Manus Review: Pricing, Credits, Agent Features, API and August Data Backup

Manus published an unusual and time-sensitive notice on August 11, 2026: the AI agent company is separating from Meta and returning to independent operation. To comply with regulatory requirements in specific jurisdictions, Manus says data for certain users must be deleted during August 23 and 24. Those users have a limited window to create backups before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, then can restore their saved data after the restoration portal opens at 8:00 a.m. Singapore Time on August 25.

This does not apply to every Manus user. The company says affected people will receive an email and an in-app notice. Unaffected accounts will receive an in-app notice confirming that no action is required. Anyone with several personal accounts, or both personal and team identities, must check each account separately. Users who registered through Apple ID or Facebook should pay particular attention to in-app notifications because Manus may not hold their email address.

Why the deletion is happening

Meta acquired Manus on December 29, 2025. Manus now says it will resume operating independently. The company explains that data generated by some users on or after the acquisition date needs to be deleted as part of the separation and regulatory compliance in particular jurisdictions. Manus explicitly says the action is not the result of a data breach or security incident. It also says data for the independent service is stored in the United States and Singapore.

The distinction matters. This is not a general recommendation to export data because a service might close. It is a specific deletion and restoration process for notified accounts. The official help centre divides affected personal accounts into Types A, B, and C. The category depends on when the account was created or changed, and when its subscription started. The app or email notice should be treated as the source of truth for an individual account.

The deadline and timeline

The backup window runs from August 11 until 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026. Affected users can continue using Manus during this period. From 8:00 a.m. on August 23 until 7:59 a.m. on August 25, Manus will delete the specified data and affected users or regions may lose access. The restoration portal opens at 8:00 a.m. Singapore Time on August 25.

The company says there is no stated deadline for restoration after the portal opens. That does not make the backup deadline flexible. A user who fails to save the required files before the August 23 cutoff can lose task data, generated artifacts, connector authorisations, subscriptions, account information, or the complete account, depending on the assigned category. A backup can be restored later, but data that was never backed up cannot be recreated through the restoration system.

What affected individual users should do

First, sign in directly to Manus and read the notice for that exact account. Do not infer the result from a colleague, subscription receipt, country, or another login. If the account is Type A or B, Manus says the account itself is retained, but task data generated or updated on or after December 29, 2025 and enabled connectors may be deleted. Those users need a Task Data Backup and must restore it after August 25 if they want the deleted material back.

Type C has a wider impact. This category includes an affected account created on or after the acquisition date, or an older account whose email or other linked user information changed on or after that date. Manus says the account, task data, subscription, and associated data will be fully deleted. A Type C user must create the Account Data Backup first, then the Task Data Backup. Without the account backup, the task backup cannot be restored. During restoration, the account must be restored before its tasks.

The backup tool supports multiple backups. That is important because affected users can keep working until the cutoff. Any task, artifact, or connector created after the first backup will not exist inside that earlier file. Manus recommends backing up promptly, then checking again before the deadline. A sensible procedure is to create the initial backup now, store it in two controlled locations, keep the original filename and checksum, and run a final backup after the last critical task before the window closes.

Team owners have additional responsibility

Team restoration can depend on the team owner. An affected team member should notify the owner immediately rather than assuming a personal backup preserves shared team work. When an owner is Type A or B, the team can be retained while post-acquisition task data and affected member information are deleted. The owner performs the team task backup and later restores it. When the owner is Type C, the entire team and its data can be deleted, so account and task backups become necessary.

If the owner is not affected but one or more members are, the members' data can still fall within the deletion scope. The official guide says the owner should back up and restore the relevant team data. Teams should therefore create a small register of every member's notice status, required backup, responsible owner, completion time, stored backup path, and restoration result. This is not a task that should be left to informal chat messages.

Subscriptions, balances, and refunds

Subscription treatment depends on account type and purchase timing. Manus says certain subscriptions started after the acquisition date will be cancelled and receive a partial pro-rata refund. Affected users whose paid status is cancelled receive temporary equivalent access until the deletion period begins. Type C users can also receive automatic refunds for remaining WebDev usage, Cloud Computer balances, Stripe balances, and add-on credits.

Manus aims to initiate eligible refunds within seven days of the August 11 notification. Arrival time depends on the payment provider and can take longer. Stripe and Google Play refunds return to the original payment method. Manus says Apple granted an exception allowing batch refunds for this event. If a refund fails, the company provides an encrypted receipt and a manual claim route. Users should preserve the notice, invoices, refund email, encrypted receipt, and payment statement until the matter is resolved.

