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Manus Alternatives 2026: 5 Free Options
Manus alternatives: Le Chat, goose, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent and 1 more. Prices and licenses checked October 25, 2026.
•4 min read•AI Chat & Assistants
Verdict:Manus is an AI agent that runs tasks for you, and the alternatives differ in how much of the agent you want to run yourself. Le Chat from Mistral has a free plan and works as a chat assistant rather than a background agent, so it suits answering questions and drafting. Goose, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent and Nanobot are open-source agents under MIT or Apache-2.0 that you run yourself and pay your own model provider for. Goose is an Apache-2.0 agent you can run locally. OpenClaw and Hermes Agent have no vendor plan, so your cost is the model bill and the server you choose. Nanobot is a framework for teams that will build their own workflows rather than use a packaged agent. The trade-off is control against convenience. Manus offers a hosted product, and each open-source option hands you the setup, the model keys and the upkeep. Manus has a free plan with 300 daily credits and a Pro plan from $20 a month, per its Help Center, so compare that against your model bill. Then test one real task you already do by hand and time how long a usable result takes.
Quick comparison
| Tool | Price | Platforms | Best for | Tested |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Le Chat | Free (Free plan); paid from $14.99 per month (Pro) | Web, iOS, Android | Users who want chat answers on a free plan | Docs only |
| goose | Free (Free open-source agent; you pay any LLM provider you connect) | macOS, Windows, Linux | Developers who want a local agent with their own model keys | Docs only |
| OpenClaw | Free (no paid tier, hosted service or token; you pay your own model provider) | macOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android | Self-hosters who want an agent with no vendor plan | Docs only |
| Hermes Agent | Free (free open-source agent; you pay your own model provider) | Self-hosted | Technical users comfortable running their own agent | Docs only |
| nanobot | Free (free open-source agent framework; you pay your own model provider) | Self-hosted | Developers building custom agent workflows | Docs only |
| ChatGPT | Free (Free plan at $0/month); paid from $8 per month (Go; Plus $20/month; availability varies by region) | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | AI assistant | Docs only |
| Claude | Free (Free plan at $0); paid from $17 per month, billed annually (Pro; $20 billed monthly) | Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows | AI assistant | Docs only |
| Gemini app | Free (Free with a Google account); paid from $4.99 per month (Google AI Plus) | Web, iOS, Android | AI assistant | Docs only |
Independent comparison. Paid placements are labelled separately; editorial links earn no affiliate commissions. Learn more.
See the tools in action
Explore the interface and watch a workflow before choosing.
Good fit if
- You want an agent but will pay the model provider directly (goose is the pick)
- You want a free chat assistant instead of a task agent (Le Chat is the pick)
- You want to self-host the agent with no vendor plan (OpenClaw is the pick)
- You are building custom agent workflows (nanobot is the pick)
Not ideal if
- You rely on Manus features or integrations that these tools do not replicate
Manus today: Free (300 daily refresh credits (usable in Manus 2.0 Lite), 1 concurrent task, 2 scheduled automations); paid from $20 per month (Pro, from 4,000 monthly credits; a $40 tier starts at 8,000) (Manus pricing, checked 2026-10-23).
Why people look for Manus alternatives
Manus charges in credits: the free plan refreshes 300 credits daily with 1 concurrent task and 2 scheduled automations. Pro starts at $20 a month for 4,000 credits, and a $40 tier gives 8,000. The help article does not say how credits are consumed or price extra credits; it points you to a higher plan instead. Team starts at $20 per seat for SSO and usage analytics.
Le Chat
Compared with Manus: Le Chat from Mistral has a free plan and a Pro plan at $14.99 a month. It is a chat assistant rather than a background agent, so it fits answering questions and drafting, not multi-step task runs that Manus is built for.
Price: Free (Free plan); paid from $14.99 per month (Pro) (Le Chat pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Web, iOS, Android. Proprietary.
Best for: Users who want chat answers on a free plan.
goose
Compared with Manus: Goose is an Apache-2.0 open-source agent that is free to use, and you pay whichever LLM provider you connect. Manus is a hosted product, so Goose gives you local control and the model bill, but you set it up and run it yourself.
