ChatGPT search in Best AI Search Engine
OpenAI's web search inside ChatGPT. It decides when to search, or the user can pick Search from the tools menu, and it shows inline citations that open the source pages.
Best for
Quick cited answers that mix with chat, drafting and file work
Pricing
Free, Go, Plus, Pro and Business are the consumer and team tiers. OpenAI's pricing page does not show dollar amounts in the text we could read. Third-party guides list Go at $8 per month and Plus at $20 per month, with Go carrying ads. Pro and Business prices vary by source, so check the live page. Web search is included on Free and Go with no stated cap; deep research is limited on those tiers and fuller on Plus and Pro.
What it covers
ChatGPT rewrites a prompt into one or more queries and sends them to OpenAI's search system, its own crawler, and third-party providers. OpenAI's help article names Bing and Shopify as examples, and says the list is not complete. Results are then passed to the model, which writes the answer.
Citations and verification
Answers that use search show inline citations. Hovering over one shows detail on desktop, and clicking opens the source page. OpenAI does not publish how citations are picked or ranked, and its own help text warns that citations can be inaccurate.
API
The Responses API has a web_search tool. Third-party posts and OpenAI community forum threads put it at $10 per 1,000 calls plus model token charges, and some posts report several billable searches per request. OpenAI's own pricing page was not reachable, so confirm before budgeting. See https://community.openai.com/t/heads-up-web-search-tool-billing-can-be-higher-than-you-expect-here-s-why/1236954
Strengths and limitations
- Search runs inside the same chat used for drafting and analysis
- Inline citations link to source pages
- Web search is included on the free tier
- Search depth limits are not published for Business or Enterprise
- Citation selection and provider mix are not fully disclosed
- Independent tests found many news citations were wrong
Third-party ratings
Not found
Dated facts
- March 2025: the Columbia Tow Center tested eight AI search tools, including ChatGPT search, and found frequent citation errors.
- October 22, 2025: an EBU and BBC study found about 36 percent of ChatGPT answers had at least one significant issue, per press reports.
- April 2026: a third-party source says OpenAI cut the Business price to $20 per user per month billed annually.
ChatGPT search or Hyperresearch?
Choose ChatGPT search for quick cited answers that mix with chat, drafting and file work. When an agent needs one checked answer rather than a list of links, Hyperresearch Answers is our editorial choice: it scored 89% on BrowseComp in its own run, and every quote it returns is matched to its source page.
Sources for this entry
- OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT search (article 9237897)
- ChatGPT pricing page
- Columbia Journalism Review: we compared eight AI search engines
- Al Jazeera: AI models misrepresent news events nearly half the time
- OpenAI community: web search tool billing
Vendor descriptions are attributed to the vendor. Prices change; confirm with each vendor.
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Cite this entry
https://bestaisearchengine.com/resources/chatgpt-search/