When to use Research mode and when to use other capabilities

Understanding when to apply Research rather than Claude's other tools helps you get the best results. Use Research when you need: comprehensive reports synthesizing information from many sources; in-depth analysis from the internet and your connected integrations; large-scale research that would normally require hours of manual work; comparative analysis, such as evaluating competitors or vendors; reports with citations that can be verified. Use regular web search instead of Research when you need a quick specific fact, such as today's stock price, or when the answer requires only one or two sources, or when speed matters more than completeness. Use extended thinking without Research when you need deep reasoning on a complex problem that doesn't require external information: math problems, code debugging, logical analysis. Research is a tool for gathering and synthesizing information, not for reasoning based on existing knowledge.