# Manus alternatives in 2026: research as rows, at 5¢ to $1 a row Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/alternatives/manus Manus Pro starts at $20 a month for 4,000 credits, or $40 for 8,000. A task's credits depend on its complexity and duration, and monthly credits that go unused reset at the end of the period. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Describe the research in plain words and every match comes back as a structured row with its source, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a row, under a maximum you approve. [Describe your research](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-manus&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=manus&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fask%3Fq%3DEvery%2520B2B%2520software%2520company%2520in%2520Europe%2520that%2520announced%2520a%2520Series%2520A%2520in%25202026%252C%2520with%2520the%2520amount%252C%2520the%2520lead%2520investor%2520and%2520the%2520website) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows. ## SpecStream and Manus side by side | | SpecStream | Manus | |---|---|---| | What you send | One request in plain words. SpecStream reads it back as the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back, and you can edit them before anything runs | A task for its agent. Pro adds Advanced Research, which supports research on any topic, and Wide Research, which Manus says performs better in high intensity tasks | | What you get back | Structured rows, one per match, with the URL of the page each value was read on and the time it was read. Rows go to Google Sheets, Excel, Airtable, Notion, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n, signed webhooks and your agent | The agent's output for the task. Pro adds slide generation and professional website deployment | | The unit you pay for | A delivered row: 5¢, 15¢ or $1 depending on what the row needs, plus 5¢ for a person's email and 15¢ for a phone | Credits. A task's credits are set by its complexity and duration | | The cost before a run | The most a run can cost is quoted and approved before it starts. A run never costs more, and what it does not use goes back to the balance | The dashboard gives an estimate before a task starts. A task's last action can take the credit balance below zero | | What failed or empty work costs | A run that finds nothing costs nothing. Duplicates, results you already own and results a page contradicts are not charged | Consumed credits are refunded for tasks that fail through a technical issue on Manus's side | | Plans | Free: $10 of credit once, no card. Pro $19, Scale $99 and Team $499 a month, each turned in full into credit, with 20% more credit billed yearly | Free: 300 credits a day. Pro from $20 a month for 4,000 credits or $40 for 8,000, 17% off billed yearly. Team from $20 a seat a month | | Credit you do not use | The $10 sign-up credit has no end date. A top-up of $1,000 or more adds 20% more credit that does not expire | Monthly credits must be used within the subscription period, then reset | | Reruns | A saved request reruns hourly to yearly. A refresh charges half the rate for a changed or new row and 1¢ for an unchanged one, and labels each row changed, unchanged or no longer matching | Pro runs 20 concurrent tasks and 20 Scheduled Automations. Free runs 2 Scheduled Automations | ## Why Manus users move their research to SpecStream ### Research that ends as rows, with a source on every value Most research given to a general agent ends as a table: companies, people, tenders, products, prices. SpecStream is built for that table. You write the job once, "Every B2B software company in Europe that announced a Series A in 2026, with the amount, the lead investor and the website", and SpecStream reads it back as the conditions every row must meet and the facts to bring back. It searches the live web, reads each page and joins what it finds into one record per company. Each value carries the URL of the page it was read on and the time it was read. ### A price per row, approved before the run On Manus Pro, $20 buys 4,000 credits, so a credit costs half a cent, and a task spends credits by its complexity and duration. On SpecStream the unit is the row you keep. 200 companies at 5¢ a row cost $10, which the sign-up credit covers. The most a run can cost is shown before it starts, a run never costs more, a result that fails a condition is not billed, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing. ### The most accurate web search API in the world The rows start from SpecStream's own search. On WideSearch, the benchmark built from broad table tasks, the SpecStream Search API scores 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official tasks. On SimpleQA Verified it scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official questions, 978 of them correct. Every score and its method is on the [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=manus) page. ### The table stays up to date Save a request and it reruns hourly to yearly, inside a limit per run and per month. A refresh charges half the rate for a changed or new row and 1¢ for each row that comes back unchanged, and labels every row changed, unchanged or no longer matching. New matches arrive in Slack, email, a sheet, a CRM or a signed webhook. See [monitoring](https://specstream.ai/monitoring?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=manus). ### Data already held Some research needs no new run at all. On Nov 10, 2026, [specstream.ai/data/lists](https://specstream.ai/data/lists?