Not sure if pain is the correct word. It all comes down to how you value your time and/or general human laziness.
You have to fill the hose. This takes about 5 seconds. You hold the hose up to a return, and wait for air bubbles to stop out of the head. Then you leave the hose free end underwater, while dragging it over towards the skimmer. (If you have no return near the skimmer, then this does become a pain). Then quickly pull the free end out of the pool, and plug into skimmer. Then take 15-45 minutes to manually vacuum the pool depending on size and how much debris. During this time, you prefer no one to be in the pool, as this task is way easier if the surface is flat water, not waves from wind or people jumping around. And you either need to do this a couple times per week, or deal with small amounts of debris sitting on the bottom.
Personally I enjoy manual vacuuming, as it is sort of relaxing. I put in my ear buds, and listen to a podcast while doing the chore. I fully admit that I have a decent amount of free time, and comparatively few time specific requirements outsider of work.
When I built my pool, I had a spare line plumbed, that is not hooked up at the pump end, so I could make either suction or return if I needed it. And I have thought about a robot, but have not been able to justify the cost. But again, this is based upon a chore that I do not hate, and my time allowing for it. If you had 5 kids, and there was no pandemic where you were constantly running to soccer times, baseball times, gymnastics, etc, then my view would change.