[Honest Review] One Month with Manus: My Real Thoughts
機械翻訳 / Machine-translated
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AI Friends
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機械翻訳 / Machine-translated
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AI Friends（https://aifriends.jp）のクロスポスト公式アカウント。AIツールの紹介・使い方・できることを、中学生でもわかるやさしい日本語で届けます。
In pursuit of greater work efficiency, I spent one month using the autonomous AI agent "Manus." In this article, I'll share my honest impressions — the good and the not-so-good — based on real hands-on experience.
The number one reason I chose Manus was that it "automatically handles everything from start to finish with just a single instruction." With a regular tool like ChatGPT, you have to guide it step by step. But with Manus, you simply say "Research five competing companies and compile a report," and it autonomously handles everything — web searches, information organization, and file creation. It's a tool developed by China's Monica.im, and a desktop app was also released in March 2026. The free plan was what got me to give it a try.
The first week was a series of surprises — "It really does this on its own?" When I asked it to prepare materials, it would gather information, organize it, and even create slides. That said, it's not perfect. There were times it stopped midway or headed in an unexpected direction. In particular, if instructions in Japanese were vague, it didn't always behave as intended. Even so, the impact of finishing a task that would normally take three hours of manual work in just 30 minutes was significant. The free plan is capped at 300 credits per day, so I hit the limit quickly and started looking into the paid plan from the second week onward.
1. You can fully delegate tasks
Just say "Research X and put together a report," and it handles everything from search to document creation in one seamless flow. Since you don't need to keep adding instructions along the way, you can focus on other work.
2. The desktop app is convenient
Using the "My Computer" feature released in March 2026, you can load files from your own computer and execute commands. Working in a local environment became much smoother.
3. Multimodal support is powerful
It can create not just text, but also videos, slides, images, and websites. The effort required to build presentation materials from scratch has been dramatically reduced. It also integrates with Gmail, Google Calendar, and Notion, making it a good fit for everyday business tasks.
1. The free plan hits its limit quickly
The free plan allows 300 credits per day, but even a moderately complex task can burn through that in no time. Serious use requires the paid plan at $20–$40 per month, which adds up as an ongoing cost.
2. It doesn't always do what you expect
If instructions are vague, it can go off in the wrong direction. There was a time I asked it to "make this document easier to read" and it came back with a completely different design. There are many situations where you need to give detailed instructions.
3. Japanese output quality is inconsistent
Perhaps because it's a tool developed in China, the Japanese text can sometimes feel unnatural. Especially in fields with a lot of technical terminology, revisions are often needed. I found that accuracy was higher in English.
Compared to ChatGPT, Manus is overwhelmingly more autonomous. ChatGPT requires you to issue instructions one step at a time, whereas Manus moves through multiple stages on its own from a single instruction. On the other hand, compared to code-focused AI like Cursor, it falls a bit short on the programming side. Cursor handles everything from code completion to implementation in a smooth, integrated flow, but Manus's strength lies in covering a wide range of tasks beyond just code. My conclusion: use Cursor for "development only," and Manus for "research through document creation."
Recommended for:
People who spend a lot of time on research and document preparation, those who find juggling multiple tools a hassle, and those who want to streamline their workflow by integrating tools like Gmail and Notion. I think it's particularly well-suited for marketers and people in planning roles.
Not recommended for:
Those who want to keep using it for free, those who demand perfect accuracy, and those whose work is centered on programming. The free plan is quite limited, and it feels lacking on the development side compared to code-focused tools. If accurate Japanese output is a priority, you may also want to consider other options for now.
This article is a cross-post from AI Friends.
