Benchmark Almanac

DeepResearch Bench

Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% leads since February 2026
Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% leads since February 2026
Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% leads since February 2026
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Agents write cited research reports for 100 PhD-level tasks across 22 fields. Judges score report quality against references and check citation accuracy.

The official judge model changed from Gemini 2.5 Pro to GPT-5.5 in May 2026, so older and newer scores do not compare directly.

Released
June 2025
Kind
Deep research
Level
Expert
Scored
Graded by a model
Answers
Open-ended
Tasks
All public
Strongest model tested
GPT-5.5 #20 on the capability index
Last in a launch post
February 2026, dropped before it saturated
Last model added
May 2026
Scores refreshed
November 12th, 2026

In the authors’ words

Deep Research Agents are a prominent category of LLM-based agents. By autonomously orchestrating multistep web exploration, targeted retrieval, and higher-order synthesis, they transform vast amounts of online information into analyst-grade, citation-rich reports–compressing hours of manual desk research into minutes. However, a comprehensive benchmark for systematically evaluating the capabilities of these agents remains absent. To bridge this gap, we present DeepResearch Bench, a benchmark consisting of 100 PhD-level research tasks, each meticulously crafted by domain experts across 22 distinct fields. Evaluating DRAs is inherently complex and labor-intensive. We therefore propose two novel methodologies that achieve strong alignment with human judgment. The first is a reference-based method with adaptive criteria to assess the quality of generated research reports. The other framework is introduced to evaluate DRA's information retrieval and collection capabilities by assessing its effective citation count and overall citation accuracy. We have open-sourced DeepResearch Bench and key components of these frameworks at https://github.com/Ayanami0730/deep_research_bench to accelerate the development of practical LLM-based agents.

Abstract of DeepResearch Bench: A Comprehensive Benchmark for Deep Research Agents (arXiv:2506.11763, CC0)
22
Models scored on a board Epoch AI copied
3
Launch posts list it, from 2 labs
2
System cards report it, from 1 lab

Claude Opus 4.6 leads with 55.3% among models released by May 2026

Best score per model from evals.futuresearch.ai, as Epoch AI copied it. We don’t read that board ourselves yet. Where a model ran with several settings, we keep its best.

Claude Opus 4.6 leads with 55.3% across all independent runs

Best score per model across the official leaderboard, Epoch AI’s own runs and any board Epoch AI copied. Each bar and row names its source.

Claude Opus 4.6 leads with 55.3%, claims included

Best score per model from every source, including labs’ own numbers and claims Epoch AI collected from reports and papers. Labs pick their own settings, so a claim can beat an independent run of the same model.

The newest model with a score here came out in May 2026, and nobody has tested a newer one. Among the 20 highest-ranked models on the capability index, these have no score yet:

  1. 1 Claude Opus 4.6 high 55.3%
  2. 2 Claude Sonnet 4.6 high 54.9%
  3. 3 Claude Opus 4.5 high 54.8%
  4. 4 GPT-5.5 high 54%
  5. 5 Claude Opus 4.8 high 50.2%
  6. 6 Gemini 3 Flash low 49.8%
  7. 7 GPT-5 low 49.6%
  8. 8 Claude Opus 4.1 48.3%
  9. 9 Gemini 3.1 Pro high 47.8%
  10. 10 Claude Sonnet 4.5 low 47.5%
  11. 11 Grok 4 47.3%
  12. 12 Claude Opus 4 2K 46.8%
  13. 13 Claude Sonnet 4 2K 46.6%
  14. 14 Gemini 3 Pro low 46.3%
  15. 15 Claude Haiku 4.5 low 45.5%
  16. 16 o3 medium 45.2%
  17. 17 GPT-5.1 low 42.8%
  18. 18 Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 41.5%
  19. 19 GPT-5.2 low 41.1%
  20. 20 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite low 37.3%
  21. 21 GPT-5.4 Mini low 36.3%
  22. 22 GPT-5.4 low 35.1%

Source: Evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0)

