Both turn a prompt into finished work. They are built for different people, and the difference that matters most is what happens after the work is made.
Manus is a general agent for knowledge work. You describe a task and it produces a report, a deck, a spreadsheet, a site. It is genuinely good at that, and developers rate it highly.
Ovam is for a business that needs to be online and answer its customers. You get a site on your own domain, hosted on infrastructure you control, and an AI agent that replies to your customers and reports to you on WhatsApp.
| Ovam | Manus | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | ₹199/mo in India · $19/mo elsewhere | $20/mo (Basic) |
| Free tier | First build free, no signup | 300 credits/day, 1,500/mo cap |
| Produces | Websites, AI agents | Reports, slides, sheets, sites, apps, media |
| Your own domain + hosting | Yes — included | No |
| Answers your customers | Yes — web chat + WhatsApp handoff | No |
| Inference API | Yes — OpenAI-compatible | API available |
| Breadth of tasks | Narrow — web presence only | Very broad |
This is the real difference, and it is not hypothetical. In December 2025 Manus was acquired by Meta for a reported ~$2 billion. In April 2026 China's NDRC blocked the completed deal and ordered it unwound. Tencent, ZhenFund and HSG bought the company back in August 2026, and Manus resumed independent operations on 1 September 2026.
During that unwinding, Manus deleted user work created on or after 29 December 2025 for users in affected regions, on a roughly 48-hour notice window, to satisfy regulators. Customers had to back up their own files.
You run a business, you want a real website on a real domain, and you want enquiries answered at 11pm without you. You would rather pay ₹199 or $19 a month for something that keeps running than buy credits for one-off tasks.
Manus facts above are from public reporting (CNBC, TechCrunch, Caixin, Manus's own blog) and manus.im/pricing, checked 11 September 2026. Prices change — verify before deciding.