Academia Reviews 

I canceled my subscription almost 2 years ago and they kept taking money from my bank account on 2024 and 2025. I just realized this today! Avoid this site!

Sudden unexpected change in subscription from £70 to £202. No warning for why subscription should change, despite this being contrary to their own terms and conditions. This is a SCAM. If you write to them you get an automated response ignoring the questions asked.
UPDATE: Proved that Academia had broken their own terms and conditions. PAYPAL refunded everything within 1 day. EXCELLENT SERVICE PAYPAL

I would like to give zero stars but this is unfortunately not possible. Similar to most of the posts I see here, I all of a sudden need to pay 356 euros instead of 79 last year. I asked to cancel my subscription per direct, and a refund. Cancel yes, but no refund was the answer. Do not subscribe !!

Similar to others, I was a victim of Academia.edu’s unethical business practices. They auto-renewed my subscription from a “50% off” promotion rate of $74.50 in 2024 to $499 this year. I contacted their support team the same day the renewal processed (while it was still pending) requesting cancellation and received a reply stating “we are not offering refunds for any Academia Premium renewal payments at this time.” I fully intend to dispute this transaction and strongly discourage anyone from using this service.

Another avoid at all costs. I took out a subscription 2 years ago. No email received about massive price hike, and automatic payment taken. I've not used it so they are not out of pocket, I don't want it and they won't refund me. AVOID.

Avoid at all costs. I took out a premium subscription last year, it’s been a waste of time. They have also just taken £279 off me when I was expecting £69. I found an email from them from 7 days ago with no clue in the header about price increases (they send constant spam emails anyway). The email was pages of “benefits of a premium subscription” then at the bottom in tiny letters it said “we’re taking £279 from you”. Totally disreputable and not even worth subscribing to. Avoid at all costs.

You download the file that you want, only to see that you downloaded a bunch of other files that are 'related' to yours. DO NOT SUBSCRIBE TO THIS WEBSITE, IT IS A SCAM

I signed up for an account with them in 2014 and then cancelled that same year. After I was mistakenly recharged by them several times. In 2019 I signed up with them again for a few minutes by mistake and then cancelled the service a few minutes after sign up, I received an email saying it was cancelled. Today I discovered in March 2025 I had been charged 202.80 GPB again without any notification. I asked my bank to look into it and they discovered they also charged me in March 2024 82.80 GBP and in March 2023 69.00 GBP, despite never corresponding with them again since the full cancellation in 2019 (but blocking Paypal payments to them in 2023 after the above). I received no notification that they were charging me in 2025, 2024, 2023 or that the service had been re-activated after the cancellation in 2019.

Updated: the reply provided by Academia. edu below does not resolve the issue. I also then received an email from support, stating the sum had already been refunded, which was not true, My subsequent emails have got nowhere and their responses are ever more ridiculous. The company should not be in operation and is a scam.

Like many others, I have had money taken from my account without any notification or explanation. A pattern emerges from the many Trustpilot reviews of Academia.edu hiking subscription fees and then just taking the money out of our accounts without any notification of the increase and the withdrawal. Academia.edu appears to be operating illegally, stealing our money, and therefore, it is right and proper to inform people of this corruption. Unfortunately, I don’t have the expertise, but if others do, please put out a global note on social media platforms that Academia.edu is a corrupt organisation.

As many of you have reported, academia.edu's charges are unethical and predatory. I emailed them threatening with legal action and they refunded the 389$ that they sneakily had charged to my account. If you email them for a refund, ask them where is it public their pricing (it is impossible to find).

This website have a untrusteable sistem of payments and they take of your credit card long-term subscription without asking the client's, is like a online scam, I'm still waiting for the refund of my money.

This company is predatory. They increased their subscription rate by stealth by about three hundred percent. If there was an option to give zero or negative stars I would. Avoid academia Premium

In 2023 I subscribed just to check it out, and even that came to me as a 'push' notice as I would not have normally considered or looked for the subscription. The cost was 45.50 USD.

I have not really seen any benefit of staying a member and have not used the service at all.

Today, two years later, I got charged 411.25 USD -- without any prior question or notification. I only now realized that they charged me 136.35 USD last year, which somehow went unnoticed on my behalf, unfortunately.

I have written a complaint to them but have not heard back.