#ModelScoreSettingDateSource
1 Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
2 Claude Sonnet 4.6 54.9% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
3 Claude Opus 4.5 54.8% high Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
4 GPT-5.5 54% high Apr 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
5 Claude Opus 4.8 50.2% high May 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
6 Gemini 3 Flash 49.8% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
7 GPT-5 49.6% low Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
8 Claude Opus 4.1 48.3% Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
9 Gemini 3.1 Pro 47.8% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
10 Claude Sonnet 4.5 47.5% low Sep 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
11 Grok 4 47.3% True Jul 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
12 Claude Opus 4 46.8% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
13 Claude Sonnet 4 46.6% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
14 Gemini 3 Pro 46.3% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
15 Claude Haiku 4.5 45.5% low Oct 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
16 o3 45.2% medium Apr 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
17 GPT-5.1 42.8% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
18 Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 41.5% Jun 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
19 GPT-5.2 41.1% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
20 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite 37.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
21 GPT-5.4 Mini 36.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
22 GPT-5.4 35.1% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
#ModelScoreSettingDateSource
1 Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
2 Claude Sonnet 4.6 54.9% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
3 Claude Opus 4.5 54.8% high Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
4 GPT-5.5 54% high Apr 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
5 Claude Opus 4.8 50.2% high May 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
6 Gemini 3 Flash 49.8% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
7 GPT-5 49.6% low Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
8 Claude Opus 4.1 48.3% Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
9 OpenAI deep research 47.8% GPT-5.5 judge Feb 2025 Official leaderboard
10 Gemini 3.1 Pro 47.8% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
11 Claude Sonnet 4.5 47.5% low Sep 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
12 Grok 4 47.3% True Jul 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
13 Claude Opus 4 46.8% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
14 Claude Sonnet 4 46.6% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
15 Gemini 3 Pro 46.3% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
16 Claude Haiku 4.5 45.5% low Oct 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
17 o3 45.2% medium Apr 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
18 GPT-5.1 42.8% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
19 Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 41.5% Jun 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
20 GPT-5.2 41.1% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
21 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite 37.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
22 GPT-5.4 Mini 36.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
23 GPT-5.4 35.1% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
#ModelScoreSettingDateSource
1 Claude Opus 4.6 55.3% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
2 Claude Sonnet 4.6 54.9% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
3 Claude Opus 4.5 54.8% high Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
4 GPT-5.5 54% high Apr 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
5 Seed2.0 Pro 53.3% Feb 2026 Lab model card
6 Claude Opus 4.8 50.2% high May 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
7 Gemini 3 Flash 49.8% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
8 GPT-5 49.6% low Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
9 Claude Opus 4.1 48.3% Aug 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
10 OpenAI deep research 47.8% GPT-5.5 judge Feb 2025 Official leaderboard
11 Gemini 3.1 Pro 47.8% high Feb 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
12 Claude Sonnet 4.5 47.5% low Sep 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
13 Grok 4 47.3% True Jul 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
14 Claude Opus 4 46.8% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
15 Claude Sonnet 4 46.6% 2K May 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
16 Gemini 3 Pro 46.3% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
17 Claude Haiku 4.5 45.5% low Oct 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
18 o3 45.2% medium Apr 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
19 Seed1.8 43.5% Dec 2025 Lab model card
20 GPT-5.1 42.8% low Nov 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
21 Gemini 2.5 Pro Jun 2025 41.5% Jun 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
22 GPT-5.2 41.1% low Dec 2025 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
23 Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite 37.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
24 GPT-5.4 Mini 36.3% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI
25 GPT-5.4 35.1% low Mar 2026 evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI

The benchmark's own leaderboard has 17 entries, 1 of them models we track. Labs report scores for 2 models in their cards. Switch the scores above to rank them together.

6 models have held number one on evals.futuresearch.ai since its release in June 2025 5 models have held number one across all independent runs since its release in June 2025 5 models have held number one with claims included since its release in June 2025

Lab claims count from the day the card came out, independent runs from the model’s release. We draw one row each for evals.futuresearch.ai, which Epoch AI copied and what labs claim in their cards.

Anthropic xAI OpenAI ByteDance Seed
evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI Not tested since May 2026
Lab claims Not tested since Mar 2026
Seed2.0 Pro 53.3%

Sources: Evals.futuresearch.ai, via Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0) and labs’ model cards

Scores over time

All the scores we have, one dot each, so a model tested at several settings appears more than once.

On the benchmark’s own leaderboard Reported by the lab in its model card On another leaderboard, collected by Epoch AI Best so far
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2025 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Claude Opus 4.6 GPT-5 OpenAI deep research 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 2025 2026 Near the ceiling (85%) Claude Opus 4.6 Claude Opus 4.1

Sources: Official DeepResearch Bench leaderboard, other boards, via Epoch AI (CC BY 4.0) and labs’ model cards

Labs headline it less often now, last in February 2026

Launch posts from every lab that has listed it, one tick per post. Tall colored ticks include it, and short gray ones leave it out.

Cohere
ByteDance Seed
DateLaunch postScoreAs the post writes it
Feb 14, 2026 Seed2.0 Pro 53.3 DeepResearchBench
Dec 18, 2025 Seed1.8 43.5 DeepResearchBench
Aug 21, 2025 Command A Reasoning DeepResearch Bench RACE overall, English questions, Cohere's deep research agent powered by the model (chart only, about 48.6)

2 system cards report it, from 1 lab

Besides launch posts, we read the system cards, model cards and technical reports labs publish with a release. They report far more, including safety and frontier-risk tests.

DateDocumentScoreAs the document writes itSection
Mar 21, 2026 Seed1.8 model card 43.5 DeepResearchBench (Table 4) Capabilities
Feb 14, 2026 Seed2.0 Pro model card 53.3 DeepResearchBench (Table 11) Capabilities

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