# Manus Alternatives 2027: 10 Paid, Free & Open-Source

Source: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/manus/
Prices checked: 2026-11-11 (Zekai Price Ledger)

The best Manus alternatives in 2027 are ChatGPT (best overall), Zapier Agents (best free plan: 400 activities a month) and OpenManus (best open source, MIT). Manus itself starts at From $20/mo. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 11 Nov 2026; 7 more are compared below, including 2 with a free plan and 2 open source.

| Tool | Type | Starting price | Free plan limit | Licence | Best for | Price checked | Links |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manus (the tool being replaced) | — | From $20/mo | 300 daily refresh credits, 1 concurrent task | — | — | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://help.manus.im/en/articles/11711111-what-is-the-current-membership-pricing-for-manus) |
| ChatGPT | Free | Free plan; paid price not published | Limited ChatGPT Work access on desktop | — | General assistant with delegated work sessions | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://chatgpt.com) [pricing](https://chatgpt.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/chatgpt/) |
| Abacus.AI | Paid | $10/user/mo | No free plan | — | Many models plus agents at a low seat price | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://abacus.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/abacus-ai/) |
| Claude | Free plan + paid | $17/mo billed yearly | Limited usage every 5 hours and weekly | — | Assistant with session-based usage limits | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://claude.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/claude/) |
| Lindy | Free plan + paid | $49.99/user/mo | $50 free credits, last 7 days | — | Email, meeting and follow-up automation agents | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://lindy.ai/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/lindy/) |
| Zapier Agents | Free plan + paid | $33.33/mo | 400 activities a month | — | Agents that act inside connected apps | 2026-11-11 | [pricing](https://zapier.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/zapier/) |
| Coze | Paid | Not checked | No free plan | — | Agent office platform for slides and web | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.coze.com) [pricing](https://www.coze.com/pricing) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/coze/) |
| Skywork | Paid | Not checked | No free plan | — | Agents for slides, docs, sheets and video | 2026-11-11 | [site](https://www.skywork.ai) [pricing](https://www.skywork.ai/pricing) |
| OpenManus | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Self-hosted general agent you can modify |  | [code](https://github.com/FoundationAgents/OpenManus) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/openmanus/) |
| nanobot | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | MIT | Self-hosted personal agent in chat apps |  | [code](https://github.com/HKUDS/nanobot) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/nanobot/) |
| QwenPaw | Open source | Free (self-hosted) | No limit (self-hosted) | Apache-2.0 | Plugin-based personal assistant you host |  | [code](https://github.com/agentscope-ai/QwenPaw) [Zekai page](https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/qwenpaw/) |

## How each alternative compares with Manus

- **ChatGPT** (Free, Free plan; paid price not published): Plus lists expanded ChatGPT Work access on desktop, web and mobile, while Pro offers three usage tiers and longer sessions; Manus meters tasks in credits. Switch if you want one assistant for chat, delegated work and coding, scaled by plan tier rather than credits. Stay with Manus if you prefer pooled credits that pay per task and a dedicated task-running agent.
- **Abacus.AI** (Paid, $10/user/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Basic costs $10 per user with 20,000 credits and only 3 AI Agent conversations a month; Pro at $20 unlocks unrestricted AI Agent use and a coding agent. Switch if you want many top models and an agent for a low flat per-user price. Stay with Manus if you need agent runs available on every plan without a conversation cap.
- **Claude** (Free plan + paid, $17/mo billed yearly, checked 2026-11-11): Limits usage per five-hour session and per week instead of credits; Pro is $17 a month on annual billing and Max at $100 gives 5x Pro usage. Switch if you prefer a flat subscription with five-hour usage windows over spending credits per task. Stay with Manus if you want pay-per-task credits with a small daily free allowance.
- **Lindy** (Free plan + paid, $49.99/user/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Bills every active user $49.99 a month for 5,000 pooled credits with $10 top-ups per 1,000, and its free plan gives $50 of credits that expire after 7 days. Switch if you want an agent for recurring email, meeting and follow-up work billed per active teammate. Stay with Manus if you want one-off research and build tasks and a free tier that refreshes daily.
- **Zapier Agents** (Free plan + paid, $33.33/mo, checked 2026-11-11): Agents run inside Zapier's connected apps and meter work in activities: Free allows 400 a month, Pro 1,500 for $400 billed annually. Switch if your delegated tasks should run inside the business apps you already connect and be metered by activity. Stay with Manus if you want an open-ended agent with its own browser and workspace for research and builds.
- **Coze** (Paid, Not checked): Describes itself as an AI agent-based office platform covering AI writing, slide generation, web development and AI design in one workspace. Switch if you mainly need slides, documents and web pages produced inside one office-style agent platform. Stay with Manus if you want a general task agent with published credit tiers and a daily free allowance.
- **Skywork** (Paid, Not checked): Calls itself an AI workspace agent platform with separate areas for Design, Video, Slides, Documents, Images, Sheets and an AI Developer section. Switch if you want separate agents for slides, sheets, documents and video instead of one general task agent. Stay with Manus if you prefer a single general agent that handles mixed tasks end to end.
- **OpenManus** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Open-source MIT framework for general-purpose agents with no invite code; you configure your own LLM key and run it from the terminal. Switch if you want a general task agent you host yourself and can change, paying only your model provider. Stay with Manus if you want a managed cloud agent with no setup or model keys to manage.
- **nanobot** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Self-hosted personal agent with long-term memory, scheduled automations and channels including Telegram, Discord, Slack and Email, plus an OpenAI-compatible API. Switch if you want a personal agent living in your chat apps, with memory and schedules, that you host. Stay with Manus if you want a hosted agent that handles browser research and file builds out of the box.
- **QwenPaw** (Open source, Free (self-hosted)): Apache-2.0 personal assistant that connects to several chat apps and local model runtimes and extends through plugins. Switch if you want a plugin-extensible assistant on local runtimes under an Apache licence. Stay with Manus if you do not want to maintain plugins, runtimes or model access yourself.

