Academia Recenzje 

They're thieves, they took money from my card even though I had cancelled the auto-renewal subscription. Don't put your information on that shitty website.

Cette entreprise est aux limites de la malhonnêteté -- et les franchit, en augmentant brusquement l'abonnement.

I would rate 0 if it was possible!
I had a 3 months trials subscription years ago. recently the useless emails about my name being referenced (when it was never me) finally stopped. Then suddenly, last January, I ended up with a large charge on my credit card for a renewal subscription ... Wednesday Thursday Friday !

I have cancelled everything and deleted my account - also changed my credit card! crooks!

I have been debited £82.80 out of the blue. I have no account with them. I have never received an email from them. No warning of any payment being debited or what for. I do not know who Academia.edu are. This is a complete fraud. I am pursuing a complaint through PayPal.

Terrible Customer service.
They subtract money from you without asking

Ho ricevuto un addebito di €157,38 su PayPal Senza sottoscrivere un abbonamento.
Pretendo che mi venga rimborsato al più presto quanto è stato prelevato altrimenti partono le denunce.

dårlig hjemmeside de beder om data fra dig men så skal du betale for deres fcking pdfer de eneste pdfer der er her det sku dem selv

Offers you to pay for books that are free. Should be eliminated.

I had a very disappointing experience with Academia.edu.

I was not informed about any upcoming charge, yet suddenly CHF 193.– was deducted from my account without prior notice or clear consent. This kind of billing practice feels very misleading.

When I contacted support, I received a generic response stating that the charge was for an automatic subscription renewal and that refunds are not possible. Instead of addressing my concern, they emphasized how my payment supports their platform, which is not relevant to the issue of unauthorized billing.

Although they cancelled future auto-renewals, this does not solve the problem of the unexpected and unapproved charge that already occurred.

I strongly advise others to be very careful with subscriptions on this platform and to monitor their billing closely.

Overall, this experience has significantly reduced my trust in their service.

Dark pattern subscription trap. I signed up for what appeared to be a $1 trial. On the last day today, April 24 without any reminder email, they charged $99 for a full year. When I contacted support requesting a refund within their own 30-day refund window (which is stated in their Terms of Service), they sent me the exact same automated response 3 times: "we're unable to process refunds for subscription renewals." Ticket #985831. I work for $4/hour. This $99 charge is nearly 4 days of my salary. Academia.edu deliberately targets researchers and academics people who need access to papers and traps them with hidden subscriptions. The $1 "trial" is designed to look like a one-time purchase. There is no reminder before the charge. Support is a bot. This is predatory billing targeting the academic community. Avoid at all costs.

I am extremely disappointed with my experience with Academia edu

At the last minute before an exam, I paid for access to a specific research article that I urgently needed. Instead of receiving the promised content, I was given a completely empty document. This was highly frustrating and unacceptable. I couldn’t imagine the page to take a single dollar more of my money, because of what I received and already paid for - a blank document.
I had to contact the original researcher to get the article.

Today I discovered that I had been automatically enrolled in a premium subscription without clear or transparent consent, and 123,75 USD was reserved from my account. This was neither clearly communicated nor fairly presented. Which I can read is the problem for many people.

I have not used the service since this incident, and I didn’t even get the service a already paid for.

It is unacceptable to charge users for content that is not delivered as advertised, while also enrolling them into subscriptions without explicit and informed agreement. I will never understand that people in their right mind can get them selves to mislead and take advantage of people and their money like this. It is so wrong.

I do not intend to use the platform again and strongly encourage others to be cautious.

I have contacted them through email and will be updating this

This was partly my problem for not checking reviews. I assumed they were associated with universities. Initially I purchased 1 paper for $3 Aus. Somehow with this purchase they kept my card details and a few days later, without my knowledge, took $191.47 from my credit card account.

I contacted Academia immediately. Asked for a refund. The company spiel said - refunded within 30 days if not happy.

They replied within 24 hours to say NO refund. I had purchased a Premium Account! I still dont know how this happened, its set-up very covertly. Why anyone wants to make money in this devious manner actually shocks me.

Im changing my credit card to ensure they have no access.

UPDATE
I reported Academia to my bank — Westpac.
I told them I signed nothing, had no account with them etc. My money was taken from Academia and held in escrow. Within 3 days Academia refunded my money.

I subscribed to Academia.edu for a $1 trial, and a year later I was charged $99 without any warning or reminder.
What’s worse, I had already canceled my subscription, yet it somehow renewed anyway. When I reached out, they refused to issue a refund. The whole flow feels misleading and poorly designed, making it far too easy to get charged unintentionally.
The “.edu” branding is also confusing and gives a false sense of legitimacy. Overall, this experience feels deceptive and very frustrating.
Be extremely careful — what looks like a cheap trial can quietly turn into a $99 charge with no heads-up.

Der letzte Dreck, Abzocke! Kündigung wird geschickt in den Spamordner geleitet, damit man keinen Nachweis hat. Aber ich habe es rechtzeitig bemerkt!

I was charged for a subscription renewal that I did not want. I had already canceled my subscription, but somehow it renewed anyways. Then they wouldn't refund me, I assume because they have a nice embezzlement scheme going with this type of UI snafu. Very annoying. Also EDU is misleading, bad marketing.

Jacked up annual subscription costs by almost 100% in one year. I didn’t see the email. Fortunately my credit card tagged the renewal as suspicious and declined it. Goodbye forever, Academia, for being so greedy and avaricious. Look that up in your scholarly articles.

Friday, 04/10/2026 - Allegedly from 2/01 until (today) the writing of this review), I went and removed a pre-paper I wrote on the Traditional Mount Sinai, that had been on Academia.edy for several years. I removed it because I had a book coming out and was ready to start promoting it around 2/10/2026. However, it kept popping back up for people kept reading it up to even today. I figure this cost me at least allegedly a good faith Estimate of $10,000.00 in book sales.

Academia.edu used to be a good service. It's no longer affordable for most people, certainly not for retired people, and many people are complaining about the grotesque price increase. It was 150%, in my case, from $200 to $499, aka $500, via a notification I never saw. I learned about the price increase when I found the shocking charge on my credit card. They refused to give a refund, and I later learned that that is illegal, according to Claude AI, under California Law AB 2863 (effective July 1, 2025), California Bus. & Prof. Code 17602 and 17603.

I'm going to file complaints with the California Attorney General, the Federal Trade Commission, the Better Business Bureau, and then sue Academia.edu. Too bad. I was looking forward to continuing to patronize Academia.edu in my retirement. What a shame when a company behaves this way!

Unethical practices- charged me with for a year's subscription without my approval. I complained directly to them via email and they attempted to shame me with "all the good work we are doing"

Shame on you!!!

This is a very poor service. The automatic renewal will hit you without asking if you want to renew it. Scam.