5 AI apps with deep research features to rival ChatGPT

Artificial intelligence brands are in fierce competition, and their next steps are to make AI tools smarter by allowing them to execute deep search functions that can provide expert-level results and analyze larger amounts of information in a shorter time. Several companies have announced deep research features in recent weeks and months that excel in areas such as finance, science, marketing, and academics. Research that would have taken a person weeks or months can be achieved in a fraction of the time, with a properly detailed prompt. 

Deep research features are considered AI agents that can work independently and will allow you to make a query and let the AI process for several minutes while it generates the information and returns when it is finished to display the results. They are considered the first steps toward the concept of artificial general intelligence (AGI), which some define as a model that can process a query based on novel data that it has not been trained on, and it can produce unique content. However, we’re not quite there yet, and the main premise of deep research tools is processing large amounts of data and making it easier to understand.

Here are some of the deep research tools that are currently available and ready for different uses. 

Google Gemini deep research 

Google was the first AI brand to launch a deep research tool within the consumer space, with its option becoming available in December 2024. It was an exclusive feature for the paid subscribers on the $20 per month Gemini Advanced tier. Gemini’s deep research tool was based on the Gemini 1.5 Pro model, which spearheaded the idea of autonomous web browsing, and propelled the development of multi-step reasoning and structured research reports. After it became available, other AI brands quickly followed suit and developed their own deep research tools, many with the same name. 

As per pundits’ reviews, Gemini’s deep research is known to provide detailed results, referencing several sources across the internet. Depending on the topic, the tool can reference upwards of 50 sources when conducting its research and save the results in a Google Docs file. Because of its depth of research, results tend to be detailed and lengthy. Reviewers have noted that collecting information for podcast episodes are among some of the practical use cases. 

In late March 2025, Google expanded access of the tool to its free Gemini chatbot, allowing anyone with a Google account to access the feature. In April, Google updated deep research to its Gemini 2.5 Pro Experimental model as its most powerful AI model, which remains exclusive to Gemini Advanced users, with those who tested the update noting that it can spend more time processing queries and give lengthier results, pulling an excess of information. However, the free option is powered by the Gemini 2.0 model and has a usage limit of five reports per month. 

Perplexity AI deep research 

Perplexity AI announced its deep research tool in February 2025, in a unique fashion with a free tier available at launch. This helped the brand stand out at a time when rival AI brands had their deep research features strictly behind paywalls– however, it would quickly urge companies to begin experimenting with their own free options. Perplexity’s free deep research option has a usage limit of five queries per day, while its $20 per month Perplexity Pro tier offers 500 queries per day. It is based on OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 large language models as well as the Microsoft’s Azure data architecture and Microsoft Bing search engine for acquiring data. 

With this foundation, Perplexity says its deep research tool is able to analyze hundreds of sources in less than five minutes to complete a report, which can then be exported into PDF or document form, or a shareable Perplexity page. Reviewers have cosigned that the deep research tool is known for its speed of synthesizing results, describing it as an elevated web result. However, they note it has many of the traditional AI limitations such as hallucinations and lacking some data accuracy. 

Grok 3 deep search 

The Grok 3 deep search tool was announced in February 2025 alongside its accompanying Grok 3 AI model, with tech CEO, Elon Musk claiming that the model outperformed rival models, including Gemini 2.0, GPT-4o, DeepSeek-V3, and o3 mini. Similar to Perplexity’s deep research tool, Musk called Grok 3 deep search a “next generation search engine.” While the tool was available for free for a short time after its announcement, it is mainly accessible through a paid subscription. Options include the $40 per month X Premium+ subscription or the $30 per month SuperGrok subscription. 

Those who tested the deep search tool noted the full scope of the feature was not accessible through the free preview. Reviewers noted that while the Grok 3 deep search tool appears strong in analyzing specific topics such as economics, it falters at its primary task of gathering and citing sources. Though its launch demonstration shows how it should be able to list the original sources, the number of citations were few in comparison to other tools that can list dozens or hundreds of sources. 

Anthropic Claude research 

Anthropic first launched its research tool in April 2025 as a rival to the Claude deep research options already on the market. Based on the Claude 3.7 Sonnet model, the tool not only has research abilities but also has integration with several third-party apps and services, including Google Workspace, Jira, Confluence, Zapier, Cloudflare, Intercom, Asana, Square, Sentry, PayPal, Linear, and Plaid. Anthropic recently announced an update to its feature that will allow it to process queries for up to 45 minutes to generate even more detailed results. Reviewers note that Claude provides more professional-sounding results with bullet-point lists on some findings and summaries at the ends of others to make them easier to read. Claude has a free version, but it doesn’t include the research tool. Its Claude Pro and Max versions include the research tool, with Pro going for $20 per month and Max going for $100 per month.

Microsoft think deeper 

Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI allowed the brand to get in on the action with some deep research features. Before many other brands began making their deep research tools more accessible, OpenAI made one of its most expensive reasoning models available as part of a feature free in Microsoft 365 suite. OpenAI charges up to $200 for full access to the o1 model under its own ChatGPT Pro subscription. However, under Microsoft, the model powers the Think Deeper feature for the Copilot chatbot for free. Users can access the Copilot web-based chat at copilot.microsoft.com or via the downloadable Copilot app and select the ‘Think Deeper’ toggle before processing a query. The tool offers follow-up questions right after a response. While responses are not as lengthy as a traditional deep research tool and may not offer as many citations, it has the ability to derive a multitude of analyses, depending on the topic. As a truncated version, this tool also lacks the ability to save a full report like the more robust deep research features. 

Bonus: OpenAI deep research 

OpenAI launched its deep research feature in February 2025, and it remains one of the most comparable features to date. While many companies have subscription tiers for their services, OpenAI made headlines with its $200 ChatGPT Pro tier, spearheaded by its o3 model and features like deep research. While the pricey option is a unique proposition, deep research was also available for ChatGPT Plus subscribers at $20 per month. Reviewers say it’s very good at telling you what it’s doing in detail and citing sources. It also makes space for asking follow-up questions after an initial query. As of late April, OpenAI has made a lightweight version of deep research available that is based on the o4-mini model and is available for free with a limit of five queries per month. Additionally, ChatGPT Plus users get 25 deep research queries per month, and ChatGPT Pro users get 250 deep research queries per month.