# Is Manus open source? Open-source agent questions, answered

> Manus is a hosted agent that is not open source, so teams ask what they can own instead. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, skills, memory and connectors in one repo you own, self-hosted or on managed cloud.

URL: https://manus-alternative.com/faq

## Manus and open-source agents, answered

The questions teams ask before they switch.

### Is Manus open source?

No. Manus is a hosted agent from Manus AI that runs in Manus's cloud; its documentation describes a product you sign in to, not source you can clone or self-host. Kortix is the open-source alternative: the open-source AI Operating System you can run yourself.

### What is a free AI agent similar to Manus AI?

Kortix is free to self-host and free to start on its cloud, and it does the job a hosted agent does: it takes a goal, works on its own cloud computer, and hands back finished work. OpenClaw and Hermes are also free and self-hosted, and each targets a different job ([OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai), [Hermes](https://www.hermes-agent.org)). Kortix is the pick for a team that wants agents, skills and memory in one repo it owns.

### Can a team self-host a Manus alternative?

Yes. Kortix self-hosts as one Docker Compose stack on a server you control. Sessions run on a sandbox provider you connect, models run on your own keys, and session work reaches `main` through a change request a person approves.

### What do we own after the trial?

With Kortix you keep the configuration: agents and skills are Markdown, memory is files, and connectors and triggers are declared in `kortix.yaml`, all in a git repo you own. With Manus, prompts and tasks stay inside Manus's product.

### Is Kortix free?

Self-host is free. On Kortix Cloud, Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project; the team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled.

### Do I have to give up my models?

No. Any model provider with your own keys, or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for, chosen per agent, per session or per message.

## Why "is Manus open source" is not the only question

The answer to whether Manus is open source is no, and the more useful question is what your team owns after it starts using an agent. Manus runs a general agent in its own cloud: you sign in, state a goal, and it returns output ([Manus documentation](https://manus.im/docs/introduction/welcome)). Nothing in that flow is a repo you clone. Kortix takes the other route. It is the open-source AI Operating System: your agents, their skills, your company memory and every connector live in one git repo you own, and you can read the source on [Kortix on GitHub](https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna).

### What open source changes for a team

Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it. That matters most where the agent touches the business. In Kortix, connector credentials are brokered server-side and never enter the machine, and secrets are encrypted at rest with a key per project. You can inspect how both work, and the code you inspect is the code you run.

### Who each kind of agent fits

Manus fits one person who wants a long task finished without running any infrastructure. Kortix fits a team that wants the agent platform to be an asset: one repo for the agents, skills, memory and connectors, a sandbox per session, and a change request a person approves before work lands. OpenClaw and Hermes are open-source options for a personal, self-hosted agent ([OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai), [Hermes](https://www.hermes-agent.org)). The [Kortix blog](https://kortix.com/blog/open-source-manus-alternatives) compares the open-source field, and [Kortix](https://kortix.com/blog/open-source-ai-agent-platform) covers how to choose a platform your team can own.

### What it costs

Self-host is free, and you pay your own compute and model bills. On Kortix Cloud, Free is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project. The team plan is $40 per seat per month with 2,500 credits per month per seat, pooled.

## The configuration a team keeps

`kortix.yaml`

```yaml
# kortix.yaml
agents:
  support-triage:
    file: agents/support-triage.md
    connectors: all
triggers:
  - slug: daily-digest
    type: cron
    cron: '0 0 9 * * 1-5'
    prompt: Summarize yesterday's support tickets and open a change request with the digest.
```

Source: https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna

Your agents and their connectors live as files in one repo you own.