Salesforce and Manus Show the High Cost of Agents

The unexpected popularity of Manus, a so-called computer-using AI that takes over a person’s web browser to execute tasks like travel booking and stock analysis, has put the Chinese startup behind it in a bind. The firm’s ability to meet demand for the product, also known as an agent, is limited both by its server capacity and, more importantly, by its operating costs. 

Manus uses Anthropic’s AI models and pays Anthropic $2 per task on average, according to two people with direct knowledge of the situation. Despite that, Manus isn’t charging users yet.

The $2 cost figure stood out to us, as it’s the same figure Salesforce charges its customers for each customer service task that its Agentforce agent—which is partly powered by OpenAI models—completes. (And perhaps not surprisingly, Salesforce is feeling pressure to make Agentforce pricing more flexible due to customer concerns about its performance and cost, Kevin reported last week.) 

Manus is keeping its costs down by offering the product on an invitation-only basis. Manus said in a post on X on Wednesday that it has 2 million people on the waiting list for invitation codes, adding that it is “working around the clock” to make the product available to more users.