14 · research-agent · 07 systems
Research & analyst agentsPrompt in, cited report out.
Research agents take a question and return a structured, cited report — searching, reading, and synthesizing dozens of sources over minutes-long runs. Consumer 'deep research' modes live inside chat products (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity); enterprise analysts work over licensed or internal corpora (Hebbia, AlphaSense); academic tools ground in the literature (Elicit).
Systems in this category
ChatGPT Deep Research
OpenAI · research-agent
ChatGPT Deep Research is OpenAI's research-agent mode: a prompt becomes a 5–30 minute browsing run that returns a cited report — now also reachable via API as a deep-research model.
Gemini Deep Research
Google · research-agent
Gemini Deep Research is Google's research-agent mode: it plans a multi-step search, fans out across the web, and delivers a structured report — with tight integration into Workspace docs and Drive.
Perplexity
Perplexity · research-agent
Perplexity is the answer-engine that grew into a research agent: Deep Research and Labs modes run multi-step searches, build reports, and even produce dashboards and mini-apps.
Genspark
Genspark · research-agent
Genspark is the all-in-one agent workspace from ex-Baidu leadership: Super Agent runs research and produces 'Sparkpages', slides, sheets, and calls — a research agent that finishes artifacts, not just text.
Hebbia (Matrix)
Hebbia · research-agent
Hebbia (Matrix) is the analyst agent for finance, legal, and consulting: it runs multi-step queries across thousands of internal documents — filings, contracts, transcripts — and returns structured, cited grids.
Elicit
Elicit · research-agent
Elicit is the research agent for scientific literature: it searches 125M+ papers, extracts methods and findings into structured tables, and drafts systematic-review-grade summaries with citations.
AlphaSense
AlphaSense · research-agent
AlphaSense is the institutional market-intelligence platform whose Deep Research agents search premium content — broker research, filings, transcripts, expert calls — and return decision-grade cited reports.
Who it's for
Analysts, researchers, and knowledge workers who need a defensible first draft — market scans, literature reviews, diligence memos — faster than manual search-and-summarize.
Tradeoffs
Outputs read authoritative but still misquote sources and miss paywalled or niche material; citation quality varies widely; and the strongest enterprise tools are priced for institutions, not individuals.
Frequently asked
What is a research agent?
Research agents take a question and return a structured, cited report — searching, reading, and synthesizing dozens of sources over minutes-long runs. Consumer 'deep research' modes live inside chat products (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity); enterprise analysts work over licensed or internal corpora (Hebbia, AlphaSense); academic tools ground in the literature (Elicit).
Who should use a research agent?
Analysts, researchers, and knowledge workers who need a defensible first draft — market scans, literature reviews, diligence memos — faster than manual search-and-summarize.
What are the tradeoffs of research agents?
Outputs read authoritative but still misquote sources and miss paywalled or niche material; citation quality varies widely; and the strongest enterprise tools are priced for institutions, not individuals.
Which research agents are in the catalog?
7 as of 2026-09-25: ChatGPT Deep Research (OpenAI), Gemini Deep Research (Google), Perplexity (Perplexity), Genspark (Genspark), Hebbia (Matrix) (Hebbia), Elicit (Elicit), AlphaSense (AlphaSense).
What is a deep research agent?
An agent mode that turns a prompt into a long-running research job: it plans searches, reads pages and documents, cross-checks claims, and produces a report with citations. OpenAI's Deep Research (Feb 2025) set the template; Gemini and Perplexity ship equivalent modes.
Consumer deep research vs enterprise analyst platforms?
Consumer modes search the public web and return a report for a flat subscription. Enterprise platforms (Hebbia Matrix, AlphaSense) work over licensed datasets, filings, and internal repositories with audit controls — priced as contracts, aimed at finance, legal, and consulting workflows.
Can you trust a research agent's citations?
Treat them as a first draft, not a source of truth. Citations are usually real but not always attached to the right claim, and coverage skews to what's openly indexed. The durable value is speed and structure; verification stays on you.