Browser Use supports the AI agent developed by the Swiss startup, recording a 5-fold increase in downloads, from 5,000 to 28,000 in just one week.
While Manus, the "agent" AI platform of the Chinese startup Butterfly Effect, is creating a sensation in the market, an unexpected side effect has emerged: the Browser Use tool has suddenly become the focus of attention in the tech community.
Browser Use, a solution that helps AI agents interact more easily with websites, has witnessed remarkable growth. According to Gregor Zunic, co-founder of the project, daily downloads have increased from 5,000 on March 3 to 28,000 on March 10. "The past few days have been truly crazy," Zunic shared with TechCrunch. "We are currently the largest trending repository on GitHub."
The main reason is a post about how Manus utilizes Browser Use, attracting over 2.4 million views on the X platform. Browser Use plays a crucial role in Manus' ecosystem, helping the platform perform tasks such as navigating website menus and filling out forms.
From an ETH Zurich accelerator project to a sought-after AI tool
Browser Use was developed by Zunic and Magnus Müller through the accelerator program of ETH Zurich's Student Project House. The duo believes that web agents - automated assistants that navigate websites and web applications - will be a major trend in 2025.
CREDIT: BROWSER USE
"What started as random brainstorming sessions over a few lunches has turned into a challenge," Zunic recounted. "We created an MVP in four days, launched it on Hacker News, and boom - we were number one. From there, everything took off like a rocket."
Technically, Browser Use extracts website components like buttons and widgets so that AI models can interact with them more effectively. The tool also supports managing multiple browser tabs, setting actions like file saving, performing database operations, and handling mouse and keyboard input.
Notably, in addition to the paid version, Browser Use also offers a self-hosted free version, and it is this version that has exploded since Manus' launch. Zunic likened their business model to "selling shovels" to developers looking to capitalize on the web agent trend.
"We want to create a platform layer that people will build their browser agents on top of," Zunic said. "In our thinking, there will be more agents on the web than humans by the end of this year."
While the claim may sound bold, data from Research and Markets forecasts the AI agent market to reach a value of $42 billion by 2029. Deloitte also predicts that half of the companies using AI will deploy AI agents by 2027.
With the growing trend of AI agents, the timing of Browser Use's emergence could not be more opportune.
