Citation
Free citation generator for APA, MLA and Chicago, with an AI writing workspace
About Citation
Citation is a free web workspace for research writing that puts a citation generator, a document editor and an AI writing assistant in one place. You find a source by pasting a URL, DOI or ISBN or by searching for a title, review the source record, and insert a linked citation into your draft in the style you need. The usual alternative is building references by hand and switching between tabs, notes and the draft. Citation keeps the source list beside the writing, so updating a record or changing the style reformats every linked citation and the bibliography.
It supports eight style families: APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago 18 (author-date, plus notes and bibliography), Cite Them Right Harvard 12, IEEE, Vancouver (NLM), AMA 11 and ACS. The AI writer drafts and revises passages using your draft and saved sources, and every revision is reviewed before it is applied. The workspace is free with no subscription or payment card, within monthly allowances of 1,000 source additions, 500 AI messages and 25,000 web check words. Developer API credits are listed separately, but purchases are currently unavailable.
Open Cite and paste a URL, DOI or ISBN, or search for a title; you can also enter source details manually. Review the record before saving it. The site recommends checking the author, title, date and page numbers against the original source.
Choose a citation style for the document and insert linked citations as you write. Citation formats the bibliography, including a Works Cited list for MLA. You can paste text or import a TXT or DOCX draft, and add PDFs as sources. References typed or pasted as ordinary text do not become linked citations automatically.
When a passage needs work, ask the writing assistant for a focused revision, such as making it clearer, shorter or a different tone. You compare each suggestion with your original and choose the wording to keep. Run Check to review citation links and metadata and to see passages that match accessible public web text. The site is explicit that neither check establishes that every claim is true or that a paper is original.
When the paper is ready, invite a reviewer to view or edit it, or export the document as DOCX, PDF or TXT and the bibliography as BibTeX or RIS.
- •Citation generator - Four lookup types (URL, DOI, ISBN and title search) feed a source record you review before use. A temporary document works without an account.
- •Eight style families - Switching the document style reformats linked citations and the bibliography without rebuilding the source list.
- •AI writing assistant - Drafts and revises passages using your draft and saved sources, with each suggestion reviewed before it is applied. Free accounts get 500 AI messages a month.
- •Check - Reviews saved citation links and metadata, plus writing feedback and passages matching accessible public web sources, with an allowance of 25,000 web check words a month.
- •Import, export and history - TXT and DOCX import, PDFs as sources, document export to DOCX, PDF or TXT and bibliography export to BibTeX or RIS. Version history lets you preview and restore earlier drafts, and invited reviewers can view or edit.
- •Developer access - The site lists an API, an MCP server, a CLI and skills for AI coding agents such as Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Copilot and Kimi.
Citation is built for students, researchers, educators and writers. Students get a free citation and bibliography generator plus a place to draft with sources in view. Researchers working on literature reviews and research proposals can keep source records connected to the text and switch styles when a journal or supervisor asks for a different one. Educators can use it for course reading, and nonfiction writers for keeping the source behind each detail.
Keep the limits in mind: generated citations still need checking against the original source, the web check is not proof of originality, and the free allowances are monthly caps.
