# Kortix vs Manus: the open-source agent you can own

> Manus runs only in Manus's cloud. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System you self-host, run in your VPC, or use as managed cloud, with one git repo for your agents, skills and memory. Here is how the two differ and where each fits.

URL: https://manus-alternative.com/kortix-vs-manus

## Kortix, Manus and two open-source agents, side by side

Four agents compared on what a team can run, own and reach.

| | Kortix (recommended) | Manus | OpenClaw | Hermes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Yes | No | Yes | Yes |
| Where it runs | Kortix Cloud, your VPC, or on-prem | Manus's hosted apps | Your own machine | Your own server |
| What you own | Agents, skills, memory and connectors in a repo you own | Prompts and tasks stay in Manus's product | State, memory and credentials on your hardware | Memory and skills on your own server |
| Team surface | Web, Slack, Microsoft Teams, CLI | Web, desktop and mobile apps, Slack | 20+ chat apps | Telegram, Slack, Discord, CLI |
| Plan shape | Self-host free; managed cloud per seat | Hosted plans; team tier adds SSO | Free; no hosted tier | Free and self-hosted |
| What it is | The open-source AI Operating System | A hosted general agent | A personal assistant on your machine | A self-hosted agent with memory |

Manus, OpenClaw and Hermes rows come from their own sites and repositories, checked October 2026. Verify each before you buy.

## Manus is hosted. Kortix is one you can own.

Manus is a hosted general agent: you sign in, state a goal, and it plans and executes the steps in Manus's cloud ([Manus documentation](https://manus.im/docs/introduction/welcome)). Kortix 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 each session runs on its own cloud computer.

### What a team keeps with Kortix

Four parts of the system stay on your side.

- Your configuration is a file. Agents and skills are Markdown, memory is files, and connectors and triggers are declared in `kortix.yaml`, so the whole system is text a person reads, diffs and rolls back.
- The model is a choice. Any model provider with your own keys. Or the ChatGPT plan you already pay for. Or sign in with your OpenCode Console account for OpenCode Zen and Go.
- There is a review gate. Session work reaches `main` through a change request. Merge is default-deny for agents, so a person reads the diff before it lands.
- The infrastructure is yours. Run it on Kortix Cloud, in your VPC, or on your own on-prem network. Self-host is free.

```bash
curl -fsSL https://kortix.com/install | bash
kortix init
kortix ship
```

### What Manus is built for

Manus is built for long, unsupervised web work. A browser operator drives the tabs you are already logged into, and Wide Research splits one request across many sub-agents. For one person who wants a finished report, a deck or a website without running a server, that is a reasonable trade. The limits show up when the work belongs to a team: prompts and tasks stay in Manus's product, and nothing proposes a change for a second person to approve before it counts.

### The other open-source agents

Two more open-source agents sit in the comparison table on this page. OpenClaw runs a personal assistant on your own machine and meets you in the chat apps you already use ([OpenClaw](https://openclaw.ai)). Hermes is a self-hosted agent with persistent memory and a built-in scheduler ([Hermes Agent](https://www.hermes-agent.org)). Both are free and self-hosted. Kortix is the one built for a company: one repo for the agents, skills, memory and connectors, a sandbox per session, and a review gate before work lands.

A visual workflow builder such as [n8n](https://n8n.io) fits a different job: steps a team designs on a canvas. The [Kortix blog](https://kortix.com/blog/open-source-manus-alternatives) draws that line. To go deeper on choosing a platform your team can own, [Kortix](https://kortix.com/blog/open-source-ai-agent-platform) has a companion guide. You can also read the code yourself on [Kortix on GitHub](https://github.com/kortix-ai/suna).

## Kortix and Manus, answered

### 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 a codebase you clone. Kortix is the open-source alternative.

### What is the main difference between Kortix and Manus?

Manus executes a goal for you in its own cloud. Kortix is the open-source AI Operating System you self-host or run as managed cloud, with your agents, skills and memory in a git repo you own and a change request before work lands.

### Can I self-host Kortix?

Yes. Self-hosting is free: the platform runs as one Docker Compose stack on your own server, sessions run on a sandbox provider you connect, and models run on your own keys.

### Does Kortix lock me into a model?

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

### Is there a free way to try Kortix?

Yes. Free on Kortix Cloud is $0 with 200 credits per month and 1 project, and self-host is free on your own infrastructure.