Free forever.
Hosted if you want it.
Zoteus is open-source and free to self-host — with every feature. The hosted tier is for people who’d rather not run anything. It also sustains the project.
Self-hosted
Free
MIT-licensed. Run it yourself, forever.
- Every feature — no paywall, ever
- Local-first; your machine, your keys
- Self-host the OAuth remote for a team
- Community support on GitHub
Hosted
Most convenient€30/year
Managed, always-on connector. Zero setup.
- Connect in claude.ai in ~30 seconds
- Per-user Zotero login, encrypted at rest
- Always-on, maintained & auto-updated
- You keep your data & your keys
- Email support · cancel anytime
€30/year· secure checkout & EU VAT via Polar
How the hosted tier works
Subscribe
Check out via Polar and get a license key by email.
Connect
Add mcp.zoteus.com/mcp as a connector in claude.ai and sign in to your own Zotero.
Use
Paste your key once — your library is now available to your AI.
Connector URL: https://mcp.zoteus.com/mcp
Questions
Why pay if it’s open-source?
You’re paying for hosting and maintenance, not features. Self-hosting gives you the exact same capabilities for free, forever — the hosted tier just means you don’t have to run or update anything.
Is my data safe?
Your Zotero key is encrypted at rest (AES-256-GCM) and only ever used to talk to your own Zotero library. Zoteus is a data processor, not a data owner — you can revoke access at any time, and reads stay scoped to your library.
Can I cancel?
Yes, any time from the Polar customer portal. Your access continues until the end of the billing period; there’s no lock-in and your library is always yours.
What’s different from self-hosting?
Nothing in the features — it’s the same Zoteus. The hosted tier just runs the always-on, public HTTPS connector for you so it works in claude.ai (web) without you provisioning a server.
How does billing work?
Checkout and billing are handled by Polar as the merchant of record, so EU VAT and receipts are taken care of. You’ll receive a license key to paste when you connect.
Prefer to self-host? It’s free — start here. Questions? support@zoteus.com