Deep Research Showdown: Elicit vs GPT-4o vs Gemini Studio AI

Mayta
Jul 23
3 min read

This is a Deep Research feature-only deep dive comparing Elicit Research Reports, GPT Deep Research (GPT-4o + o3), and Gemini Studio AI Deep Research.

Summary at a Glance

Elicit’s Research Report acts like a mini systematic review engine: you pick a “Fast, Balanced, or Comprehensive” scope and it screens a fixed number of candidate papers (50 → 500) before extracting data from 10–40 PDFs—each extraction debits your monthly allowance and every datapoint links to a quoted sentence. (support.elicit.com)

GPT-4o’s Deep Research is an agentic web-crawler powered by the o3 model; it plans dozens of browser and code steps, gathers hundreds of online sources, and returns a cited report. Plus-tier users receive 25 full runs per month (after which it reverts to a lightweight model). (OpenAI)

Gemini Studio’s Deep Research utilizes Gemini 2.5 with a 1 M-token context, enabling it to crawl “up to hundreds of websites,” retrieve Drive files, and output a multi-page Google Doc (with optional Audio Overview). Free users receive ~5 reports/month; AI Premium users have higher caps (e.g., 20 reports per day). (Gemini, Google Help)

1 | Scope Controls & Source Limits

Feature knob	Elicit Research Report	GPT Deep Research	Gemini Deep Research
Preset tiers	Fast – screens 50 sources, extracts 10 papers; Balanced – 500 / 25; Comprehensive – 500 / 40 (paid only) (support.elicit.com)	No tiers; o3 agent plans searches dynamically, typically >100 URLs (OpenAI)	No tiers; auto-plan decides how many sites to browse (often “hundreds”) (Gemini)
Per-run extraction cap	10 → 40 PDFs, each counts against monthly quota (support.elicit.com)	N/A (web pages & files streamed; no PDF cap)	N/A (large-context token limit governs)
Monthly run quota	Bound only by extraction pool (200 PDFs/mo on Pro) (support.elicit.com)	25 runs (Plus); 250 (Pro) before lightweight switch (OpenAI)	20 runs/day (AI Premium); ~5/mo free tier (Google Help)

2 | Processing Pipeline

Elicit

Search 125 M Semantic-Scholar papers (elicit.com)
Auto-screen to chosen count.
Structured extraction of selected PDFs; every datum shows an inline quote. (support.elicit.com)

GPT-4o / o3

Builds a multi-point plan, then iterates browser & code calls; a sidebar shows each step and visited URL. (OpenAI)
Runtime 5–30 min typical. (The Verge)

Gemini

Generates an editable research plan, crawls web + Drive, and reasons in a “thinking panel.” (Gemini)
Converts findings to a Doc, Slide, or Audio Overview automatically. (Gemini)

3 | Citation & Traceability

Aspect	Elicit	GPT-4o Deep	Gemini Deep
Inline quote link	Yes—PDF sentence-level (support.elicit.com)	Numbered web citations; sidebar lists raw URLs (Gadgets 360)	Hyperlinked sources; user must click through for context (Gemini)
Hallucination guard	Limits answers to retrieved papers; user can audit screening/extraction steps (support.elicit.com)	Reduced vs. vanilla GPT-4 but still possible per OpenAI docs (OpenAI)	Google warns users to verify; higher false-cite rate in user tests (iowasource.com)

4 | Output Format & Post-Processing

Elicit → Markdown-style narrative plus 20-column evidence table (CSV/BIB/RIS). (support.elicit.com)
GPT → Rich chat report; can request JSON/CSV or launch Code-Interpreter for charts. (SmashingApps.com)
Gemini → Multi-page Google Doc (or Canvas interactive), Audio-overview, quizzes. (Gemini)

5 | Speed & Compute

Metric	Elicit	GPT Deep	Gemini Deep
Typical run time	“Several minutes” (support.elicit.com)	5–30 min depending on depth (The Verge)	A few minutes; tasks run asynchronously—even if you close browser (Gemini)

Practical Take-aways

Need a literature-grade answer with strict paper limits and auditable quotes? — Choose Elicit and select Fast (10 extractions) for a quick scan, or Comprehensive (40) when depth matters.
Need broad, cross-domain web intelligence with flexible file uploads? — Pick GPT-4o Deep Research; plan around its 25-run monthly cap on Plus.
Need an executive brief from huge web + Drive archives and prefer Google Docs outputs? — Use Gemini Deep Research, noting its 1 M-token context and daily run limits.

Bottom-line Feature Match-up

Primary Feature Need	Best Fit
Systematic academic review with quote-level traceability	Elicit Research Reports
Flexible, multi-tool web investigations with file uploads	GPT Deep Research
Massive-context, Drive-centric reports with interactive outputs	Gemini Deep Research