Can I move a Rayyan project over?

Export your references from Rayyan as RIS and import them here. Screening votes do not transfer between tools, so the cleanest switch is before screening starts or at the included-studies handoff.

Does the AI screen for me?

It scores and sorts references against your criteria, with a recommendation and reason for each. Decisions stay with your reviewers, which is what your methods section reports anyway.

What does Covexe have that Rayyan does not?

The steps after screening: AI data extraction, risk of bias with five instruments, meta-analysis and network meta-analysis validated against R, GRADE, PRISMA, and a manuscript draft.

The screening workflow, risk of bias, meta-analysis, GRADE, and PRISMA are free core tools. Optional AI features are metered on the free tier, or bring your own API key.

A Free Rayyan Alternative With Analysis Built In

Screen with two blinded reviewers and an AI first pass, then stay in the same project for extraction, risk of bias, meta-analysis, GRADE, and PRISMA.

Where Rayyan stops

Rayyan is a popular screening tool with a workable free tier, and for title and abstract voting it does the job. As of 2026 the free plan caps you at three active reviews and puts the PRISMA flow diagram and duplicate auto-resolve on paid plans. And then the review continues and Rayyan does not: you export your includes and rebuild the project somewhere else for extraction, risk of bias, analysis, and reporting.

The screening itself

Import RIS, or search PubMed and Europe PMC from inside the app and import results directly
Deduplication on DOI and PMID, with every duplicate pair shown for review before it is dropped
Blinded dual screening: reviewers vote independently, conflicts go to a resolver, agreement reports as Cohen's kappa
AI relevance scoring against your inclusion criteria, with a recommendation and reason per reference; the decisions stay yours
A separate full-text stage with retrieval status and exclusion reasons
A PRISMA 2020 flow diagram that fills itself from your screening decisions

What happens after screening

The same project keeps going: data extraction with custom templates and AI drafts from your PDFs, risk of bias with RoB 2, ROBINS-I, NOS, JBI, and AXIS, meta-analysis and network meta-analysis validated against R, GRADE certainty ratings, and a manuscript draft assembled from what you actually did.

An honest note

Rayyan is free for basic use, its mobile app (full access on paid plans) is convenient for screening in spare minutes, and many large teams already run on it. If screening is the only step you need help with, it is a fine choice. The case for Covexe is the rest of the review living in the same place as the screening, with the PRISMA diagram in the free core rather than behind a plan.

A Rayyan alternative with the analysis built in