Price: Free (Free open-source agent; you pay any LLM provider you connect) (goose pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Windows, Linux. Apache-2.0 (open source).
Project activity: 55.8k GitHub stars · latest release v1.56.0 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers who want a local agent with their own model keys.
Worth knowing: Desktop app and CLI; works with 15+ providers including Ollama.
OpenClaw
Compared with Manus: OpenClaw is MIT-licensed and free, with no paid tier, hosted service or token; you pay your own model provider. Against Manus's hosted product it means self-hosting the agent and managing your own API spend.
Price: Free (no paid tier, hosted service or token; you pay your own model provider) (OpenClaw pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: macOS, Linux, Windows, iOS, Android. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 393.2k GitHub stars · latest release v2026.10.8 (Oct 27, 2026) · last commit Oct 28, 2026
Best for: Self-hosters who want an agent with no vendor plan.
Worth knowing: Open-source assistant that runs on your own machine and works through chat apps such as WhatsApp, Telegram and Discord. Needs Node.js (24.16+ or 26.1+ if you manage it yourself).
Hermes Agent
Compared with Manus: Hermes Agent is MIT-licensed and free, and you pay your own model provider. It runs wherever you put it, while Manus runs in its hosted service, so setup, updates and cost monitoring are yours.
Price: Free (free open-source agent; you pay your own model provider) (Hermes Agent pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 257.7k GitHub stars · latest release v0.22.5 (Oct 23, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Technical users comfortable running their own agent.
Worth knowing: Python; the repo describes it as the agent that grows with you.
nanobot
Compared with Manus: Nanobot is an MIT-licensed open-source agent framework, free to use, with you paying the model provider. Against Manus it is a framework rather than a finished product, so you build the workflows you need.
Price: Free (free open-source agent framework; you pay your own model provider) (nanobot pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Platforms and license: Self-hosted. MIT (open source).
Project activity: 49.5k GitHub stars · latest release v0.3.5 (Sep 15, 2026) · last commit Oct 27, 2026
Best for: Developers building custom agent workflows.
Worth knowing: Python; described as an ultra-lightweight, self-hosted personal AI agent framework with WebUI, tools, memory and MCP.
Other popular options (paid)
ChatGPT
Compared with Manus: Free at $0, Plus $20 a month, with Pro tiers at $100, $200 and $500. A broad general-purpose assistant, so expect more chat and less autonomous task running than Manus.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0/month); paid from $8 per month (Go; Plus $20/month; availability varies by region) (ChatGPT pricing, checked 2026-10-25).
Claude
Compared with Manus: Free at $0, Pro $17 a month billed annually ($20 monthly), Max from $100; Team is $20 per seat billed annually. A general assistant matching Manus Pro's entry price, not a dedicated task agent.
Price: Free (Free plan at $0); paid from $17 per month, billed annually (Pro; $20 billed monthly) (Claude pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Gemini app
Compared with Manus: Free with a Google account; Google AI Plus is $4.99 a month, AI Pro $19.99 and Ultra from $99.99. Cheaper entry than Manus Pro, but a general assistant rather than a task agent.
Price: Free (Free with a Google account); paid from $4.99 per month (Google AI Plus) (Gemini app pricing, checked 2026-10-22).
Which one to pick
- You want an agent but will pay the model provider directly: goose
- You want a free chat assistant instead of a task agent: Le Chat
- You want to self-host the agent with no vendor plan: OpenClaw
- You are building custom agent workflows: nanobot
Limits of this review
Docs-only for Le Chat, goose, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, nanobot: we did not install or run them, so feature claims come from vendor pages and we did not test import from Manus. Vendor prices and free limits change; confirm on the linked pricing page before you buy or migrate.
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Kevin Fan
Kevin Fan is a SaaS founder. He runs Free Instead Of, which tracks free and open-source alternatives to paid software and checks each price and free-plan limit against the vendor's own pages.
Methodology
Based on official pricing and product pages checked between 2026-10-22 and 2026-10-25: Manus, Le Chat, goose, OpenClaw, Hermes Agent, nanobot, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini app. Prices, free limits and licenses are the figures shown on those pages on those dates. No tool on this page was installed or run. No accounts were created.