All comparisonsChecked November 13, 2026
Brigade vs Manus
Manus is a capable general agent: you hand it a goal and it delivers, paid in credits on top of any AI plan you already have. Brigade gives your company a team: each teammate has one job, its own Apps, memory and rules, and the App actions you choose wait for your yes in one Needs you list. It runs the official Claude Code and Codex on the Claude or ChatGPT plan you already pay for, so there is no credit meter, and it is open source.
Side by side
| Feature | Brigade | Manus |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An open-source app that gives your company a team of AI teammates, each one the official Claude Code or Codex with a job, its own computer, the Apps you give it and a shared memory. | A general AI agent that turns a goal into finished work in its own cloud computer. |
| Who pays for AI | Your own Claude or ChatGPT plan. Brigade never bills you for AI usage. | Manus credits; with Flex your own API key pays for the model, but the Cloud Computer, images, video and web hosting still use credits. |
| Price | Free on your own computer. Cloud: $99 a month per workspace. AI usage is on your own plan. | Free (300 credits a day), Pro $20 a month (4,000 credits), Max $200 a month (40,000 credits); Team $20 a seat a month. |
| Jobs it covers | Support, marketing, sales and code, each teammate with one job. | Research, slides, websites, apps and other deliverables from a goal. |
| How you stay in control | For each teammate, you choose whether its writes to Apps (an email through Gmail, a change in Stripe, a merge on GitHub) go on their own or wait for your yes, and each mailbox can be set to approve every email. Every request lands in one Needs you list, also on your phone. Commands and files on its own computer don’t ask. | Works with few permission limits in its own sandbox; on your computer, only in the files and apps you approved. |
| Starts on its own | Yes: triggers (an email, a webhook, a failed payment) and schedules. | Scheduled tasks, and automations that start when something happens in a connected service. |
| Your team | Invite your team: threads, lists and files are shared. | A Team plan with shared projects, skills and pooled credits. |
| Open source | Yes, MIT. You can read every line and host it yourself. | No. |
Which one is for you
Pick Brigade if
- You already pay for Claude Max or ChatGPT Pro and do not want a credit meter on top.
- You want teammates with clear jobs (support, marketing, sales, code) and their own rules.
- You want an email or a Stripe change to wait for your yes, from one list on your phone.
- You want to read the code, or host it yourself.
Pick Manus if
- You want one agent that turns a goal into research, slides or a website, and paying in credits suits you.
What Manus is
Manus is an AI agent from Butterfly Effect, a Singapore company. You give it a goal and it works in its own cloud computer to deliver research, slides, websites and apps, with scheduled tasks, automations and a team plan with shared projects. It picks the model for each step and bills in Manus credits: free with 300 credits a day, Pro at $20 a month (4,000 credits), Max at $200 a month (40,000 credits), and Team at $20 a seat.
Meet your AI teammates
Start free on your own computer. Brigade runs on the Claude or ChatGPT plan you already pay for.
Sources, checked on November 13, 2026
What this page says about Manus comes from these pages. Products change: if something here is out of date, open an issue on GitHub.