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Side-by-side comparison · Automation & Workflows

Make vs Manus vs Bardeen

Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.

Best overall

Make

4.3

From From $9/mo

Manus

3.7

From From $20/mo

Bardeen

3.3

From From $10/mo

Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.

At a glance

Make

4.3
Best overallBest value

Pick it if: Marketers and operators who've outgrown simple automations and want to see what their workflows are doing.

Manus

3.7
Easiest to use

Pick it if: People who want to hand off whole tasks and don't want to build the automation themselves.

Bardeen

3.3

Pick it if: Salespeople, recruiters and founders who spend hours copying contact details out of websites.

Overview

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
In one lineDraw automations as a flowchart, with branches and loops, for less than Zapier charges.A general-purpose agent that takes a goal and works through it in its own browser.Pulls leads off websites like LinkedIn into a spreadsheet or CRM, then enriches them.
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemiumFreemium
Starting priceFrom $9/moFrom $20/moFrom $10/mo
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Works with Claude Code Yes Yes No

Rating breakdown

Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Overall rating4.3Winner3.73.3
Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it.
4.0
4.5
3.5
FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together.
4.5
4.0
3.0
Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them.
4.5
3.5
3.5
Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan.
4.5
3.0
3.5
Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over.
4.0
3.5
3.0

Feature comparison

A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Access & platform
Free plan Yes Yes Yes
Mobile app– Yes No
Desktop app No Yes No
Browser extension Yes Yes Yes
API access Yes Yes–
Teams & business
Team workspace Yes Yes Yes
Enterprise plan or SSO Yes Yes Yes
Connects to other apps Yes Yes Yes
Open source or self-hosted No No No
AI abilities
Works with your files Yes Yes–
Understands images– Yes–
Makes images No Yes No
Makes video No Yes No
Writes code No Yes No
Runs agents or automations Yes Yes Yes
Learns your brand or style No No No
Works in many languages Yes Yes–
Capabilities score9/ 1715/ 176/ 17

Pricing

Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Plans

Free

Free

Learning the canvas and running a couple of light scenarios.

Free

Free

Quick questions and seeing what it can do.

Free

Free

Trying a scrape or two.

CoreOur pick

From $9/mo billed yearly

One person automating a small business.

ProOur pick

From $20/mo, less with yearly billing

Anyone who wants to hand off real research and build jobs.

Basic

From $10/mo

Occasional prospecting.

Pro

From $16/mo billed yearly

Anyone whose automations have become business-critical.

Pro (higher tier)

From $40/mo, less with yearly billing

Heavier users and anyone publishing websites with it.

PremiumOur pick

$50/mo, or $480/yr

A salesperson prospecting every week.

Teams

From $29/mo billed yearly

A team sharing scenarios and connections.

Team

From $20/seat/mo

Teams that want shared credits and admin controls.

Enterprise

Custom

Teams that want scrapers built and maintained for them.

Enterprise

Custom

Companies that need SSO, audit logs and an uptime guarantee.

Enterprise

Custom

Large organisations.

Which plan to pickCore is enough for most small businesses, and 10,000 credits goes a long way when routers and error handlers are free. Move to Pro if a failed run costs you money and you want priority execution and better logs.Try the Free plan for a week to get a feel for how many credits a real task uses, then move to the $20 Pro tier. Only go higher if you run out most months or you want it to publish websites for you.Start free to confirm it can read the sites you care about. If prospecting is a weekly job, Premium is the sensible tier; the Basic plan runs out of credits quickly once you add enrichment.

Key features

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Standout features
  • Visual canvas
  • Routers, filters and iterators
  • Run history you can replay
  • AI Agents
  • Make Grid
  • HTTP and webhooks
  • Autonomous agent
  • Wide Research
  • Slides, websites and docs
  • Scheduled automations
  • My Browser
  • Mobile and desktop apps
  • AI scraper
  • Contact enrichment
  • Lead scoring
  • Sheet and CRM export
  • Premium scrapers

Pros and cons

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Pros
  • Much cheaper per step than Zapier
  • Branching, loops and filters are built in, not bolted on
  • Run history shows exactly what happened at every step
  • Routers and error handlers do not use credits
  • Generous free plan for learning
  • You describe the result, not the steps
  • Strong at research, reports and first-draft decks
  • Scheduled tasks turn it into a hands-off research assistant
  • Apps for phone, desktop and browser
  • Gets data off web pages that no official integration can reach
  • Scrape, enrich and score in one place
  • No code or CSS selectors needed
  • A free tier that lets you test it properly
Cons
  • Steeper learning curve than Zapier, especially around data mapping
  • Credit usage is hard to predict until you have run a scenario for a while
  • Fewer apps than Zapier, and some apps have thin coverage
  • Pricing page is hard to read, and the headline prices assume yearly billing
  • Credits are hard to predict and one big task can drain the monthly allowance
  • Output needs checking, and it can waste credits on dead ends
  • Not suited to automations that must run the same way every time
  • Few direct app connections compared with the automation tools
  • Pricing page does not load without JavaScript, so plan details are hard to confirm
  • Runs in your browser, so you are usually tied to your desk while it works
  • Scrapers break when websites change their layout
  • Credits are tight and expire at the end of each period
  • It has dropped most of its general automation features
  • Scraping LinkedIn at volume can get your account restricted

Who each one is for

AttributeMakeManusBardeen
Best for
  • Multi-step marketing workflows
  • Branching logic and filters
  • Processing batches of records
  • Automation on a budget
  • Multi-step research with a report at the end
  • Lead lists and data gathering
  • Scheduled recurring tasks
  • Quick prototypes and slide decks
  • Scraping LinkedIn and directories
  • Getting prospect lists into a CRM
  • Finding emails and phone numbers
  • Scoring leads against your ideal customer
You'll find it used by
  • Marketers
  • Ops teams
  • Agencies
  • Consultants
  • Founders
  • Marketers
  • Researchers
  • Consultants
  • Sales teams
  • Recruiters
  • Founders
  • Agencies

How we compare

Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.

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