Best free Tongyi DeepResearch alternatives

Looking for a free alternative to Tongyi DeepResearch? Here are 9 deep research & documents worth trying — 9 with a free tier. Tongyi DeepResearch itself is free.

ToolTongyi DeepResearch (you searched)STORM (Stanford)GPT ResearcherMiroThinker
Pricingfreefreefreefree
Best for30.5B-parameter MoE agent (3.3B active) with 128K context for long-horizon researchMIT-licensed open-source system that researches a topic and writes a full cited reportPlanner and executor agents gather from 20+ web sourcesDeep research agent with up to 300 tool calls per task and 256K context
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Tongyi DeepResearch alternatives — straight answers

What is the best free alternative to Tongyi DeepResearch?

STORM (Stanford) is the closest free alternative to Tongyi DeepResearch: same Deep Research & Documents sub-category, and it is free. MIT-licensed open-source system that researches a topic and writes a full cited report

Are there free Tongyi DeepResearch alternatives?

Yes — 9 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: STORM (Stanford), GPT Researcher, MiroThinker, Open Notebook, ima.copilot (Tencent ima). None of them are paid-only.

Is Tongyi DeepResearch free?

Tongyi DeepResearch is free. There is no paid plan attached to it in the catalog.

How were these Tongyi DeepResearch alternatives chosen?

They are the other tools in Deep Research & Documents, then the rest of Research & Learning, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.

All Tongyi DeepResearch alternatives

Browse Deep Research & Documents →

STORM (Stanford)

Deep Research & Documents
free

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — MIT-licensed open-source system that researches a topic and writes a full cited report.

  • MIT-licensed open-source system that researches a topic and writes a full cited report
  • Perspective-guided simulated conversations to deepen research before writing
  • Co-STORM variant adds human-AI collaborative curation

GPT Researcher

Deep Research & Documents
freeNew

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Planner and executor agents gather from 20+ web sources.

  • Planner and executor agents gather from 20+ web sources
  • Produces cited reports exported as PDF, Word or Markdown
  • Also researches local PDFs, text and Excel files
  • Works with many LLM providers; Apache 2.0

MiroThinker

Deep Research & Documents
freeNew

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Deep research agent with up to 300 tool calls per task and 256K context.

  • Deep research agent with up to 300 tool calls per task and 256K context
  • Scores 74.0 on BrowseComp and 75.3 on BrowseComp-ZH (v1.7)
  • Free online demo at dr.miromind.ai
  • Apache 2.0

Open Notebook

Deep Research & Documents
freeNew

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Self-hosted NotebookLM alternative over PDFs, video, audio and web pages.

  • Self-hosted NotebookLM alternative over PDFs, video, audio and web pages
  • Works with 18+ AI providers including Ollama
  • Generates podcasts with 1 to 4 speakers
  • MIT licensed with REST API

ima.copilot (Tencent ima)

Deep Research & Documents
freeNew

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — AI workbench that searches, reads and writes from a personal knowledge base.

  • AI workbench that searches, reads and writes from a personal knowledge base
  • Dual engine with Tencent Hunyuan and DeepSeek-R1
  • Shared knowledge bases; Windows, Android and mini-program apps
  • 2GB free cloud storage at launch

ChatGPT Deep Research

Deep Research & Documents
freemium

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Runs up to ~30 min for exhaustive reports.

  • Runs up to ~30 min for exhaustive reports
  • Browses hundreds of sources
  • Structured, cited long-form output
  • Limited runs on lower tiers

Gemini Deep Research

Deep Research & Documents
freemium

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Multi-step research across the web.

  • Multi-step research across the web
  • Editable research plans
  • Long, organized reports
  • Available with Gemini

NotebookLM

Deep Research & Documents
freemium

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Grounded answers from your own sources.

  • Grounded answers from your own sources
  • Audio Overviews (podcast-style)
  • Mind maps and study guides
  • Free tier available

ChatPDF

Deep Research & Documents
freemium

✦ WhyA Tongyi DeepResearch alternative — Chat with any PDF or document.

  • Chat with any PDF or document
  • Cited answers with page references
  • Summaries and key points
  • Free daily PDFs

Tongyi DeepResearch head-to-head