Manus AI alternative (2026): KutrimBots vs Manus for business

Manus makes research, slides and websites on credits. KutrimBots runs ongoing business work with a team of agents. Compare price, approvals and fit.

By the KutrimBots teamPublished October 31, 20267 min read

Manus is an autonomous AI agent that's best at producing finished work, such as research reports, slides and websites, and it charges in credits that vary with each task. KutrimBots is a team of always-on agents that run the ongoing work of a business, such as customer chats, leads, email and invoices, at a flat monthly price with AI usage included. Choose Manus for one-off deliverables; choose KutrimBots if the work repeats every day and touches customers. For free or open-source alternatives, see the list further down.

Disclosure: KutrimBots publishes this blog. Facts about Manus come from manus.im, its help centre and its blog, as of October 29, 2026.

KutrimBots vs Manus at a glance

	Manus	KutrimBots
What it is	An autonomous agent that delivers finished work	A team of always-on agents for a business
Best at	Research, slides, websites, design, video	Customers, leads, email, bookings, invoices, research
Number of agents	One agent per task, up to 20 tasks at once on Pro	Up to 5, 20 or 50 agents with separate roles
Runs on its own	Scheduled tasks and event automations	Routines, automations and 24/7 agents
Business tools	Not in its feature list; connects to Gmail, Calendar, Slack, Notion	CRM, Email Inbox, Chat Widget, Bookings, Forms, Invoices, Support Desk
Approvals	Confirmations by default for scheduled sends and posts; can be skipped	Anything that sends, posts, pays or deletes waits for your OK
Pricing model	Credits that depend on each task's complexity and length	One price per workspace with AI usage included
Entry price	Free (300 credits a day); Pro from $20 a month for 4,000 credits	$20 a month for up to 5 agents, after a $1 trial
Apps	Web, Mac, Windows, iPhone, Android	Web app on desktop and phone, plus Telegram, Slack, Discord, email

What is Manus?

Manus is a general-purpose AI agent that takes a goal and works through it on its own in a cloud computer, then hands back something finished. Its homepage offers to "Create slides", "Build website", "Create games", make video and design.

Manus 2.0, released September 28, 2026, added:

a new agent harness called Cascade and a Cloud Computer;
Automations: scheduled tasks for all users, and tasks that start from a new email, a calendar event, a Slack message or a Notion update;
Manus Studio for professional creation;
Cue, a separate app for personal agents, each with its own email, phone number, wallet and computer, in invite-only early access.

You can also tag @manus in Slack (which needs a paid Slack plan for its AI features) or email tasks to a Manus address from up to 10 approved senders.

Who owns Manus?

Manus joined Meta at the end of 2025. In August 2026 it announced a separation, and on September 1, 2026 it said it had "formally resumed independent operations", led by its founding team. During the separation, Manus told users that some data created after December 29, 2025 was deleted, and affected users were locked out for about two days.

How much does Manus cost?

Manus prices by credits. From its help centre, as of October 29, 2026:

Plan	Price	Credits	Limits
Free	$0	300 credits a day (for Manus 2.0 lite)	1 task at a time, 2 scheduled automations
Pro	From $20 a month	From 4,000 a month	20 tasks at a time, 20 scheduled automations
Pro (higher tier)	From $40 a month	8,000 a month	7-day free trial
Team	From $20 per seat a month	Not stated per seat	Adds SSO and a training opt-out

Credits pay for AI model use, virtual machines and outside services, and "the specific credits consumption for a task is determined by its complexity and duration". Unused monthly credits don't roll over, and credits are refunded for tasks that fail because of a problem on Manus's side.

The result: a short task is cheap, a long website or research project can use a large share of a month's credits, and it's hard to know the cost in advance.

How does KutrimBots work differently?

