Academia Reviews 

Scam alert!
They will make you fool by offering one month free with cancellation but you would never understand how does it work the cancel. They will cut your money for years. Full of scamming payment model. Never subscribe.

Predatory subscription model that borders on fraud. They give no clear warning for renewal, with difficulty finding your account and payment area if you do want to cancel. Then, if you do cancel a few days before the automatic renewal they say you must give 30 days notice for cancellation. Costs an outrageous $338 CDN for a year to access academic articles. If they had a good, essential product, they wouldn't need to bamboozle subscriptions and rip people off. Stay FAR AWAY from this amoral company.

I was told 400+ academic papers mention my name — but I couldn’t view even one without paying. No preview, no verification, just a paywall after a tempting claim.
This feels less like academic sharing and more like data-fueled phishing.
Academia.edu might sound like a scholarly space, but beware: it seems designed to exploit curiosity and insecurity — especially among students and researchers.

Not trustworthy. Better alternatives exist.

Academia auto-renewed a $371.80 AUD subscription from my account without prior notice. I didn’t consent to it, and I wasn’t warned it was about to happen. When I asked for a refund, they flatly refused—even though I explained the unexpected charge caused financial hardship.

Their billing practices feel deceptive and predatory. No flexibility. No empathy. No refund.

If you’re thinking of signing up, be extremely careful. You might get charged hundreds without realising it—and there’ll be no support if it happens.

I'm not even clear as to what Academia supposedly provides, but I'm also not clear as to how they got my credit card information. I thought I was on a free subscription but today I noticed a charge of £333.60. I reviewed my financials and apparently they've been charging me for the past three years and just upping the amount each year. I obviously can't afford that amount of money particularly when they do not provide a service. I demanded a refund which they refused so I reminded them that they are required by law to honour a cool-down period of 14 days after both subscriptions and renewals. I'm absolutely furious, I'm not sure if I'll get my money back, and I would strongly advise everyone I can to stay as far from this absolute scam as possible.

Really bad customer policies. I was on a yearly plan that renewed and without any reminder email. I email them same day for cancellation but their support gets back saying they can't refund. It's not a unique service that we can't find through research gate or else. I'd gladly pay others rather than pay this high to a company that doesn't heed customer requests

I was charged $139 right after my free trial ended, but this was the first year of my subscription, not a renewal. Academia has stated that first-year charges are refundable, yet they refused my request with a generic template response.

I submitted the request on the same day I was charged, well within 30 days.

If I don’t receive a proper response, I will file a chargeback with my bank or credit card company.

Be careful – this platform uses misleading billing practices.

[UPDATE – July 3, 2025]
After persistent follow-up, Academia has refunded the full $139. The process took about 2 days.
I hope this helps others in a similar situation. Stay patient and firm, and be sure to reference their own public policy when you reach out.

I signed up for a free account upon the recommendation of a professor, and then was charged $159 for a premium subscription that I did not sign up for. I received no warning email about a subscription charge. When I reached out to ask for assistance and a refund I was told they do not do refunds. Very predatory in their practices.

It is a scam.
Don't recall every subscribing and would never accept auto-renew and they say I can't get a refund
nearly $200!!
AVOID!!

I strongly advise anyone considering Academia.edu Premium to read the fine print — and check the price twice.
In April 2025, I was charged €269.37 for an automatic annual renewal of their Premium subscription. The previous year, I paid only €44.50 for the same plan. There was no prior notice, no email, and absolutely no consent requested for this massive increase.
Even more concerning, at the time of renewal, Academia was publicly offering the same Premium subscription for €89/year on their official website and even €88.99/year via Apple Store. That means I was charged three times more than a new user would be, for exactly the same service.
When I contacted my bank to dispute the transaction, Academia simply submitted screenshots of my account - but never proved they informed me about the price change. Their documents were accepted without question.
I have now escalated the matter to the Financial Services and Pensions Ombudsman in Ireland, because I believe this is not just a billing error - it’s a clear case of unfair commercial practice and predatory subscription renewal.
Shame on Academia.edu for treating long-time users this way.
And shame on them for hiding the true price behind vague auto-renewal terms.

