A person watches a laptop work through tasks while drinking coffee in a bright office

How to use Manus: step-by-step tutorial

An AI agent that plans and does multi-step tasks: credits, real plan prices, scheduled automations, safety rules and tasks you can copy today.

Step-by-step Lessons Beginner Novice Advanced PhD-level Quiz

At a glance

What it isAn AI agent that plans and carries out tasks, not just a chat.

Strongest atResearch reports, comparisons, files and simple sites.

PriceFree 300 daily credits; Pro from $20/month; Team from $20/seat.

LimitsCredits, plus 1 task at a time on Free, up to 20 on Pro.

Is Manus right for this job?

Use Manus for

Comparison reports built from many web pages
Turning a brief into a draft document or slide outline
Recurring digests with scheduled automations
Simple website or landing-page drafts
Running several research tasks in parallel (Pro)

Think twice for

Anything that needs your passwords or card
Tasks with no clear finish line
Publishing its output without review
Legal, medical or money decisions

Get set up: step by step

Basics
What it is
Manus is an AI agent: instead of only answering, it plans a task and carries it out, browsing, writing files and building outputs like reports or simple sites. It runs on credits. The free plan gives 300 daily credits, one task at a time and two scheduled automations; paid plans add more credits and up to 20 tasks at once (Manus Help Center).
Why this step matters: Knowing what it is good and bad at stops you using it for jobs where it will fail quietly.
Setup
Step 1: Get the official app
1. Start from manus.im and sign up there or through its official app links.
2. Check the publisher in the app store matches Manus before installing.
3. Open the credits page once so you know your daily or monthly allowance.
Why this step matters: Copycat apps and unofficial installers are common; starting from the official source protects your account and data.
Setup
Step 2: Plans, limits and costs
- Free: 300 daily credits, 1 concurrent task, 2 scheduled automations.
- Pro: from $20/month (4,000 credits) or $40/month (8,000 credits, with a 7-day trial). About 17% off yearly. Up to 20 concurrent tasks.
- Team: from $20 per seat a month or $200 per seat a year. SSO is a $150 add-on for teams under 30 seats.
Source: Manus Help Center, checked Oct 30, 2026.
Why this step matters: Paying for features you don't use is the most common waste. Knowing the limits first tells you if the free tier is enough.

Real things to do with Manus

Compare products before you buy

Name the products and the columns. Ask for the official source for every price.

Compare 3 email marketing tools for a 500-subscriber list: price, free plan, automation, one con each.
Cite the official pricing page for each. Show your plan first.

Weekly industry digest

Run it by hand twice, then schedule it, and review every issue before you forward it.

Every Monday: find 5 news items from the past week about [industry].
For each: headline, date, link, 2-sentence summary. List what you could not verify.

Draft a landing page

Give audience, sections and tone. Edit the copy yourself before it goes live.

Draft a one-page site for a dog-walking business in Austin: hero, services, prices placeholder, contact form.
Plain language, no made-up reviews.

Research a trip

Ask for options and sources, then book yourself.

Find 3 family-friendly hotels in San Diego near the beach under $250/night for June 10–14.
Link to official pages. Do not book anything.

Clean up a spreadsheet

Give the file and the rules. Ask for a log of every change.

Clean this CSV: standardize dates, remove duplicate rows, fix state abbreviations.
Return the file plus a log of every change.

Lesson materials

Ask for a draft pack and check facts before class.

Create a 1-hour lesson pack on the water cycle for 5th graders: outline, worksheet, 5-question quiz with answers.

The 5-part prompt that works in Manus

Most weak answers come from weak instructions, not a weak model. Before you send anything important to Manus, check that your message has these five parts. It takes thirty seconds and saves several rounds of “that’s not what I meant.”

