Manus vs OpenClaw
How the two compare on price, platforms, what they can act on and how they ask before acting. Facts come from each agent's sources page.
| Manus | OpenClaw | |
|---|---|---|
| Maker | Manus AI | OpenClaw Foundation |
| Cheapest paid plan | $20/month (Pro, starting price; 17% discount with annual billing) | Free |
| Free tier | Yes: $0 Free plan with Chat Mode, Manus 2.0 Lite in Agent Mode, 300 daily refresh credits, 1 concurrent task and 2 scheduled automations | Yes: the software is free and open source under the MIT license; the site states there is no subscription, hosted tier or paid version, and model provider usage is billed by the provider |
| Platforms | WebmacOSWindowsiOSAndroid | macOSWindowsLinuxiOSAndroidSelf hostedWhatsAppTelegramSlackDiscordiMessageSignalMicrosoft TeamsMatrix |
| Can act on | BrowserFilesCodeEmailCalendarMessagesPhone callsIntegrations | EmailCalendarBrowserMessagesFilesCode |
| Approval model | For automations that send or publish, the maker recommends keeping Approval required on so Manus waits for confirmation, and Test run shows a real result first. Computer Use on the user's machine works only in a connected and authorized session with the files, browser and apps the user approved. | Configurable. Host commands run only when tool policy, the allowlist and optional user approval agree; modes are deny, allowlist, ask, auto and full. The docs state the default is security full with ask off on gateway and node hosts, and deny on sandbox hosts, so prompting depends on configuration. Approval prompts can be answered in the companion apps, the Control UI or supported chat channels. |
| Launched | Mar 2025 | Nov 2025 |
| Last update | Oct 15, 2026: Introducing Automations | Oct 15, 2026: openclaw 2026.10.4 |
See sources on the Manus and OpenClaw pages.
Track both every week