I had a free Academia account for more than 10 years. On April 2nd, 2025, I found myself billed with a premium subscription of 246.76€ under unclear circumstances and terms, without the Premium advantages. In my account settings, it was mentioned that I did not have an Academia Premium subscription and no billing for a premium subscription. Despite my two online requests for correction or refund, they refused both. The lack of a professional attitude concerning the accounts and subscriptions is outrageous and inadequate to the academic standards.

I was charged for an annual premium plan after a $1 trial without clear warning. There was no reminder email before or after the charge, and canceling was confusing. When I requested a refund, they refused—even though I canceled right after noticing the charge. It feels dishonest and tricky, like they’re using the $1 trial to trap users. Very disappointing for a platform that claims to support the academic community.

After I cancelled my subscription, I was still charged an annual payment of £146. Apparently, the cancellation process requires multiple confirmation steps, which is a misleading UX tactic used to manipulate users. The app has refused to issue a refund. A very discouraging experience with a service that has become unreasonably overpriced.

I wish i could give it a zero stars, but it's not possible.

I remember i was trying to get the 1 month subscription, but in my pc. there was saved my old credit card, so i didnt.

Then one day passed and i see that academia edu charged me 120 euros. I chechekd all my acounts but there was no subscription premium on any of them.

I contacted their support, but they are not answering. I'm gonna talk wiht my bank account to get the refund.

THEY ARE BAD.

(I wish I could rate this zero — unfortunately, 1 star is the lowest option.)

I fell into their “Try Premium for $1/month” trap, thinking it was a low-risk way to explore the service. Unfortunately, I was never able to cancel the subscription — no confirmation, no working cancel button, and no way to remove my card.

Here’s what happened:
I cancelled my Premium subscription two days before deadline, and repeated (because i didnt get any confirmation email) the process, yet I was still charged.

The “Cancel Auto-Renew” button disappeared from my account, making it impossible to complete the process.

I never received any confirmation email, even though I followed all listed steps.

I contacted support six times — and every time I received the same generic, copy-paste reply.

My payment method remained saved in the account with no way to delete it manually.

I was denied a refund, even though I acted within the legal 14-day cancellation period.

Only after filing a chargeback with my bank did the subscription finally stop.

And here’s the worst part:
If you’ve ever given them your card, they will continue charging you indefinitely — unless you change your card, dispute the charge, or cancel it through your bank. Their system gives you no real control over billing or cancellation.

This is a classic dark pattern, and a complete violation of consumer trust.

Academia.edu should not be offering any paid services under this kind of predatory model. I strongly advise everyone: do not give them your payment information, even for a trial.

Academia just unilaterally upgraded me to premium BUT charged and without my consent debited money from my credit card. This is plain highway robbery!!!

I did not realize the payment I made was a subscription, and I was charged again $159. There is no person you can speak with at the number they provide, you can only leave a message with all your information. I wish I read the reviews before I gave them any money!.

TERRIBLE. They're lying, they're spamming, and they're trying to charge you some options that other friends have for free. They also promise perks when publishing papers they invite you to, and then they don't send you information or data, except how to find a sponsor, and eventually ask you for money. And for what? For initial numbers of start point journals, without any proven rating or indexing. A Shameful Model Under Every Dignity Level- this is Academia.edu

Spamming and sending papers for review, in a roundabout way, without tracking the submitted documents, a dysfunctional system, perfidious techniques of forcing to activate premium and pay membership fees, despite the principled agreement to be exempt from participation. The bottom of behavior.

The site is EXTREMELY underhanded and misleading. I was looking for a particular handbook for cosmology, and thought I had found it. In order to access it, I had to go through the trouble of creating an account. After I did so, I go to download the book, all to find out they only had the first two pages of the book!!! What good is that going to do me?!

I couldn't see that it was only two pages until AFTER they made me sign up and AFTER they tried to coerce me into signing up for a membership. That is EXTREMELY shady and clearly intentional. They knew if I saw it was only 2 pages, I wouldn't have wasted my time, which is why they didn't show me it was only 2 pages until after it was already downloaded (that very last window after the download tells you how many pages it's supposed to be, which could've just as easily had been posted on the file itself).

Lack of transparency like that is a perfect example of a company that can't be trusted. Then, seeing all these people on here who made the mistake of giving the company their credit card, all to be locked into paying with an inability to stop it, further drives that conclusion.

Companies like this need to be shut down, and those that conduct these underhanded business practices need to be locked away in prison where they belong.