📖 The AI Tool Bible

Ernie Bot vs Fellou

A side-by-side look at pricing, capabilities, pros, cons, and our editorial scores.

 
Ernie Bot
Agents
Fellou
Agents
TaglineBaidu's Mandarin-first ChatGPT rival, powered by the ERNIE model familyThe world's first agentic browser that plans and executes multi-step web workflows for you.
CategoryAgentsAgents
PricingFreemium· Free tier for Ernie 3.5 access; Ernie 4.0 and premium features require a paid subscription (approximately CNY 59.9/month for individual plans); enterprise API pricing via Baidu AI Cloud Qianfan platform is metered per 1K tokens.Freemium· Free ($0, 1,000 Sparks one-time, 2 scheduled tasks) / Plus $19/mo (2,000 Sparks, ~8 tasks) / Pro $39.90/mo (5,000 Sparks, ~20 tasks) / Ultra $199.90/mo (unlimited Sparks, limited time). 20% discount on annual billing.
ModelBaidu ERNIE 4.0 / ERNIE X1 / ERNIE Turbo (in-house)
Editorial score8.7 / 10
Use cases
Mandarin content writing and marketing copyChinese-language document Q&A and summarisationBaidu-search-grounded research briefsCustom agents built on the Qianfan platformRetrieval-augmented chat over internal Chinese corporaCode generation and explanation in ChineseImage generation from Chinese promptsCustomer-service chatbots for mainland usersFine-tuning ERNIE models on domain data
Competitive research reportsAutomated job applicationsLead list enrichmentMulti-site price monitoringScheduled data scrapingLinkedIn outreach automationDeep research briefsBooking and reservation workflowsCross-site form fillingRecurring dashboard exports
Pros
  • Best-in-class Mandarin fluency and Chinese cultural/idiomatic understanding among major LLMs
  • Deep integration with Baidu Search, Wenku, Netdisk and Maps for grounded Chinese-language answers
  • Full agent/plugin platform (Qianfan) with function calling, RAG, and fine-tuning for enterprise developers
  • Multiple model tiers (Ernie 4.0, X1 reasoning, Turbo) covering quality-vs-cost trade-offs
  • Native image generation and document/PDF understanding built into the chat UI
  • Compliant, in-country hosting that satisfies Chinese data-residency and regulatory requirements
  • Very large free tier makes it accessible for individual and small-team experimentation
  • True agentic control of a real browser, including authenticated sessions, CAPTCHAs, and multi-tab workflows
  • Plan-first execution model with visible steps you can pause, edit, or override mid-run
  • Scheduled/recurring tasks turn one-off automations into standing jobs
  • Bundled specialist agents (deep research, image, music, code) generate deliverables, not just links
  • Eko 2.0 open-source framework lets developers extend or script custom agents
  • Generous free tier for evaluation, with an unlimited-Sparks Ultra plan for heavy users
Cons
  • Subject to Chinese government censorship; refuses politically sensitive topics and self-censors on sovereignty issues
  • Web app and most documentation are Chinese-only, with a steep onboarding curve for non-Mandarin teams
  • Requires a mainland Chinese phone number for sign-up, which blocks most international users
  • English-language performance and reasoning lag Western frontier models (GPT-4o, Claude, Gemini)
  • Data submitted may be processed under PRC data laws, which is a non-starter for many Western enterprises
  • Ecosystem lock-in to Baidu AI Cloud for serious production use
  • Requires installing a dedicated Chromium browser rather than an extension in your existing setup
  • Underlying model provider(s) and per-task token accounting are opaque — you pay in Sparks without a clear cost model
  • Letting an agent drive logged-in accounts (banking, email, employer SaaS) raises real security and ToS-violation risk
  • Task counts on paid tiers are modest (~8-20 tasks/month on Plus/Pro) so heavy automators land on the $199.90 tier fast
  • Newer product with a shorter track record than Chrome/Edge — expect breakage on sites that change layouts or add bot defences
  • No public REST API for the hosted product; automation lives inside the desktop app or Eko framework
Websiteyiyan.baidu.comfellou.ai
Pick Ernie Bot if
  • Best-in-class Mandarin fluency and Chinese cultural/idiomatic understanding among major LLMs
  • Deep integration with Baidu Search, Wenku, Netdisk and Maps for grounded Chinese-language answers
  • Full agent/plugin platform (Qianfan) with function calling, RAG, and fine-tuning for enterprise developers
  • Multiple model tiers (Ernie 4.0, X1 reasoning, Turbo) covering quality-vs-cost trade-offs
Pick Fellou if
  • True agentic control of a real browser, including authenticated sessions, CAPTCHAs, and multi-tab workflows
  • Plan-first execution model with visible steps you can pause, edit, or override mid-run
  • Scheduled/recurring tasks turn one-off automations into standing jobs
  • Bundled specialist agents (deep research, image, music, code) generate deliverables, not just links