In a significant development for artificial intelligence accessibility, OpenAI has officially released a lightweight version of its Deep Research tool, making ChatGPT Deep Search free for all users.
The announcement marks a major shift in the availability of advanced AI-powered research capabilities, previously exclusive to paying subscribers.
OpenAI made the announcement through their official channels about the rollout of the latest version, which uses the o4-mini language model to produce compact yet high-quality responses at economic costs.
The Deep Research function, which was introduced in 2023, allows ChatGPT to conduct comprehensive internet research and generate organised reports that are substantiated by citations from a variety of subjects. These reports often include headings, bullet points, data tables, and references, providing users with an output that resembles a professionally written paper.
Previously available only to Plus, Team, and Pro subscribers, the feature is now accessible to free users with a monthly limit of five Deep Research queries. Although these free-tier queries are limited to the lightweight version, OpenAI emphasized that the tool still delivers “depth and quality” akin to the original experience.
Subscription Tiers and Limits
The launch also affects subscription-based users, offering a blended model of full and lightweight Deep Research queries:
Free Users: 5 lightweight Deep Research queries per month
ChatGPT Plus ($20/month): 10 full queries + 15 lightweight
Team & Education Plans: 10 full + 15 lightweight queries
Pro Plan ($200/month): 125 full + 125 lightweight queries
Enterprise Accounts: To begin rollout next week, with access aligned with Team tier
Upon reaching quota limits, the system transitions users from comprehensive queries to lightweight versions, while simultaneously preserving all functional capabilities.
To preserve its market competitiveness in comparison to competitors such as Perplexity and Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, OpenAI offers ChatGPT Deep Search at no cost to all users. While Perplexity allows five research queries per day for free users, OpenAI is focusing on delivering curated, well-structured outputs at a high level of academic and professional quality.
The company describes the lightweight model as a “nearly as intelligent” alternative that is “significantly cheaper to serve,” enabling broader access without compromising usefulness.
Why It Matters
Through its free offering of ChatGPT Deep Search, the tool expands powerful research accessibility for all users who need dependable deep details quickly, including educational institutions and students, as well as research analysts, marketing professionals and other knowledge professionals. Openai demonstrates its commitment to making advanced artificial intelligence technology accessible to all users by providing the free ChatGPT Deep Search service.
As AI-driven research continues to become integral to workflows across industries, the present update reinforces ChatGPT’s position as a leading solution in the evolving generative AI landscape.