Claude Research Feature | How to Use It, Pricing, and How It Compares to Other AI

What Is Claude's Research Feature?

The Research feature is Claude's autonomous investigation capability, announced by Anthropic on April 15, 2025. While a regular chat performs a single search and returns an answer, the Research feature breaks a question down into smaller tasks and has Claude itself determine what to look into next based on previous search results, executing multiple searches in a chain.

The official blog describes it as: "Claude operates agentively, conducting multiple searches that build on each other while determining exactly what to investigate next." The resulting report includes easy-to-verify citations, so you can check for yourself which piece of information comes from which source — a key distinguishing feature.

Source: Claude can now do research (claude.com/blog/research)

What Can It Do — How It Differs from Regular Chat

The biggest difference between the Research feature and regular chat is the "depth of investigation" and "breadth of sources."

• Chained multi-step searches: Rather than stopping at one search, it automatically repeats five or more searches to dig deeper into a topic.
• Cross-referencing web and internal content: In addition to publicly available web information, the Google Workspace integration (described below) lets you include internal documents and emails in the investigation.
• Cited reports: The final output is a structured report of 1,200 to 8,000 words, with citations linked throughout the text.
• Time required: The official documentation states "comprehensive answers in minutes," and in practice it typically takes 5–15 minutes, with complex topics taking up to 45 minutes.

On the flip side, token consumption is significant — roughly 5–10 times that of a regular web search. Using it for questions that only need a quick answer will eat into your plan's usage limit, so it's best to use it selectively.

Source: What Is Claude's Research Feature? (mustang.vc)

Supported Plans and Pricing

The Research feature is not available on all plans. At launch it was limited to higher-tier plans, and was subsequently expanded to Pro.

At the time of the official blog announcement, it was available on "Max, Team, and Enterprise plans in the United States, Japan, and Brazil" — with Japan included from the start. It has since been opened up to the Pro plan, making it possible to try the Research feature for around $20 per month. Since the free tier only offers regular web search, a Pro subscription or higher is a prerequisite for serious use.

Pricing and plan details are subject to change, so be sure to check Claude's official plan page before subscribing.

How to Use It

Enabling the Research feature is straightforward. Follow these steps in order:

1. Open Claude's chat interface and turn on Web Search near the input field.
2. Turn on the "Research" button in the lower-left of the input field.
3. Type your query in specific detail and send it.

If you want to be explicit, writing "Please use the Research tool to investigate ○○" in your prompt works reliably. From there, Claude will repeat its searches and build the report while displaying progress. Since it takes time to complete, just send your message and wait for it to finish.

Prompt Tips for Better Results

Specifying the scope, perspective, and output format of the investigation — rather than giving a vague instruction — improves accuracy.

1. Narrow the scope: Instead of "market research," specify region, industry, and time period, e.g., "pricing trends in the domestic SaaS industry in 2025."
2. List your angles: Provide comparison axes such as "summarize the three points of pricing, major players, and regulatory trends."
3. Specify the output format: Define the shape of the deliverable, e.g., "compare in a table, then give a three-sentence conclusion at the end."

Investigate Internal Information via Google Workspace Integration

The Research feature can go beyond the web — by integrating with Google Workspace, it can also search across internal organizational context. The official documentation notes support for Gmail and Calendar in addition to Google Docs.

This makes it possible to cross-reference "requirements discussed in past emails" with "the latest information on the web" in a single investigation. Note that Workspace integration requires activation by an administrator, and must be set up in accordance with your organization's security policy. Coordinate with your administrator before rolling it out.

Source: Claude can now do research (claude.com/blog/research)

Practical Use Cases

In business settings, the following types of research tasks are considered a strong fit:

• Competitor comparison reports: Consolidate pricing, features, and reputation across multiple companies in one go.
• Market research by region and industry: Get a sense of niche market size and identify key players.
• Recruiting and industry intelligence gathering: Compile an overview of industry salary levels and trends.
• Impact assessment of regulatory changes: Identify changes to regulations relevant to your organization and their implications.
• Competitive analysis for SEO content: Investigate the structure and key arguments of top-ranking articles to find differentiation opportunities.

All of these involve significant effort to "consult multiple sources and synthesize them" — tasks that might take a person half a day of preliminary research can be compressed to a matter of minutes with this feature.

Source: What Is Claude's Research Feature? (mustang.vc)

How It Compares to Other AI (ChatGPT and Gemini)

Similar autonomous research features exist at other companies. The most notable are ChatGPT's Deep Research and Gemini's research feature. The general tendencies are as follows:

ChatGPT's Deep Research tends to spend more time producing exhaustive reports, while Gemini tends to gather extensive background context. By contrast, Claude's Research feature is often characterized as "balanced" — producing practical reports directly relevant to business decisions in a comparatively short amount of time. There is no universally superior option; the practical choice depends on whether you prioritize the depth of research or a balance of speed and utility.

Things to Keep in Mind When Using the Research Feature

While the feature is convenient, keeping the following points in mind will help you avoid pitfalls:

1. High token consumption: It uses 5–10 times as many tokens as a regular search, so use regular chat for lightweight questions.
2. Always verify citations: Even though citations are provided, cross-check important figures and facts against the original sources.
3. Plan for it to take time: It is not suited for situations requiring an immediate answer. Reserve it for topics you want to investigate thoroughly.
4. Specify the scope explicitly: If the scope is too broad, the focus becomes diffuse — specify region, time period, and angles.

Summary

Claude's Research feature is an investigation tool that autonomously repeats searches from a single question and generates a cited report in a matter of minutes to tens of minutes. It is not available on the free tier — a Pro subscription (around $20/month) or higher is required. The steps to use it are: turn on Web Search → turn on Research → type your query in specific detail — just three steps. Integrating with Google Workspace also allows internal information to be included in the investigation. If comprehensive coverage is your top priority, ChatGPT is an option; if rich background context matters most, Gemini is worth considering. But if you value the balance of practicality and speed, Claude's Research feature is a strong contender. Start with the Pro plan and try it on topics that tend to require time-consuming preliminary research — such as competitor comparisons or market analysis.

Source: Claude can now do research (claude.com/blog/research) / What Is Claude's Research Feature? (mustang.vc)