I wanted to build a Google Scholar clone but without the 35 dollar paywall.
I found OpenAlex - 250M papers, free API, no key needed. Here's how I did it.
The Stack
Frontend: Next.js 14 on Vercel (free tier)
Data: OpenAlex API https://api.openalex.org/works?search=quantum
Fallback: Semantic Scholar for AI summaries
SEO: Dynamic sitemap + robots.txt - took 2 days to get indexed on Google
The Core Code (1 API call = 250M papers)
const res = await fetch(https://api.openalex.org/works?search=${query}&filter=is_oa:true&per-page=20);
const data = await res.json();
What I learned after launching
I launched on Product Hunt and checked Vercel Analytics:
44% USA, 24% Germany, 17% Iraq - real researchers, 89% desktop
Reddit banned me for self-promo
Indie Hackers and Hacker News require old accounts
DEV Community was the only one that let me publish instantly
That's why I'm writing here.
Live Project
Live: https://scholarai-pro-final.vercel.app
Product Hunt: Search ScholarAI Pro
It's 100% open access only - no paywall bypassing, just legal OA papers + AI summaries.
What's next?
I want to add:
Citation graph
BibTeX export
University SSO
If you're a US student/researcher, what feature would make you switch from Google Scholar?
Open to feedback and contributors!
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