OpenAI plans to make Deep Research free on ChatGPT, in response to competition

OpenAI has plans to soon make its Deep Research function available for free tier ChatGPT users.

The feature has been available since early February to Plus, Pro, Enterprise, and Edu subscribers; however, the AI company plans to expand availability beyond its paid users. Deep Research goes beyond the standard query results of the brand’s more traditional AI models. The AI agent has the ability to do extended research tasks on command without the help of a human. The feature can provide a detailed report on the subject of your choosing that might take between five and 30 minutes to compile.  

OpenAI technical staff member, Isa Fulford, recently detailed on an X webcast that Deep Research free availability will soon follow the other tiers. However, she was not able to confirm a specific launch timeline for the function, Android Headlines noted. 

“If you haven’t tried deep research, it’s available now for Plus, Pro, Teams, Enterprise, and Edu users, and we’ll launch it for free very soon,” she said. 

Deep Research is available as part of the ChatGPT Plus subscription, which goes for $20 per month. Meanwhile, the ChatGPT Pro subscription is available for $200 per month, providing more AI models and greater research ability. OpenAI has already offered some of its pricier features for free in various capacities. 

Those with a free Microsoft account can use the ‘Think Deeper’ feature through the Copilot web-based chat or downloadable Copilot app for free. The feature is powered by OpenAI’s o1 reasoning model and is essentially a step before Deep Research. OpenAI also recently made its 4o image generation feature available to free ChatGPT users with a three-mockup limit, whereas the paid tiers have more freedom. 

OpenAI has likely taken a step to make its Deep Research function free on ChatGPT after competitor AI brands have made their options more readily available. Google recently made its Deep Research feature on Gemini free about two weeks ago, when it was previously a Google One AI Premium perk. Perplexity AI also provides its Deep Research feature for free; however, Android Headlines noted there are usage limits on the agent.