Liner is a research and online study tool offered as a browser extension, website and mobile app. It does two main things: it answers your questions with cited sources, and while you read web pages, videos and files it highlights the important parts and keeps them in one place. Think of a sourced search engine plus a research notebook.
What is Liner good for?#
- Reading web articles: highlight key passages and review them later in one notes folder.
- Sourced search: get an answer with links to sources for a report or project.
- PDF and file analysis: upload a paper or book and ask questions about it.
- Student research: collect sources and get help formatting references in common citation styles.
- Educational videos: pull key points out of a YouTube video and highlight them.
Strengths and weaknesses#
Strengths:
- Every answer comes with sources you can check.
- Highlighting and tagging on the same page you are reading.
- Extension, web and mobile app together.
- Works with common files such as PDF and Word.
Weaknesses:
- The interface is English only.
- The free version is limited and shows ads.
- Coverage of Persian sources is weak.
- As with any answer engine, you still have to verify the citations yourself.
Free version and pricing#
The free version has daily limits on usage and file uploads. Higher subscriptions remove limits and add access to more models. Check the official site for current prices and caps.
Language support#
You can ask in Persian and get an understandable answer, but the interface is English and search works better on English sources. We have no reliable report on access from Iran.
Liner alternatives#
- Perplexity: a general answer engine with sources, faster for everyday questions.
- Consensus: focused only on scientific papers.
- Elicit: builds tables from papers for literature reviews.
- NotebookLM: question answering over your own sources and files.
