Discover RIMS vs Converis and Esploro
Converis and Esploro both sit under Clarivate, but they come from different lineages and answer different questions. Here is what each one officially does, what Clarivate has said about their future, and where Discover RIMS fits.
The short version
Converis is the research administration system of the two. Clarivate describes it as covering “the complete research lifecycle from pre-award workflows to research output management”, with modules for pre- and post-award, publications, intellectual property, a research portal and graduate student management. Its publication matching draws on Web of Science.
Esploro comes from the library side. It captures publications, preprints, datasets, creative works, grants and media mentions, auto-generates researcher profiles, and publishes an SEO-optimised research portal. Its Smart Harvesting queries the Ex Libris Central Discovery Index. Since 2022 it can be implemented whether or not the institution runs Alma.
Discover RIMS covers the research information core — profiles, publications, collaboration, SDG mapping, dashboards — from five named sources, and can be deployed in your own data centre if policy requires it. It does not do grants administration; Converis does.
Side by side
| Discover RIMS | Converis | Esploro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Origin & focus | Research information: profiles, publications, collaboration, reporting. | Research administration across the full lifecycle, including pre-award.Source 1 | Library-side research services: asset capture, profiles, portal.Source 3 |
| Data sources | Scopus, OpenAlex, ORCID, Crossref, Scimago as standard; Web of Science, PubMed and IRIS as custom integrations. | Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports and the InCites API are documented. Scopus is not publicly documented.Sources 1, 2 | Smart Harvesting queries the Ex Libris Central Discovery Index, matched by name variants and ORCID iDs. Direct Scopus, PubMed or Crossref connectors are not publicly documented.Source 4 |
| Grants & awards | Not part of the platform today. | Pre- and post-award modules, approvals and budget dashboards.Sources 1, 2 | Grants and projects are captured as research assets.Source 3 |
| Public portal | SEO-indexed public profiles. Live instance at discover.unhas.ac.id. | Public, searchable web portal.Source 1 | SEO-optimised research portal with auto-generated profiles.Source 3 |
| SDG mapping | Every publication classified across the 17 UN SDGs, automatically. | Not documented on current vendor pages. | Not documented on current vendor pages. |
| Deployment | Cloud-managed, on-premise in your own data centre, or hybrid. | Deployment models and data-centre regions are not publicly documented. | Cloud only, on the Ex Libris cloud, with regional data centres in the US, Europe and Asia Pacific; ISO 27001, SOC 1 Type 2 and SOC 2 Type 2.Source 5 |
| Identity & standards | SAML 2.0 and OpenID Connect, including Shibboleth. API-first architecture. | ORCID push, a central integration hub for repositories, HR and finance, plus Converis Web Services.Sources 1, 2 | SAML 2.0 SSO including Shibboleth, OAI-PMH, ORCID Member and Public API, and eleven REST API areas.Source 6 |
| Roadmap clarity | One product, one roadmap. | Clarivate management stated in 2024 that “Converis will continue as a separate product”. In September 2026 we observed Clarivate’s dedicated Converis page redirecting to a parent hub, while the Ex Libris page remains live. No sunset has been announced.Sources 7, 8 | Clarivate management stated that Web of Science Research Intelligence “will be the upgrade path for the Esploro portal and profiles”, that “there are no sunset plans for Esploro”, and that customers can upgrade at their own pace.Source 7 |
| Pricing | Annual subscription in USD, quoted per institution by size and deployment model. | Not published. We found no UK G-Cloud listing when we checked in September 2026. | Not published. We found no UK G-Cloud listing when we checked in September 2026. |
| Adoption figures | In production at Universitas Hasanuddin, across 18 faculties. | No customer count is published. | No customer count is published; the client-sites page names 40+ institutions.Source 9 |
The roadmap question worth asking
In May 2026 Clarivate launched Web of Science Research Intelligence, described as AI-native and built on Web of Science Core Collection, Derwent, Cortellis Clinical Trials and Pivot-RP. Neither that announcement nor the product page mentions Esploro or Converis.
The clearest official statement comes from Clarivate and Ex Libris management in their formal written response at IGeLU: Web of Science Research Intelligence “will be the upgrade path for the Esploro portal and profiles”, there are “no sunset plans for Esploro”, customers “will be able to upgrade… at their own pace”, and “Converis will continue as a separate product”.
