ChatGPT Raises Usage Limits for Deep Research and Brings it to Free Users

OpenAI is expanding access to Deep Research, the new agentic capability in ChatGPT that can research complex topics on its own and synthesize very large amounts of information. Thanks to a new lightweight version of Deep Research, the company is increasing usage limits for all ChatGPT paid users, while free users are also getting access to the AI agent for the first time.

“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 explained today. “Responses will typically be shorter while maintaining the depth and quality you’ve come to expect.”

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

In practice, ChatGPT Plus and Team users now have 25 Deep Research queries per month, while Pro users get 250 and Free users just 5. Once ChatGPT users reach these monthly usage limits for the full version of Deep Research, they will automatically switch to the lightweight version of the AI agent.

ChatGPT Enterprise and Edu users will get the same Deep Research usage levels (25 queries per month for the full version of the AI agent) as Plus and Team users starting next week. For free users, Deep Research will start rolling out in ChatGPT starting today.