Manus vs ellul
A managed agent product, or a place for your agent.
Manus is an opinionated agent product: you give it a task, it works in Manus's sandbox, you get a result. Ellul sits upstream of that. It is a persistent workstation your own agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) lives on. They serve different jobs.
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The fundamental difference
Manus is the agent and the runtime, bundled, with their model and their tools. Ellul is the runtime under your agent. It is the computer your Claude Code or Cursor or Codex session lives on, with your credentials and your tooling. The choice is whether you want to bring your own agent or hire one of theirs.
Where Manus is strong
Manus's Cascade-style 'give it a task and walk away' is genuinely useful for one-shot research, document synthesis, and small standalone scripts. If you don't have an existing agent CLI you want to keep using and you don't need to integrate the agent into your own toolchain, the managed product is faster to start with.
Where ellul is stronger
Software engineering work where you want your agent, your tools, your model, and your credentials, all on a persistent computer that doesn't share your laptop's lifecycle. Ellul is the runtime. Pick whichever agent suits the job.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Manus | ellul | Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bring-your-own-agent | Manus's own agent only | Any CLI: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode | |
| Bring-your-own-model | Manus's hosted model stack | Yes (BYOK on every supported agent) | |
| Persistent workstation between tasks | Per-task sandbox, ephemeral | Yes (installed deps, branches, MCP servers persist) | |
| Real-credential operations | Manus-managed credentials inside their sandbox | Passkey-gated through server vault | |
| One-shot autonomous task | The strongest UX for this shape | Yes (set up an always-on agent and queue work) | |
| Tool integrations | Manus's tool catalog (curated) | MCP servers, your IDE, your CLI, your shell | |
| Parallel agents | Multiple Manus sessions, no cross-session peering | Multiple, with read-only peering | |
| Editor experience | Manus chat UI + result viewer | Browser file browser + terminal; pair with Cursor / Windsurf locally | |
| Cross-device approval | Manus's web app on any device | Yes (phone-as-keyboard for passkey approval) | |
| Open ecosystem | Closed product, no extensibility into your toolchain | Yes (runs any open or proprietary agent) | |
| Pricing transparency | Plus / Pro tiers (~$39 / $199 per month, plus credit-based usage) | Flat $20/$50 per month | |
| Best for | Generalist research, reports, one-shot tasks | Engineers integrating agents into real codebases |
Pricing
| Tier | Manus | ellul |
|---|---|---|
| Entry | Free trial → Plus ~$39/mo | $20/mo Hobby (one workstation) |
| Pro | ~$199/mo Pro tier | $50/mo Pro (parallel workstations) |
| Bring-your-own-model | No | Yes |
Verdict
Manus for one-shot autonomy on small tasks. Ellul for your agent on real codebases.
Manus is shaped like a managed result service: tell it what you want, get something back. Ellul is shaped like infrastructure: bring your own agent and tooling, run them on a persistent workstation, integrate into your real codebase. Most engineers we talk to who try both end up using Manus for occasional research and Ellul for everything that touches their actual repo.
When to use each
Use Manus when
- You want one-shot autonomous tasks (research, document drafting, small scripts) without setting anything up.
- Your work doesn't touch your real codebase, real credentials, or production infrastructure.
- You don't have an existing agent CLI you want to keep using.
- You're fine paying credit-based usage on top of subscription tiers for opaque task-level work.
Use ellul when
- Your agent needs to live in your codebase, with your real branches, your real dependencies, your real CI.
- You want bring-your-own-agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode) and bring-your-own-model.
- You want flat-rate pricing rather than usage credits.
- Privileged actions need to be gated by your passkey, not by trust in a third party's sandbox.
- You want parallel agents with structural isolation, not multiple unrelated sessions.
Common questions
Is Manus a coding agent?
It can write code, but it's a generalist agent: research, reports, document synthesis, one-shot tasks. Most coding-engineer workflows want their own agent (Claude Code, Cursor, Codex) running in their own codebase, which is the gap Ellul fills.
Can I use Manus and Ellul together?
Yes, but they don't compose like a frontend and a backend. Manus is its own stack. Ellul is your stack. Some teams use Manus for one-shot research tasks and Ellul for engineering work; the two run side by side rather than on top of each other.
Does Manus integrate with my codebase?
Manus can clone a repo into its sandbox per task. The sandbox is ephemeral: your branches, your MCP servers, your installed dependencies don't persist between tasks. That's a deliberate trade for the managed UX, not a bug; it's just a different shape from a persistent workstation.
Is Manus cheaper than Ellul?
It depends on usage. Manus's headline tier is in the same range as Ellul's Pro plan, but Manus tiers include task credits, so heavy usage adds up quickly. Ellul's pricing is flat. Your bill doesn't change with how hard your agent works.
What about data sovereignty?
Manus runs your tasks in their cloud, in their region, on their infrastructure. Ellul provisions your workstation in a region you choose, with LUKS-encrypted persistent storage and credentials that never leave your VPS. If your work is governed by data-handling rules that don't permit a managed third-party sandbox, Ellul is structurally easier to defend.
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Try it
Move your agent off your laptop.
Hobby is $20/month. Pro is $50/month. Bring any agent: Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, OpenCode.
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