Focal
Focal is an advanced AI tool primarily designed for readers and researchers across various professions. It offers powerful functionalities ...
Last verified:
What is Focal?
Focal is an AI-powered research and knowledge management platform designed to help users make the most of AI in their research workflows. It provides instant AI-assisted search and knowledge management across documents, web pages, and other data sources using semantic understanding and citation-backed responses. Users can save web articles and PDFs to their library without ads and clutter for a beautiful, distraction-free reading experience.
Key features include AI-powered semantic search that goes beyond simple keyword matching, automatic generation of thorough well-cited summaries, extraction of key points from documents, AI-assisted answers with citations linked to original sources, intelligent highlighting and tagging of important sections, note capture, content outline creation for blogs/reports/white papers, and support for multiple citation styles (APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, Harvard). The platform also offers Focal Copilot as a GPT research companion to query, summarize, and analyze content, secure collaboration workspaces, and AI smart drafts using their most advanced AI model.
Focal is designed for researchers and academics who need to aggregate large volumes of information and utilize AI for summaries, students who want to mark/bookmark/summarize educational materials, legal professionals identifying crucial evidence or simplifying complex legal texts, and business professionals tracking market intelligence, competitor research, and customer feedback. It also serves workplace users preserving essential reports and competitive research for strategic decisions, as well as users in marketing, design, and writing fields.
Focal pricing
Pricing model: Freemium
Focal offers a 7-day free trial allowing creation of 3 free sources and limited Copilot usage. Three paid plans: Starter at $9/month for single user with 100 pages (PDF, Web), AI summaries, AI Copilot, secure workspaces, highlights, comments, tags, notes. Pro at $29/month for single user with 500 pages (PDF, Web), $0.02 for additional pages, AI summaries, AI Copilot, AI smart drafts, advanced AI model, everything in Starter, AI Research Agents (coming soon). Teams at $99/month including 5 users with 5000 pages (PDF, Web), $0.02 for additional pages, all Pro features plus collaboration for teams.
Focal pros
- AI-powered semantic search beyond keyword matching
- Citation-backed responses with original source links
- Automatic generation of thorough document summaries
- Extract key points from documents automatically
- Distraction-free clean reading experience without ads
- Save web articles and PDFs to searchable library
- Highlight and tag important sections easily
- Capture notes within documents
- Support for 5 citation styles (APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, Harvard)
- Focal Copilot as GPT research companion
- Create content outlines for blogs, reports, white papers
- AI-assisted answers with context-aware precision
- Secure collaboration workspaces and projects
- AI smart drafts with advanced AI model
- Works across PDFs, web pages, and multiple data sources
Focal cons
- Company is closing doors - service shutting down
- Limited page counts per plan (100-500 pages)
- $0.02 per additional page beyond limit
- No free tier - only 7-day trial
- AI Research Agents feature still coming soon
- Small monthly traffic (1.9K-2.5K visits)
- Limited to single user on Starter/Pro plans
- Teams plan only includes 5 users minimum
Frequently asked questions about Focal
What is Focal?
Focal is an AI-powered platform for reading and research that provides instant search and knowledge management across documents, web pages, and other data sources using semantic understanding and citation-backed responses. It offers features like AI-assisted search, document summarization, and knowledge management.
How do I sign up for Focal?
Start by signing up for Focal's 7-day free trial at https://accounts.getfocal.co/sign-up. This allows you to create 3 free sources and try out limited Copilot usage before subscribing to a paid plan.
What document types can I upload to Focal?
You can upload PDFs, save web pages, and add other document types to make them searchable in Focal. The platform supports both PDF and web page sources.
How does Focal's AI search work?
Focal uses AI semantic search to find exactly the sources and information you need across all connected documents. It goes beyond simple keyword matching by using semantic understanding to provide context-aware results.
What citation styles does Focal support?
Focal supports five citation styles: APA, MLA, IEEE, Chicago, and Harvard. You can choose your preferred citation style and Focal will automatically generate and manage citations for information used from your sources.
What is Focal Copilot?
Focal Copilot is your GPT research companion that allows you to query, summarize, and analyze content. You can ask questions and get precise, context-aware answers from the AI assistant with citations linked to original sources.
Can Focal generate summaries automatically?
Yes, Focal automatically generates thorough, well-cited summaries and extracts key points from your documents to save time on manual analysis. The summaries include citations linked to original sources.
What is the cost per additional page beyond my plan limit?
Focal charges $0.02 for each additional page beyond your plan's page limit. This applies to both Pro and Teams plans when you exceed 500 or 5000 pages respectively.
Who is Focal designed for?
Focal is designed for researchers and academics aggregating large volumes of information, students studying educational materials, legal professionals identifying crucial evidence, business professionals tracking market intelligence and competitor research, and workplace users preserving essential reports and customer feedback for strategic decisions.
Is Focal still available?
Focal is closing its doors and shutting down the service. Existing customers can still sign into their account up until the end of their current billing period. The company is quietly building the next evolution as an AI clinical decision support and research tool for clinicians and medical professionals.