About
A citation generator that respects the user.
citeplain exists because the citation tools most students reach for treat the user as ad inventory. Pre-roll video before each citation, paywalled bibliography reads mid-assignment, hidden auto-charges after a free trial. The result is a generation of students who associate citation work with frustration.
citeplain does the opposite. The free tier is the whole core tool — paste a URL, DOI, or ISBN, pick a style, copy the citation. No sign-in, no ad break, no library paywall. Your saved references live in your browser's local storage and never leave the device.
How we make money
Pro adds a cloud library synced across the web app and the browser extension, 24 specialised citation styles (Harvard, IEEE, AMA, OSCOLA, ACS, ICMJE, and more), and batch URL import. The Word and Google Docs add-ins are shipping soon. Pricing is $4.99/month or $39/year. Founder lifetime is $89 for the first 100 customers, then a $199 lifetime tier opens for the next 500. After that, lifetime closes.
Not ads. Not data sales. The free tier stays whole.
What about Zotero?
Zotero is great — it is the reference manager of choice for graduate students and researchers. We are not trying to replace it. citeplain is for the moment when you need onecitation in five seconds and don't want to install a desktop app or set up sync. If Zotero is your operating system for research, keep using it; citeplain is the gas station, not the garage.
What about ChatGPT?
ChatGPT can format a citation but it cannot reliably read the publisher's declared author, date, and DOI from the page — it will hallucinate when metadata is sparse. citeplain reads the citation_*, og:, dc:, and JSON-LD meta tags the publisher actually emitted, then enriches with Crossref or Open Library when a DOI or ISBN is present. When metadata is missing, we say so instead of inventing it.
Who runs this
citeplain is a BrainBytes Studio product. BrainBytes Studio is an indie solo-dev shop. Legal entity and contact details live on the Privacy and Terms pages.
Contact
Email: support@citeplain.com.