Alternatives guide ยท updated
Best Manus alternatives (2026): 7 AI agents compared
Manus is an AI agent that executes tasks and automates workflows, on credit-based plans with 4,000, 8,000 or 40,000 credits a month. If you want open source, pay per task, or a chat assistant you already use, these are the alternatives we rank.
Quick picks
The best Manus alternative depends on the job
- Open source and self-hosted
Hermes Agent. Free and open source (MIT), with persistent memory, skills and messaging gateways.
- Chat assistant that also does work
ChatGPT. Free to start; Plus is $20 a month.
- Repeatable workflows
n8n. Workflow automation with an AI Agent node. Free self-hosted Community Edition.
- Pay per task
Else. No subscription. Top-ups from $5 that never expire, with an itemized receipt per task.
- Host your own agent harness
Agent 37. Cloud sandboxes for harnesses like Hermes, Claude Code and Codex, billed by the minute.
Side by side
Manus and 7 alternatives compared
| Tool | Our rank | Pricing (from the official site) | Free option | Our verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manus | #4 of 36 AI agents and automation | Credit-based plans with 4,000, 8,000 or 40,000 credits a month, each with 300 refresh credits every day, 20 concurrent tasks and 20 scheduled tasks. Paying annually saves 17%. Team and Enterprise plans are available.Source: manus.im, checked | Not listed | General-purpose autonomous agent that completes multi-step web tasks. |
| Hermes Agent | #5 of 36 AI agents and automation | Free and open source under the MIT license. Model providers and optional hosted services cost extra. Nous Portal plans: Free $0 (free models only), Plus $20, Super $100 and Ultra $200 a month, each with monthly credits plus a 10% bonus.Source: hermes-agent.nousresearch.com, checked | Yes | Open-source self-improving agent from Nous Research with persistent memory, skills and messaging gateways. |
| ChatGPT | #1 of 6 General AI assistants | Free at $0 with unlimited text chats on GPT-6 (subject to abuse guardrails) and limited uploads, image creation, voice chats, deep research and Codex access. Go is $8 per month and may include ads. Plus is $20 per month. Pro starts at $100 per month with a choice of three usage tiers and up to $500 in monthly API credits. No yearly price is shown for individual plans.Source: openai.com, checked | Yes | The most versatile all-round assistant, with search, files, voice and images. |
| Claude | #2 of 6 General AI assistants | Free $0, with limited usage every 5 hours and every week. Pro is $17 per month with the annual subscription discount ($200 billed up front), or $20 if billed monthly. Max is $100 per month and Ultra is $200 per month.Source: claude.com, checked | Yes | Strong at writing, long documents and careful reasoning. |
| Zapier | #2 of 36 AI agents and automation | Free $0 with 100 tasks per month. Professional from $19.99 per month. Team from $69 per month. Enterprise by contact.Source: zapier.com, checked | Yes | Connects thousands of apps; easiest automation for non-developers. |
| n8n | #1 of 36 AI agents and automation | Hosted plans are priced by workflow executions: Starter 20 euros, Pro 50 euros and Business 667 euros per month, billed annually. Enterprise is custom. A free self-hosted Community Edition is on GitHub, and startups under 20 employees can apply for 50% off Business.Source: n8n.io, checked | Yes | Open-source workflow automation with strong AI agent nodes; self-hostable. |
| Agent 37 | #7 of 36 AI agents and automation | Usage-based, no subscription, plan fee or minimum: $0.80 per vCPU, $0.70 per GB of RAM and $0.09 per GB of disk per 730-hour month, metered by the minute. A 2 vCPU, 4 GB sandbox running all month is $4.76; idle, it pays only disk ($0.36 a month for 4 GB). VMs cost 2.5x compute and Performance 4x. A $5 starter credit unlocks when you add a card.Source: agent37.com, checked | Starter credit | Hosted persistent sandboxes for agent harnesses like Hermes, OpenClaw, Claude Code and Codex; pay per minute of uptime, no subscription. |
| Else | #26 of 36 AI agents and automation | No subscription. Top-ups of $5, $20 or $100 that never expire, and new accounts get a free starting balance with no card. Tasks run on Auto, Fast, Smart or Max tiers, with a $5 spend limit per task by default.Source: elsedoes.com, checked | Starter credit | Pay-per-task AI agent that works across Gmail, Drive, Slack, Notion and Calendar and shows an itemized receipt for each task. No subscription; top-ups from $5 never expire. |
Prices come from each tool's official pricing page on the date shown and can change, so check before you buy. Ranks are from our ranking method. Nothing on this page is sponsored.
Questions
Frequently asked
Is there a free alternative to Manus?
Yes. Hermes Agent is free and open source (model costs extra). ChatGPT, Claude and Zapier have free plans, n8n has a free self-hosted Community Edition, and Else gives new accounts a free starting balance. Sources: each tool's official site, linked in the table.
How much does Manus cost?
Credit-based plans with 4,000, 8,000 or 40,000 credits a month, each with 300 refresh credits every day, 20 concurrent tasks and 20 scheduled tasks. Paying annually saves 17%. Team and Enterprise plans are available. Source: https://manus.im/pricing, checked 2026-10-26.
Where does Manus rank?
Manus is ranked #4 of 36 for AI agents and automation on AI Tool Podium. Ranking last updated 2026-11-13.
How did you pick these alternatives?
They are the tools we rank for the same job, plus a few from neighboring use cases that people compare it with. Every price comes from the tool's own pricing page, with the date we checked it. Nothing on this page is sponsored.
Related pages