Welcome-back offers vary. Depending on prior status, an affected Free user may receive 50% off the first $200 of a first monthly subscription, while a cancelled Pro user may receive 90% off the first $200. An annual alternative offers 12 months for the price of 9. Users whose Pro plan remains active can receive add-on credits equal to a monthly allowance after restoration. These offers have eligibility and combination rules, so they should not be confused with the normal public price.

The product continues to change during the transition

The operational notice arrives after a rapid product expansion. Plan Mode, released July 22, gives users an editable plan and explicit approval checkpoint before Manus executes. Native PowerPoint Mode, released July 14, produces PPTX files with editable charts, tables, and underlying data. Branch lets a user explore parallel directions from one context. Auto-Publish can keep a Manus-built website updated. An August 3 ElevenLabs connector adds speech generation, transcription, voice cloning, audio processing, and voice-powered application workflows through an authorised ElevenLabs account.

The broader platform includes Projects, Skills, Wide Research, data analysis, Slides, scheduled tasks, Mail Manus, meeting minutes, Collab, cloud browsing, Browser Operator, desktop access, app building, managed infrastructure, GitHub synchronisation, MCP connectors, Zapier, Slack, and API v2. That range makes backups more important because a Manus account can hold more than chat text. It can contain websites, presentations, task files, code, knowledge resources, connector authorisations, and deployed application state.

Current pricing and credit rules

Manus Free provides initial registration credits and a claimable daily allowance. Current help documentation describes 1,000 initial credits and 300 daily-refresh credits. Daily credits work only with Manus 1.6 Lite, expire each day, do not accumulate, and are limited to 1,500 consumed daily-refresh credits per month for Free users. Pro starts at $20 per month with 4,000 monthly credits. A $40 configuration starts at 8,000 credits and advertises a seven-day free trial. Annual billing is advertised at a 17% discount. Team starts at $20 per seat per month.

Credit cost depends on model tokens, virtual machines, third-party APIs, complexity, and task duration. Monthly credits expire at the cycle reset. Add-on credits can carry forward only while a paid subscription remains active. Building a website consumes agent credits, but running the deployed application has separate pay-as-you-go charges for hosting, databases, AI, integrations, and API calls. Buyers should therefore measure a real workflow instead of comparing only headline credit totals.

What WhatAI recommends

If Manus says an account is unaffected, no transition action is required. It is still prudent to keep independent copies of business-critical outputs, source files, code, and credentials because that is good operational practice for any cloud agent. If the account is affected, complete the required official backup now. Verify whether it is Type A, B, or C, repeat the process for every login, involve the team owner, and make a final backup before the deadline if work continues.

After August 25, restore the account before tasks where required, reconnect integrations deliberately, and validate every project, website, presentation, file, schedule, balance, and subscription. Do not assume successful login means all data returned. Record missing assets and contact Manus support with the account notice and backup details. The separation does not erase the value of Manus as a broad action agent, but for affected users the immediate priority is continuity: save the data first, then evaluate the next independent version of the product.

WhatAI Decision Box

Manus is a general AI agent designed to take action and deliver completed work. It operates through a sandboxed virtual computer that can browse the web, manage files, run code, install software, analyse data, create presentations, build and deploy applications, use connected business tools, and return finished artifacts. Projects provide persistent instructions and knowledge. Skills encode reusable procedures. Wide Research distributes large item sets across parallel agents. Plan Mode adds a review and approval step before execution. Browser Operator and My Computer extend work into authenticated websites and a user's desktop, while scheduled tasks, Mail Manus, Slack, Zapier, MCP connectors, and the API support recurring and programmatic workflows.

Free users receive 1,000 initial registration credits and can claim 300 daily-refresh credits, but the daily balance expires each day, works only with Manus 1.6 Lite, and is capped at 1,500 consumed daily-refresh credits per month. Pro starts at $20 per month with 4,000 monthly credits. A $40 configuration starts at 8,000 credits and advertises a seven-day trial. Annual billing is advertised at a 17% discount. Team starts at $20 per seat and pools credits. Monthly credits expire each billing cycle. Add-on credits remain usable only while a paid subscription stays active. Deployed applications have separate pay-as-you-go WebDev runtime charges, so the cost of building an app is not the full cost of operating it.

Manus announced that it is separating from Meta and returning to independent operation. Some users notified in-app or by email must back up relevant data before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026. Specified data will be deleted during August 23 and 24, and the restoration portal opens at 8:00 a.m. Singapore Time on August 25. Unaffected users do not need to act. Affected people with multiple accounts must check each account separately, while affected team members should contact the team owner. Manus says the action is required for regulatory separation and is not a security incident. The backup deadline is firm even though restored backups can be uploaded later without a stated deadline.

Use Cases

Pricing varies by plan and region — see current pricing.

