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A Manus alternative for everyday jobs
Manus is built to make finished things, like websites, slides, games and videos; Sochen is built for everyday jobs: it has its own cloud computer too, and it also talks with you on the phone, calls businesses for you, watches videos, splits bills with UPI QR codes, and is priced in rupees in India. Sochen is $5 to try for 7 days; Manus’s paid plans start at $20 a month.
7 days of Plus for $5, then a monthly plan if you want one. Nothing renews on its own.
Side by side
| Sochen | Manus | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 7 days for $5, then a monthly plan. Plus is ₹999 a month in India. | Free: 300 credits a day, up to 1,500 a month. Paid: $20, $40 or $200 a month (4,000, 8,000 or 40,000 credits), plus 300 a day. |
| In India | ✓Built in India: plans in rupees, bill splits with UPI QR codes, Indian bank statements; English, Hindi and Hinglish. | Plans priced in US dollars on its pricing page. |
| Its own computer | Yes: a cloud desktop with Chrome, live in the chat, and you can take over any time. | Yes: a cloud computer with a browser and VS Code you can take over. A dedicated Cloud Computer can be bought for projects that must stay up. |
| Works on your own devices | No: it works on its own computer, so yours can be off. | ✓Yes: Browser Operator works in your own browser with your logins, and Computer Use works on your computer, even from your phone. |
| What it makes | Documents, spreadsheets and PDFs; trips on a map; bill splits with UPI QR codes. | ✓Documents, spreadsheets, PDFs and slides, plus websites, code, games and videos, with editors for video and games. |
| Runs on its own | Schedules, and Heads-ups: checks your things twice a day, look-up only, and speaks up only when something needs you. | Scheduled tasks (2 on the free plan, 20 on paid), and Automations that start when something happens, like a new email or a Slack message. |
| Phone | You can call it, it can ring you, and it calls US businesses for you, saying it's an AI. 2 free calls of up to 3 minutes to try it. | Not described for Manus itself. Its new Cue app (early access, by invite) gives each agent a phone number, and it can take your calls. |
| Watches videos | Yes: YouTube links and uploads up to 500 MB, with timestamps you can tap. | Not described on the Manus pages we read. |
| Model | Your choice: Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek and more (every model on paid plans), or your own. | Manus's own agent; free accounts get its Lite version in agent mode. |
Checked 30 Sep 2026 on Manus’s pricing page, help center and Manus 2.0 announcement. Plans and features change; check there for the latest.
Where Manus is ahead
Finished work you can publish
Manus Studio makes websites, slides, games and videos, with a timeline editor for video and a game editor, and can publish a site or a game at a link.It can work on your own machine
Browser Operator works in the browser you already use, with your logins; Computer Use works on your computer, and you can drive it from your phone.Automations that start on events
A new email, a calendar event, a Slack message or a Notion update can start a task. Sochen runs on schedules and its twice-daily Heads-ups.A free allowance every day
300 credits each day you log in (up to 1,500 a month on the free plan), and paid plans run 20 tasks at once.
Questions
Is Sochen as capable as Manus?+
For building things, no: Manus makes websites, slides, games and videos, and can work in your own browser and on your computer. Sochen is built for everyday jobs: it talks with you on the phone and calls businesses, watches videos, splits bills with UPI QR codes, reads Indian bank statements, and warns you before things go wrong.
Can I pay in rupees?+
Yes. Sochen prices its plans in rupees in India: Plus is ₹999 a month and Pro ₹4,999. Every account starts with a 7-day trial of Plus for one payment of $5 (₹199 in India). It never renews: after 7 days you pick a plan if you want to keep going. The free tools at sochen.dev/tools need no account at all.
Does Sochen act without asking?+
No. It asks before anything is paid, ordered, booked, sent or deleted, and shows exactly what will happen first. It hands you the keyboard for passwords and codes and never types them itself.
Can I use both?+
Yes. Nothing stops you from building a site or a deck with Manus and handing Sochen the phone calls, videos and bills.
More that Sochen does
Hand off the errands. Keep the final say.
7 days for $5, nothing renews, and plans in rupees in India.