Compare / Manus vs ChatGPT agent
Manus vs ChatGPT agent
Written by Wanna AI. Checked on 17 Oct 2026, refreshed every 30 days. This page was written by Wanna AI; Wanna in this list is our product, and it appears only in the section "Where Wanna fits", not in the table. Prices change; open each link before you decide.
Short answer. If you searched for "ChatGPT agent", note that OpenAI retired that mode in summer 2026. Its help article now reads "ChatGPT agent is no longer available" and points to ChatGPT Work for multi-step tasks. So this page compares Manus with what ChatGPT offers now: Work and Dots. Manus is built around one-off deliverables in its own cloud workspace and is billed in credits. ChatGPT Work and Dots sit inside a ChatGPT subscription and lean on your connected tools. We ran neither product.
How we compared
- Rows are the same for both products.
- Manus: manus.im and its blog on 17 Oct 2026. Its pricing page did not load as text for us, so the prices come from a dated outside write-up, Carly (28 Sep 2026), and are marked as reported.
- ChatGPT: the Work and Dots pages and the pricing page, from copies saved on 17 Oct 2026 at 11:59 UTC. Our own later reader got a 403 on the pricing page, so we could not re-check it. The retirement notice is quoted from OpenAI's own help article; a forum post of 18 Jul 2026 already cites it, so we date the change to summer 2026 and no closer. Details of what the change removed come from Carly, a vendor that sells a tool of its own (updated 11 Aug 2026), and an OpenAI developer forum thread of 8 Aug 2026, where OpenAI Support replied on 7 Sep 2026. Browser behavior comes from OpenAI's browser documentation, read on 17 Oct 2026.
- Outside reviews of Manus: SSOJet, an identity vendor that sells agent identity, in a post on Security Boulevard (24 Jun 2026). It has a stake in the topic, so we mark what it says as reported.
- A figure we could not read is printed as "not found".
Side by side
| Manus | ChatGPT (Work and Dots) | |
|---|---|---|
| What it does | Takes a job you describe and works on it in a cloud workspace: research, slides, websites, games, video. Manus 2.0 (28 Sep 2026) added Manus Studio, Automations that start from events such as a new email, and Cloud Computer, which you purchase for always-on projects. | Work turns your files and connected tools into documents, decks, sheets, sites and reports, and can run recurring tasks. Dots are "always-on agents" on their own cloud computers that keep a project moving between conversations. |
| Who it is for | Anyone with one-off deliverables who can check the result (our reading). | People who already use ChatGPT and want it to work across their tools; Work is also sold to teams (our reading). |
| Free start | Reported: 300 daily credits, on a Lite model only. | Free, $0, with limits. Work is listed for all plans on desktop. Whether Dots reach the Free tier: not found. |
| Paid price and limits | Reported: 4,000 credits for $20, 8,000 for $40, 40,000 for $200, each billed monthly. Team use from $20 per person, two people at least. Unused monthly credits do not carry over. | Go $8 (the page says it may include ads), Plus $20, Pro from $100 in three tiers: $100, $200 and $500. Business and Enterprise sit on a tab we could not read, so we print no figure. Per-tier limits: not found. |
| What a unit of usage is | A credit. How many a task takes is not published in what we read; reviewers say the burn is hard to predict. | Plan limits that rise by tier. We found no per-task price. |
| Who approves | Not found. SSOJet, an identity vendor, warns in its review that Manus can work inside your own logged-in sessions, so your systems may not show who did what. | Work "checks in when judgment or approval matters" and has a Plan mode you approve first. For Dots you set Custom Rules to allow, require approval for, or block actions. |
| Honest minuses | Reviewers report tasks that fail midway, slowdowns at peak hours and prototype-grade code. Ownership moved: Meta announced a deal in December 2025 and it was unwound, with Manus saying on 1 Sep 2026 it had resumed independent operations. | OpenAI removed agent mode; Carly reports there is no automated migration, and a developer forum thread of 8 Aug 2026 says there was no meaningful advance notice. Carly, a vendor, wrote on 11 Aug 2026 that Work lacked a logged-in browser; on 7 Sep 2026 OpenAI Support replied in that thread that Work now has its own cloud browser that can pause for sign-in or let you take over. OpenAI's docs say website sign-in is on Plus and Pro, depends on rollout, and is not available for Enterprise or Edu. Go may show ads. |
Criteria that decide it
- One deliverable or ongoing work? Manus fits a competitor scan, a first deck or a prototype. Dots are pitched at projects that continue.
- Do you already pay for ChatGPT? Then Work is already in your subscription. Manus is a second bill.
- How is usage billed? Manus counts credits per task. ChatGPT counts plan limits we could not see per tier.
- How much is approved? Neither page says every outgoing action waits for you. Check before you connect your inbox or log-ins.
- How much do you trust the vendor's path? Both have changed course within a year: Manus's ownership, ChatGPT's agent mode.
Where Wanna fits
Wanna does a narrower job: it reads your site, proposes the week's growth tasks and drafts letters, posts and ads that wait for your OK. Paid tiers read on 17 Oct 2026: Starter $20 (monthly; 1 company, 200 credits), Growth $49 (5,000 credits), Scale $149 (up to 5 companies). Honest minuses: it is early, with 3 companies of people and 0 paying on the live page at 12:07 UTC on 17 Oct 2026, and it makes no slides, sites, games or video and has no chat for general questions.
What neither replaces
Neither replaces a person who reads the output before a customer sees it, a security reviewer who checks the terms and data handling, or a developer for production code. Neither decides your priorities. See how to choose an AI that runs your company, the limits of an autonomous company and what we log and what waits for you.
FAQ
Is ChatGPT agent still available? No. OpenAI's notice says "ChatGPT agent is no longer available" and sends you to ChatGPT Work. It is on OpenAI's own help article; a forum post of 18 Jul 2026 already cites it, so we say summer 2026.
What replaced ChatGPT agent mode? OpenAI names ChatGPT Work for longer, multi-step tasks, and a cloud browser for supported browser workflows. Dots, on its Pro tier, are the always-on version.
Is Manus better than ChatGPT's agent? We do not rank them. Manus is a stand-alone tool billed in credits; ChatGPT's features come with a subscription. Which is better depends on your jobs and your budget.
How much does Manus cost? Reported: free with 300 daily credits, then 4,000 credits for $20, 8,000 for $40 and 40,000 for $200, billed monthly. Manus's pricing page did not load as text for us.
How much does ChatGPT cost? Free, Go $8, Plus $20 and Pro from $100 in tiers of $100, $200 and $500, read on 17 Oct 2026. Business and Enterprise prices: not found.
Can either run my business without me? Not on this evidence. Both do tasks you hand them, and both describe approval steps for sensitive actions. Neither decides what your company should do next.
Paste your link and see the plan Wanna would make for your company.