DR. INFO and Consensus, side by side
Category
DR. INFO Evidence answer engine for clinical questions
Consensus AI academic search engine for peer-reviewed literature
What it searches
DR. INFO Guidelines, peer-reviewed literature, FDA and EMA documents, retrieved for each question
Consensus 400M+ papers; Medical Mode narrows this to about 8 million papers and guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals
Guidelines
DR. INFO National and European guidelines linked as source documents, including AWMF, NICE and DGS
Consensus Around 50,000 clinical guidelines inside Medical Mode
Drug information
DR. INFO FDA and EMA authorised information, with EMA SmPC retrieval
Consensus Research papers about drugs, not an authorised drug information source
Answer format
DR. INFO A written answer, every statement linked to its source
Consensus Synthesized answer from papers, Consensus Meter, study snapshots
Research workflow
DR. INFO Not a reference manager
Consensus Citation export in RIS, BibTeX and CSV, collections, citation graph
Regulatory status
DR. INFO CE marked medical device under EU MDR 2017/745
Consensus Research tool; not described as a medical device on its home page
Data hosting
DR. INFO European Union, GDPR
Consensus Not stated on its home page
Languages
DR. INFO Answers in the language you ask; interface in English, German, Portuguese and Dutch
Consensus Check Consensus for current language support
Cost
DR. INFO Free tier with 30 clinical questions a month; student and physician plans without a question limit
Consensus Free plan, plus paid Individual and Team plans
Best for
DR. INFO Clinical questions where the answer is a guideline recommendation or an authorised drug fact
Consensus Literature reviews, research questions, what the studies say
| DR. INFO | Consensus | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Evidence answer engine for clinical questions | AI academic search engine for peer-reviewed literature |
| What it searches | Guidelines, peer-reviewed literature, FDA and EMA documents, retrieved for each question | 400M+ papers; Medical Mode narrows this to about 8 million papers and guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals |
| Guidelines | National and European guidelines linked as source documents, including AWMF, NICE and DGS | Around 50,000 clinical guidelines inside Medical Mode |
| Drug information | FDA and EMA authorised information, with EMA SmPC retrieval | Research papers about drugs, not an authorised drug information source |
| Answer format | A written answer, every statement linked to its source | Synthesized answer from papers, Consensus Meter, study snapshots |
| Research workflow | Not a reference manager | Citation export in RIS, BibTeX and CSV, collections, citation graph |
| Regulatory status | CE marked medical device under EU MDR 2017/745 | Research tool; not described as a medical device on its home page |
| Data hosting | European Union, GDPR | Not stated on its home page |
| Languages | Answers in the language you ask; interface in English, German, Portuguese and Dutch | Check Consensus for current language support |
| Cost | Free tier with 30 clinical questions a month; student and physician plans without a question limit | Free plan, plus paid Individual and Team plans |
| Best for | Clinical questions where the answer is a guideline recommendation or an authorised drug fact | Literature reviews, research questions, what the studies say |
What is Consensus Medical Mode?
Medical Mode is a setting in Consensus, launched in October 2025, that restricts the search to trusted medical literature: about 8 million papers and guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals, chosen by Consensus using Impact Factor, SJR and SciScore's Rigor and Transparency Index, including around 50,000 clinical guidelines [3][4]. Consensus says everything else about the product stays the same, only the corpus changes [3]. That is a real improvement for clinicians who use Consensus, because it filters out low quality sources. It remains a search over journal literature: it does not return authorised drug information from regulators, and it does not pick the guideline that applies in your country for you. DR. INFO starts from the clinical question and retrieves the guideline, the literature and the authorised drug information together, then links each statement to the document it came from.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Consensus AI?
- Consensus is an AI academic search engine for peer-reviewed literature. It searches more than 400 million scientific papers, writes synthesized answers in its Pro and Deep Search modes, shows a Consensus Meter for yes or no questions, and exports citations in RIS, BibTeX and CSV [2].
- Is Consensus AI free?
- Consensus has a free plan, and paid Individual and Team plans for heavier use [2][7]. Check the Consensus pricing page for the current limits and prices, which change over time.
- What is Consensus Medical Mode?
- A setting launched in October 2025 that limits the search to about 8 million papers and guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals, including around 50,000 clinical guidelines [3][4].
- Is Consensus AI good for doctors?
- For research questions, yes: a literature overview, a journal club or a quick look at what studies found. For clinical questions where the answer is a national guideline recommendation or a fact from the authorised drug information, a paper search is the long way round. That is where DR. INFO is built to help.
