Petal

Freemium

AI-powered document analysis for research, comparison, and cited content drafting

What is Petal?

Petal is an AI-powered document analysis platform for working with research, technical materials, and other documents that need careful reading. It lets users chat with documents and receive answers that are described as sourced directly from the documents they trust.

The platform combines document Q&A, summarization, translation, drafting, citation tools, and a multi-document comparison table. It is positioned for individual work as well as team collaboration, with support for sharing documents, annotations, and comments.

What can Petal do?

Document chat with sourced answers

Ask questions against your own documents or linked knowledge bases and receive answers that are described as fully sourced and reliable.

Built-in Notebook drafting

Use the Notebook to summarize documents, translate content, and draft new material without switching to a separate writing tool.

Multi-document AI table

Compare multiple documents in a table and set filtering criteria using conversational natural language.

Collaboration on documents

Share documents, annotations, and comments with teammates to keep research and analysis visible to the group.

Reference and citation tools

Generate citation lists and manage references, collections, and annotations within the platform.

Tiered workflow features

Move between single-document chat, multi-document chat, AI Create, and AI Table depending on the plan you are using.

Use Cases

“Research on technical content”

Work with technical or scientific material by asking questions and getting answers tied to the source documents instead of generic search results.

“Literature review and comparison”

Compare multiple studies or documents, apply criteria drawn from the full text, and narrow a large set of candidates into a smaller review list.

“Document synthesis and drafting”

Summarize, translate, or draft follow-on content from documents already in your workspace using the Notebook tools.

“Collaborative review”

Keep a team aligned by sharing documents, comments, and annotations in one workspace while moving between individual and group analysis.

“Structured document workflows”

Build a repeatable analysis workflow around single-document chat, multi-document tables, and citation tools when the same materials are reviewed often.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do people start using Petal?

Petal is set up as an AI document analysis platform for chatting with documents, generating sourced answers, and working across single-document and multi-document workflows. The sources do not describe a required installation flow, but they do show that users can sign up for free and access features such as the document library, chat, AI table, and Notebook-style drafting tools.

Can Petal be used by teams?

The pricing page shows plans with support for teams, guest access, and cross-workspace sharing. The corporate R&D page also emphasizes collaboration through shared documents, annotations, and comments, so the product is designed for team workflows rather than only solo use.

What kind of outputs does Petal support?

Petal is designed to return answers sourced from documents you upload or connect to your knowledge base. It also includes a multi-document AI table, citation generation, and built-in drafting tools for summarizing, translating, and creating new content.

What limitations should users expect?

The source pages do not document every limitation, but the FAQ page suggests common file-handling issues can affect capture and annotations when documents are downloaded and re-uploaded. The pricing page also shows that some features are limited to certain plans or trial periods.

Does Petal have a free plan and paid tiers?

The pricing page shows a free plan and paid plans named Plus, Advanced, and Premium. It also includes annual pricing and student-style pricing references on some plans, but the site text should be checked directly for the latest availability and plan terms.

Quick Facts

Category: AI document analysis platform
Primary workflow: Chat with documents, compare them, and draft new content
Team features: Shared documents, annotations, comments, and cross-workspace sharing
Pricing: Free plan plus paid tiers shown on the pricing page
Source domain: petal.org