Manus pricing, free plan and limits

Last updated: 2026-10-20

Manus is an autonomous AI agent from Singapore's Butterfly Effect that plans and runs multi-step tasks from one prompt inside a cloud sandbox. A September 2026 release adds the Cascade agent framework, event-triggered Automations and a Studio workspace, while the three paid Pro plans keep their earlier prices.

About Manus

Manus is a general-purpose autonomous AI agent built by Singapore-based Butterfly Effect Pte. Ltd., launched on 6 March 2025. Unlike a chatbot, it takes a goal such as "build a competitor analysis report", plans the work, researches, writes and hands back a finished file, running asynchronously in the cloud so it keeps going after you close the tab. The company reported crossing $100M in annualized revenue within its first year. Meta announced a $2 billion deal to acquire Manus in December 2025, but was forced to call it off; Manus resumed independent operations in August 2026. On 8 October 2026 parent Butterfly Effect said it had raised more than $500 million, led by Boyu Capital and IDG Capital with existing shareholders Tencent, HSG and ZhenFund taking part. The company did not disclose a valuation, and a Hong Kong listing is reportedly under consideration (TechCrunch, 8 October 2026).

On 28 September 2026 Manus announced Manus 2.0, which it describes as a new architecture rather than a version update. The core is Cascade, its in-house agent framework; in one tested configuration the vendor says Cascade used 23.2% fewer tokens, finished 28.2% faster and cost 32% less than the previous system (self-reported, one configuration). New pieces include Automations, which start a task when something happens in a connected service such as a new email, a calendar event, a Slack message or a Notion update; Cloud Computer, a dedicated environment you buy for a project that needs an always-on server; and Manus Studio, the upgraded desktop app, with a Video Editor (a timeline for 30 to 60 second product ads and tutorials), Game Dev (playable templates, with multiplayer hosted on a Cloud Computer) and Remote Control with Computer Use. Cue, a separate personal-agent app, launched in invite-only early access and is not part of Manus itself.

Pricing is credit based, with three Pro tiers plus a per-seat Team plan; the exact rates and limits sit in the pricing notes and FAQ below. Manus fits solo researchers, product teams prototyping web apps, freelancers producing client deliverables and small agencies running content pipelines. For a broader shortlist see agentic AI tools, or let Smart Match narrow it to your job.

Where the alternatives win: Devin, Claude Code and Replit are the safer picks when the output is production code that a team must review, because Manus decides architecture on its own and its output often needs revision. Lovable is narrower but more predictable for a first web app. OpenClaw is the choice if you must self-host under an open licence, and Genspark, Claude or ChatGPT cover research-style work from a familiar interface. The new features are days old at the time of this review, so independent testing of Studio, Automations and Cloud Computer is thin. HokAI's own autonomy test of seven agents and the guide on fully autonomous versus assisted tools explain why supervision still matters.

Pricing

Pro Standard $20/mo (4,000 credits), Pro Customizable $40/mo (8,000 credits) and Pro Extended $200/mo (40,000 credits) are listed on manus.im/pricing, each with 300 refresh credits a day, 20 concurrent tasks and 20 scheduled tasks; annual billing takes 17% off. Free users get daily refresh credits capped at 1,500 credits a month, per Manus's help center (18 June 2026 article), and the pricing page as read on 29 September 2026 shows paid cards only, so confirm the current free allowance in the app. Team is priced per seat with pooled credits and a seat and credit selector on manus.im/team, so no single figure is quoted here.

Cloud Computer, the new dedicated environment, is bought separately at a price shown at purchase. Complex tasks can burn many credits with no preview; compare Genspark and ChatGPT on the same job before committing to a large plan.

Key Features

• Autonomous End-to-End Task Execution: Manus takes a single natural-language goal and independently plans, executes and delivers a finished result such as an 8-page market analysis with source citations in about 15 minutes.
• Cascade Agent Framework: Announced in September 2026, Cascade keeps a project light and brings in specialised capabilities only when the work needs them, and the vendor reports lower token use in one tested configuration.
• Event-Triggered Automations: Beyond scheduled tasks, Automations start work when a new email, calendar event, Slack message, Notion update or ad-performance change occurs in a connected service.
• Manus Studio Video Editor: Studio hands you the timeline behind a generated 30 to 60 second video so you can swap the song, drop in your own footage and re-export, with an Alchemy mode for creative direction.
• Game Dev with Cloud Computer Multiplayer: Game Dev starts from playable templates and lets you edit code, assets and scenes; multiplayer runs on a purchasable Cloud Computer that stays up when your laptop closes.
• Remote Control and Computer Use: From your phone you can ask Manus to find a file on your desktop and watch it work live, inside a workspace limited to the files, browser and apps you approved.
• Async Cloud Operation: Tasks continue in Manus's cloud after you close the browser or app and send a notification when complete, so long jobs need no supervision.
• Wide Research Mode: Runs parallel searches across dozens of sources at once to produce structured, cited reports, with task scaling included on every Pro plan.
• Mail Manus Email Automation: Forward emails to Manus to trigger actions such as resume screening or meeting prep, using configurable prompt rules.

Pros

• Hands off a whole goal (report, slide deck, web app, short video) rather than steering a chat turn by turn
• Async cloud execution lets multi-hour tasks finish without keeping a browser open
• The latest release adds event-triggered Automations, a Studio timeline editor and Game Dev in one product
• Three Pro price points plus annual billing discounts make it easy to start small and scale up
• Downloadable outputs (Word, Excel, code) are immediately usable instead of copy-paste dependent

Cons

• Credit consumption is unpredictable: complex tasks can burn hundreds of credits with no cost preview, and monthly credits do not roll over
• SOC 2 Type I and II plus ISO 27001 and 27701 are published on the trust center, but no formal GDPR certification is listed, so EU-regulated teams should review the DPA directly
• Autonomous architecture and database decisions often need significant revision before production deployment
• Server instability under peak load ('tasks cannot be created') has been reported by users and hurts time-sensitive work
• The newest release launched days before this review, so Studio, Automations and Cloud Computer have little independent testing yet

Visit Manus Official Website