OpenClaw and Manus AI are both called "AI agents," but they solve completely different problems. Manus is a task machine — you give it a job, it goes away and builds something. OpenClaw is a personal assistant — it lives in your Telegram, remembers your life, and works for you 24/7.
Choosing between them is like choosing between a contractor and an employee. Here's how they compare.
The Core Difference
Manus AI is a task executor. You describe what you want — a website, a presentation, a data analysis — and Manus spins up a virtual machine, opens browsers, writes code, and delivers a result. Then it stops.
OpenClaw is a personal assistant that never stops. It runs on your server, lives in your messaging apps, remembers your preferences, and proactively sends you updates — even when you don't ask.
Feature Comparison
| Feature | OpenClaw | Manus AI |
|---|---|---|
| Primary use | Personal AI assistant | Task execution agent |
| Access | Telegram, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp | Web dashboard |
| Always running | Yes — 24/7 | No — runs per task |
| Memory | Persistent long-term memory | Per-task context only |
| Proactive | Yes — sends updates unprompted | No — only works when triggered |
| Open source | Yes | No |
| Self-hosting | Yes | No |
| AI model choice | Any (Claude, GPT, DeepSeek, etc.) | Claude + proprietary |
| Pricing model | Pay-per-token (predictable) | Credit system (unpredictable) |
| Typical cost | $5-30/mo | $39-199/mo |
| App building | No | Yes |
| Browser automation | Yes | Yes |
| Data privacy | Your server, your data | Manus cloud |
| Setup | Minutes (managed) to hours (self-host) | Sign up and go |
Where Manus Wins
One-Shot Complex Tasks
Need a full website built from a single prompt? A 30-slide presentation? A dataset scraped, cleaned, and analyzed? Manus excels at these big, one-time deliverables. You describe the end result, and it figures out the steps.
App Generation
Manus can generate full-stack web apps and even mobile apps from a description. OpenClaw isn't built for this — it's an assistant, not a builder.
Visual Task Monitoring
Manus streams its work in real-time — you can watch it open browsers, write code, and fill forms. It's impressive and transparent.
Zero Setup
Sign up, describe your task, hit go. No server, no configuration, no API keys.
Where OpenClaw Wins
Always-On Assistance
Manus runs when you give it a task. OpenClaw runs all the time. Set up a daily briefing, monitor price changes, get reminders — it works while you sleep. Manus doesn't do this.
Messaging Integration
OpenClaw lives where you already are — Telegram, WhatsApp, Slack, Discord. Message it from your phone like texting a friend. Manus requires opening a web dashboard every time.
Predictable Costs
Manus uses a credit system where you don't know what a task will cost until it's done. Users report burning through 900+ credits on a single request. OpenClaw charges standard API token prices — you can estimate costs before running anything. Typical monthly cost: $10-20 vs Manus's $39-199.
Persistent Memory
OpenClaw remembers everything — your projects, preferences, client details, past conversations. It maintains daily journals and builds context over time. Manus starts fresh with every task.
Privacy & Data Ownership
OpenClaw runs on your server (or your dedicated container on ClawTank). Your data never leaves your infrastructure. Manus processes everything on their cloud.
Open Source & No Lock-In
OpenClaw is fully open-source. You can read the code, modify it, host it yourself. If ClawTank shuts down, self-host. If Manus shuts down, your workflows are gone.
Reliability
Manus has been plagued by capacity issues — users frequently hit "high service load" errors that prevent tasks from running. OpenClaw runs on your own infrastructure, so availability is in your hands.
Who Should Choose What
Choose Manus if:
- You need one-off complex deliverables (apps, presentations, reports)
- You want to describe an end result and have AI build it
- You don't need an always-on assistant
- You're okay with unpredictable credit costs
Choose OpenClaw if:
- You want a daily AI companion in your messaging apps
- Persistent memory and context matter to you
- You need proactive notifications and automation
- Budget predictability is important
- Privacy and data ownership are priorities
- You want open-source flexibility
Can You Use Both?
Yes — and many people should. They solve different problems.
Use Manus when you need something built: a website prototype, a research report, a data pipeline.
Use OpenClaw as your daily assistant: morning briefings, task management, smart reminders, quick questions from Telegram, automated workflows that run in the background.
They don't compete — they complement.
Getting Started with OpenClaw
If you want a personal AI assistant without the infrastructure headache, ClawTank deploys OpenClaw in under 1 minute. Connect Telegram, pick your AI model, and you're live — with predictable costs starting around $10/month.