## Open-source options in detail

- **OpenManus** (https://github.com/FoundationAgents/OpenManus): Licence: MIT
- **nanobot** (https://github.com/HKUDS/nanobot): Licence: MIT; Last release: 2026-09-15
- **QwenPaw** (https://github.com/agentscope-ai/QwenPaw): Licence: Apache-2.0

## Questions

### What is the best alternative to Manus in 2027?
ChatGPT is the best overall Manus alternative on this page (Free plan; paid price not published). For no cost, Zapier Agents has a free plan (400 activities a month). To self-host, OpenManus is open source (MIT).

### Is there a free version of Manus?
Yes. Manus has a free plan: 300 daily refresh credits, 1 concurrent task. Paid plans start at From $20/mo, checked on 11 Nov 2026.

### Is there a 100% free alternative to Manus?
Yes. OpenManus, nanobot, QwenPaw are open source and free to self-host. ChatGPT, Claude, Lindy, Zapier Agents have a free plan with limits, shown in the table.

### What is cheaper than Manus?
Abacus.AI starts at $10/user/mo, against From $20/mo for Manus, as listed on each vendor's pricing page on 11 Nov 2026.

### How much do Manus alternatives cost for a team of 5?
If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 11 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is Abacus.AI $50/mo, Claude $83.35/mo, Zapier Agents $166.65/mo, against Manus $100/mo for Manus. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size.

### Which is better, ChatGPT or Manus?
Plus lists expanded ChatGPT Work access on desktop, web and mobile, while Pro offers three usage tiers and longer sessions; Manus meters tasks in credits. Choose ChatGPT if you want one assistant for chat, delegated work and coding, scaled by plan tier rather than credits. Stay with Manus if you prefer pooled credits that pay per task and a dedicated task-running agent.

### Why are people leaving Manus?
The documented reasons are: Manus meters work in credits; the Free plan refreshes 300 credits daily with 1 concurrent task, and the Pro tiers start at 4,000 credits for $20 and 8,000 for $40 a month (11 Nov 2026); Manus's own billing help lists an article on what to do if credits still run out after upgrading to the highest monthly credit tier (11 Nov 2026). Each is sourced in the section above.

### What is better than Manus?
It depends on the work: ChatGPT or Claude for a general assistant, Zapier Agents for tasks inside connected apps, and OpenManus if you want to self-host.

## Related on Zekai

- [ChatGPT alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/chatgpt/)
- [Abacus.AI alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/abacus-ai/)
- [Claude alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/claude/)
- [Zapier Agents alternatives](https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/zapier/)
- [AI for General (Professional Services)](https://zekaiwork.com/professions/ai-general-professional-services/)

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Live table, team cost finder and price alerts: https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/manus/