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Manus Alternative

Is Manus open source? Kortix is open source, and self-host is free

No. Manus is a hosted product, and its terms keep all rights to the service itself. Kortix is open source: your agents, skills, memory and connectors live in one git repo you own. Self-host is free.

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What your team owns is a file in its repo

kortix.yaml
# kortix.yamltriggers:  - 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

From the Kortix README, the schedule and the prompt for a scheduled agent are plain text in kortix.yaml.

Who owns what, side by side

Four platforms, four answers to who holds the code, the configuration and the memory.

Open source

  • KortixOpen source. Read it, fork it, audit it.
  • ManusNo. Terms retain all rights to the service.
  • OpenManusYes. A separate community agent framework, not Manus.
  • AgenticSeekYes. A community project you run yourself.

Self-host

Where the configuration lives

What your team owns

  • KortixAgents, skills, memory, connectors and triggers.
  • ManusYour content; the service stays Manus's.
  • OpenManusThe framework's code and your setup.
  • AgenticSeekYour code, files and conversations.

Models

  • KortixAny model provider with your own keys.
  • ManusThe models Manus offers.
  • OpenManusThe LLM APIs you configure.
  • AgenticSeekLocal models or API keys you choose.

Who runs the agents

Fits

  • KortixA team that wants one platform it owns.
  • ManusHosted work with no setup.
  • OpenManusA developer building an agent framework.
  • AgenticSeekA user who wants a local, private assistant.

Is Manus open source?

Manus is a hosted AI agent you reach through a browser, desktop or mobile app, and it is not open source. Manus's own terms of service retain "all rights, title, and interest" in the service, including "the skills, expertise, and methods used to provide the service" (Manus terms). Its documentation describes deployments running with "all hosting and infrastructure managed by Manus" (Manus docs). There is no public source repository to read, fork or audit, and no install that runs on your own machine. The projects often named beside it, such as OpenManus and AgenticSeek, are separate community builds, not Manus.

What open source means for a platform you run agents on

For an AI Operating System, open source answers one question: can you read the code that runs your company, fork it, and run it somewhere you control? Kortix is open source, and the answer is the repository. Your agents, the skills they share, your company memory, and every connector live in one git repo you own (Kortix docs). You can run that platform on Kortix Cloud, in your own VPC, or on your own on-prem network, and self-host is free (Kortix). A hosted agent makes the opposite trade: nothing to install, and the platform, the configuration and the accumulated state stay on the vendor's side.

What your team owns, and what a hosted agent keeps

Kortix treats the parts of an AI Operating System as files. An agent is agents/<name>.md plus an agents.<name> block in kortix.yaml, and skills, memory and connector configuration are files too, versioned and reviewable. On a hosted agent such as Manus, the same parts live inside the product: you get the work product, and Manus keeps the agent, its configuration and the memory it built up. Manus's terms confirm the split, naming "Your Content" as yours while the Company retains "all rights, title, and interest" in the Services themselves (Manus terms).

The open-source projects named as Manus alternatives

OpenManus and AgenticSeek are open source and self-hostable, and neither of them is Manus. OpenManus is a from-scratch agent framework by contributors from MetaGPT, built so you "can achieve any idea without an Invite Code" (OpenManus). AgenticSeek calls itself "a 100% local alternative to Manus AI" and keeps "all data on your device" (AgenticSeek). Each is a framework you install and run yourself with the models you supply, rather than a managed platform for a whole company. Compare the open-source alternatives by what each one lets you own.

How to move when ownership is the deciding factor

If a hosted agent is where your work lives and ownership is now the question, the move is to a platform whose code, configuration and memory you can take with you. Kortix self-hosts as one Docker Compose stack, built from the same images the managed cloud runs (Kortix self-hosted). Start with one job, on Kortix Cloud or on your own box, and grow from there. See how Kortix self-hosts, or compare the alternatives before you decide.

Questions about Manus, ownership and open source

  1. Is Manus open source?

    No. Manus is a hosted product, and its terms retain all rights to the service itself while you keep your own content (Manus terms). The open-source projects named as Manus alternatives, such as OpenManus, are separate community builds.

  2. Can you self-host Manus?

    No. Manus's own documentation describes deployment with "all hosting and infrastructure managed by Manus" (Manus docs). There is no Manus install to run on your own machine.

  3. Is Kortix open source?

    Yes. Open source. Read it, fork it, audit it. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System, and self-host is free (Kortix).

  4. What can a team own on Kortix that a hosted agent keeps?

    On Kortix your agents, skills, company memory and connector configuration are files in one git repo you own (Kortix docs). A hosted agent keeps that configuration and the accumulated memory inside its own product.

  5. Does an open-source Manus clone replace Manus?

    Projects like OpenManus and AgenticSeek are frameworks you install and run yourself, with the models and API keys you supply (OpenManus, AgenticSeek). They are not the hosted Manus product, and they do not run a company's connectors, permissions or audit for you.

Run your company from one repo you own.

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Open source · Any model, your keys · Self-host, VPC, or on-prem