Rating certificate · AW/26-09/26326 Sept 2026
Not enough evidence
The Register / Personal & desktop agents / Manus
Register entry · Personal & desktop agents · updated 26 Sept 2026
Manus
Manus is a closed-source general AI agent that plans and executes multi-step tasks such as research, reports, slides, websites and apps inside a cloud Ubuntu sandbox, with Wide Research parallel sub-agents, scheduled tasks and connectors. The Manus Desktop app (March 2026) adds My Computer, which runs terminal commands on the user's Mac or Windows PC after per-command approval. It is sold on a credit-based subscription. After Meta's acquisition was unwound on Chinese regulatory orders, Manus resumed operating as an independent company in September 2026.
What reviewers and users praise
- Users and reviewers credit it with finishing complete deliverables (apps, reports) with little guidance (Cybernews, HN)
- Handles non-coding daily tasks and scheduled jobs well, per long-time users (HN)
- Holds SOC 2 Type 2 and ISO 27001 attestations
What they criticise
- Credit consumption is high and hard to predict; users report credits burned on failed or looping tasks (Cybernews, r/ManusOfficial)
- Customer support and billing complaints, account suspensions and a domain-transfer dispute (r/ManusOfficial, HN)
- Corporate instability: Meta deal unwound, forced data deletion and restore for some users in Aug 2026
- Outputs can contain factual errors (25% error rate on ownership/funding data in Cybernews test)
Experts vs the crowdneeds both scores
Experts—
Crowd47
| Price | Free, paid from $20 |
|---|---|
| Use it via | Web app, Desktop app, Mobile app, API, Chat apps |
| Runs on | macos, windows, web |
| Licence | proprietary |
| Updated | Evidence collected 26 Sept 2026 |
How the rating was worked out
Weights for Personal & desktop agents: adoption 30%, experts 35%, crowd 35%. Fewer than two pillars have enough evidence. The method.
| Adoption & momentumweight 30% | — | No public reach signal found |
|---|---|---|
| Expertsindependent reviews · weight 35% | — | Only 1 independent review (3 needed) |
| Crowdcommunity sample · weight 35% | 47 | 11 dated posts from hackernews, reddit: 3 positive · 4 mixed · 4 negative (positive + ½ mixed) ÷ n, averaged toward 50 for small samples |
| Rating | — | Not rated: fewer than two pillars have enough evidence. |
Evidence checks. 2 posts over the three-per-thread limit not counted. 1 item could not be checked at the source (the page could not be fetched, or the quote is from a comment under the linked post); kept and marked “unverified”. How evidence is checked.
Trust & safety
Seven dimensions graded A–D from documented facts. Overall: B.
A
Permission model
Cloud tasks run in an isolated sandbox environment; on the desktop, 'Every terminal command requires your explicit approval before execution', with Allow Once or Always Allow. source
B
Data access scope
Cloud sandbox is isolated, but My Computer is described as giving the agent 'full access to your local machine' through the terminal (gated by approvals); connectors grant access to third-party accounts such as GitHub. source
C
Data storage
Tasks, files and hosted sites are stored in Manus's cloud. Region and deletion controls were not documented in pages that could be read; in Aug 2026 some users' data was deleted for regulatory reasons after a backup window. source
n/e
Data retention & training
Team page states Manus prohibits model providers from training on Team/Enterprise customers' data (search snippet). Consumer-plan training and retention terms could not be read (privacy page is client-rendered). source
n/e
Incident history (24 months)
No CVE or disclosed breach found in the sources read. Operational incidents: forced deletion/restore of some users' data (Aug 2026, regulatory) and user reports of a domain held by Manus (Jun 2026). Not enough verified information to grade. source
A
Compliance
Security page lists SOC 2 Type 2 and Type 1 attestations, ISO 27001:2022 and ISO 27701:2019 certificates. source
B
Transparency
Closed source; public blog with dated product announcements, documentation and help center; no formal versioned changelog found. source
The experts
1 named independent reviews found; dated reviews from the last 12 months are scored.
- mixed
But Max isn’t perfect. It uses credits very quickly, and its cost can add up fast if you run big or frequent tasks.
Ugnė Rinkevičiūtė (Cybernews) · 12 Feb 2026 · unverified · cybernews.com
The crowd
11 coded posts from hackernews, reddit.
3 positive4 mixed4 negative
- positive
I like it and use it regularly. Maybe I don't get other harnesses, but in my experience Manus gets shit done, whereas I have to constantly babysit other tools.
news.ycombinator.com (Manus will return to operating as an independent company) · 12 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
In my experience, Manus is a very capable agent for daily non-coding tasks. Their cron job ability also shined out
news.ycombinator.com (Manus will return to operating as an independent company) · 11 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
The bitter lesson has now come for them: the latest models no longer have these gaps and the entire premise of having a unique product focus on this area is …
news.ycombinator.com (Manus will return to operating as an independent company) · 11 Aug 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - mixed
Manus was great, used it for months for exploring ideas, making reports and such. I dropped it when I heard that Meta was buying it.
news.ycombinator.com (Ask HN: Which LLM are you using) · 11 May 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - negative
Manus registered my domain in their own name and won't release it
news.ycombinator.com · 11 Jun 2026 · news.ycombinator.com - positive
I’ve tried all other major models and Manus, so far, has been the best.
r/ManusOfficial · 20 Sept 2026 · reddit.com - mixed
only downside is does eat away a lot of credits but it gets the job done.
r/ManusOfficial · 25 Sept 2026 · reddit.com - negative
After giving ten of thousands of dollars to Manus, I will not give them another cent.
r/ManusOfficial · 22 Sept 2026 · reddit.com
Pricing
As published, checked 26 Sept 2026.
| Plan | Price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Free | Free | 300 credits refreshed daily. |
| Pro | $20 / monthly | From $20/month, from 4,000 credits/month; 17% discount annually. |
| Pro (higher tier) | $40 / monthly | From $40/month, from 8,000 credits/month, 7-day free trial. |
| Team | $20 / monthly | From $20 per seat/month. |
Recent changes
- 1 Sept 2026
Manus formally resumed independent operations after the Meta deal was unwound. source
- 11 Aug 2026
Announced return to independence; data generated on/after 29 Dec 2025 by some users deleted 23–24 Aug 2026 after a backup window. source
- 3 Aug 2026
ElevenLabs voice integration. source
- 22 Jul 2026
Plan Mode. source
- 9 Jul 2026
Branch: parallel directions from one context. source
Ranked alongside
Other ranked entries in Personal & desktop agents.
Hermes AgentNous Research69
OpenClawOpenClaw Foundation (created by Peter Steinberger)63
ZeroClawZeroClaw Labs61
Sources
Every figure above traces to one of these, observed up to 26 Sept 2026.