Consensus is available in ChatGPT through Plugins, so you can search the Consensus database of over 220 million research papers directly inside your ChatGPT conversations.
With Consensus in ChatGPT, you can ask research questions, find peer-reviewed papers, generate cited summaries, build research briefs, and bring scientific evidence into your existing ChatGPT workflows.
Consensus in ChatGPT is available on all ChatGPT plans and works with Consensus’s free plan.
How to connect Consensus to ChatGPT
Open ChatGPT.
Open Plugins from the ChatGPT sidebar
Search for “Consensus.”
Sign in with your Consensus account when prompted.
To use Consensus in a ChatGPT conversation, type @Consensus or click the + button and select Consensus.
Once connected, you can ask research questions in ChatGPT and use Consensus to find relevant academic papers and evidence.
What you can do with Consensus in ChatGPT
Use Consensus in ChatGPT to:
Ask research questions and get answers grounded in scientific literature
Find peer-reviewed papers on a topic
Generate cited summaries, briefs, and literature reviews
Find supporting citations for your own writing
Explore a research direction through conversation
Compare findings across studies
Identify open questions or gaps in the literature
Using Consensus with Deep Research in ChatGPT
You can also use Consensus as part of ChatGPT’s Deep Research workflow. This lets ChatGPT search Consensus’s database of research papers while building a more detailed report or analysis.
Deep Research in ChatGPT is helpful for larger research tasks, such as:
Building a literature review
Creating a detailed research brief
Comparing evidence across studies
Finding open questions or gaps in a field
Summarizing the current state of research on a topic
To use Consensus with Deep Research in ChatGPT:
Open ChatGPT
Start a Deep Research task
Add Consensus as a source for your Deep Research task.
Ask ChatGPT to use Consensus in the research task
For example:
“Use Consensus in Deep Research to build a literature review on the relationship between sleep quality and cognitive performance. Include key findings, limitations, and citations.”
Please note: Deep Research in ChatGPT is different from Deep Review in Consensus. Deep Review is a Consensus feature available directly on the Consensus website, while Deep Research is a ChatGPT workflow that can use Consensus as a research source.
How to focus on specific papers from your ChatGPT results
After Consensus returns papers in ChatGPT, you can ask follow-up questions about specific papers from the results. This helps ChatGPT focus on the papers most relevant to your task instead of running a new general search.
For example, you can ask:
“Focus on the first two papers and compare their methods.”
“Summarize the paper by [author name] in more detail.”
“Use papers 2, 4, and 5 to support this paragraph.”
“Which of these papers has the strongest evidence?”
“Pull out the sample size, methods, and limitations from [specific paper].”
You can also paste a Consensus paper link directly into ChatGPT and ask questions about that specific paper.
Example Prompts
Here are a few ways to use Consensus in ChatGPT.
Ask a research question
“What are the cognitive benefits of creatine? Use recent peer-reviewed research and cite your sources.”
Generate a custom research report
“Build me a detailed brief on the current state of CRISPR base editing for sickle cell disease. Include a methods comparison table, a timeline of clinical trial milestones, and a section on open questions. Cite every claim.”
Find supporting citations for your writing
“Find peer-reviewed papers that support each claim I’m making here. Flag any claims that are weakly supported or contradicted by recent literature.”
Explore a research direction
“I’m interested in gut microbiome and depression, but I’m not sure where to focus. Pull the recent literature, then walk me through the 3–4 most active sub-questions in the field.”
Draft research-backed content
“Write a short evidence-based explanation of how mindfulness meditation affects stress. Use citations from real studies.”
Tips for better results
For best results, be specific about what you want Consensus to find or create. Include details such as:
The research topic or question
Whether you want recent studies only
The type of output you want, such as a table, brief, summary, or literature review
Whether you want Consensus to support, challenge, or compare claims
Any population, intervention, field, or study type you care about
For example:
“Use Consensus to find recent human studies on creatine and cognitive performance. Summarize the strongest evidence, note limitations, and include citations.”
How calls are counted
A standard Consensus search in ChatGPT returns up to 20 papers. You can ask for more papers when needed.
Each call covers up to 100 papers:
1-100 papers = 1 call
101-200 papers = 2 calls
201-300 papers = 3 calls
And so on, with each additional 100 papers counting as another call
This applies to both the calls included in your plan and additional paid usage.
Usage limits
Usage limits of Consensus in ChatGPT depend on your Consensus plan:
Consensus plan | Default results per search | Included calls per month | Maximum calls with additional usage ($0.05/call) |
No account | 3 | Limited | n/a |
Free | 10 | 30 | n/a |
Pro | 20 | 500 | 1,000 |
Team & Enterprise | 20 | 500 | 1,000 |
Deep | 20 | 2,000 | 10,000 |
Your API and MCP usage count toward the same monthly usage limit. This includes Consensus usage through ChatGPT and Claude, as well as calls made directly through the Consensus API.
Paid users can enable additional usage for $0.05 per call, up to their plan's maximum monthly call limit. Additional usage is turned off by default.
Your usage resets on the 1st of each month.
How to enable additional usage
If you reach the number of calls included in your plan, paid users can enable additional usage to continue using Consensus in ChatGPT.
Additional usage costs $0.05 per call and is turned off by default.
To enable additional usage:
Click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner of Consensus
Select API & MCP Dashboard
Select the settings control in the upper-right corner
Under API & MCP settings, turn on Enable additional usage
Save your changes
Once enabled, any calls above the amount included in your plan are billed at $0.05 per call, up to your plan's maximum monthly call limit.
Additional usage applies across both API and MCP usage, including Consensus searches made through ChatGPT and Claude.
You can see the amount due for additional usage from the API & MCP Dashboard.
You can turn additional usage off at any time. If you've already used more than the calls included in your plan, turning it off will prevent you from making additional API or MCP calls until your usage resets. You'll still be billed for any additional calls you made while additional usage was enabled.
Free users cannot enable additional usage. To access additional usage, upgrade to a paid plan.
How to view and manage your API and MCP usage
You can view your usage and manage your Consensus connections from the API & MCP Dashboard.
To access it:
Click your profile icon in the bottom-left corner of Consensus
Select API & MCP Dashboard
From the dashboard, you can:
See your current API and MCP usage
See how your usage is split between API and MCP
View your plan, monthly limit, and reset date
Enable or disable additional usage
Manage your API keys
See and manage your connected MCP clients, including ChatGPT and Claude
View your billing history
You can view usage for the last 7 days, last 30 days, or your current billing period.
FAQs
Can I use Consensus in ChatGPT for free?
Yes, Consensus in ChatGPT works on all ChatGPT plans and is available on the free Consensus tier.
Is my Consensus usage shared across ChatGPT, Claude, and the API?
Yes. Your monthly usage limit is shared across the Consensus API and MCP clients, including ChatGPT and Claude.
Having trouble connecting?
Make sure:
You’re signed in to ChatGPT.
You’ve connected your Consensus account.
Consensus is selected or mentioned in your ChatGPT conversation.
Learn more here: https://docs.consensus.app/consensus-mcp