AI agents for research
Agents that run multi-step web research and return a report with sources, from deep research modes to open-source frameworks.
| # | Agent | Category | Pulse | Downloads 7d | 7d | 30d | VS Code installs | Stars | Latest release | Price | Last 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 37 |
ManusButterfly Effect Pte. Ltd. (Manus AI), Singapore |
General | 51 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $20/mo | |
| 62 |
GensparkGenspark Inc. (MainFunc) |
General | 42 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $24.99/mo | |
| 105 |
DeerFlowByteDance |
General | 27 | — | — | — | — | 83.4K+42/day | 2.1.012d ago | Free (OSS) | |
| 117 |
ChatGPT WorkOpenAI |
General | 19 | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $8/mo | |
| 143 |
Gemini SparkGoogle |
General | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | $19.99/mo | |
| 146 |
Perplexity ComputerPerplexity AI |
General | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 154 |
MiniMax AgentMiniMax |
General | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Free + $22/mo | |
| No agents match that filter. | |||||||||||
Ranks are overall positions by Pulse Score. Click a column to sort by what matters to you. Methodology.
How research agents work
A research agent turns a question into a plan, runs many searches, reads the pages it finds, follows leads and writes up what it learned with citations. It saves hours on the gathering step. It does not remove the checking step: the agent can misread a source, rely on a weak one or miss what is behind a paywall.
What each agent does for this task
Only agents whose own documentation describes this use are listed. Checked Oct 6, 2026.
| Agent | What it does | Source |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT Work | ChatGPT's deep research runs multi-step web research and produces a cited report | docs |
| Manus | Wide Research runs many sub-agents in parallel on a large research task and combines the results | docs |
| Perplexity Computer | Searches the web, automates browsing, extracts data and combines findings into reports | docs |
| Genspark | Deep Research agent for multi-step web research and reports | docs |
| MiniMax Agent | Research workflow that collects sources, extracts evidence and writes a brief with citations | docs |
| Gemini Spark | Researches and browses across several sites to gather and compare information | docs |
| DeerFlow | Open-source project that began as a deep research tool (version 1); version 2 is a general agent harness | docs |
Getting a better report
- Ask a narrow question and say what kind of sources you trust (official statistics, peer-reviewed papers, company filings).
- Open the citations for every claim you will rely on.
- Ask for disagreements, not only a summary: what sources contradict each other, and why.
More options by job: the best AI agents in every category.