Reference/Citation management software

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Does anyone here write academic, peer-reviewed papers or books, or otherwise have a need for such software? I flat out refuse to pay $300 for Endnote. I have used the program in the past, and find it overly large and cumbersome, with a steep learning curve. Even people I know who use it and seem to like it often end up going through lit cited sections and manually changing that one little comma, period, or abbreviation manually. Some things it makes easier and simpler, but in other ways it is a real PITA. I doubt there is much effort or time saved unless you really invest a lot of time with the software.

I am looking for something simpler and free (or inexpensive). In addition to citation management, I need something to organize all the academic papers I have sitting on my HD.

I have been looking into this a bit, but there is a bewildering array of free and relatively cheap software---Looking for ideas on this. Thanks.

[North Star]

You might try RefWorks, not sure how much it costs in the long run, though.

https://www.refworks.com/