Manus

What it is

Manus is an intelligent platform that can automatically handle tasks, helping save time and improve work and life efficiency.

Manus in 2026: a contractor for finished files, not a chatbot

Manus is not where you go to chat. People hand it a job and walk away. It turns a research brief into slides, cleans and charts a spreadsheet, builds and deploys a landing page or small app, or cuts a short video. It browses, writes and runs code in its own sandbox, and every step uses up credits. It earns its keep on work you would otherwise pay a freelancer for, or lose an afternoon to. If you mostly want answers to questions, an ordinary chatbot is less hassle.

A rough year: Meta, Beijing, a data wipe, then 2.0

April 2026: China blocked Meta's acquisition of Manus. June 2026: Meta split off operations and cut data sharing as the deal was unwound. August 2026: Manus told users to back up their data. For certain users in unnamed jurisdictions, it deleted everything created since the Meta deal. Those accounts were locked for two days while the deletion ran.

September 2026: Manus resumed independent operations under its founding team, started raising new funding and began weighing a Hong Kong listing. Late September 2026: Manus 2.0 shipped. It has a new agent architecture that Manus says is faster and cheaper per task, cloud computers for always-on projects, and automations triggered by email, Slack, Notion or calendar events. There is also a desktop Studio with video and game tools, plus Cue, an invite-only app for personal agents. The product is getting better quickly. Your data on it has already shown it can be deleted when the company's ownership changes.

Shared seat or your own account?

A shared plan fits someone testing Manus on a few throwaway tasks, like public research or a draft deck, with nothing sensitive and no need to keep the history. If the listing is the Free tier, ask yourself why you would share it at all, because anyone can open a free account of their own.

Pay full price on your own account if you connect email, Slack, Notion or a calendar, run automations, handle client or personal data, or need your work next month. To be plain: Manus's terms are built around individual accounts, and sharing a login can conflict with them. If the account gets flagged, it can be suspended or closed, and everything in it goes too. Other people on the account can also see your tasks and use up the same credits. Stay within the terms. If a shared seat doesn't fit them, don't buy one.

Before you buy

Open a free Manus account first and check whether it already covers what you need.

Check Manus's Help Center notice about the August service change to see whether your region was affected.

Ask the seller exactly what you get: whose login, whose credits, and what happens if the account is suspended.

Download anything you make the same day. August showed that your task history can disappear.

China blocks Meta's $2 billion takeover of AI startup Manus · Meta Starts Unwinding Manus Deal by Splitting Operations, Data · A Note to Our Users · Manus to return as independent company after China forced Meta to unwind $2 billion deal · Manus seeks $4B valuation in new $500M fundraise as it resumes independent ops

2026-09-29