I tried 5+ OpenEvidence AI alternatives in 2025 to find the best custom knowledge AI
Kenneth Pangan
Katelin Teen
Last edited November 6, 2025
Expert Verified
You’ve probably landed here for the same reason I started this whole search. You see a tool like OpenEvidence pull a needle-in-a-haystack answer from a mountain of clinical data and think, “Wow, I need that… but for my company’s information.” It’s a great idea, right? But
That's when it clicked. What we're all really after is our own private "evidence engine." An AI that we can feed our internal documents, help articles, and old support tickets. Basically, an expert on our stuff, ready to answer questions with pinpoint accuracy and the right context.
So, I decided to go find the best tools to build exactly that. Here’s what I found after testing a bunch of platforms in 2025, from direct alternatives for clinical work to more flexible options for things like customer support.
What is a custom knowledge AI?
Let’s get on the same page. A custom knowledge AI is basically an assistant you train on your information and nothing else. Imagine hiring someone who, on their first day, has already read every single document, email, and help article your company has ever created. And they remember it all, instantly.
This is completely different from something like ChatGPT, which learns from the entire, messy internet. Those tools are amazing, but they can also serve up generic, outdated, or just plain wrong answers (what the pros call "hallucinations").
The real beauty of a custom knowledge AI is that its answers are always accurate and relevant to your business because it’s only using info you’ve given it. It can even point you to the exact internal document it used, which gets rid of that nagging feeling that you have to fact-check everything. You trust the answers because you wrote the source material.
Our criteria for the best OpenEvidence AI alternatives
Not every AI platform is created equal, especially when you can’t afford to be wrong. To find the best OpenEvidence AI alternatives, I came up with a short list of things that really matter when you’re building an AI you need to trust.
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Can you trust its answers? I focused on tools that actually cite their sources and don’t just invent facts. They had to stick to the knowledge I gave them, period.
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How fast can you get it working? I gave extra points to platforms that let me sign up and build a working AI in minutes. No mandatory demos or sales calls required.
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Can you actually control it? The best tools let you tweak the AI's personality, decide exactly what it should and shouldn't automate, and hook it up to your other apps to take action.
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How easily does it connect to your stuff? A great platform should plug into all your knowledge sources with just a few clicks, whether that’s a help desk, a wiki, or just a bunch of PDFs.
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Is your data safe? This was a big one. I looked for things like GDPR compliance and clear promises that my data wouldn't be used to train their models.
OpenEvidence AI alternatives comparison table
For a quick overview, here’s how the top contenders compare at a glance.
| Feature | eesel AI | Dr.Oracle | IatroX | Elicit | MediSearch |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary Use Case | Customer Support & Internal Knowledge | Clinical Decision Support | UK Clinical Guidelines | Academic Research | Medical Research |
| Ease of Setup | Self-serve, minutes | Requires sign-up | NHS account required | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Cites Sources | Yes, from your knowledge | Yes, from medical literature | Yes, from UK guidelines | Yes, from academic papers | Yes, from abstracts |
| Custom Actions | Yes (API calls, ticket triage) | No | No | No | No |
| Integrations | 100+ (Zendesk, Slack, etc.) | Limited (FDA, etc.) | NHS-specific | Limited | N/A |
| Pricing Model | Transparent SaaS plans | Subscription-based | Free (via NHS) | Freemium | Free with ads |
The top 5 OpenEvidence AI alternatives for 2025
After digging into each platform, it became clear that the "best" tool really depends on what you need it for. Whether you’re a doctor, a researcher, or running a support team, one of these should fit the bill.
1. eesel AI
Why it's my top pick: eesel AI is perfect for any business that wants the same power OpenEvidence offers, accurate, fact-based answers, but applied to their own company knowledge. It's built for teams like customer support or IT to create an AI assistant that knows your business inside and out.
What I liked:
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You can actually just sign up and use it. This felt like a breath of fresh air. You can connect your help desk, like Zendesk or Freshdesk, and have a working AI in a few minutes. No need to schedule a demo or talk to a salesperson, unlike most B2B tools that hide their product behind a form.
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It connects to everything. It pulls information from all the places your team knowledge is hiding. I connected it to old support tickets, a help center, and a messy mix of documents in Confluence, Google Docs, and Slack. It brings it all together in one brain.
An infographic showing how eesel AI integrates with various knowledge sources, a key feature for OpenEvidence AI alternatives.- You can test it safely before going live. The simulation mode is brilliant. It lets you test the AI on your past support tickets to see how it would have performed before you let it talk to a single real customer. This gives you a solid idea of how well it will work. You can also set up rules to only automate certain kinds of questions and send the tricky ones to a human.
A screenshot of eesel AI's simulation mode, a safe way to test OpenEvidence AI alternatives.Pricing: The pricing for eesel AI is clear and easy to understand. The Team plan is $239/month (paid annually) for 1,000 AI interactions. The Business plan at $639/month (paid annually) adds important features like training on your old tickets. A big plus is that they don't charge you per resolution, so your bill is predictable even when you get slammed with tickets.
A screenshot of the eesel AI pricing page, which is transparent unlike some OpenEvidence AI alternatives.Who it's for: Any support, IT, or HR team that needs a dependable AI to handle questions using their own internal documentation.
2. Dr.Oracle
Why it's on the list: If you're a clinician looking for a powerful medical research tool, Dr.Oracle is a top contender. It was clearly built specifically for evidence-based decision support in a clinical setting.
What I liked: It covers medical guidelines from the US, UK, and EU, which is a big deal compared to more region-locked tools. The research mode is solid, and it’s open to students and professionals anywhere, unlike OpenEvidence, which is only for licensed US doctors.
