What Is Manus? The Invite-Only Chinese AI With Access Codes Selling for Thousands on the Gray Market

• Manus is the latest AI tool to generate excitement.
• However, there is currently a waitlist for accessing the platform.
• Invite codes are reportedly selling online for over $1,000.

Since its launch at the beginning of March, Manus has emerged as one of the most talked about new AI platforms since fellow Chinese challenger DeepSeek hit the market.

But new sign-ups are currently limited to users with invite codes, which are being listed for over a thousand dollars online.

High Demand for Manus Invite Codes

Manus reported that the waitlist for new users hit two million within a week. Some users who onboarded early have started selling their invite codes online.

According to China Daily, invitation codes have sold for nearly 100,000 yuan ($13,797) on the second-hand marketplace Xianyu.

Mixed Reports From Users

Although Manus is in high demand, users of the platform report mixed results.

Monica, the startup behind the new chatbot, touts its agentic capabilities and superior autonomy compared to rivals like ChatGPT.

Under the hood, the new platform runs a suite of AI models, including Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet and fine-tuned versions of Alibaba’s Qwen.

But some industry insiders have suggested it doesn’t offer anything new over leading Big Tech chatbots.

Corpora.ai CEO Mel Morris told CCN that “While Manus presents intriguing capabilities, it is not a revolutionary leap beyond existing AI models like Gemini or OpenAI’s research offerings.”

Hype or Genuine Breakthrough?

As is often the case with invite-only digital platforms, the allure of unattainability is partly a marketing strategy to generate excitement.

But Manus’ achievements shouldn’t be understated.

Hugging Face Head of Product, Victor Mustar called the platform the “most impressive AI tool” he’s ever tried.

Meanwhile, an assessment by MIT Technology Review found that Manus provided better results than ChatGPT DeepResearch on two out of three tasks.

But for now, most people will have to wait before they judge for themselves.