Remember the early days of the internet, when there were premium browsers like Netscape and others. There were paid search engines that excelled at certain specific tasks. Once Google Search gained traction, everything started to become free. Open-source browsers like Mozilla dominated the scene, and people stopped paying for such obvious search and browsing tools.
The same will be the fate of these AI tools. More efficient algorithms in AI will ensure that all AI-powered search (like Deep Search and Deep Research) becomes free. With time, the computing power required to run these AI systems will become better optimized and streamlined. In the not-so-distant future, LLMs will become free. Endeavors like Perplexity, which want to compete with Google Search, will be able to provide polished models for free that will take away the need to have any paid subscriptions.
Anybody who is on a tight budget should not invest a fortune in services like o1-pro that cost crazy amounts of money. Just wait for some time, and you will get these things for free in the times to come.