Bench test · AI Search
Arc Search vs Semantic Scholar
Semantic Scholar beats Arc Search 8.6 to 7.4 on our four-agent test panel, winning 4 of 4 agents head to head. Arc Search: free tier available. Semantic Scholar: free tier available. Facts last verified November 1, 2026.
| Arc Search | Semantic Scholar | |
|---|---|---|
| consensus | score7.4/10 | score8.6/10 |
| agents won | 0 / 4 | 4 / 4 ▲ |
| from | Free | Free |
| free tier | yes | yes |
| category | AI Search | AI Search |
Agent panel — head to head
| Anthropic | 7.2 | 7.8 ▲ |
| OpenAI | 7.2 | 8.8 ▲ |
| Gemini | 8.5 | 9.2 ▲ |
| Grok | 6.5 | 8.5 ▲ |
Arc Search
- ✓Faster answers without browsing multiple sites
- ✓Seamless browser experience
- —Limited source transparency in summaries
- —Potential accuracy issues from AI synthesis
Multi-source information aggregationAI-powered answer synthesisNative browser integrationReal-time web data processingReduced search result clutter
Semantic Scholar
- ✓Free access to millions of papers with no paywall
- ✓Superior relevance ranking compared to traditional search engines
- ✓Intelligent recommendations save research time
- —Not all papers indexed; some coverage gaps exist
- —Limited advanced filtering options compared to specialized databases
- —Occasional accuracy issues in automated paper summaries
AI-powered paper discovery and relevance rankingCitation tracking and influence analysisAuthor profiles and publication historyTopic-based paper recommendationsFull-text search with semantic understandingResearch paper summarization and key insights extraction
Free · free tier
Try Arc Search ▸Free · free tier
Try Semantic Scholar ▸Verdict
Semantic Scholar takes it — 8.6 to 7.4.
The panel gave Semantic Scholar the edge on 4 of 4 agents.