Choosing reference management software for a team

Search for “best reference manager” and you get comparisons written for PhD students: which one is free, which has the most citation styles, which works with LaTeX. Those are the right questions for one person. They are the wrong questions for a consultancy, agency or research group, where ten people cite the same sources in dozens of client reports — and where a wrong citation costs credibility, not marks.

This guide covers what changes when a team chooses, then compares the tools people most often shortlist. We build Citepool, one of the tools compared, so we have kept the comparison to facts you can check in each product’s own documentation (linked at the end) and said plainly where another tool is the better fit. Details were checked on 3 October 2026; products change, so confirm anything critical with the vendor.

What reference management software does

Every reference manager — also called citation management software or referencing software — does four jobs:

1. Collects references from DOIs, database exports, PDFs and web pages, so nobody retypes author lists.
2. Stores them in a library, usually with the PDF attached, organised into folders, tags or fields.
3. Inserts citations into your document through an add-in for Word (and sometimes Google Docs or LibreOffice), and builds the reference list as you write.
4. Formats them in a citation style — APA, Harvard, Vancouver and thousands more — and reformats the whole document if you switch.

If you are not sure you need one at all, our guide to inserting citations and a reference list in Word shows what Word can do on its own, and where that runs out.

What matters when a team chooses

1. One library, or many personal ones?

Most reference managers were designed around a personal library, with sharing added through “groups” or “shared libraries”. That can work, but check who owns the shared library, whether everyone sees the same thing at once, and what happens to references people keep in their personal libraries instead. The test: if someone corrects a reference, does everyone — and every document — get the correction?

2. Word that keeps working, on every computer

Reports are written in Word, often across Windows, Mac and Word on the web. Find out which versions the add-in supports, whether it needs a desktop program running in the background, and what a colleague without the add-in sees when you send them a draft. Plugin problems are the most common complaint about reference managers, so trial it on the computers your team actually uses.

3. Roles, and what happens when someone leaves

Can you control who edits the library and who only cites from it? When a person leaves, does the firm keep their references and PDFs, or do they leave in a personal account?

4. Storage for the whole team’s PDFs

Reference data is tiny; PDFs are not. Check how much file storage you get, whether it is per person or shared, and whose quota a shared library uses. Scanned reports run to tens of megabytes each.

5. Grey literature and house styles

Consultancies cite standards, legislation, guidelines and client reports as often as journal articles. Check the tool handles those cleanly, lets you add your own fields (client, jurisdiction, evidence grade) and can match your house citation style rather than a near miss.

6. Getting your data out

Make sure you can export everything — references in RIS or BibTeX, and the PDFs — in one go, so choosing a tool today doesn’t lock you in.

7. How it is priced

Pricing models vary: one-off licences per person, free software with paid storage, and per-user subscriptions. Compare the cost for your whole team, including storage, rather than the headline price for one person.

EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley and Citepool compared

The four tools teams most often shortlist, against the criteria above.

Every tool here formats citations in common styles such as APA and Harvard, and every one can import and export RIS or BibTeX, so moving between them is possible.

Zotero vs EndNote

This is the comparison people search for most, and the honest answer depends on who is paying and how big the library is.

• Cost. Zotero is free and open source, and you pay only if you need more than 300 MB of file storage. EndNote is paid software, licensed per person, though many universities and research organisations provide it.
• Sharing. Zotero group libraries are free to create and join, but the group’s PDFs use the owner’s storage quota, so a busy group soon needs a paid plan. EndNote lets you share a whole synced library — each person needs their own EndNote, and file storage is unlimited while the sync subscription lasts.
• Large libraries. EndNote has long been the choice for very large libraries and systematic reviews, with strong tools for de-duplication and searching databases.
• Word. Both have mature Word add-ins. Zotero also works with Google Docs and LibreOffice.

In short: for an individual or a small academic group, Zotero is usually the better value. For an organisation that already licenses EndNote, or runs systematic reviews, EndNote earns its keep. For a firm whose real problem is ten people citing the same sources in client reports, neither was designed around that — which is why we built Citepool.

Mendeley vs Zotero, and EndNote vs Mendeley

Mendeley’s current Reference Manager pairs with the Mendeley Cite add-in for Word. Free accounts get more personal storage than Zotero’s (2 GB against 300 MB), but shared group storage and group sizes are tighter on the free plan — 100 MB shared across groups, and up to 25 members per private group you create. Against EndNote, Mendeley is lighter and cheaper to start with; EndNote has deeper library-management tools.

Which should you choose?

• Writing a thesis or papers on your own? Start with Zotero. It is free, capable and widely supported.
• Your institution already licenses EndNote? Use it, especially for large libraries and systematic reviews.
• Writing in LaTeX? Choose a tool with strong BibTeX support, such as Zotero. Citepool exports BibTeX, but it is built for Word.
• A team writing client reports in Word? Look for one shared library, live citations that update across documents, and storage that isn’t rationed per person. That is what Citepool is built for.

What Citepool does differently

• One library for the firm, with owner, admin and member roles. Seats follow your team, and removing someone removes their access — the references stay.
• Live citations in Word on Windows, Mac and the web: correct a reference once and every document that cites it updates on its next refresh.
• Grey literature as standard — your own fields like Client, Jurisdiction and Evidence grade, and house citation styles you define.
• Every PDF searchable, with no per-person storage limit, and a check of the whole report before it goes to the client.
• Your data, any time: export every PDF plus RIS and BibTeX in one click, even after you cancel.

See the full feature list or the pricing — one plan, billed per user, with a free trial for the whole team.

Switching reference managers

1. Export your library as RIS or BibTeX from your current tool (EndNote, Zotero, Mendeley and Paperpile all can).
2. Import it into the new tool. Good importers spot duplicates rather than creating them.
3. Move the PDFs across — some tools attach them during import, others need a second step.
4. Re-link citations in documents you are still editing. Citations inserted by one tool’s add-in aren’t understood by another’s, so finish live documents first or re-insert their citations.

Questions

What is the best reference management software?

There isn’t one best for everyone. Zotero is the strongest free choice for individuals; EndNote suits institutions that already license it; Citepool is built for teams writing reports in Word.

Is citation management software the same as a reference manager?

Yes. Reference manager, reference management software, citation manager and referencing software all describe the same kind of tool.

Can several people share one reference library?

Yes, but how varies: EndNote shares synced libraries, Zotero and Mendeley use groups, and Citepool gives each team one shared library from the start. Check storage limits and who owns the shared library.

Is there a free alternative to EndNote?

Zotero is the best-known free, open-source alternative. Mendeley also has a free plan.

Sources

• EndNote 2025 documentation — About shared libraries
• Zotero documentation — Individual file storage and Zotero storage
• Memorial Sloan Kettering Library — Collaborating with EndNote (sync storage and sharing)
• Mendeley pricing and University of Illinois Library — Mendeley guide (storage and group limits)