M 
Manus
A general autonomous agent that plans, browses and delivers finished work.
NOT REALLY
why this verdict
Keep paying — Anthropic has not replaced it
Anthropic's version overlaps, but does not finish the AI assistants job, so this one still earns its $39/mo.
- A named launch, not a vibe named, unlinked
- Frontier labs shipped their own agent modes. Anthropic, July 17, 2025 — no announcement link recorded yet.
- How much of the job it covers not the job editorial call
- Parts of it. The job still needs the tool to get finished.
- Is there a free way to do it? yes
- 1 of 3 listed replacements have a usable free tier: Genspark.
- What the call is worth $468/yr
- $39/mo at the entry paid tier — $468 a year per seat.
Reason composed from the fields above missing: announcement linked recorded: free replacement listed recorded: two or more escape hatches
- Threatened by
- Anthropic
- Since
- July 17, 2025
- List price
- $39/mo
- Per year
- $468
The backstory
Manus went viral by producing whole deliverables — research reports, sites, spreadsheets — from a single instruction while you close the tab. Every lab has since shipped an agent mode, so its defence is workflow polish and a virtual machine that keeps working unattended for hours.
Escape hatches
C 
ChatGPT Agent Included with a Plus plan.
chatgpt.com open_in_new C 
Claude Strong long-horizon tool use.
claude.com open_in_new G 
Genspark Similar all-in-one agent.
genspark.ai open_in_new1 of 3 replacements have a usable free tier.