Which agent framework should I use?

Answer a few questions and get three picks from 151 catalogued agent frameworks, orchestration platforms and code sandboxes. Every reason is a catalogued fact with its source. Picks are ranked on fit; GitHub stars only break ties. Archived and shut-down systems are left out, and only one product per vendor is recommended. Where the catalog can't confirm a must-have, the system goes under might fit.

What do you need?
Language
Where should it run?
Must-haves

Top picks

1 LangChain (framework) Agent frameworks (no first-party memory layer)

Dominant Python/JS framework for LLM apps — tool calling, agents, retrievers, runnables. Memory is one component (LangMem cross-listed); the framework itself is the product.

  • SDKs: Python, TypeScript↗
  • Licence: MIT (OSS framework)↗
  • Deployment: Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — OSS library; agents deploy to LangSmith Deployment (cloud, hybrid or self-hosted)↗
  • MCP: yes — MCP client tools via MCPAdapter in langchain.mcp (langchain[mcp] 1.4+, beta; successor to langchain-mcp-adapters)↗
  • Recently released: v1.4.7 (2026-10-21)↗
  • Adoption (tiebreaker): langchain-ai/langchain — ~149k stars, last commit 2026-10↗

Alternatives · What it works with

2 CrewAI Agent frameworks (no first-party memory layer)

Multi-agent framework — Crews (sequential) + Flows (event-driven). Open-source core + CrewAI Enterprise. Memory available via Mem0 / Letta adapters (CrewAI Memory cross-listed).

  • SDKs: Python↗
  • Licence: MIT↗
  • Deployment: Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — OSS library; CrewAI AMP on CrewAI cloud, your VPC or own infra↗
  • MCP: yes — official MCP support in CrewAI agents↗
  • Pricing: free (OSS); AMP Basic free (50 workflow executions/mo); Enterprise custom↗
  • Recently released: v1.15.30 (2026-10-24)↗
  • Adoption (tiebreaker): crewAIInc/crewAI — ~58.6k stars, last commit 2026-10↗

Alternatives · What it works with

3 LlamaIndex (framework) Agent frameworks (no first-party memory layer)

Data framework for LLM apps — connectors, indices, query engines, agents, workflows. Memory is one of many subsystems (LlamaIndex Memory cross-listed).

  • SDKs: Python, TypeScript↗
  • Licence: MIT↗
  • Deployment: Both (self-hosted + managed cloud) — OSS library; LlamaAgents workflows deploy to LlamaCloud or self-host↗
  • MCP: yes — use MCP server tools in workflows and serve LlamaIndex workflows as MCP servers↗
  • Recently released: v0.14.25 (2026-09-21)↗
  • Adoption (tiebreaker): run-llama/llama_index — ~53k stars, last commit 2026-10↗

Alternatives · What it works with

Also consider

32 systems considered · 3 ruled out by your must-haves or because they're archived / shut down.

Compare side by side

CompareSystemSelf-hostManagedOpen sourceMCPGitHub ★Latest releaseLicence
LangChain (framework)✓✓✓✓149k2026-10-21MIT (OSS framework)
CrewAI✓✓✓✓59k2026-10-24MIT
LlamaIndex (framework)✓✓✓✓53k2026-09-21MIT
LangGraph (orchestration)✓✓✓✓44k2026-10-26MIT
OpenAI Agents SDK✓✓✓✓30k2026-10-15MIT
Vercel AI SDK✓✓✓✓28k2026-10-26Apache-2.0
Haystack (framework)✓✓✓✓27k2026-10-21Apache-2.0
AutoGen / AG2✓✓✓✓4.9k2026-10-21Apache-2.0
smolagents (Hugging Face)✓✓✓✓30k2026-05-29Apache-2.0
Mastra✓✓✓✓29k2026-10-21Apache-2.0 (code under ee/…
Pydantic-AI✓✓✓✓21k2026-10-27MIT
Microsoft Semantic Kernelmaintenance✓✓✓✓29k2026-10-06MIT
Eliza (ai16z)✓✓✓✓20k2026-01-19MIT
Strands Agents (AWS)✓✓✓✓9.0k2026-10-21Apache-2.0
Agency Swarm✓✓✓✓4.6k2026-08-03MIT
Burr (DAGWorks)✓✓✓?2.6k2026-08-25Apache-2.0
Sema4.ai✓✓✓✓6502025-12-17Apache 2.0 (Robocorp framework)
Dify✓?✓✓160k2026-10-26Dify Open Source License…
Langflow✓?✓✓156k2026-10-22MIT
DSPy✓?✓?39k2026-10-25MIT
Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)✓?✓✓22k2026-10-25Apache-2.0
CAMEL✓?✓✓18k2026-10-19Apache-2.0
Microsoft Agent Framework✓?✓✓14k2026-10-24MIT
Claude Agent SDK✓?✓✓8.3k2026-10-24MIT
Genkit✓?✓✓6.5k2026-10-23Apache-2.0
BeeAI Framework✓?✓✓3.4k2026-10-23Apache-2.0
Phidata (now Agno)✓✓✓✓43k2026-10-23Apache-2.0
Marvin✓✓✓?6.2k2026-03-04Apache-2.0
CrewAI Enterprise (now CrewAI AMP)✓✓—✓59kproprietary (CrewAI AMP); MIT…

✓ confirmed · — no · ? not in the catalog yet. Hover a cell for the catalogued text. Already using some of these? Check your stack.