Manus
A general-purpose AI agent that goes off and does the task for you
Overview
Manus made a lot of noise as a "general-purpose AI agent" that can research, code, and build files on its own, and in demos it genuinely does hand back finished work instead of just a chat answer. The catch is the credit system. Every browsing step, code run, or file operation eats credits, and a single complex task can burn hundreds of them, sometimes even when the task fails. That makes the real cost of using Manus hard to predict from the sticker price alone.
If you're curious, the free plan with 300 daily credits is enough to see whether it can actually handle your kind of task before you commit to a paid tier. Just don't expect a clean per-task price. You're paying for compute the agent burns, and that number moves depending on what you ask it to do.
Key Features
Autonomous Task Execution: Give it a goal in plain English and it plans and carries out multi-step work on its own.
Web Browsing: Can independently browse the web to research, gather data, and pull in sources.
Code Execution: Runs code as part of a task, such as building a script or analyzing a dataset.
File And Spreadsheet Output: Produces usable deliverables like documents, spreadsheets, and reports, not just chat replies.
Scheduled Tasks: Set recurring or delayed tasks for the agent to run without you triggering them manually.
Concurrent Tasks: Paid plans let the agent work on several tasks in parallel instead of one at a time.
Pricing
Starting price
Usage-based via credits; cheapest paid plan is around $20/mo for 4,000 monthly credits (no flat per-task price)
Free: $0/month. 300 daily refresh credits, 1 concurrent task, access to Chat Mode and a lighter agent model.
Starter/Pro: From $20/month. 4,000 monthly credits plus the 300 daily refresh credits, higher concurrent task limits.
Higher Pro Tier: $40/month. 8,000 monthly credits, more concurrent tasks.
Extended: $200/month. 40,000 monthly credits for heavy usage.
Team: Per-seat pricing (reported from roughly $20 to $40/user/month depending on source) with a shared team credit pool and admin controls.
Disclaimer: pricing may change, confirm on Manus's own pricing page before buying. Manus's official pricing and docs pages did not return exact dollar figures or credit counts when fetched directly, so these numbers are corroborated across multiple independent third-party pricing breakdowns rather than a single first-party source, and may not be fully current.
Pros
Genuinely Autonomous: Can chain browsing, coding, and file creation into one task without you babysitting each step.
Broad Task Range: Handles research, coding, and spreadsheet or document generation instead of being locked to one use case.
Free Tier To Test: Daily refreshing credits let you try real tasks before paying anything.
Actively Developed: Continues shipping updates like Scheduled Tasks 2.0 and new connector integrations despite a blocked Meta acquisition attempt in 2026.
Cons
Unpredictable Cost: A single complex task can consume 500 to 900 credits, so the real cost per task is hard to estimate before running it.
Credits Charged On Failure: Users report credits being deducted even when a task gets stuck or produces incomplete, error-filled output.
Inconsistent On Long Tasks: Reliability drops on longer or more complex jobs, according to user reviews.
Support Complaints: Trustpilot and Reddit reviews mention slow support responses on billing and stuck-task disputes.
Free Tier Runs Out Fast: The daily credit allowance is thin for anyone trying to use it as a daily driver rather than an occasional tool.
What Makes It Unique
Truly General-Purpose Agent: Unlike single-purpose AI tools built for one job (writing, coding, or video), Manus is designed to take on almost any task end-to-end, from web research to spreadsheets to code, inside one agent.
Kay Score
5.8
/ 10
Tool Information
Pricing
Usage-based via credits; cheapest paid plan is around $20/mo for 4,000 monthly credits (no flat per-task price)
Category
Automation & AI Agents
Platform
Web / iOS / Android
Last Updated
