folk vs Manus
Manus is a general AI agent you brief in a browser tab and pay for in credits. folk is a personal AI you text, with flat pricing and a memory of your life behind every request. Free to start.
Manus is a general-purpose autonomous agent: you give it a task, it plans, works in its own cloud sandbox, and comes back with a finished deliverable. It is genuinely strong at long research and build jobs. Folk is the same idea pointed at your day-to-day life, and it lives where you already text - iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp - with a memory graph that makes every request shorter than the last.
why people switch from Manus to folk
folk lives in your texts
Manus is a workspace you open to start a session. Folk is a thread in Messages or Telegram, so there is nothing to open. You text it from the checkout line, and it texts you back when the job is done.
flat pricing instead of credits
Manus meters work in credits, so a heavy task can cost more than you expected and a heavy month can mean topping up. Folk is free to start, $20/month Pro, and $100/month Max, flat, with no per-task accounting.
memory of your life, not just of a task
Both are good inside a session. Folk carries a persistent memory graph across every conversation: your people, your routines, the seat you like, the food you avoid. Six months in, it needs half the prompt to get the same result.
real-world skills, built in
Folk ships with Resy booking, flight-price watching, morning briefings, and Gmail triage as first-class skills, and it reaches out to you when something changes instead of waiting to be asked.
feature comparison
| Feature | Folk | Manus |
|---|---|---|
| Lives in iMessage | Yes | No |
| Lives in Telegram | Yes | No |
| Its own cloud computer | Yes | Yes |
| Persistent memory | Yes | Yes |
| Books tables (Resy) | Yes | No |
| Watches flights | Yes | No |
| Runs scheduled tasks | Yes | Yes |
| Connects to all your apps | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own API keys | Yes | No |
| Web browsing | Yes | Yes |
| Code generation | Yes | Yes |
| Data privacy (no training) | Yes | No |
pricing comparison
Folk Pro
$20/mo
- Generous monthly usage for messages and tasks
- iMessage + Telegram
- Persistent memory
- Its own computer with web browsing and code
- Connects to all your apps
Folk Max
$100/mo
- Everything in Pro
- The best AI models available
- Zero queue, priority access
- 2x daily capacity
- First access to new features
frequently asked
What is Manus?
Manus is a general-purpose autonomous AI agent. You describe a goal and it plans and executes in its own cloud sandbox - browsing the web, writing and running code, and producing files, decks, or sites - then hands back the result. Work continues asynchronously after you close the tab.
How much does Manus cost?
Manus runs on credits: a free allowance to try it, then paid tiers that buy larger credit pools, with longer or heavier tasks consuming more. Because usage drives the bill, cost varies month to month. Folk is flat - free to start, $20/month Pro, and $100/month Max.
How is Folk different from Manus?
Both give an agent a real computer. Manus is a session-based workspace you open in a browser; folk is a personal AI in your iMessage, Telegram, and WhatsApp with persistent memory across conversations, built-in real-world skills like Resy booking and flight tracking, and flat pricing.
Can I switch from Manus to Folk?
Yes. Sign up at folk.com, subscribe, and you will get an iMessage number and a Telegram bot. Folk starts learning your preferences from your first conversation.
people also compare
learn the concepts
Personal AI
A personal AI is an artificial-intelligence assistant dedicated to one person - it learns your preferences, remembers your context, and takes actions on your behalf across everyday life.
AI Agent
An AI agent is an AI system that takes actions to accomplish a goal - using tools, browsing the web, and completing multi-step tasks autonomously, not just generating text.
Agentic AI
Agentic AI refers to AI systems that act with autonomy - setting sub-goals, using tools, and taking multi-step actions to complete tasks, rather than only responding to prompts.
what folk actually does
an ai that codes from your phone
Text folk what to build. It writes the code on its own computer and opens the pull request - from iMessage, Telegram, or wherever you are.
an ai that finds your restaurant and gets you the table
Text the city, the night, and the vibe. Folk finds the spot worth going to and hands you the booking.
an ai that tracks flight prices and watches your trips
Tell folk the route and budget. It monitors fares around the clock and pings you on a drop.
ready to try folk?
Free to start - free forever. Pro is $20/mo. Cancel anytime.
See everything folk can do - explore use cases.