Manus AI: A Promising Concept That’s Not Quite Ready for Action

khaled A.
May 18
2 min read

As someone who frequently experiments with AI platforms, I recently had the chance to try Manus AI — an agent-based tool that markets itself as a “bridge between thinking and action.” The concept is exciting: an AI that doesn’t just understand your needs but also executes them. Unfortunately, after hands-on testing, I found the reality fell short on both fronts.

The Concept: Brilliant on Paper

Manus AI positions itself among a new generation of intelligent agents capable of understanding complex tasks and performing them autonomously. It’s a bold promise, especially when compared to platforms like ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or even browser-automation tools.

But does Manus deliver?

My Experience: More Friction Than Flow

I gave Manus a few practical tasks to assess its real-world capabilities.

1. Planning a Trip to Europe

I asked the AI to help me plan and book a trip to Europe, expecting it to handle everything from flight searches to hotel reservations.

Initially, it responded that it was “ready to help.”
Then… nothing. I waited for hours, and by the end of the day, Manus apologized for being unable to complete the request.
Strangely, it even promised to send reservation and payment links without ever asking for traveler names or how I preferred to receive updates — a basic requirement in any travel planning process.

2. Credits Wasted

What added to the frustration was that Manus operates on a credit-based system. For that failed task alone, it deducted more than 1,000 credits from my monthly 1,900-credit plan. That's over 50% gone — with no deliverable to show for it.

3. Building an EMR System

I also asked Manus to help me create a basic Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system to manage patient data. The output was visually clean and structurally helpful, but again, incomplete. Perhaps this was due to my vague request — or more likely, because the credits ran out mid-project.

This whole experience reminded me of a visit to a dentist once:

After opening my painful tooth, he informed me midway that my insurance had expired — and unless I paid cash, he couldn’t proceed.

That’s exactly how I felt using Manus. The job starts, promises are made, but the tool can’t finish what it begins. The credit-based barrier turns into an interruption machine, not a productivity enhancer.

Final Thoughts: A Prototype, Not a Product

To be fair, Manus AI is promising. The UI is sleek, and the vision behind it is ambitious. But it currently feels primitive compared to its AI peers. It’s slow in thinking, inaccurate in execution, and costly to test due to the credit model.

If the team behind Manus can: