Free AI for research

These services search the web and answer with links to their sources. Several work without an account, and free limits are usually daily.

Tip to stretch the free limit

Open the cited links before you use the information; AI can summarize a correct source the wrong way.

Ready-to-copy prompt

Research [topic] and give me the 5 most important facts, each with a link to its source and the publication date.

The picks, in the order we'd try them

Perplexity AI Sign-up optional

Perplexity

3 Pro Searches per day and 1 Research per month; file uploads are limited. No image generation or advanced models.

checked Oct 16 · ⚠

See limits

Brave No sign-up

Ask Brave (Brave Leo)

Free, with availability that depends on load and no numbers published. Ask Brave works in any browser without an account.

checked Oct 17

See limits

Google Sign-up optional

Gemini

Standard usage limits refresh every 5 hours up to a weekly cap, with no usage numbers published. Context window of 32k tokens. Deep Research may be unavailable at peak demand.

checked Oct 17

See limits

OpenAI No sign-up

ChatGPT

Everyday text chats with no fixed message cap (with abuse protection). File uploads, image creation, voice and deep research are limited, with no numbers published.

checked Oct 16 · ⚠

See limits

Microsoft Account needed