Plan features change — last updated: 2026-08-15.

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How to Get Results with Manus: Step-by-Step Workflow

1. Check the August account notice

   Sign in to every Manus personal and team account. Record whether each is unaffected or affected as Type A, B, or C. If affected, complete the required official account and task backups before the August 23 deadline and involve the team owner.

2. Choose one measurable task

   Define one real workflow with an owner, source set, privacy class, desired files, acceptance tests, deadline, maximum credits, WebDev budget, and explicit list of actions Manus may or may not take.

3. Create a controlled Project

   Add a narrow master instruction, current approved files, source hierarchy, output template, brand rules, refusal conditions, and review date. Do not upload sensitive data that the chosen plan and agreement do not cover.

4. Activate Plan Mode

   Require Manus to identify assumptions, dependencies, connectors, data movement, expected outputs, side effects, cost drivers, failure handling, and validation steps. Edit the plan until it matches the real process, then approve only the first stage.

5. Connect minimum permissions

   Use dedicated test accounts or low-privilege credentials. Allow only necessary read tools first. Separately gate writes, sends, payments, publishing, deletion, account changes, bulk operations, and local-computer access.

6. Run a bounded pilot

   Limit item count, parallel agents, retries, runtime, credits, and external actions. Keep Browser Operator and Auto-Publish off until the read-only output passes factual, technical, privacy, and security review.

7. Verify the deliverables

   Open every file, test every cited source, recalculate figures, inspect data rows, run code and security checks, review slide structure, compare deployed behaviour with the plan, and log unsupported or missing work.

8. Measure total cost

   Record task credits, add-on usage, third-party charges, WebDev runtime, human review, retries, latency, incidents, and final value. Model monthly peaks and failed runs before selecting a larger plan or enabling automation.

9. Release with controls

   Move from read-only to draft-only, then approved writes for a small scope. Use version control, backups, a staging environment, manual publication, monitoring, owner alerts, an emergency stop, and a documented rollback.

10. Review and export

    Review sources, permissions, connectors, project files, skills, API keys, schedules, costs, and vendor changes on a recurring cadence. Export critical artifacts and code so the workflow can be recovered outside Manus.

Manus Gotchas and Limits to Know Before You Start

• Certain notified users must back up required data before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026.
• Affected data can be deleted during August 23 and 24 as Manus separates from Meta.
• The restoration portal opens August 25, but it cannot recover data that was not backed up before the deadline.
• Users with multiple accounts must check and back up each affected account separately.
• Affected team members may depend on the team owner to back up and restore shared data.
• Type C affected users must back up account data before task data and restore the account first.
• A backup becomes stale if new tasks, artifacts, or connectors are created afterward, so a final backup may be needed.
• Affected users can lose access for two days during deletion and restoration operations.
• Manus says the transition is regulatory and not a security incident, but it remains a material continuity event.
• Free daily credits must be claimed by logging in, expire each day, and do not accumulate.
• Free users can consume only 1,500 daily-refresh credits per month.
• Daily-refresh credits work only with Manus 1.6 Lite.
• Monthly subscription credits expire at each billing-cycle reset and do not roll over.
• Add-on credits remain active only while a paid subscription is active.
• Only the highest available monthly-credit tier can buy add-on credits according to current help guidance.
• Task credits vary with tokens, virtual machines, third-party APIs, complexity, and duration.
• A final task action can temporarily make the credit balance negative and block new tasks until refresh.
• A seven-day trial is tied to a stated Pro configuration and may convert to paid service under checkout terms.
• Web, Apple, and Google subscriptions must be managed on the platform where they were purchased.
• Building a website and running it use different balances.
• Live WebDev applications create separate usage-based hosting, database, AI, integration, and API charges.
• Agent-generated code can contain security, privacy, accessibility, performance, dependency, or data-loss defects.
• Auto-Publish can send incorrect or breaking changes live without an independent release gate.
• Authenticated Browser Operator and desktop access can create external side effects in real accounts.
• Cloud browsing and local browser operation have different session, cookie, and credential exposure.
• Plan Mode reduces misalignment but does not verify that the approved plan is correct or safe.
• Wide Research multiplies source, identity, duplication, compliance, and cost risk across many agents.
• Manus documentation includes strong vendor claims about speed, scale, and uniform quality that require independent testing.
• Generated citations, calculations, contacts, product facts, and conclusions can be wrong or outdated.
• Native PPTX output still requires checking every fact, chart, data table, layout, note, and source.
• Voice cloning and audio generation require rights, consent, disclosure, and compliance with ElevenLabs terms.
• Third-party connectors bring separate permissions, billing, retention, availability, and provider terms.
• OAuth access can be revoked, but users should test revocation and connector cleanup before sensitive deployment.
• Collaboration exposes prompts and responses to invited participants and may require re-authentication for logged-in browser tasks.
• Only the task owner consumes Collab credits, which can obscure internal cost allocation.
• Project instruction changes can affect an existing task, while updated project files apply only to new tasks.
• API v1 is deprecated and will be removed, so integrations should use API v2.
• API keys, webhooks, connectors, browser tools, and custom agents require least-privilege security and monitoring.
• Rate limits and provider changes can interrupt scheduled, batch, or production workflows.
• Team no-training, SSO, audit, retention, model, and support protections should be confirmed for the purchased contract.
• Security certifications do not guarantee output accuracy, correct permissions, or safe customer configuration.
• A polished deliverable can conceal unsupported research, incorrect code, fabricated data, or incomplete work.
• High-stakes financial, legal, medical, employment, safety, or compliance outputs need qualified human review.
• Irreversible actions, payments, publication, account changes, and bulk messages should always require approval.

