In summary:
- PCWorld reports that Meta’s Manus AI has added Telegram integration, mirroring a key feature already available in the competing OpenClaw AI tool.
- This development matters as it highlights the growing competition between paid cloud-based AI services and free open-source alternatives for personal AI assistance.
- Manus AI costs $40/month and integrates with Meta platforms, while OpenClaw runs locally for free with broader social app support including Discord and iMessage.
From one perspective, the viral OpenClaw AI tool and Meta’s Manus AI service couldn’t be more different. One is open-source, the other is a closed commercial product. One runs on your local hardware, the other runs in the cloud. One can be operated for free with the right hardware, while the other’s going to cost you.
Looked at from a different angle, OpenClaw and Manus AI can perform many of the same tricks, including deploying AI agents to do your bidding, organizing your inbox, building apps from the simplest of prompts, and even browsing the web for you.
Now Manus AI has a new trick up its sleeves that makes it even more like OpenClaw: an integration with Telegram, meaning you can chat with Manus on your phone using the popular mobile app.
The ability to use standard social messaging apps is one of the killer features of OpenClaw, the open-source AI sensation whose creator was just snapped up by OpenAI.
OpenClaw gives you a variety of “social” channels for chatting with your personal agent. In addition to Telegram, OpenClaw also supports WhatsApp, Discord, iMessage, and Slack.
For now, Telegram is the only such social channel that works with Manus, with the company marketing the feature as “Manus Agents.” More platforms are “coming soon,” Manus says.
You can direct your Manus Agent in Telegram to perform such multi-step tasking as running deep research reports, check the inboxes of your connected email accounts, and even build apps, with the agent spawning sub-agents if the need arises.
Manus AI vs OpenClaw
That all sounds very OpenClaw-like, and indeed, on a surface level, Manus AI feels a lot like OpenClaw in the cloud.
Yet as I mentioned earlier, Manus AI and OpenClaw are also very different, starting with the fact that Manus AI was acquired by Meta in December 2025.
Founded in 2022 in Beijing before moving to Singapore last year, Manus AI has always been a commercial venture, with roots in the financial and travel sectors before pivoting into personal AI agent territory.
At the time of its December 2025 acquisition of Manus, Meta had already promised to integrate Manus agents into its own social services, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
But the explosive growth of OpenClaw, which started off as a personal AI project by Australian developer Peter Steinberger (now an OpenAI employee), may have spurred Manus to get the Telegram integration out the door more quickly. (Interestingly, Telegram is not a Meta-owned messaging app.)
Another major difference between Manus AI and OpenClaw is that Manus lives in the cloud, meaning you’ll need to trust Manus and its parent, Meta, with your data. OpenClaw, on the other hand, lives on your local hardware, which comes with its own set of benefits (privacy and control) as well as risks (it can do anything on your system that you can).
Finally, Manus AI is a paid product, with plans starting at $40 a month for 8,000 Manus credits–which, as I discovered during a free trial, can run out quickly when running advanced projects such as app building. A $200/month Manus plan gets you 40,000 credits.
OpenClaw, on the other hand, is free, although you’re on your own when it comes to supplying–and paying for–AI power. You could potentially use OpenClaw completely free with a local LLM or a free OpenRouter model, but the best results will come from using a large cloud LLM like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini via an API.
Author: Ben Patterson, Senior Writer, PCWorld
Ben has been writing about consumer technology for more than 20 years, and now focuses his reporting on AI as it relates to the basic human experience. His coverage of artificial intelligence interrogates the latest LLMs, and how they can be used at work and at home to be best prepared for the AI revolution. “AI is going to change our lives sooner than we think,” Ben writes. “Our best way to adapt is by using it every day.” Ben has been a PCWorld author since 2014, and has covered everything from laptops to security cameras before launching PCWorld’s AI beat. Ben's articles have also appeared in PC Magazine, TIME, Wired, CNET, Men's Fitness, Mobile Magazine, and more. Ben holds a master's degree in English literature.