ChatGPT users can now try out a new, lightweight version of the AI’s Deep Research tool, and you don’t even need a paid subscription. Announced in an X post on Thursday, the new version is not only free to use but will automatically activate for paid subscribers who use up their quota of the full Deep Research.
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Unveiled in early February, Deep Research browses the web to find and compile the information you need. Simply submit your question or request to ChatGPT, and the AI will search the web for the most relevant sources to answer your query. After completing its search, ChatGPT creates and displays a detailed report on your topic.
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Deep Research is quickly becoming one of the latest trends in AI, now offered by Google Gemini, Perplexity AI, and even xAI’s Grok (which calls it DeepSearch). Microsoft’s Copilot has yet to add a true Deep Research option; its Think Deeper skill is essentially a lightweight version.
Lightweight limitations
Previously, ChatGPT’s Deep Research had a few drawbacks. It was available only to paid subscribers with Plus, Team, Edu, and Enterprise plans. It also limited the number of queries you could submit per month — 120 for Pro users and 10 for other subscribers. Depending on your question, Deep Research could take as long as 30 minutes to deliver results. However, the new lightweight version helps overcome these barriers.
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In total, ChatGPT Plus, Team, and Edu users now get 25 queries per month (10 full and 15 lightweight), Enterprise users get 10 (all full), Pro users get 250 (125 full and 125 lightweight), and free users get 5 (all lightweight). Once you reach your limit for the full version of Deep Research, your queries automatically default to the lightweight version. Moreover, the lighter version is much quicker than the full one.
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“The lightweight version of Deep Research is powered by a version of OpenAI o4-mini and is nearly as intelligent as the Deep Research people already know and love, while being significantly cheaper to serve,” OpenAI said in its post. “Responses will typically be shorter while maintaining the depth and quality you’ve come to expect.”
How do the two versions of Deep Research compare?
Using both versions of Deep Research, I asked ChatGPT to explore how time travel is portrayed in film and television and what it says about our values, fears, and wishes. The full version took 17 minutes to compile the results but delivered a detailed, in-depth report with numerous examples and a helpful chart of different TV shows and movies. The lightweight version took only eight minutes to finish but provided a much shorter and less in-depth report, though still one that proved interesting and helpful.
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