ChatGPT Now Offers a ‘Lightweight’ Version of Deep Research to All Users

The Deep Research feature in ChatGPT is available next to the reasoning option underneath the text field.

Advertisement
Written by Akash Dutta, Edited by David Delima | Updated: 28 April 2025 13:39 IST
Highlights
  • The lightweight version of Deep Research is powered by o4-mini model
  • It will also be available to the paid subscribers of ChatGPT
  • Free users will currently get five uses of Deep Research a month

The Deep Research AI agent can conduct multi-step research on complex topics

Photo Credit: Unsplash/Levart_Photographer

OpenAI is expanding its Deep Research artificial intelligence (AI) agent to all ChatGPT users. The San Francisco-based AI firm announced that it is now offering a “lightweight” version of the tool to all users on the platform — it was previously limited to paid subscribers. This version of Deep Research will be powered by the o4-mini AI model and will be available with certain rate limits. The expansion of the AI agent comes just weeks after Google made its Deep Research model available to all users.

OpenAI's Deep Research AI Agent Is Coming to All Users

In a post on X (formerly known as Twitter), the official handle of OpenAI announced the expansion of Deep Research. With this move, free users will get access to the AI agent for the first time, whereas the paid subscribers will get higher rate limits. The AI firm said it has started powering the feature with the o4-mini AI model, making the tool's usage cost-efficient.

Advertisement

With this, the ChatGPT free users will get five lightweight Deep Research queries per month, as per the company's website. ChatGPT Pro users, who earlier had 100 queries per month, will now get 250 queries in the same duration. 

Once the regular limit is hit, the queries are automatically switched to the lightweight version. Users on the Plus and Team plans can make 25 Deep Research queries per month. Enterprise and Edu subscribers will get access to this next week, with rate limits similar to the Team plan.

Advertisement

Deep Research in ChatGPT

 

OpenAI says that the lightweight version of Deep Research is “nearly as intelligent” as the regular version, while being cheaper to process. The responses will be shorter than the regular version, but the company claims that the quality of the response will not be compromised.

Gadgets 360 staff members were able to access the lightweight version of Deep Research. The icon is located underneath the text field, next to the reasoning icon. While using the AI agent, users will have to share a primary query. Based on that, ChatGPT will ask questions to narrow the scope of research and understand the primary requirements. After that, it will conduct research, which can take between five and 30 minutes.

Advertisement

The entire chain-of-thought (CoT) is visible in a sidebar on the right side. The sources used to find the information are cited both next to the relevant sentences and at the bottom.

 

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Here Are the Best Phones Under Rs. 50,000 With Wireless Charging
  1. TRAI Adds New Rules for Spam Calls, Automated Calls and A2P Communications
  2. Meta Muse AI Agent Arrives on Mac With Support for Complex Tasks: What to Know
  3. WhatsApp Could Bring New Theme Categories and Wallpapers to Android
  4. Mivi One 5G Camera Details Revealed, Mivi Care+ Support Teased Ahead of Launch
  5. OpenAI Gets Hacked by Indian-Origin Ethical Hackers Using Anthropic’s Claude
  6. OpenAI Announces Astra for Law With GPT-6 Astra, Legal Search Index and Specialist Plugins
  7. Google Gemini Live Could Get an Ephemeral Video Mode for More Private AI Sessions
  8. Apple Pay Could Launch in India Next Month With Axis Bank Credit Cards, Report Claims
  9. Samsung Gallery Adds Google Photos Integration Ahead of OneDrive Sync Ending: How It Works
  10. BenQ Showcases New iScreenBar and ScreenBar Max Desk Lighting Systems at InfoComm 2026
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.