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=manus) held 38,142 ready lists in 9 families, 1,695 of them with a monthly feed, at 5¢ a row for the first 2,000 rows and 1¢ a row after. ### From your agent, by MCP or API Your agent asks over the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` or the REST API, and gets typed rows under the maximum you approved. The same key runs the Search API at $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, $1 per 1,000 on the fast tier, and the Extract API at $0.80 per 1,000 pages. SpecStream also works as a connector inside Manus: [setup](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp/manus?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=manus). ## Other Manus alternatives ### SpecStream The live web data engine for teams and agents. One request in plain words returns every match on the live web as a structured row, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row, under a maximum you approve. Saved requests rerun on your schedule, and the rows land in your sheet, CRM or agent. ### Genspark Genspark's plans give credits for AI tasks, storage and access to its agents and models. Plus costs $24.99 a month and starts from 10,000 monthly credits. When the research has to end as a table, SpecStream returns each match as a row with its source, priced per row before it runs. ### Zentor Zentor sells three monthly plans from $14.99, each with its own batch of credits, with 1,500 credits each month on Pro. SpecStream charges for the rows it delivers, so a month with no runs costs nothing and the $10 sign-up credit has no end date. ### Lindy Lindy starts new accounts with $50 in free credits and sells its plans by credits. SpecStream starts new accounts with $10 of credit, no card, and every dollar of it goes to rows that meet each condition you wrote. ## How to switch from Manus Write the research you gave Manus as one request in plain words: what to find, the conditions each result must meet, and the facts to bring back. SpecStream reads it back, quotes the most it can cost, and runs only after you approve. Sign up and you get $10 of credit, no card. At 5¢ a row, that is up to 200 rows. Or send the request from code. This call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost. ``` curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"request": "Every B2B software company in Europe that announced a Series A in 2026, with the amount, the lead investor and the website", "count": 25}' ``` Approve that maximum by card through Stripe's Link agent wallet, or in USDC on Base, Arbitrum or Polygon, and you pay for the rows found. On an account, your agent uses the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` and your team uses the workspace, from the same balance. ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does Manus cost? Manus Free gives 300 credits a day. Pro starts at $20 a month for 4,000 credits, or $40 a month for 8,000, with 17% off billed yearly, and Team starts at $20 a seat a month. A task's credits depend on its complexity and duration, and monthly credits reset at the end of the period. ### What is the cheapest Manus alternative for research? SpecStream, at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 a delivered row. 200 companies at 5¢ a row cost $10, which the sign-up credit covers. You approve the most a run can cost before it starts, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing. ### Does SpecStream have a free plan? Yes: $10 of credit on sign-up, no card, with no end date. Pro is $19 a month and turns the full $19 into credit, and it keeps 10 lists up to date. ### Can SpecStream rerun research on a schedule? Yes, hourly to yearly. A refresh charges half the rate for a changed or new row and 1¢ for an unchanged one, labels each row, and sends what is new to Slack, a sheet, a CRM or a webhook. ### Can I use SpecStream from Manus or my own agent? Yes. The MCP server at https://api.specstream.ai/mcp works in Manus, Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and other MCP clients, and agents without an account can buy one list per request by card or in USDC. ### Does SpecStream have an API? Yes. The Search API costs $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, or $1 on the fast tier, the Extract API costs $0.80 per 1,000 pages, and Deep Search runs through the REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI, MCP and A2A. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each rival figure comes from that company's own page, read on the date shown. - [Manus Help Center: current membership pricing](https://help.manus.im/en/articles/11711111-what-is-the-current-membership-pricing-for-manus), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Manus Help Center: rules for credits consumption](https://help.manus.im/en/articles/11711097-what-are-the-rules-for-credits-consumption-and-how-can-i-obtain-them), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Manus documentation: plans and pricing](https://manus.im/docs/introduction/plans), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Genspark Help Center: membership plans](https://www.genspark.ai/helpcenter/membership-plans), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Zentor pricing](https://zentor.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Lindy pricing](https://www.lindy.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026