What to watch out for: You get a 7-day free trial, but then you have to pay up for the good stuff. They also don't list their pricing publicly, so you have to sign up to figure out how much it'll cost you.
Pricing: You have to sign up for the free trial to see the subscription plans.
Who it's for: Doctors, medical students, and other professionals who need a clinical AI that pulls from global medical guidelines.
3. IatroX
Why it's on the list: IatroX is a great example of a tool that does one thing really, really well. It proves that sometimes the best option is one that’s laser-focused on a specific niche.
What I liked: It’s completely free and only uses UK guidelines from sources like NICE and SIGN. Being MHRA-registered adds a layer of credibility for anyone working in the UK. It’s a simple tool that gives UK clinicians the right answers, quickly.
What to watch out for: It’s only useful if you’re in the UK, as its knowledge base is limited to that region. It's also only available on the web (no mobile app), and you need an NHS account to get in.
Pricing: Free, as long as you have an NHS account.
Who it's for: Any doctor, nurse, or medical student in the UK.
4. Elicit
Why it's on the list: Elicit is fantastic as a "research assistant," which is a core reason people look at OpenEvidence in the first place. It's not for quick answers on the fly; it's for digging deep into research papers.
What I liked: Elicit is built to speed up the tedious parts of research. It’s great at finding relevant academic papers, giving you the key takeaways, and pulling out important data into a table. This could easily save a researcher hundreds of hours.
What to watch out for: This isn't the tool for quick clinical questions. The free plan is pretty restrictive, so to do any serious data extraction or big literature reviews, you’ll have to open your wallet.
Pricing: It’s a freemium tool.
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Basic: Free, gives you 5,000 credits to start.
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Plus: $10 a month (if you pay for a year) gets you 12,000 credits each month.
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Enterprise & Institutions: You’ll have to contact them for custom pricing.
Who it's for: Academics, researchers, and students who need to wade through piles of academic papers for literature reviews.
5. MediSearch
Why it's on the list: If you just want quick, science-backed answers without a bunch of complicated features, MediSearch is a great choice. It’s straightforward, free, and does what it says on the tin.
What I liked: It gives you answers straight from medical data and shows you where it got the information. It’s free and dead simple to use. Just type and go.
What to watch out for: It's a pretty basic tool. Don’t expect the detailed guideline or drug info you’d get from a more robust clinical system. And since it's free, you'll have to put up with some ads.
Pricing: Free, with ads.
Who it's for: Anyone who needs a quick, research-based answer without paying for a full-blown clinical decision tool.
This video explores AI tools like OpenEvidence that assist physicians in finding relevant medical literature.
How to choose the right OpenEvidence AI alternatives for your team
So, which one should you pick? After playing with all these platforms, the right choice really boils down to what you're trying to do.
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For doctors and clinicians: You need a dedicated tool like Dr.Oracle (or IatroX if you're in the UK). These are built for the high-stakes medical world where every detail matters.
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For researchers and academics: Go with Elicit. It will save you a ridiculous amount of time finding, summarizing, and pulling data from research papers.
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For business teams (support, IT, HR): A flexible platform like eesel AI is the way to go. It lets you build a trustworthy AI on your own company data to automate tasks and get people the right answers, fast.
The future is custom, trusted OpenEvidence AI alternatives, build yours in minutes
This whole process of looking for OpenEvidence AI alternatives taught me something bigger: we're all moving away from generic, one-size-fits-all AI. The real value is in specialized tools that we can control and trust. It’s not about just finding another research tool; it’s about needing AI that’s reliable, secure, and trained only on information we’ve vetted.
For a business, that means an AI that learns your specific processes, your company's tone of voice, and the way you solve problems.
And while clinical AI needs years of medical validation, you can build a powerful AI for your own support team with a tool like eesel AI in just a few minutes. Seriously. Connect your apps, test it out on your old tickets, and see how much it can handle, you could have it up and running before your next coffee break.
Frequently asked questions
While OpenEvidence excels in clinical data, its focus is very specific. These alternatives offer tailored solutions for diverse needs, from academic research to custom knowledge bases for businesses, addressing the desire for an AI trained on your specific information.
Many of the OpenEvidence AI alternatives, especially those for business like eesel AI, are designed for rapid setup. You can often connect your data sources and have a working AI agent in minutes, testing its performance before full deployment.
Data security and compliance are key criteria for these alternatives. Platforms like eesel AI prioritize features like GDPR compliance and clearly state that your data will not be used to train their models, ensuring your information remains private.
Your choice among OpenEvidence AI alternatives depends on your primary use case. For general business needs like customer support or internal HR, platforms like eesel AI are ideal, offering flexibility and integration with common business tools. For clinical or academic research, specialized tools like Dr.Oracle or Elicit are more appropriate.
Integration capability varies across OpenEvidence AI alternatives. Tools like eesel AI offer extensive integrations with over 100 platforms, including Zendesk, Slack, and Google Docs, making it easy to pull in knowledge from all your existing sources. Other specialized tools might have more limited integrations specific to their domain.
A core requirement for evaluating OpenEvidence AI alternatives was their ability to cite sources. All the recommended tools, from eesel AI citing your internal knowledge to Elicit citing academic papers, provide verifiable sources to ensure accuracy and build trust in the answers.
eesel AI stands out among OpenEvidence AI alternatives for business use by allowing you to train an AI on your company's unique data, like support tickets and internal documents. It offers self-serve setup, extensive integrations, and features like a simulation mode to safely test the AI before it interacts with real customers. This makes it highly adaptable for customer support, IT, and HR teams.
