Vitae Plus
Vitae is free, and keeping your record in it stays free with no limits. Plus is an optional subscription for the newer tools built on top of that record: reports, Word export with your own templates, the revision workspace, Shareables and more. It pays for Vitae's continued development.
Vitae Plus in short
Vitae Plus is an optional subscription for the free Vitae Mac app: $2.99 a month or $23.99 a year, with a 7-day free trial, or included for life in the Mac Suite. You do not need it to keep your record, build a CV, run Annual Review for any period or export publications as RIS and BibTeX. Those stay free. Plus adds Word (.docx) export with your own templates, the annual report Word file and missing details check, reports, the revision workspace, Shareables, the collaboration map and research timeline, the extra For You nudges, ORCID sync and batch DOI lookup, calendar sync, and iCloud sync between your Macs.
| Feature | Free | Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Submissions, grants, projects, collaborators, teaching, service, mentoring | Yes, no limits | Yes |
| CV and packages as PDF, rich text, HTML and Markdown | Yes | Yes |
| Annual Review for a calendar year, academic year or custom dates, with an Advising and Mentoring section | Yes | Yes |
| Export for Annual Report folder with the period's RIS and BibTeX files | Yes | Yes |
| Faculty activity Word file, missing details check and README in the export folder | No | Yes |
| Publications as RIS or BibTeX | Yes | Yes |
| Word (.docx) export and your own Word templates | No | Yes |
| Short and one-page CV variants, several formats at once | No | Yes |
| Reports: NIH biosketch draft, Current and Pending, AACSB summary, progress report | No | Yes |
| Daily ORCID check and batch DOI lookup | No | Yes |
| For You: the research graph and three nudges (a decision taking long, annual review with details missing, good news to share) | Yes | Yes |
| For You: deadlines for your venues and topics, co-authors you have not worked with in years, grants ending, tenure bar, your growing topics, the Monday summary and Apple Intelligence wording | No | Yes |
| Research topics for each paper, with editing | Yes | Yes |
| Review history with statistics, and Reviewing listed on the CV, annual review and tenure count | Yes | Yes |
| PDF library: attach PDFs to papers, submissions and references, Quick Look, duplicate check | Yes | Yes |
| PDF reading on your Mac: title, abstract and keywords used for topics and the knowledge graph | No | Yes |
| Collaboration map and research timeline | No | Yes |
| Shareables, including the five visual cards | No | Yes |
| iCloud sync between your Macs, off until you turn it on, with private fields encrypted | No | Yes |
| Revision workspace, calendar sync, themes | No | Yes |
| Option to hide journal names on manuscripts under review, and a rejection moving a project out of Under Review | Yes | Yes |
Filling in a university reporting system such as Faculty180 or Faculty Success? The free RIS and BibTeX export covers the publications, and Plus adds a Word file with one heading per activity type, which I have not tested against a live campus system. See what each system can import.
Plans
Two plans, both with 7 days free
Monthly
$2.99 a month
7 days free, then $2.99 each month.
Annual
$23.99 a year
7 days free, then $23.99 each year. Saves a third compared with paying monthly.
Stripe handles the card. Purplelink never sees it. Stripe asks for a card to start the trial and charges nothing until the 7 days are up. Cancel before then and you pay nothing. Cancel anytime after that and Plus keeps working through the period you have paid for.
Want Plus for life? It is included in the Mac Suite, $59.99 once, with ModernTex, Outbound Veil, Legroom, Keyfeel, Tapefolio, Panely, Summonly, Née and Lenses.
What Plus adds
Newer tools that work from your record
Reports
Drafts of an NIH biosketch and a Current and Pending report, an AACSB summary, a progress report, and a personal website, all built from what you have already entered.
Word export
Word (.docx) export with your own Word templates, short and one-page CV variants, citation styles and heading languages, and "Describe the CV you need".
Revision workspace
Splits a decision letter into reviewer points, tracks who answers each one, and exports the response letter. When the revision is ready, Revision Review ($2) checks whether the revised manuscript answers each point.
Shareables
Images for social posts about an acceptance, an award or a new paper, and five visual cards from your record: co-author network, citation growth, year in review, collaboration map and research timeline.
More in For You
Deadlines at venues that match your work or topics, co-authors you have not worked with in years, grants about to end, your tenure bar, a subfield of yours that grew, a Monday summary and gentler wording from Apple Intelligence. The first three nudges stay free.
Collaboration map and research timeline
A world map of the institutions you work with and a timeline of your topics by year, both drawn on your Mac and saved as pictures. Choosing and editing the topics of your papers stays free.
Batch DOI lookup and ORCID sync
Look up DOIs for many papers at once, and sync from ORCID once a day.
Reminders and calendar
Deadlines synced to Reminders, and a calendar file that stays up to date.
Themes and small pleasures
Color themes, alternate Dock icons, a celebration when a paper is accepted or a grant is awarded, and a milestones case.
What stays free
Your record, with no limits
Submissions and review rounds, grants, projects, collaborators, teaching, service and mentoring, the tenure view, inbox triage, citation counts, CV and package exports to PDF, rich text and Markdown, backups, and updates are all free, with no limits on how much you keep.
Everything Vitae did before Plus, and all core record-keeping, stays free forever. Plus does not gate any of it, and not subscribing takes nothing away.
How it works
A key, a monthly check, and cancel anytime
Paste the key once
When checkout finishes, this site shows a key. In Vitae, open Settings, then Vitae Plus, paste it and press Activate. There is no account and no sign-in.
Checked by a short key
Your subscription is checked by a short key the app refreshes about once a month. The refresh sends only an anonymous key ID. Between refreshes, Vitae verifies the key on your Mac.
Cancel anytime
In Vitae, open Settings, then Vitae Plus, then Manage Subscription. Plus keeps working through the period you have paid for, then the Plus tools stop. More on cancelling.