That is a reassuring statement, and it is also a reason to ask directly, in writing, which product you are buying into for the next five years, what an upgrade would involve, and what it would cost. This is not a criticism of either product — it is the question any procurement team should put to a vendor whose portfolio is being reshaped.
Choose Converis if…
- Pre-award and post-award administration must live in the same system as research outputs.
- Your reporting is built around Web of Science, Journal Citation Reports and InCites.
- You need graduate student management or intellectual property tracking alongside publications.
Choose Esploro if…
- Your library drives the project, especially if you already run Alma.
- You want datasets, creative works and media mentions captured as first-class assets alongside publications.
- Cloud-only deployment is acceptable, and you value published certifications such as ISO 27001 and SOC 2.
Choose Discover RIMS if…
- You want named, checkable data sources — including Scopus and OpenAlex — rather than a single aggregated index.
- Policy requires on-premise or hybrid deployment, or a specific data region.
- You want SDG classification without buying a separate analytics product.
- You want one product with one roadmap, and a production instance you can inspect before committing.
On pricing, plainly
Neither Converis nor Esploro publishes pricing, and when we searched the UK G-Cloud Digital Marketplace in September 2026 we found no listing for either. That means the only way to compare cost is to run a procurement and put the same requirements to each vendor.
We do not publish a price list either. What we do publish is the deployment models, what the subscription includes, and the fact that it is quoted per institution by size — so you know what you are asking a price for.
For what these systems actually cost, see what a research information system costs — real contract values and published rate cards.
Questions worth asking all three of us
- Which index does publication matching actually query, and what is missing from it for our disciplines?
- Which product will receive new development over the next five years, and what does an upgrade path cost?
- Can the system run where our policy requires, or is cloud the only option?
- Can we export everything in a documented format if we leave?
- What happens to profiles when a researcher changes affiliation?
- Can we see a production instance with real data, not a demo dataset?
Questions we are asked
Is Discover RIMS an alternative to Converis?
Partly. The research information side overlaps — profiles, publications, portal and reporting — but Converis also covers pre-award and post-award administration, which Discover RIMS does not. Institutions that need grants workflows in the same system should keep Converis on the shortlist.
How is Discover RIMS different from Esploro?
The clearest difference is where publication data comes from. Esploro Smart Harvesting queries the Ex Libris Central Discovery Index; Discover RIMS queries five named sources directly, including Scopus, OpenAlex, ORCID, Crossref and Scimago. The second difference is deployment: Esploro is cloud-only, while Discover RIMS can run on-premise or hybrid.
Does Clarivate plan to retire Esploro or Converis?
No retirement has been announced. In a formal written response at IGeLU, Clarivate and Ex Libris management stated that Web of Science Research Intelligence will be the upgrade path for the Esploro portal and profiles, that there are no sunset plans for Esploro, and that Converis will continue as a separate product. Ask any vendor to confirm its roadmap in writing before you sign.
Can Discover RIMS run in our own data centre?
Yes. Cloud-managed, on-premise and hybrid deployments are all supported, and cloud deployments let you choose the data region.
How is Discover RIMS priced compared with these products?
Neither Converis nor Esploro publishes pricing, so a like-for-like public comparison is not possible. Discover RIMS is an annual subscription quoted per institution by size and deployment model, including implementation, training, maintenance and upgrades.
Sources
- Ex Libris, Converis product page — exlibrisgroup.com/products/converis
- Ex Libris, Converis product update, IGeLU 2022 (module names, ORCID push) — igelu.org
- Ex Libris, Esploro product page — exlibrisgroup.com/products/esploro
- Ex Libris Knowledge Center, Esploro Smart Harvesting framework — knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com
- Ex Libris, data centres and certifications — knowledge.exlibrisgroup.com
- Ex Libris Developer Network, Esploro APIs — developers.exlibrisgroup.com/esploro/apis
- IGeLU 2024, formal written response from Clarivate and Ex Libris management, published March 2025 (roadmap statements) — igelu.org
- Clarivate, Web of Science Research Intelligence launch, 6 May 2026 — clarivate.com/news
- Ex Libris, Esploro client sites — exlibrisgroup.com
- Ex Libris press release, Esploro available without Alma, April 2022 — exlibrisgroup.com/press-release
Claims were checked in September 2026. If something here is out of date or wrong, tell us and we will correct it.