Manus: China's New AI Chatbot Offers Free Credits and Deep Research Capabilities

Manus, the much-hyped Chinese AI, has opened up public access, and you get 1,000 credits for free if you sign up now

Manus, the much-hyped Chinese AI, seen by some as the 'next DeepSeek' has opened up public access, giving you 1,000 credits to try it out for free. Manus is the latest Chinese AI, capable of deep research and agentic usage, so it can perform whatever tasks you set while you're free to go off and do something else. Initial users reported problems with signing up, and for most people access had been restricted. I'd been on the waitlist since Manus was announced, and got access last Friday, but it also looks like public access is now available to anybody who downloads the iOS or Android app or signs up at its website. Many people have described Manus as the best experience of AI they've had so far, and I can see why - the reports it produces are incredibly detailed and feel like they're well-researched. Manus is not offering anything particularly new that you can't get ChatGPT to do, but it does feel like its research is really thorough, and the range of things it can do is impressive, from making games out of current news scenarios to data analysis and education applications. The bad news is that 1,000 credits don't last very long, and you'll need to sign up for a paid-for account if you want more credits. By the time I'd got Manus to answer two queries I'd used up about 500 credits. The first question I asked ("What does the future look like for Tesla?") was far from trivial and required a lot of research, but to its credit, Manus did all the necessary research, telling me what it was doing at every step, and produced four different reports for me. Since DeepSeek was noted for refusing to answer questions relating to events that the Chinese government is sensitive about, I took advantage of the free access to Manus to ask it to compile a report into what happened in the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989. DeepSeek simply refuses to acknowledge the protests, but Manus appears to have no censorship issues at all. It produced a full report into the protests from several different sources who disagree with the official verdict on things like the death toll, including the Red Cross. So, it looks like you can get about four queries out of Manus for free with your 1,000 credits, until you have to sign up for a paid plan to use it any further. Manus Starter costs $39 a month (about £30 / AU$65) and gives you 3,900 credits, the ability to run two tasks concurrently, while Manus Pro costs $199 a month (about £156 / AU$334) and gives you 19,000 credits a month and the ability to run five tasks simultaneously.

It's Free to Start Using This Amazing Chinese AI Chatbot -- and You Get a Sign-Up Bonus

The so-called "next big thing" in AI chatbots has officially launched to the public, offering a sign-up bonus when you do. Manus, the AI chatbot some consider better than ChatGPT and DeepSeek, is now open for business. Sign Up For China's Latest Big AI Chatbot and Get a Handy Bonus Manus is one of the latest and greatest additions to the AI chatbot world, launching in March 2025. Unlike other AI chatbots, Manus has a much stronger focus on deep thinking and answers most prompts with in-depth responses. It's similar to ChatGPT's Deep Research mode, with Manus compiling an extensive report for each query, showing its working processes and a timer. And now, Manus sign-ups are officially open to the public. Come one, come all. Any new Manus subscribers receive a handy 1,000 credits to spend on whatever queries they desire. Of course, the number of credits used per report varies. Indeed, prompting Manus to build a report on "What is MakeUseOf.com" took a good eight minutes -- but it was comprehensive, identifying myself and Editor in Chief Ben Stegner as long-term contributors and detailing information on our yearly page views. This report consumed around 50 credits, leaving me with 950 or so for my next outing. I then opted for a deep stock evaluation for a company called Quadrise, which manufactures synthetic biofuels designed to drastically reduce the amount of pollution from giant cargo ships (and the marine industry). I was genuinely a little concerned about how long this report took; I was still waiting for the analysis to complete after 20 minutes. However, it was worth waiting. Manus's report on Quadrise stock was about as in-depth as I could have hoped for, with insights into stock price, company outlook, its products, overall potential, and more, all with a technical analysis. This second report used around 250 credits, depleting my count to around 700. The reality is that your 1,000 free Manus credits aren't going to last for a huge amount of time. This is especially true if you opt for intensive research topics or prompts that may require multiple rounds of edits, like coding tasks or similar. What's interesting about Manus is that it's also touted as "the general AI agent." Now, AI agents are autonomous AI tools that can take actions for you online, automate processes for you, troubleshoot errors, and much more. In that, I tasked Manus with buying a train ticket for me, traveling from Penzance to St. Ives in Cornwall, traveling and returning on the same day. It worked through the process in handy steps, providing a list of travel times and offering me a selection of prices. It's useful, there is no doubting that. But in this specific task, I would have had the job done within minutes on my own. This is a specific example, but there are other similar tasks to which this time delay extends. Manus Is a Great AI Tool For Deep Research I must admit I'm a little late to the Manus crowd. But having signed up and given it a go, I can say it's a very handy AI tool to have in the catalog. But if the 1,000 credits aren't enough for you, there are two packages you can upgrade to: Upgrade to Manus Starter beta for $39 per month Grants 3,900 credits per month Run up to two tasks simultaneously Update to Manus Pro beta for $199 per month Grants 19,900 per month Run up to five tasks at the same time High Effort mode and other beta features Both upgrade options receive priority access during peak hours and extended context length, which is handy for those deep research topics where you need lots of inputs and edits.