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Best Research agents, ranked
10 agents, scored on our rubric. Last updated 2026-10-23.
| # | Agent | Score | Starting price | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | ChatGPT deep research Multi-step web research inside ChatGPT that produces a cited report. | 8.8 | Free (limited); Plus $20/mo for expanded use | General business and market research |
| 2 | Gemini Deep Research Google's research agent that browses hundreds of sites and writes a report. | 8.6 | Free; Google AI Pro $19.99/mo for higher limits | Google Workspace users wanting free deep research |
| 3 | Perplexity (Deep Research) Answer engine with Deep Research mode that runs many searches and writes cited reports. | 8.2 | Free; Pro $17/mo billed annually ($200/yr) | Fast, well-cited research answers |
| 4 | Claude Research Claude's agentic research mode that searches iteratively across the web and connected apps. | 8.2 | $20/mo (Claude Pro) | Research that mixes web sources with your own docs |
| 5 | Consensus AI search engine over peer-reviewed research with Deep Review reports. | 7.5 | Free (3 Deep Reviews/mo); Pro $20/mo | Evidence-based answers from scientific papers |
| 6 | SciSpace Agent Research agent for literature review, paper analysis and writing workflows. | 7.3 | Free (100 credits); Premium $12/mo annually | Students and researchers wanting an all-in-one research agent |
| 7 | GPT Researcher Open-source deep research agent that plans, searches in parallel and writes cited reports. | 7.3 | Free (pay for LLM and search APIs) | Developers embedding deep research into their own apps |
| 8 | Elicit Research assistant for academic literature: search, screening and data extraction. | 7.2 | Free Basic; Plus $11/mo (academic, annual) | Academics and analysts doing literature reviews |
| 9 | Undermind Deep paper-discovery agent that reads and ranks the literature for a complex query. | 7.2 | Free; Academic Pro $16/mo (annual) | Finding every relevant paper on a niche topic |
| 10 | You.com Research API (ARI) Developer research API (successor to the ARI research agent) with depth tiers. | 6.6 | $12 per 1,000 calls (Lite) | Developers who need research as an API |