OpenAI is giving free ChatGPT users limited access to its Deep Research tool without the need to pay for it. In addition, the company has expanded the tool’s limits for all users by rolling out a lightweight version of it powered by its o4-mini model. It says the o4-mini Deep Research feature produces slightly shorter responses, but is “nearly as smart, more cost-efficient and delivers similarly high-quality results” as the original version. OpenAI previously released the tool for use by paying Pro, Plus, Team, Edu and Enterprise subscribers. But even they have a limited number of Deep Research queries per month.
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.
Responses will typically be shorter while maintaining the depth and… pic.twitter.com/H2UD5GThVj
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) April 24, 2025
Plus users, for instance, only had access to 10 inquiries, whereas Pro subscribers paying $200 monthly had a limit of 125. Now, when users hit their limit on the original version, ChatGPT will switch over to the lightweight one. Plus and Team subscribers are now getting an extra 15 Deep Research inquiries a month on top of their 10, while Pro users are getting an additional 125 tasks powered by the lightweight version of the tool on top of their 125. Enterprise and Edu users are getting access to the lightweight tool next week and will get 15 more inquiries every month. As for free users, they can use the tool powered by o4-mini to get up to five answers monthly.
Deep Research has the capacity to analyze websites and various sources to create thorough reports with citations. The company says the tool is “fine-tuned on the OpenAI o3 reasoning model,” but the lightweight version is “significantly cheaper to serve.”
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