Situation. Who you are and why you are asking. “I run a two-person bakery” changes every answer that follows.
Task. One clear verb: draft, compare, summarize, fix, plan, explain. If you have three tasks, send them as three steps.
Inputs. Paste or attach the material it should use, and say what to ignore. Name the file and the pages if it is long.
Format. Length, structure and tone: “a table with 4 columns”, “under 150 words”, “plain English, no jargon”.
Checks. Tell it how you will judge the answer: “give a source link for every number”, “say unknown instead of guessing”, “list your assumptions first”.

I run a two-person bakery in Ohio (situation). Draft a 120-word reply to this customer complaint (task). Use only the facts in the email below; ignore the order history (inputs). Warm, plain English, one apology, end with a clear next step (format). List anything you had to assume at the end (checks).

Save the version that works. In Manus the natural home for reusable instructions is a saved task template with a clear finish line, so you never type the same context twice.

Go further: steps continued

Use
Step 3: Your first real task
Give Manus a task with a clear finish line, and ask for the plan before it starts:
```
Task: make a one-page comparison of 3 budgeting apps for a college student (price, free plan, platforms, one pro, one con).
Show me your plan first and wait for my OK. Cite the official page for every price.
```
Why this step matters: A prompt with situation, task and format gets a usable answer first time, so you learn what the tool can actually do.
Setup
Step 4: Privacy
- Don't paste passwords, ID numbers, card numbers or other people's private details.
- Assume the company can read and keep your chats unless its official policy says otherwise.
- For health, money or legal decisions, confirm with a professional or an official source.
- Never give the agent your passwords or card details. If a site needs a login, do that step yourself.
- Review files and outputs it creates before sharing them.
Why this step matters: Anything you paste may be stored and read. Deciding what never goes in is easier than undoing a leak.
Mistakes
Mistakes
- Vague tasks with no finish line, which burn credits.
- Letting it act on accounts or payments without review.
- Running many tasks at once on a small credit balance.
- Using prices or facts it gathered without opening the source.
Why this step matters: Knowing how it typically fails tells you where to look when you review its work.

A good session, start to finish

Decide what “done” looks like
Write one sentence describing the finished result before you open the chat: “a one-page plan I can send to my landlord by Friday.” If you cannot describe it, the bot cannot hit it.
Give context once, in the right place
Put standing facts about you, your business or your project where {name} keeps them between chats, instead of pasting them into every message.
Ask for a draft, then steer
Take the first answer as a rough draft. Reply with specific edits (“shorter”, “cut the second option”, “use our real prices”) rather than starting over.
Check the parts that matter
Open the source behind every number, name, date and quote you will reuse. For files, spot-check two page references. For code, run it.
Save what worked
Copy the final prompt into a notes file or saved instructions. Next time the same job takes one message instead of ten, and you spend fewer credits doing it.

Your first week with Manus

Day 1: Set it up properlyInstall Manus from the official source, sign in with the right account (personal for personal, work for work) and open the settings. Decide the privacy and data choices now, before you have shared anything, and write a short note about who you are and how you like answers.

Day 2: One real taskPick a task you would have done anyway this week, such as an email, a plan or a summary. Use the 5-part prompt below. Compare the result with what you would have written yourself, and note what you had to fix.

Day 3: Check everything onceTake one answer that contains facts and verify every number, name and date against the source. This tells you how much checking Manus needs for your kind of work, which is the most useful thing you will learn all week.

Day 4: Save your contextMove your standing facts and instructions into a saved task template with a clear finish line. From now on, new chats start with that context and you stop retyping it.

Day 5: Try the feature you skippedUse one feature beyond basic chat: files, voice, images, research or whatever this page covers. Small, low-stakes tests first.

Days 6–7: Decide about moneyLook at what you actually used. If the free tier covered it, stay free. If you hit a limit on real work, compare plans on the official pricing page and note your renewal date before you pay.

How to spot a wrong answer

Warning signs

It gives an exact number, date or quote with no link, or with a link that does not contain it.
It agrees with everything you say, including a wrong assumption you slipped in to test it.
The answer is fluent but vague: lots of “generally” and “it depends” and no specifics you can act on.
It claims to have done something (sent, saved, booked, run) without a link, ID or file you can open.
Two answers to the same question, asked in fresh chats, disagree on a fact.
It names a setting, menu or plan feature you cannot find. Apps change their menus often, so check the official help pages.

