Manus AI: What the Agent Does, What It Costs, and Who Owns It

What is Manus AI?

Manus is an AI agent built by the team behind the Monica browser assistant. Instead of chatting, you give it a goal, such as 'research the 20 largest competitors and build a comparison spreadsheet with sources', and it plans the steps, browses the web, runs code, and returns the finished output. It runs on its own virtual computer, so tasks continue in the background.

Source: NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026); Manus: Plans and pricing

What can Manus do?

Its main jobs are in-depth research with citations, building websites and web apps, creating slide decks, generating images and music, analysing data files, and scheduled or recurring tasks. Wide Research runs many parallel sub-agents to cover a long list of items at once, which is useful for market maps and lead lists. It also connects to Slack and messaging apps.

Source: Manus: Plans and pricing; NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)

How is Manus different from ChatGPT?

ChatGPT is primarily a conversation you steer turn by turn, although it now has agent features of its own. Manus is built around delegating a whole task and coming back to a deliverable. That makes it better for long, multi-step jobs and worse for quick questions, where its credit cost is hard to justify.

Source: NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)

How much does Manus cost?

Manus's pricing page lists a free plan with 300 refresh credits every day, a plan with 4,000 credits a month, a customisable plan from 8,000 credits a month and an extended plan with 40,000 credits a month, all with up to 20 concurrent and 20 scheduled tasks. Third-party reviews put these at $20, $40 and $200 a month billed monthly. Annual billing saves about 17%. Team plans are priced per seat.

Source: Manus: Plans and pricing; NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)

How many credits does a task use?

It depends on how complex and long the task is, and Manus does not show the cost before you run it. Reviewers report simple chats using tens of credits, web research a few hundred, and complex research or app builds 500 to 1,000 or more. Wide Research across many items uses the most.

Source: NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026); Manus Help: Rules for credits consumption

Do Manus credits roll over?

Monthly plan credits reset every billing cycle and do not roll over, even on annual plans, and daily refresh credits expire after a day. Add-on credits you buy separately carry over while you stay on a paid plan. Manus's help center also explains when credits are returned for failed tasks.

Source: Manus Help: Rules for credits consumption

How do I make credits last longer?

Write a precise brief with the output format, scope and sources you want, test on the free daily credits first, avoid vague open-ended research, and check progress early so you can stop a task heading in the wrong direction rather than letting it run to completion.

Did Meta buy Manus?

Meta agreed to acquire Manus in a deal reported at about $2 billion. Chinese regulators then ordered the acquisition unwound in April 2026, and early investors helped Manus buy its shares back.

Source: TechCrunch: Manus seeks $4B valuation as it resumes independent ops (Sep 18, 2026); NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)

Who runs Manus now?

Manus resumed independent operations under its founding team in September 2026, according to TechCrunch, which also reported it was seeking new funding at a higher valuation. The product continues under the Manus brand.

Source: TechCrunch: Manus seeks $4B valuation as it resumes independent ops (Sep 18, 2026)

How do I start with Manus?

Sign up at manus.im, start on the free daily credits, and give it a small, well-defined task first, such as a sourced one-page brief on a topic you know well, so you can judge accuracy and credit use before paying.

Source: Manus: Plans and pricing

What should I check in Manus's output?

Open the sources it cites, spot-check numbers and quotes, and test any website or app it builds before sharing it. Agents can confidently include stale or misread information, and longer tasks give more room for small errors to compound.

Is Manus safe for business data?

Manus offers team plans with SSO and publishes security and compliance information in its trust center. As with any agent that browses and runs code for you, avoid giving it credentials or confidential files your company has not approved for third-party AI tools.

Source: Manus: Plans and pricing

What are the best alternatives to Manus?

For research and everyday tasks inside a chatbot, ChatGPT's agent features, Gemini and Perplexity cover a lot of the same ground. For building apps from a prompt, dedicated builders such as Lovable, Replit or Bolt give more control over the result. For automating recurring business workflows, tools like Zapier or n8n are more predictable than a general agent.

Source: NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)

Is Manus worth it?

It is worth it if you regularly delegate long research or build tasks and value getting a finished deliverable back. If you mostly ask quick questions, a regular chatbot subscription is cheaper and more predictable, because Manus's credit use is hard to forecast.

Source: NoCode MBA: Manus AI pricing 2026 (updated October 2026)