Bookends vs Zotero
Both replace Papers, Paperpile, Mendeley paid storage and EndNote.
| Fact |  BookendsReference manager for macOS you buy once, upgrade when you like |  ZoteroFree reference manager with a built-in PDF reader |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $74.99 | Free |
| Licence | Paid upgradesMajor versions cost again | Open sourceNothing to buy; source published |
| The catch | Updates stop after two years unless you pay $49.99 for another window; the app keeps working | The app is free forever, but only 300 MB of sync storage is; a PDF library outgrows that fast |
| Against a subscription | 10 monthsAgainst Papers at $95 a year | Replaces Papers$95 a year |
| Seats | No Mac count statedLicences are per user, not per computer: one person may install it on as many of their own Macs as they like, but may not run Bookends on two at once. | not established |
| Developer account | None needed | Optional |
| Works offline | Yes | Partly |
| Apple Silicon | Native | Native |
| Free trial | Yes | does not apply |
| On Setapp | No | No |
| Buy direct | Get it |
Both prices read 22 Sep 2026, on the pages these buttons open. Minimum macOS and App Store rating are not established for either app, so those rows are left out.
In their own right
Bookends
A Mac-only reference manager that keeps references and attached PDFs on your own disk, searches PubMed and library catalogues, and formats bibliographies for Word, Pages, Mellel and Scrivener. One payment, two years of updates, and the app keeps working indefinitely after that.
Zotero
Captures citations from the browser with their metadata, stores and annotates the PDFs, and inserts formatted bibliographies into Word, LibreOffice and Google Docs. Open source, run by a non-profit, and free with no paid app tier.