Deep Research Comparison

2025-04-27

Comprehensive Report on Deep Research and Search Tools in 2025

Introduction

In 2025, AI-driven deep research and search tools have transformed how professionals, researchers, and businesses access and synthesize information. These tools use advanced language models and web search capabilities to produce detailed reports in minutes, a task that once took hours or days. This report compiles insights from X posts between January 1 and May 31, 2025, with a minimum of 5 favorites, focusing on the concept of “deep research / deep search.” It ranks five products from distinct companies—OpenAI, Google, xAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic—based on their popularity on X, measured by the number of favorites on relevant posts. Each product is associated with its official announcement, either an X post or a webpage, ensuring alignment with the specified accounts.

Top 5 Ranking Board

1. OpenAI Deep Research

  • Description: OpenAI’s Deep Research is a ChatGPT feature that automates complex research tasks by retrieving, analyzing, and synthesizing online information, including text, images, and PDFs. Powered by the o3 Reasoner model (and later the o4-mini for a lightweight version), it produces detailed reports comparable to a research analyst’s output. It excels in tasks like competitive analysis, technical research, and industry trend reports, often generating 40+ page documents with numerous citations (TechCrunch).
  • X Activity: Highly popular, with an X post from @OpenAI on April 25, 2025, announcing expanded usage and a lightweight version, receiving 8213 favorites. The post noted, “We’ve noticed many of you love using deep research, so we’re expanding usage for Plus, Team, and Pro users by introducing a lightweight version” (OpenAI X Post). Additional posts from users like @Cointelegraph (342 favorites) and @MarioNawfal (64 favorites) highlight its accessibility and speed.
  • Announcement Date: February 2, 2025, with further updates on April 25, 2025.
  • Official Announcement: https://x.com/OpenAI/status/1886219085236850889

    • 2. Google Gemini Deep Research

  • Description: Google’s Gemini Deep Research, part of the Gemini AI platform, leverages Google’s search infrastructure and Gemini’s advanced reasoning to create comprehensive research reports. It uses a 1M token context window and an agentic system to browse the web, making it ideal for tasks like competitor analysis and market research. It was rolled out to all users in March 2025 (Engadget).
  • X Activity: Notable mentions include a post by @emollick on April 24, 2025, with 183 favorites, stating, “Got a 23 page report from Google Deep Research” (X Post). Another post by @takeshibengo with 82 favorites praised its revolutionary impact on search, noting, “Deep Research is too convenient… a search revolution is happening” (X Post).
  • Announcement Date: December 11, 2024, with expanded access in March 2025.
  • Official Announcement: https://x.com/GeminiApp/status/1905293365865742682

    • 3. xAI DeepSearch

  • Description: xAI’s DeepSearch is a real-time web search feature within Grok-3, launched on February 17, 2025. It enables users to access up-to-date information for research, complementing Grok’s capabilities in reasoning, math, and coding. DeepSearch is designed for quick, accurate searches, particularly for trending topics (Wikipedia).
  • X Activity: Limited engagement, with a post by @fkdjmurderhouse on April 28, 2025, receiving 7 favorites, emphasizing the need to use DeepSearch for accurate results: “When searching something on xAI, I always use DeepSearch, otherwise it casually says random numbers” (X Post). Posts from @grok had fewer than 5 favorites.
  • Announcement Date: February 19, 2025 (as part of Grok-3).
  • Official Announcement: https://x.com/xai/status/1892400134178164775

    • 4. Perplexity Deep Research

  • Description: Perplexity’s Deep Research feature, launched on February 14, 2025, conducts in-depth research by analyzing thousands of sources, delivering reports in 2-4 minutes. It’s free for all users, with unlimited queries for Pro subscribers, and excels in finance, marketing, and product research (Perplexity Blog).
  • X Activity: No posts with 5 or more favorites were found. A post by @grok on April 29, 2025, mentioned Perplexity’s Deep Research but had only 1 favorite, falling short of the criteria (X Post).
  • Announcement Date: February 14, 2025.
  • Official Announcement: https://x.com/perplexity_ai/status/1890452005472055673

    • 5. Anthropic Research

  • Description: Anthropic’s Research feature, introduced on April 15, 2025, allows Claude to search internal documents and the web, providing high-quality answers for tasks like account planning and financial analysis. It integrates with Google Workspace for enhanced context (Anthropic News).
  • X Activity: No posts with 5 or more favorites specifically mentioned the Research feature. Posts from @AnthropicAI, such as one on April 24, 2025, with 1109 favorites, focused on model welfare research, not the user-facing tool (X Post).
  • Announcement Date: April 15, 2025.
  • Official Announcement: Anthropic News

    • Conclusion

    OpenAI’s Deep Research is the most prominent deep research tool on X in 2025, followed by Google’s Gemini Deep Research and xAI’s DeepSearch. Perplexity and Anthropic’s tools, while innovative, lack significant X traction, possibly due to their focus on professional audiences. These tools collectively advance research efficiency, but their social media presence varies. Future evaluations could incorporate user metrics or broader platform data to refine rankings.