KutrimBots is built for work that doesn't end: every day there are new enquiries, leads to follow up, emails to answer and invoices to send. You hire agents for roles, and they:

work 24/7 in the cloud, on schedules and when something happens, such as a new lead, a form answer, a booking or an overdue invoice;
keep the records: leads in CRM & Leads, tickets in Support Desk, appointments in Bookings, quotes and invoices in Invoices;
talk to customers: a website Chat Widget, and Email Inbox with an address for each agent;
share one memory in Super Brain, so every agent quotes the same prices and policies;
produce deliverables too: research reports, spreadsheets and slides become shareable pages through the Artifacts plugin.

AI usage is included: $10 a month on Solo (about 3,300 replies), $25 on Team and $50 on Business, with a $10 top-up that carries over if you need more.

Which is safer for business tasks?

Both keep you in the loop, in different ways:

Manus asks for confirmation by default before scheduled runs send, publish or post. A "Skip confirmations" setting lets trusted workflows run without asking.
KutrimBots asks before anything that sends, posts, pays or deletes, for every agent. Unanswered approvals expire instead of running later. Passwords sit in the Security Vault, where agents use them without seeing them, and you choose Allow once, Always or Deny.

Whichever you use, keep confirmations on for anything that reaches customers until you trust the pattern. Our guide are AI agents safe? has a checklist.

Where Manus is better

Finished deliverables. Slides, websites, games, design and video from one prompt are Manus's speciality.
A cloud computer that browses and works in websites on its own.
A free tier with 300 credits every day.
Apps everywhere: web, Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android, plus Slack and email.
Cue, if you get an invite, gives agents their own phone number and wallet.

Why businesses choose KutrimBots

Predictable cost: a flat monthly price per workspace with AI usage included, instead of credits that vary by task.
A team with roles, from 5 to 50 agents, that hand work to each other.
Business records built in: CRM, inbox, bookings, forms, invoices and support tickets.
Customer-facing by design: website chat and agent email addresses.
Approvals on by default for every agent, plus an encrypted vault.

Other Manus alternatives

If you're comparing more widely, these are the main options as of October 29, 2026:

Free and open source: MausBot (formerly OpenMausBot) and Rakazo run teams of bots on your own AI subscription or key; see open-source Grok Bot alternatives.
A personal chief of staff: Claude Duet, for US Claude Pro and Max subscribers; see KutrimBots vs Claude Duet.
Inside ChatGPT: ChatGPT Work, OpenAI's agent for multi-step work that produces documents, sheets and slides on paid ChatGPT plans.
Computer-heavy work: Grok Bot, with The X Subscription from $30 a month.
A shared assistant for a team: Lindy, from $49.99 per user a month; see our Lindy alternative comparison.

Which should you choose?

Choose Manus if:

you need finished research, slides, websites or designs, mostly as one-off projects;
you're happy to pay in credits and check usage as you go;
you want a free tier to try things.

Choose KutrimBots if:

the work repeats every day: enquiries, leads, email, bookings and invoices;
you want several agents with clear jobs and a shared memory;
you want one predictable monthly bill with AI usage included.

KutrimBots has a 7-day trial for $1; plans start at $20 a month (pricing).

Frequently asked questions

Is there a free Manus AI alternative?

Yes. MausBot and Rakazo are free open-source projects that run on your own AI subscription or API key. Manus itself has a free tier with 300 credits a day.

How much does Manus cost per month?

As of October 29, 2026, Manus has a free plan, Pro from $20 a month for 4,000 credits, a higher Pro tier at $40 for 8,000 credits, and Team from $20 per seat. Credit use depends on each task's complexity and length.

Is Manus still owned by Meta?

No. Manus says it separated from Meta and "formally resumed independent operations" on September 1, 2026, led by its founding team.

What is the best Manus AI alternative for a small business?

For ongoing business work with customers and leads, KutrimBots, because it includes a team of agents, a CRM, inbox, website chat and invoices at a flat price. For one-off deliverables, Manus itself or ChatGPT Work may fit better.

Is there an open-source Manus alternative?

MausBot (formerly OpenMausBot) describes itself as an open-source alternative to Cue by Manus, and Rakazo is another Apache-2.0 option. Both need your own AI model and, for always-on use, a server or hosted plan.