What to do

Open the source and find the exact sentence. Ask Manus to separate what it checked from what it assumed. Re-ask in a fresh chat with the source attached. If it still cannot back the claim up, treat it as unknown and use the official page instead.

None of this means the tool is bad. It means you are the editor, and editors check.

Power-user tips

Plan first, always

Ask for the plan and approve it. Fixing a plan is cheap; fixing a finished task is not.

Define done

Say the exact output: “a 1-page table with 5 columns”.

Do logins yourself

Never hand an agent your credentials.

Schedule only proven tasks

Run by hand twice before scheduling.

Watch parallel runs

Twenty tasks at once can drain credits fast.

Ask what it couldn’t verify

End every task with a list of unverified items.

Privacy and safety with Manus

An agent acts on the web for you. Keep credentials and payment details out, and review anything it creates before sharing.

Never paste passwords, API keys, one-time codes, full card numbers or government ID numbers into any chat.
Remove other people’s names, addresses and account details from files before you upload them, unless you have their permission and a reason.
Open the privacy or data-controls settings in your first week and decide whether your chats may be used to improve models.
Use the account your employer approved for work material. A personal plan follows the consumer terms, not your company’s contract.
For health, legal, tax or money decisions, use the bot to prepare questions, then confirm with a professional or an official source.

Manus or another bot?

If you need…	Pick	Why
Multi-step tasks done for you	Manus	Built as an agent with credits and scheduling.
Agent inside your chat app	ChatGPT agent or Kimi Goal Mode	Similar ideas inside a chat app; compare on one task.
Quick answers with sources	Perplexity	Faster and cheaper for single questions.
Long document reading	Claude	Better fit when the job is reading, not doing.

Our editorial judgment, not a benchmark. Try your own real task in two bots before you pay for either.

Questions people ask

Is Manus free?

There is a free plan with 300 daily credits, 1 concurrent task and 2 scheduled automations (Manus Help Center, checked Oct 30, 2026).

How much is Manus Pro?

From $20/month for 4,000 credits, or $40/month for 8,000 credits with a 7-day trial. Yearly billing saves about 17%.

What about teams?

Team starts at $20 per seat a month or $200 per seat a year. SSO is a $150 add-on for teams under 30 seats.

How many tasks can run at once?

One on Free; up to 20 on Pro.

Is it safe to give Manus my logins?

Don’t. Do login steps yourself and keep card details out.

What are scheduled automations?

Tasks that run on a schedule. Free includes two.

Why did a task use so many credits?

Long or vague tasks with retries cost more. Narrow the goal and approve the plan.

Does Manus have an API?

We did not verify a public API on Oct 30, 2026.

Words you will see

Agent: an AI that takes actions toward a goal, not just answers.

Credits: Manus’s usage currency; tasks spend them.

Concurrent tasks: how many tasks can run at the same time.

Scheduled automation: a task set to run on a timetable.

Prompt: the message you send. Better prompts give a situation, task, inputs, format and checks.

Context window: how much text the model can keep in mind at once. Long chats push early details out.

Hallucination: a confident answer that is false, such as a made-up citation or number.

Token: a chunk of text (roughly three-quarters of a word) used to measure limits and API prices.

Ready to test yourself?
The Manus quiz, first-week checklist and cost calculator now have their own page.

Take the Manus quiz →

Where these facts come from

Manus Help Center: Free 300 daily credits, 1 concurrent task, 2 scheduled automations; Pro from $20 (4,000 credits) and $40 (8,000, 7-day trial); 17% off annual; 20 concurrent tasks; Team from $20/seat/month or $200/seat/year; SSO $150 add-on under 30 seats

Checked Oct 30, 2026. Plans change, so confirm on the official page before you pay.

Next: Manus lessons →