Petal is an AI document analysis platform to chat with your documents, annotate and cite. Free plan available; paid plans from $2.55/month.
Researched and fact-checked by Bartu Cavusoglu · Updated October 26, 2026
Petal is an AI-powered document analysis platform that lets users chat with their own documents. It links to a user's knowledge bases and produces answers sourced from documents the user already trusts, rather than from general web content. The company calls it a context-aware generative AI and says it is trained on trusted sources.
The product grew out of an early reference manager called KaleidoGlobe. Petal was officially created in 2018 by founder Hunter and cofounder Chi, who met as graduate students. It is run by Paladin Max, Inc., and its site claims more than 20,000 researchers, faculty and industry experts use it.
Users upload documents to Petal's cloud drive, which acts as a single source of truth. The drive extracts metadata automatically, removes duplicate files and includes dedicated support for technical and scientific documents. The AI then answers questions using those files, so responses trace back to material the user supplied.
Chat works on a single document or, on higher tiers, across several documents at once. An AI Table lets users compare documents side by side and set filtering criteria in plain conversational language. The built-in Notebook, called AI Create, can summarize, translate and draft new content from the source material.
Petal's AI features include single-document chat, multi-document chat, AI Create and the AI Table. Alongside them sit research tools: a citation generator with unlimited citation lists on every plan, and a reference manager with collections and annotations. A browser plugin helps add references, according to a customer quoted on the site.
Collaboration is handled through highlights, comments and shareable links. The AI can identify key points and explain complex ideas inside a document, which is useful for dense technical reading. Every plan includes cross-workspace sharing and three guests, so outside collaborators can view material without taking a full seat.
Petal is an AI-powered document analysis platform that lets users chat with their own documents. It produces answers sourced from documents the user trusts and adds a cloud drive, annotation, citation and reference management tools.
Petal has a Free plan at $0, Plus at $2.55/month, Advanced at $8.49/month and Premium at $25.49/month. Plus and Advanced prices reflect an early bird and annual discount, and the site lists higher rates for .edu and other accounts.
Yes. The Free plan includes 1 GB of storage, 400 one-time AI credits, single-document chat, unlimited citation lists and 2 collections. Multi-document chat, AI Create and AI Table are offered as 7-day trials.
Yes, on Advanced and Premium. Free users get a 7-day trial, and Plus does not include multi-document chat. Plus does include the AI Table for comparing documents.
Petal is aimed at researchers, faculty, students, corporate R&D teams and industry experts who work with many technical or scientific documents. Its site lists academia, corporate R&D and business as use cases.
Petal supports annotations, comments, shareable links and cross-workspace sharing. Each plan includes 1 seat and 3 guests, and enterprise offerings are available by emailing the company.
The source pages do not list named third-party integrations. They mention a browser plugin for adding references, and partnership options including white label, enterprise license and an affiliate program.
Petal is made by Paladin Max, Inc. The founder, Hunter, says the company was officially created in 2018, and his cofounder Chi leads technology strategy.