GB storage
|
| What word processors will they work with? |
•Desktop: MS Word, OpenOffice
•Cite while you write for both desktop and online libraries.
•A better tool for managing long documents and a large reference collection
|
•MS Word, LibreOffice, Google Docs (Must use the Chrome browser to integrate with Google Docs)
•Cite while you write with desktop library
|
•MS Word, OpenOffice
•Cite while you write with desktop library
|
| How to add references |
•Direct export references from databases
•Drag and drop PDFs to EndNote with reference data
•Add references manually
•Capture online resources to EndNote Online
•“Find reference updates” function
|
•Export references from databases
•It is easier to use Zotero to collect references from websites
•PDFs can be downloaded along with reference data
•Add references manually
•Snapshots of webpages are also saved with references
|
•Export references from some databases
•Drag and drop PDFs to Mendeley with some reference data
•Use web importer to get references from databases/website instantly
•Add references directly from Mendeley website
•Add references manually
|
| PDF functions |
•Import PDFs or PDF folders
•Import PDF folders automatically
•Drag and drop PDFs
•PDF annotation
|
•Use browser connector to collect references from websites. PDFs are sometimes downloaded along with reference data
•Drag and drop PDFs to Zotero
•Built in PDF reading and annotation tools
|
•Import PDFs using a Web importer
•Drag and drop PDFs
•Import PDF folders automatically
•PDF annotation in a Notebook
|