GPT Researcher

What it does

Done-for-you service

NoYou run the software yourself; no team builds or operates it for you, and managed VPC deployment or an SLA exists only as an invitation to email or Discord.No first-party hosted SaaS today.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

How much it does unattended

Runs autonomously

YesA run plans subtopics, searches, validates sources and writes the report with no human step, and the human-feedback gate is opt-in.include_human_feedback - If true, the user can provide feedback to the agents. If false, the agents will work autonomously.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/multi… ↗

Multi-agent

YesA LangGraph flow coordinates a chief editor, researcher, reviewer, revisor, writer and publisher, and an AG2 integration is documented too.By using Langgraph, the research process can be significantly improved in depth and quality by leveraging multiple agents with specialized skills.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/multi… ↗

Agent permissions

PartlyThere are no approval prompts mid-run; you constrain it beforehand through configuration such as domain allow-lists, report source and depth, and its actions stay read-only research.You can filter web search results by specific domains when using either the Tavily or Google Search retrievers.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/conte… ↗

Which models it runs on

Claude

YesClaude is named as a supported model and anthropic appears in the docs list of LLM providers, with your own Anthropic key.Thanks to the massive community contributions, GPT Researcher supports over 100 different LLMs such as Gemini, Claude, Llama, etc.gptr.dev ↗

GPT

YesOpenAI is the default provider for the fast, smart and strategic model slots, so GPT models work out of the box.GPT Researcher defaults to our recommended suite of integrations: OpenAI for LLM calls and Tavily API for retrieving real-time web information.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/gptr/… ↗

Open models

YesLocal open-weight models run through Ollama, and the supported-provider list also includes huggingface, vllm, together and deepseek.If you deploy ollama locally, a .env like so, should enable powering GPT-Researcher with Ollama:docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/llms/… ↗

Model choice

YesYou choose the provider and model per role through FAST_LLM, SMART_LLM and STRATEGIC_LLM config keys rather than accepting a vendor default.Easily connect any LLM of your choice from OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq to Llama 3 and HF.gptr.dev ↗

Where you use it

In your editor

YesThe MCP server registers over stdio in Cursor and Claude Desktop, and a Claude Skill extends the agent into Claude Code.It is self-hosted (MIT, Python 3.11+) and supports stdio (Claude Desktop, Cursor), SSE (Docker / n8n / web), and Streamable HTTP.gptr.dev/agent ↗

On the command line

YesA documented cli.py takes the query, report type and tone as arguments and writes the finished report to an outputs directory.This command-line interface (CLI) tool allows you to generate research reports using the GPTResearcher class.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/getti… ↗

In a browser

YesThe project ships its own browser frontends (static, NextJS, embed script) that you host, and a vendor-run instance answers at app.gptr.dev.Includes an easy-to-use web interface (HTML/CSS/JS)docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/getti… ↗

Whose machine it runs on

Self-hosted

YesSelf-hosting is the only supported deployment: pip package, FastAPI server, docker-compose or Linux host, all on infrastructure you own.You self-host the agent and pay only your underlying LLM and search-API providers.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

Open source

YesThe core agent and the MCP server are MIT-licensed public repositories, published to PyPI and npm with community contributions.GPT Researcher is published under the MIT License.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

What it costs to run

How it meters

PartlyThe vendor bills nothing at all; cost is per research run of LLM and retriever spend, and its own published estimates range widely.Each deep research takes around 5 minutes to complete and costs around $0.4 (using o3-mini on "high" reasoning effort)docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/gptr/… ↗

Free tier

YesNo call, no card and no account: clone or pip install the MIT package and supply your own provider keys to start.There is no SaaS subscription, no API gateway, and no rate limit on this site.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

API access

YesYour own stack drives it through the self-hosted FastAPI REST endpoints, an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, SSE streaming and signed outbound webhooks.The self-hosted GPT Researcher FastAPI server exposes a small, agent-friendly REST API.gptr.dev/api-reference ↗

MCP server

YesThe official gptr-mcp server exposes deep_research, quick_search, write_report and source tools over stdio, SSE and Streamable HTTP.The GPT Researcher MCP Server provides Model Context Protocol (MCP) integration for GPT Researcher, allowing AI assistants to perform autonomous,…docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/mcp-s… ↗

Bring your own key

YesBring-your-own-key is the only model: your LLM and retriever credentials go in environment variables on infrastructure you run.Provide your own LLM (e.g. OPENAI_API_KEY) and retriever (e.g. TAVILY_API_KEY) credentials via environment variables when you run the server or MCP…gptr.dev/agent ↗

Buying it for a team

A company can buy it

PartlyAn organisation can adopt the MIT software freely but cannot buy anything: there is no published contract, seat or subscription path, only an enterprise enquiry.Both! GPT Researcher is ideal for anyone who needs to conduct research to make unbiased and informed decisions. We work closely with individuals,…gptr.dev ↗

Seat model

NoOne MIT-licensed tier priced at $0 for the whole product; no seats, user counts or subscription anywhere on the pricing page.There is no SaaS subscription, no API gateway, and no rate limit on this site.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

Pooled budget

NoThere is no vendor-side balance; spend sits entirely with the LLM and retriever accounts you own.None imposed by GPT Researcher. Limits come from your underlying LLM / retriever providers' rate limits.gptr.dev/pricing.md ↗

Admin controls

PartlyWhoever runs the deployment constrains the agent through config and environment variables, but there is no admin console, role separation or policy enforced above the operator.MAX_SEARCH_RESULTS_PER_QUERY: Maximum number of search results to retrieve per query. Defaults to 5.docs.gptr.dev/docs/gpt-researcher/gptr/… ↗

Audit log

NoEach run writes a downloadable JSON event log of research steps, but no administrative trail of users, permissions or policy changes exists.There is no GPT Researcher account system.gptr.dev/llms-full.txt ↗

Single sign-on

NoNo SAML or OIDC is offered and there is no vendor login to federate; identity is whatever your own hosting puts in front of the server.GPT Researcher is self-hosted; there is no gptr.dev account.gptr.dev/agent ↗

What happens to your code

Opt out of training

YesNothing reaches a GPT Researcher service to train on; only the providers you pick see your queries, and a local model plus SearXNG removes even that.Only via the LLM and retriever providers you configure. Self-host with a local model and SearXNG to keep everything on-prem.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

Data residency

YesResidency is wherever you deploy, since the vendor stores nothing; the jurisdictions that matter are your host's and your chosen providers'.Self-host on your own machine, server, or container.gptr.dev/pricing ↗

Getting out

YesReports export to PDF, Word, Markdown, JSON and CSV, run logs download as JSON, and no credits exist that could expire.Export your research to any format from PDF, Word, Markdown to JSON and CSV.gptr.dev ↗

Not established: Certifications