Which Manus Feature Fits Your Use Case

Starter Prompts for Manus

What is Manus?

Manus is a general AI agent that plans and executes multi-step tasks inside a sandboxed virtual computer. It can research, browse, analyse data, run code, create presentations, build and deploy websites or apps, use connected services, automate recurring work, and deliver finished files rather than only conversational answers.

How much does Manus cost?

Manus has a Free plan. Pro starts at $20 per month with 4,000 monthly credits, while a $40 configuration starts at 8,000 credits and advertises a seven-day trial. Annual billing is advertised at a 17% discount. Team starts at $20 per seat per month. Higher credit configurations, add-ons, API use, cloud computer capacity, and deployed WebDev applications can add separate charges.

How do free Manus credits work?

Current help guidance describes 1,000 initial registration credits plus 300 daily-refresh credits claimed by logging in. Daily credits work only with Manus 1.6 Lite, expire at the daily reset, and do not accumulate. Free users can consume only 1,500 daily-refresh credits per month. Free credits have separate non-expiry treatment.

What consumes Manus credits?

Credits vary with LLM tokens, virtual machine use, third-party APIs, task complexity, and duration. Only active task processing consumes task credits. Completed tasks and stored or deployed outputs do not consume task credits, although a deployed website or app creates separate runtime charges.

Do unused Manus credits roll over?

Monthly subscription credits do not roll over and reset each billing cycle. Daily credits expire each day. Add-on credits can roll forward while an active paid subscription remains, but become inactive if the account returns to Free or the subscription lapses. Event credits expire under their event terms, while ordinary free credits do not expire.

What is Manus Plan Mode?

Plan Mode makes Manus pause before executing, check feasibility, ask for missing context, and create an editable Markdown plan. The user must confirm or dismiss the plan before work continues. It can be activated at the start of a task or midway through one and is available on web and mobile.

Can Manus create editable PowerPoint files?

Yes. PowerPoint Mode generates a native PPTX file rather than converting a web deck at export. It supports editable charts with embedded data tables, structured tables, standard slide layouts, research, Google Sheets data, uploaded files, URLs, and meeting notes. The feature is currently described as beta for Manus 1.6 and Max users.

Can Manus build and host a website or application?

Yes. Manus can build full-stack applications with frontend, backend, database, file storage, authentication, integrations, payments, managed hosting, custom domains, analytics, SEO, GitHub sync, and publishing controls. Building uses subscription credits, while a live application's hosting, database, AI, integrations, and API consumption are billed separately through WebDev usage.

Does Manus have an API?

Yes. Manus API v2 can create and manage tasks, projects, files, skills, custom agents, connectors, browser work, websites, webhooks, and structured output. It uses API keys or OAuth2 and has endpoint rate limits. API v1 is deprecated and is planned for removal.

Who must back up Manus data in August 2026?

Only accounts identified as affected by Manus through email or an in-app notice must act. Check every personal and team account separately. Affected users must save the required account or task backups before 7:59 a.m. Singapore Time on August 23, 2026. Affected team members should contact the team owner because team backups and restoration can depend on that owner.

Why is Manus deleting some user data?

Manus says it is separating from Meta, returning to independent operation, and must delete specified data for certain users to meet regulatory requirements in particular jurisdictions. The company says this is not a data breach or security incident. Data for the independent service is stated to be stored in the United States and Singapore.

What happens if an affected user misses the backup deadline?

Specified task data, generated artifacts, connector authorisations, and possibly the account itself can be permanently deleted during August 23 and 24. The restoration portal opens August 25 and has no stated closing date, but only data saved before the backup deadline can be restored. Type C users who do not restore remain deleted and would need a new account.

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