Manus
General purpose autonomous AI agent that plans, executes, and delivers results for complex multi step tasks in the cloud.
What it is
Manus is an autonomous AI agent that goes beyond conversation to independently execute complex, multi step tasks. The name comes from the Latin word for "hand," reflecting its focus on doing, not just answering. Originally built by Butterfly Effect (the team behind the Monica AI browser extension), Manus launched in March 2025 and quickly became one of the most talked about AI products in the world, reaching $100M+ annual recurring revenue within nine months. Meta acquired Manus in December 2025 for over $2 billion, though China ordered the deal unwound in April 2026. As of mid 2026, the founders are exploring a buyback to comply with Beijing's demand, and the situation remains in flux. Unlike chatbots that respond to prompts and generate text, Manus takes a high level goal, breaks it into sub tasks, and autonomously executes the entire workflow: browsing the web, running code, managing files, analyzing data, and delivering finished outputs. These outputs are real, downloadable artifacts like research reports, spreadsheets, websites, slide decks, and applications, not just text responses. Tasks run asynchronously in the cloud, meaning Manus continues working even when you close the browser. Manus uses a multi agent architecture under the hood, with specialized sub agents for planning, web browsing, code execution, and retrieval. It runs on multiple LLM backends (including Anthropic Claude and Alibaba Qwen models) and features a real time visual interface called "Manus's Computer" that lets you watch every action the agent takes as it works. Manus also offers a desktop app with a "My Computer" feature that gives the agent control over your local machine, and a Skills system that lets you save successful workflows as reusable automation templates.
Who it is for
Knowledge workers who need an autonomous digital assistant that can independently execute complex research, analysis, and reporting tasks
Entrepreneurs and small teams who want AI that delivers finished work products (reports, websites, presentations) rather than just text responses
Researchers needing comprehensive, multi source investigation with the Wide Research feature that deploys 100+ parallel agents
Non technical users who want to build websites and web applications from natural language descriptions without writing code
Anyone who spends hours on repetitive knowledge work (data compilation, competitive analysis, content creation) that could be delegated to an AI agent
Pros and cons
Pros
- +Truly autonomous execution: give it a goal and it independently plans, researches, codes, and delivers finished work products without constant prompting
- +Real time transparency through Manus's Computer lets you watch every action, pause, redirect, or take over at any point, so you always know what the agent is doing
- +Asynchronous cloud processing means tasks continue running even when you close the browser, with notifications when complete
- +Produces real, downloadable outputs (PDFs, spreadsheets, websites, code projects), not just text responses that need manual formatting
- +Wide Research feature deploys 100+ parallel agents to comprehensively scour the web, producing research that would take hours to do manually
- +Free tier with 300 daily credits and Manus 1.6 Lite access lets you try the core capabilities without committing to a subscription
Cons
- −Credit based pricing can be unpredictable; complex tasks consume credits faster, and heavy users may find even the Pro plan limiting
- −Reliability is inconsistent: some tasks execute flawlessly while others produce hallucinated data or fail on complex multi step workflows
- −Tasks can be slow, especially Wide Research and complex coding projects, since the agent needs to browse, process, and iterate through many steps
- −Requires well structured prompts for best results; vague goals can lead to the agent going in unexpected directions
- −The flexible, LLM driven architecture makes behavior less deterministic than traditional automation tools; identical prompts can produce different results
- −Enterprise grade security, governance, and audit capabilities are still maturing
Pricing
- 300 daily refresh credits
- 1 concurrent task
- 2 scheduled tasks
- 4,000 monthly credits + 300 daily refresh
- 20 concurrent tasks
- 20 scheduled tasks
- 8,000 monthly credits + 300 daily refresh
- 20 concurrent tasks
- 20 scheduled tasks
- All Pro features
- All Pro features
- SSO (Single Sign On)
- Data training opt out
Prices change; check the official pricing →