Citation Machine — Browser-Based Academic Citation & Bibliography Generator with Grammar/Plagiarism Upsell (Chegg-owned, Active, Not Shut Down)

Website

Field	Value
Official Website	https://www.citationmachine.net
Company	Citation Machine® (operated as “a Chegg Service”; Chegg Inc. owns the trademark since 2016 acquisition of Imagine Easy Solutions; founded 2000)
Status	Active, not shut down; free tools remain live, premium folded into Chegg Writing/Chegg subscription
Category	ai-productivity-data
Pipeline Stage	none

Field	Value
Product	Citation Machine
Descriptive Title	Citation Machine — Browser-Based Academic Citation & Bibliography Generator with Grammar/Plagiarism Upsell (Chegg-owned, Active, Not Shut Down)
One-line Positioning	Paste a URL/ISBN/DOI or fill source fields → formatted in-text + reference-list entry in APA 7 / MLA 9 / Chicago 17 / 7,000+ styles; free tier ad-supported, premium grammar+plagiarism behind Chegg login.

Field	Value
Citation Gen	Auto-format from URL, ISBN, DOI, title search; manual form for book/journal/website/film/social/media; outputs in-text + full reference simultaneously
Styles	APA 7th, MLA 9th, Chicago 17th (Turabian 9th), plus 7,000+ minor styles via style selector
Bibliography	Accumulate multiple citations into a saved project list, copy/paste or print, switch styles without re-entry
Grammar	400+ advanced grammar checks (premium, Chegg login)
Plagiarism	Scan against web + academic DB (premium, Chegg Writing)
Guides	Built-in MLA/APA/Chicago explainer pages, grammar topic reference library
Limitations	No offline mode, no direct in-text edit of generated string (copy out to edit), no PDF import parsing, no reference-library sync like Zotero

Field	Value
Free	$0 — core citation generation in APA/MLA/Chicago, ad-supported, no grammar/plagiarism, no project save across devices (local browser only)
Chegg Writing (bundle)	~$9.95/mo (historical Chegg Writing standalone) — plagiarism scan, advanced grammar, citation save/sync; now often bundled into Chegg Study/Chegg subscription
Chegg Study/All-Access	~$14.95-19.95/mo — includes Chegg Writing features; cancelling must be done at chegg.com, not on citationmachine.net
Type	freemium-ad-supported-core-tool-premium-behind-chegg-login; starting_price=$0; no standalone Citation Machine Pro SKU in 2026

Field	Value
G2	No verified standalone G2 page for Citation Machine (some vendor-comparison pages misattribute Evernote 4.4/2,100 to it — false attribution, exclude)
Trustpilot	2.8/5 (~3 reviews, 2024-2025) — dominated by “unbearable ads”, “paywalled after trial”, “use Scribbr instead”
Sitejabber	Not a material surface for this tool (no reliable 2026 count)
Editorial (Worldmetrics)	6.3/10 — praise one-pass in-text+bibliography, gripes no reference-library/dedup/audit vs Zotero
Editorial (DigitalToolPad)	“first generator many students meet; broad source templates; ads/upsell slow the exact step that should be fast”
Praise	Fast for one-off assignments, familiar to instructors, broad source-type coverage, style switch retains fields
Gripes	Aggressive ads on free tier, premium features gated behind Chegg account, cancel flow routed to chegg.com not CM site, no offline/no library sync, occasional punctuation drift on edge-case sources

Field	Value
citationmachine.net footer	“Copyright 2000-2026 Citation Machine®, a Chegg Service” — confirms ownership, not a star source
Trustpilot (trustpilot.com/review/citationmachine.net)	2.8/5, 3 reviews — consumer complaint signal only, ads/cancel friction
G2	No genuine CM profile; 4.4/2,100 figures circulating are Evernote’s G2 page mis-cited — do NOT use
Sitejabber	Sparse/unverified 2026 — excluded
Worldmetrics / DigitalToolPad / ToolPad	6.3/10, qualitative — feature-positioning only
Vendor (Chegg)	Pricing/bundle confirmation only

Field	Value
Web	https://www.citationmachine.net (browser only, responsive, no native app)
Mobile	None native (mobile web only)
API	None public
MCP	None
Integrations	None with Word/Google Docs/Scrivener/Zotero; copy-paste output only
Account	Optional free local project (browser storage); Chegg login unlocks save/sync/grammar/plagiarism

Field	Value
Audience 1	High-school / undergrad students doing one-off essays needing a fast APA/MLA works-cited block
Audience 2	Writers who already know their source details and want punctuation/ordering handled
Audience 3	Instructors who accept CM output as “familiar format” for intro-level assignments

Field	Value
Exclude 1	Researchers building a synced reference library with PDFs/notes (→ Zotero/EndNote/Mendeley)
Exclude 2	Users who hate ad-supported flows and trial-to-paywall friction (→ Scribbr/Zotero)
Exclude 3	Teams needing collaborative citation audit / systematic-review dedupe (→ Covidence/Zotero+ZotFile)
Exclude 4	Offline / privacy-first users (CM is server-side, no offline mode)
Exclude 5	People wanting one billing relationship for grammar+plagiarism+citation (→ Grammarly Pro $12/mo or Chegg all-in)

Field	Value
EasyBib	Same Imagine-Easy/Chegg lineage, ad-heavy, weaker style breadth now
Scribbr Citation Generator	Clean no-ads, APA/MLA/Chicago, tied to Scribbr editing services, no library
Zotero	Local reference manager, PDF attach, Word/LibreOffice plugin, free, not just a generator
Mendeley	Elsevier-backed, PDF annotation + citation, group libraries
EndNote	Enterprise/academic incumbents, 7,000+ styles, word-processor deep integration
Paperpile	Google Docs-first, GDrive sync, $9.99/mo
Grammarly (Pro)	Grammar+plagiarism+citation generator bundle, $12/mo annual, no standalone bibliography export
BibGuru / Citefast	Lightweight no-ads alternatives, shallower source-type coverage