- Is Consensus AI reliable for medical questions?
- Consensus cites the papers behind each answer, which lets you check them, and Medical Mode limits the search to high ranking journals [2][3]. Its answers are only as current and as relevant as the studies it finds. We have not found an independent clinical benchmark for Consensus. For any tool, open the cited source before you rely on it.
- What is the Consensus Meter, and should doctors rely on it?
- The Consensus Meter shows how much the papers found agree on a yes or no question [2]. Agreement across studies is useful context, but it is not the same as a guideline recommendation, which weighs the quality of evidence, harms and the setting of care.
- Consensus vs OpenEvidence: what is the difference?
- Consensus is an academic search engine across research literature. OpenEvidence is a clinical answer engine built for US clinicians, and it withdrew from the EU and the UK in late April 2026 [8]. For doctors in Europe looking for a clinical answer engine, DR. INFO is CE marked, hosted in the EU and available across Europe [1].
- What is the best Consensus alternative for doctors?
- For clinical questions, DR. INFO: it retrieves guidelines, literature and FDA and EMA drug information for each question, links every statement to its source, answers in your language and has a free tier [1]. For pure literature research, Elicit and similar academic search tools are the closer alternatives to Consensus.
- Does DR. INFO search research papers too?
- Yes. DR. INFO retrieves peer-reviewed literature alongside guidelines and regulatory drug information, so an answer can cite the trial and the guideline that adopted it in the same place.
- Does DR. INFO cover national guidelines?
- Yes. DR. INFO retrieves national and European guidelines, including the German AWMF register, NICE in the UK and the Portuguese DGS norms, and links the source document.
- Is DR. INFO free?
- There is a free tier for doctors and medical students with 30 clinical questions a month, plus a student plan and a physician plan without a question limit. DR. INFO runs in the browser at app.drinfo.ai and as an iPhone app.
- Is DR. INFO a medical device?
- Yes. DR. INFO is CE marked as a medical device under EU MDR 2017/745, developed and operated by Synduct GmbH in Munich and hosted in the EU [1]. It is an information tool; the clinical decision stays with the clinician.
- How does DR. INFO cite its answers?
- Each statement links to the guideline, study or drug label it comes from, so you can open the source and check the wording. In a prospective pilot study published in Cureus in 2026, physicians at the point of care valued the traceability of sources most [9].
- Can I use Consensus and DR. INFO together?
- Yes, and many clinicians will. Consensus for reading around a research question, DR. INFO for the cited answer to a clinical question during the working day.
Consensus is a good research tool, and Medical Mode makes it better for clinicians who read the literature. A clinical question at work usually needs the guideline that applies in your country and the authorised drug information, linked to the source, in seconds. That is what DR. INFO is built for: CE marked, hosted in the EU, answering in your language, free to start. Use Consensus for research and DR. INFO for clinical answers.
References
- 1.Regulation (EU) 2017/745 of the European Parliament and of the Council on medical devices (EU MDR). Official Journal of the European Union. 2017.
- 2.Consensus. Home page: AI academic search engine for peer-reviewed literature, 400M+ papers, Pro and Deep Search, Consensus Meter, Study Snapshots, citation export. Accessed 2 November 2026.
- 3.Consensus. Introducing: Medical Mode, focused search for clinical evidence (about 8 million papers and guidelines from the top 1,000 medical journals, around 50,000 clinical guidelines). Accessed 2 November 2026.
- 4.Consensus. Product changelog: Medical Mode, 9 October 2025. Accessed 2 November 2026.
- 5.Ravichandran S, Kumar S, Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, et al. OpenAI’s HealthBench in Action: Evaluating an LLM-Based Medical Assistant on Realistic Clinical Queries. arXiv:2509.02594. 2026.
- 6.Arora RK, Wei J, Soskin Hicks R, et al. HealthBench: Evaluating Large Language Models Toward Improved Human Health. OpenAI. 2025.
- 7.Consensus. Pricing: Individual, and Team and Enterprise plans. Accessed 2 November 2026.
- 8.Breaking: OpenEvidence app access terminated in the UK and EU. Telehealth and Telecare Aware. 28 April 2026.
- 9.Corga Da Silva R, Romano M, Mendes T, et al. DR. INFO at the Point of Care: A Prospective Pilot Study of Physician-Perceived Value of an Agentic Artificial Intelligence Clinical Assistant. Cureus. 2026.