Research agents for small businesses: prices and real use cases

• Browser agentsFree tier

  ChatGPT (agent & deep research)

  OpenAI's assistant. Paid plans add agent features (ChatGPT Work, a built-in browser, scheduled tasks) and deeper research reports.

  Subscription · 2 use casesFree; Plus $20/mo

• Browser agents

  Manus

  A general-purpose agent that works on its own in a cloud computer: browsing, researching, and producing reports, slides and simple sites.

  Quote only · 1 use caseSee vendor

• ResearchFree tier

  Perplexity

  An AI answer engine with cited sources, deep research reports and 'Computer' tasks that build documents and apps.

  SubscriptionFree; Pro $17/mo

• ResearchFree tier

  Gemini Deep Research

  Google's Gemini assistant; Deep Research browses many sources and writes a report.

  SubscriptionFree; AI Pro $19.99/mo

• ResearchFree tier

  Elicit

  A research assistant for academic papers: search, screening and data extraction for literature and systematic reviews.

  Subscription · 3 use casesFree; Plus $11/mo

• ResearchFree tier

  Consensus

  An AI search engine over peer-reviewed research that summarizes what studies found, with citations.

  SubscriptionFree; Pro $12/mo

• DataFree tier

  Powerdrill

  An AI agent workspace for data analysis and research that turns files and data into reports, slides and charts.

  SubscriptionFree; Pro from $16.58/mo

• ResearchFree tier

  Gemini Notebook (NotebookLM)

  Google's research notebook (formerly NotebookLM) that answers questions from your sources and makes audio overviews and slides.

  SubscriptionFree; more with Google AI plans

Listed, not ranked: we haven't tested these hands-on, and we'd rather not rank on marketing pages. Tip: Check every number against the cited source before you rely on it.

• Use caseResearch

  A marketing consultant gave Manus three competitor URLs and asked it to find two more; about 18 minutes later it returned an 11-page analysis with positioning, public pricing and a comparison table.

  ManusAI Marketing Foundry, Jun 2026 ↗

• Use caseBrowser agents

  A Washington Post tech columnist let OpenAI's Operator agent run his errands; among the lessons, it spent $31 on a dozen eggs.

  ChatGPT (agent & deep research)The Washington Post, Feb 2025 ↗

• Use caseBrowser agents

  A Reddit user reported having ChatGPT's Operator agent find and book a flight for them.

  ChatGPT (agent & deep research)r/ChatGPT, via Hacker News, Jan 2025 ↗

• Use caseResearchVendor case study

  Clinical lab MicroGenDX uses Elicit across biostatistics, medical affairs and marketing, saving up to 4 hours per literature review.

  ElicitElicit, date not stated ↗

• Use caseResearchVendor case study

  Oxford PharmaGenesis used Elicit to run a rapid review of 40 questions across nearly 500 papers in under a week.

  ElicitElicit, date not stated ↗

• Use caseResearchVendor case study

  VDI/VDE says Elicit helps it scale its systematic reviews 11x faster, covering far more papers per review.

  ElicitElicit, date not stated ↗