Deep Research: Your Autonomous Research Agent

When Search Is Not Enough

Pro Search gives you a better answer to a well-formed question. Deep Research does something different: it takes a complex, multi-faceted topic and produces a full report — the kind that would otherwise take you an afternoon of reading.

Deep Research is an agentic mode. When you trigger it, Perplexity does not return an answer in seconds. Instead it runs autonomously for two to six minutes, formulating its own sub-questions, searching across 30 to 80 sources, reading them, and building a structured report with section headers, citations, and a source-by-source breakdown at the end.

What Deep Research Produces

The output is a document, not a chat message. It typically includes:

• An executive summary at the top
• Multiple sections, each covering a distinct angle of the topic
• Inline citations throughout
• A sources appendix listing every page it read

This is genuinely useful for topics like: understanding a new regulation and its implications, comparing five competing software products, surveying the academic landscape on a research question, or getting up to speed on an industry you are about to enter.

How to Trigger It

Look for the "Deep Research" option in the search mode selector — it appears alongside Quick Search and Pro Search. Type your question, select Deep Research, and submit. You will see a progress indicator as Perplexity works through its self-directed research process.

Because it takes several minutes, Deep Research works best when you can walk away. Submit the query, do something else, and come back to a complete report.

Writing Good Deep Research Questions

The quality of the output scales with the quality of the question. Deep Research rewards specific, multi-part questions:

• Weak: "Tell me about AI regulation."
• Strong: "What AI regulations came into effect in the EU and US in 2025–2026, what do they require of companies, and what are the main compliance challenges for small SaaS businesses?"

The more context you give — the audience, the angle, the scope — the more targeted the report will be. Think of it as briefing a research assistant, not typing a search query.

Deep Research vs. Pro Search

Use Pro Search when you need a thorough answer to a clear question and can wait 30 seconds. Use Deep Research when you need a full report on a complex topic and can wait several minutes. Deep Research is overkill for most everyday queries — its value appears when the research task is genuinely substantial.

Deep Research is available on Pro and Max plans.