Choosing a Citation Manager

The top three citation managers supported by U-M are listed here.

	EndNote	Mendeley	Zotero
Who should use it?	People who want a powerful program to organize references, images, & documents & format Works Cited pages.	People who want an easy-to-use program to organize references & format Works Cited pages & might be working in groups or labs.	People who want an easy-to-use program to organize references & format Works Cited pages, especially those who often cite websites & social media.
What format is it?	Desktop software version & online version	Desktop software version & web component for accessing library at any time	Desktop software, with add-ons for Firefox, Chrome & Safari
Current version?	X9 (fall 2018)	1.19, updated often	5.0, updated often
Import citations from databases?	Yes	Yes, using web importer	Yes
How many citation styles?	2000+	6,000+	9,000+
Microsoft Word integration?	Yes, using Cite-While-You Write plugin	Yes, using Citation Plugin from Mendeley Links to an external site.	Yes, using Zotero Word Processing plugin Links to an external site.
Google Doc integration?	No native integration, possible complex work-around using Rich Text Formatting.	No native integration, must copy-paste from Mendeley.	Yes
Store and cite images?	Yes	Yes	Yes
Collaboration?	Best for single users, but can export references to share	Yes. Create, search, and join public and private groups or labs Free version: 5 private groups up to 25 collaborators	Yes. Create, search, and join public and private groups or labs.
Storage?	EndNote Basic (free): 2 GB EndNote X9: unlimited	Free version: 2 GB (per person) and 100 MB (across groups)	Storage: 300 MB (free) 2 GB ($20/year)
Mobile app?	iPad only	iPhone, iPad, Android	Browser bookmarklet and third-party apps Links to an external site.

More than just EndNote, Mendeley, and Zotero exist in the citation management world. Wikipedia has a great comparison of over 30 citation managers Links to an external site. and their features.