# Fess vs Mendeley — Fit & Features

Canonical: https://trutool.co/compare/fess-vs-mendeley
Author: Sandeep (https://trutool.co/authors/sandeep)

Compare Fess and Mendeley by use case, features, limitations, and evaluation questions.

## Compare fit, features, and limitations

### Fess
Fess is a free, open source enterprise search server — crawler, admin console, and search UI built in. Set up in minutes.
Best fit: People and teams evaluating research & science for a specific workflow.
- Core product workflow
Before you choose: Test a representative task, inspect outputs, and confirm integrations, permissions, data handling, licensing, and current costs.
Pricing: https://fess.codelibs.org
- [Read Fess profile](https://trutool.co/tools/fess): Read Fess profile

### Mendeley
Reference management and research organisation.
Best fit: Researchers and knowledge workers considering Mendeley for this job: Reference management and research organisation.
- Reference management and research organisation
Before you choose: Test source provenance, citation accuracy, search coverage, document handling, and export formats in the exact plan you intend to use.
Pricing: https://www.mendeley.com
- [Read Mendeley profile](https://trutool.co/tools/mendeley): Read Mendeley profile