I received an email informing me of changes to the Premium service on 3/25, with the new subscription price ($299) buried under a long list of services. I immediately went to cancel autorenewal, and went through to a page prompting my reasons for cancelling. I selected, but apparently there were two additional prompt pages to fully cancel that I did not see. I never received an email reminder of the payment, nor that it had been paid. I found it on my bank statement. I have never changed my email preferences on their website and found that the only option opted out of was Premium payment emails - something I certainly never opted out of through my own volition. The price increase is almost 2x what it was the year before, not accounting for the fact that I enrolled at a discounted price. Absolutely vile lack of transparency and intentional exploitation of their client base.

My credit card had a charge of $379 for this service. I was surprised because a) I thought I had canceled auto-renewal, and b) because I only paid $99 for the service in 2024. I received *no* notice of the increase, and I was not warned that the charge was coming.

I reached out to Academia.edu and they sent me a canned response telling me I was not entitled to a refund because I was not eligible.

I notice that most of these reviews are about the same issue, going back to at least 2024. A decent business would pay attention and amend their predatory billing practices.

Several people have complained about this to the Better Business Bureau. Apparently if you do that, Academia tends to grant a "one time exception" to their rigid refund policy. Thanks to all the folks who've reached out to the BBB.

Despite not using my account since last year, Academia.edu charged me €445 without any prior notice or my explicit consent. This charge was made without informing me or seeking my authorization, which is totally unacceptable.

I checked their refund policy, and they don't offer refunds for renewal payments. However, under California consumer protection laws (Cal. Civ. Code § 1750 et seq.), businesses must provide clear and conspicuous notice before auto-renewing a subscription. Since I didn't receive such notice, this charge might be in violation of these laws.

I am therefore formally requesting a full refund of this unauthorized charge. If my request is not met, I will escalate this issue by filing formal complaints with the California Attorney General’s Office, the Better Business Bureau (BBB), and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)

Overall, my experience with Academia.edu has been highly frustrating and disappointing. I would caution others to be wary of their subscription practices and lack of transparency.

BEWARE After 9 years Academia subscription I am now fighting to get a refund. The maximum sub anually has been £82. This year it's £202.80. That's two and a half times as much. No warning given, no reminder email. It's just taken from the bank account.
Nor is the service much good in recent years. A lot of spammy emails, the search system is weak. I can't say I have had any solid benefits from membership. I kept it going because it sent me emails on who was reading my work which I thought would be a useful PR list now I'm publishing my PhD. But they are not worth it. Not with this greedy cheating.

If I could give less than 1-star for this review I would. Academia.edu have sneakily jacked their premium subscription fees by an obscene amount with less than a week's notice being given. The notification that this was happening was buried amongst a deluge of emails that were sent from the same address that day in what appears to be a deliberate attempt to make it difficult to catch. The cancellation process is nightmarish with no confirmation emails being sent - so there is no way of knowing whether you've successfully unsubscribed or if you are going to be charged through the nose the next day. On top of this, most of the premium features everyone signed up for are no longer offered, and the site now functions as little more than a spam mill. Predatory (possibly illegal), obscene, and obfuscating. Avoid at all costs

On March 18th, 2025, I found my account flagged as “suspicious” and couldn’t log in — but Academia.edu still charged me for a membership renewal. How can I be locked out and still billed?

I contacted support immediately, but I’m still waiting, with no access and no clear answer. I feel ignored and extremely disappointed.

Academia.edu, please reach out and resolve this. I just want what I paid for — or a refund if access isn't possible. This experience has been deeply frustrating.

My Experience with Academia.edu: Unintentional Premium Subscription and Lack of Transparency

Recently, I discovered a charge of €117 on my account for a premium subscription to Academia.edu, which I did not knowingly authorize. This unexpected deduction has been both surprising and frustrating.

Unclear Subscription Practices

I have maintained a free account on Academia.edu and have always been cautious not to engage with premium offers. Despite this, I was enrolled in a premium subscription without my explicit consent. This incident raises concerns about the platform’s subscription practices and the clarity of their terms.

Shared User Experiences

Upon investigating, I found that numerous users have reported similar experiences. For instance, a user shared that they were charged €216 without prior notice and faced difficulties obtaining a refund.

Conclusion
My experience with Academia.edu has been disappointing. I advise users to monitor their account activities closely and exercise caution to avoid unexpected charges.