Perplexity now has its own ‘Deep Research’ tool
The company says its new tool is faster, smarter, and—unlike OpenAI and Google’s versions—free to use.
AI keeps getting smarter, but now it also wants to do your research for you.
Perplexity has launched ‘Deep Research’, a feature that promises to dig through the internet, analyze information, and generate expert-level reports in minutes. If that sounds familiar, that’s because Google and OpenAI already did it first, with Gemini’s Deep Research in December 2024, followed by OpenAI’s own version earlier this month.
Now, Perplexity is jumping in with its own spin, claiming to be faster and more accessible—without the hefty price tag. Unlike OpenAI Deep Research which comes with a $200/month paywall, it's offering the tool to free users (with daily query limits), while Pro subscribers get unlimited access.
This surge in AI-powered research tools is all about fixing information overload. While traditional search engines dump endless links, leaving users to sift through cluttered results, AI tools aim to cut through the noise—scanning, summarizing, and delivering reports in minutes instead of hours.
According to Perplexity, what makes its Deep Research different is that it doesn’t just fetch information—it “thinks” through it. Kind of like how a real researcher revisits sources, backtracks, and re-evaluates findings. Once done, it compiles everything into a structured report that can be exported as a PDF or shared as a Perplexity Page.
And it’s not just about accessibility—the company says it’s fast, too. While OpenAI’s Deep Research can take 5 to 30 minutes to generate a report, Perplexity claims it delivers results in under three minutes.
Additionally, in benchmark tests, Perplexity’s Deep Research scored 21.1% on Humanity’s Last Exam—an expert-level AI reasoning test—placing it ahead of Google Gemini Thinking (6.2%), DeepSeek R1, and OpenAI’s GPT-4o (3.3%), though OpenAI’s own Deep Research still leads at 26.6%.
With AI research tools popping up everywhere, Perplexity is betting on speed, accuracy, and accessibility to stand out. Whether it can go head-to-head with OpenAI and Google long-term remains to be seen, but for now, it could be a solid alternative—and one that won’t cost you a fortune to try.
The feature is currently web-only but is expected to roll out to iOS, Android, and Mac apps soon.
