Within the case of Manus, the competition is moving fast. Two of probably the most buzzy follow‑ups, Genspark and Flowith, for instance, are already boasting benchmark scores that match or edge past Manus’s.
Genspark, led by former Baidu executives Eric Jing and Kay Zhu, links many small “super agents” through what it calls multi‑component prompting. The agent can switch amongst several large language models, accepts each images and text, and carries out tasks from making slide decks to placing phone calls. Whereas Manus relies heavily on Browser Use, a preferred open-source product that lets agents operate an online browser in a virtual window like a human, Genspark directly integrates with a wide selection of tools and APIs. Launched in April, the corporate says that it already has over 5 million users and over $36 million in yearly revenue.
Flowith, the work of a young team that first grabbed public attention in April 2025 at a developer event hosted by the favored social media app Xiaohongshu, takes a distinct tack. Marketed as an “infinite agent,” it opens on a blank canvas where each query becomes a node on a branching map. Users can backtrack, take latest branches, and store leads to personal or sharable “knowledge gardens”—a design that feels more like project management software (think Notion) than a typical chat interface. Every inquiry or task builds its own mind-map-like graph, encouraging a more nonlinear and inventive interaction with AI. Flowith’s core agent, NEO, runs within the cloud and may perform scheduled tasks like sending emails and compiling files. The founders want the app to be a “knowledge marketbase”, and goals to tap into the social aspect of AI with the aspiration of becoming “the OnlyFans of AI knowledge creators”.
What in addition they share with Manus is the worldwide ambition. Each Genspark and Flowith have stated that their primary focus is the international market.
A world address
Startups like Manus, Genspark, and Flowith—though founded by Chinese entrepreneurs—could mix seamlessly into the worldwide tech scene and compete effectively abroad. Founders, investors, and analysts that has spoken to consider Chinese firms are moving fast, executing well, and quickly coming up with latest products.
Money reinforces the pull to launch overseas. Customers there pay more, and there are plenty to go around. “You possibly can price in USD, and with the exchange rate that’s a sevenfold multiplier,” Manus cofounder Xiao Hong quipped on a podcast. “Even when we’re only operating at 10% power due to cultural differences overseas, we’ll still make greater than in China.”
But creating the identical functionality in China is a challenge. Major US AI firms including OpenAI and Anthropic have opted out of mainland China due to geopolitical risks and challenges with regulatory compliance. Their absence initially created a black market as users resorted to VPNs and third-party mirrors to access tools like ChatGPT and Claude. That vacuum has since been filled by a brand new wave of Chinese chatbots—DeepSeek, Doubao, Kimi—however the appetite for foreign models hasn’t gone away.
Manus, for instance, uses Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet—widely considered the highest model for agentic tasks. Manus cofounder Zhang Tao has repeatedly praised Claude’s ability to juggle tools, remember contexts, and hold multi‑round conversations—all crucial for turning chatty software into an efficient executive assistant.
