Artificial intelligence has already written our emails, helped us cook dinner, and made our vacation photos look like Van Gogh paintings. But the next stage isn’t about better suggestions — it’s about AI that actually does things on your behalf. This is the promise of agentic AI: not just a clever advisor, but a reliable junior associate who takes action.
Let’s explore what agentic AI is, how Manus.im is positioning itself as a practical tool for small businesses, and how it compares to alternatives like OpenManus and other open frameworks.
What Is Agentic AI?
Think of today’s large language models like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini as brilliant consultants. They answer questions, draft copy, and analyze data — but you still have to push the buttons. Agentic AI goes a step further. It doesn’t just recommend, it acts.
An agentic AI can plan, execute, and adapt across multiple steps. A generative model might give you a marketing slogan. An agentic model could draft the slogan, design a landing page, post it on your website, send it out to your mailing list, and schedule a reminder to check how many people clicked.
The essential qualities of agentic AI are autonomy, planning, adaptability, and integration with tools. It’s the difference between hiring a consultant and hiring an assistant who rolls up their sleeves and actually does the work.
Manus.im: The Polished Assistant
Manus.im bills itself as an “AI action engine.” The company behind it, Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd. in Singapore, has designed Manus to be more than a chatbot. The platform is intended to let you delegate multi-step tasks that normally require juggling apps, spreadsheets, and browser tabs.
For small businesses, the appeal is clear. Manus promises workflow automation without coding. You could ask it to post updates, send emails, or sync data between Google Sheets and Mailchimp without writing a line of code. It integrates across multiple tools, which is especially valuable for small businesses running on a patchwork of Shopify stores, CRMs, and marketing platforms. Once a process is defined, Manus can repeat it consistently, offering a kind of scalability that normally requires adding staff. It also extends into creative execution, with demos showing Manus building websites, generating dashboards, and even handling some content creation.
If you are a solo entrepreneur or part of a lean team, Manus offers the fantasy of having a digital operations assistant — minus the payroll. But, like most new platforms, the reality is a bit more cautious. Some of the demos are aspirational, and the system is still new enough that errors are possible. It is wise for small businesses to begin with low-risk tasks such as reminders or content posting before turning the AI loose on more critical work like invoices or direct customer outreach.
OpenManus: The Community-Driven Counterpart
If Manus.im is the polished, commercial product, OpenManus is its open-source cousin. Built by a community of developers and hosted on GitHub, OpenManus attempts to replicate the agentic features of Manus, such as multi-agent coordination, web scraping, and tool integration.
The trade-offs are familiar to anyone who has chosen between commercial software and open-source alternatives. Manus is more stable and polished, while OpenManus can be buggy and experimental. Manus hides its inner workings, while OpenManus lets you see and even modify the code. Manus requires a subscription or usage fees, while OpenManus can often be used at little or no cost. Vendor support backs Manus, while OpenManus relies on volunteer effort and community contributions.
For tech-savvy users who like to tinker, OpenManus offers flexibility and transparency. For small business owners who simply need reliable execution, Manus is likely the safer choice.
Other Alternatives Emerging
Manus and OpenManus are not alone. Developers are experimenting with frameworks like LangChain, CrewAI, and AutoGen, which allow you to build your own agentic systems from scratch. Meanwhile, major AI vendors such as OpenAI and Anthropic are slowly weaving agent-like features into their platforms.
These options reflect the broader spectrum of choice: a polished turnkey assistant like Manus, a flexible open-source playground like OpenManus, or the do-it-yourself frameworks that require technical expertise. Which path you take depends on whether you want convenience, control, or customizability.
Should Small Businesses Dive In?
The pragmatic view is that agentic AI is still young but promising. For small businesses, the potential payoff is significant: time saved, more consistent execution, and the ability to scale without adding headcount. But the risks are equally real: mistakes, misfires, and unintended behaviors.
The smart move is to start small. Use agentic AI for marketing tasks, posting schedules, or simple report generation. Keep humans in the loop when communicating with customers. Watch carefully to see whether the time saved is worth the cost.
Agentic AI moves us from AI as an advisor to AI as a team member. Whether you choose Manus, OpenManus, or another route, the best way to think about these systems today is as bright but inexperienced interns. They are eager, fast-learning, and useful — but still in need of supervision.