Free AI agents compared: Genspark, Manus, Felo and 7 more

The guide frames the problem around a common workplace squeeze: employees are asked to try AI agents before a budget is approved, but free credits can run out mid-test. It splits free offerings into three types — SaaS free plans with usage caps, open-source self-hosted versions, and free trials — and warns that trials are unsuitable for long verification since they switch to paid after a set period or usage.

A central point is that a generous free allowance does not guarantee safer data handling. The comparison table notes that Genspark's individual-plan training policy is not clearly stated, Coze's handling of individual data is not officially specified, and GitHub Copilot's Free plan shifted to using interactions for training by default from April 24, 2026, though this can be turned off. Manus says it has a contract with model providers not to train on data, Felo and ChatGPT Work let users disable training use in settings, and Cursor offers a privacy mode.

The guide also gives a three-step verification method: narrow the task to one, test two candidate tools on the same task, and compare time saved against the paid plan's monthly fee. It cautions that output must be checked by a person, especially numbers, proper nouns and source URLs, and that verification and correction time should be recorded, since reduced work time can be offset by added checking effort.