You’ve heard of AI ‘Deep Research’ tools…now Manus is launching ‘Wide Research’ that spins up 100+ agents to scour the web for you

Chinese AI startup Manus has launched an innovative new feature called Wide Research. Unlike the "Deep Research" AI tools from competitors like OpenAI, Google, and xAI that focus on in-depth, sequential research, Manus’s Wide Research spins up over 100 AI agents simultaneously to tackle large-scale, high-volume tasks.

What is Wide Research?

Wide Research enables users to delegate complex tasks to a large number of parallel AI subagents, each working independently on a part of the overall goal. For example, in a demo shared by Manus co-founder and Chief Scientist Yichao ‘Peak’ Ji, 100 agents were tasked with analyzing different sneaker models simultaneously, producing a sortable matrix of design, pricing, and availability data in minutes. This approach is not limited to data analysis. Manus demonstrated creative applications such as generating poster designs across 50 distinct visual styles concurrently, delivering polished assets in a downloadable ZIP file. The system leverages an optimized virtualization and agent architecture that scales compute power 100 times beyond previous capabilities.

How Does It Work?

Each Manus session runs on a dedicated virtual machine, providing users with orchestrated cloud computing via natural language commands. Unlike traditional multi-agent systems with specialized roles, each subagent in Wide Research is a fully capable Manus instance able to handle any general task independently. This flexibility allows for scalable, unconstrained task handling.

Availability and Pricing

Wide Research is currently available to Manus Pro plan users and will gradually roll out to Plus and Basic plans. Manus subscription tiers include:

• Free ($0/month): 300 daily refresh credits, Chat mode, 1 concurrent and scheduled task.
• Basic ($19/month): 1,900 monthly credits (+bonus), 2 concurrent and scheduled tasks, advanced models, and exclusive data sources.
• Plus ($39/month): 3 concurrent and scheduled tasks, 3,900 monthly credits (+bonus), all Basic features.
• Pro ($199/month): 10 concurrent and scheduled tasks, 19,900 credits (+bonus), early beta access, full feature set, and a Manus T-shirt.
Annual upfront payment offers a 17% discount.

Benefits and Challenges

Manus promotes Wide Research as a breakthrough in agent parallelism, potentially delivering faster and more varied outputs than single-agent deep research models. However, the company has not yet provided detailed benchmarks or comparisons to prove the efficiency or accuracy advantages of spawning hundreds of subagents. The broader AI ecosystem has seen mixed results with multi-agent systems, with some users reporting issues like slow performance, high resource consumption, and coordination difficulties. Manus acknowledges Wide Research is experimental and may have limitations as it evolves.

Looking Ahead

Wide Research represents Manus’s vision for scalable, multi-threaded AI collaboration using generalized agent instances rather than narrowly scoped modules. This infrastructure could pave the way for future AI offerings, redefining how users interact with AI agents at scale. Industry watchers will be closely monitoring whether Manus’s approach can overcome the technical challenges faced by other multi-agent systems and deliver on its promise of seamless, large-scale AI workflows.

---

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

About Wide Research

Q: What is Manus Wide Research? A: Manus Wide Research is a feature that allows users to delegate complex tasks to over 100 AI agents that operate simultaneously, enabling large-scale and high-volume task processing. Q: How does Wide Research differ from "Deep Research" tools? A: While "Deep Research" tools focus on in-depth, sequential analysis, Wide Research utilizes a parallel processing approach with numerous AI agents to tackle tasks more broadly and quickly. Q: What kind of tasks can Wide Research handle? A: Wide Research can handle a variety of tasks, including large-scale data analysis, such as analyzing multiple product models simultaneously, and creative tasks like generating designs in numerous styles concurrently. Q: Is Wide Research available to all Manus users? A: Currently, Wide Research is available to Manus Pro plan users, with plans to gradually roll it out to Plus and Basic plans. Q: What are the pricing tiers for Manus? A: Manus offers Free, Basic ($19/month), Plus ($39/month), and Pro ($199/month) subscription tiers, with discounts for annual payments. Q: What are the potential benefits of Wide Research? A: Manus suggests Wide Research can deliver faster and more varied outputs compared to single-agent research models due to its agent parallelism. Q: What are the potential challenges or limitations of Wide Research? A: The company has yet to provide detailed benchmarks. The broader AI ecosystem has seen mixed results with multi-agent systems regarding performance and resource consumption, and Manus acknowledges Wide Research is experimental.

Crypto Market AI's Take

The introduction of Manus's Wide Research feature highlights a significant trend in AI development: the shift towards parallel processing and multi-agent systems for complex tasks. This approach to AI agent orchestration is particularly relevant in rapidly evolving fields like cryptocurrency trading, where timely analysis of vast amounts of data is crucial. Our platform, Crypto Market AI, leverages advanced AI agents for market analysis and trading, aiming to provide users with a competitive edge. The parallel processing capabilities of Wide Research could potentially enhance the speed and breadth of data gathering for trading strategies, complementing existing AI-driven financial tools.

More to Read:

• AI-Driven Crypto Trading Tools Reshape Market Strategies in 2025
• Understanding AI Agents: Capabilities, Risks, and Growing Role
• The Future of Finance: How AI is Revolutionizing Cryptocurrency Markets

---

Source: Originally published at VentureBeat on July 31, 2025.