GPT Researcher
Verified Oct 15, 2026 ActiveOpen-source research agent that plans a question, searches in parallel and writes a cited report
Listed on EffectHub ·
Pricing
- Pricing model
- 100% Free
The software is free and open source, and there is no subscription on gptr.dev. Running it costs whatever your configured LLM provider and search or retriever APIs bill, on your own accounts. Note the licence is stated inconsistently: the GitHub repository is marked Apache-2.0 while the project site's documentation says MIT.
Use tool ↗About GPT Researcher
GPT Researcher is an open-source research agent you run yourself. Given a question it plans sub-tasks, runs parallel searches across multiple sources, validates what it finds, accumulates context and writes a long-form report with inline citations — the point being breadth and traceability rather than a fast answer. It ships three ways: a Python package on PyPI, a FastAPI server with a Next.js front end you host, and an MCP server for Claude Desktop, Cursor and similar clients, with Docker images too. It was created by Assaf Elovic with open-source contributors and has roughly 29k GitHub stars. There is no hosted service and no billing on gptr.dev; your costs are whatever your chosen model and search providers charge.
- Platforms
- Web · API
- API
- Yes
- Last verified
- Oct 15, 2026
Verified sources
- Pricing page: Open Source $0 under the MIT License, no SaaS subscription on gptr.dev, users pay their own LLM and search providers; no first-party hosted service (15 October 2026)gptr.dev ↗
- GitHub repository assafelovic/gpt-researcher: licence field Apache-2.0, about 30.1k stars, last push 10 October 2026, not archived (15 October 2026)github.com ↗
- Home page shows the Python package, the gptr-mcp server for Claude, Cursor and n8n, 20+ retrievers and deep-research depth settings (15 October 2026)gptr.dev ↗
Is GPT Researcher legit?
We don’t label tools safe or unsafe. Below are the records we checked ourselves, each with the date we read it.
- Domain registered
- Apr 2, 2024 (2 years ago)Registry record (RDAP), registrar GoDaddy.com, LLC, looked up Sep 6, 2026
- TLS certificate
- Issued by Let's Encrypt, valid until Jan 10, 2027Seen in our own connection to the site on Oct 15, 2026
- Last checked
- Oct 15, 2026The site answered
Pros & cons of GPT Researcher
This is the reference open-source deep-research agent: it plans, searches wide, and produces a report where every claim traces back to a source. Because you host it there is no per-seat cost and nothing leaves for a vendor — but you carry the setup, the API keys and the bill for every token and search it burns.
Pros
- Fully open source and self-hosted, with no vendor account required
- Runs parallel multi-source searches and writes reports with inline citations
- Three delivery shapes — PyPI package, FastAPI server with UI, and MCP server — plus Docker
- Model- and retriever-agnostic, so you choose the providers and the price
Cons
- No hosted version: you install it, configure keys and keep it running
- Running costs are unpredictable, since each report fans out into many API calls
- Output quality depends entirely on the models and retrievers you configure
Best for
- Developers who want a research agent inside their own stack
- Teams that cannot send research queries to a third-party service
- Wiring deep research into Claude Desktop or Cursor over MCP
Not for
- Non-technical users who just want a login and a search box
- Anyone needing a fixed monthly cost rather than metered API spend
Watch out: The licence is stated two different ways — Apache-2.0 on the GitHub repository, MIT in the site's own documentation — so check the LICENSE file before relying on either for redistribution.
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