LangChain (framework)
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.
At a glance
- Type
- LLM orchestration framework
- Tier
- T1
- Created
- 2022
- Latest release
- searched not found
- License
- MIT (OSS framework)
- GitHub
- searched not found
- Pricing
- searched not found
- Funding
- LangChain Inc raised $25M Series A 2024-02 (Sequoia led; $200M valuation rumored); ~$110M total per later rounds 2024-2025.
Taxonomy
- storage
- n/a
- retrieval
- n/a
- persistence
- n/a
- update
- n/a
- unit
- n/a
- governance
- n/a
- conflict
- n/a
When to use
Optimised for: searched not found
Anti-fit: searched not found
Pros & cons
Pros
searched not found
Cons
searched not found
Claims & capabilities
$100M Series B at $1.1B (Feb 2025, IVP led); 110k+ stars; LangSmith eval/observability is the commercial wedge.
Technical surface
- API surface
- searched not found
- Backend storage
- not applicable — not a memory product
- Deployment
- searched not found
- Embedding model
- not applicable — not a memory product
- Multi-tenancy
- searched not found
- MCP
- searched not found
- A2A
- searched not found
- OpenTelemetry
- searched not found
Compare LangChain (framework) with…
Similar systems
Other agent frameworks (no first-party memory layer) in the catalog, ranked by inbound references.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP spec) T1
Anthropic-introduced open protocol (Nov 2024) for connecting LLMs to data sources and tools. Now standard across Anthropic, OpenAI, Microsoft, Cursor, Continue, IDEs, etc.
- LangGraph (orchestration) T1
LangChain's stateful graph runtime for agents — explicit state, persistence, time-travel debugging, human-in-the-loop. Memory is one persistence target (LangGraph Persistence cross-listed).
- LlamaIndex (framework) T1
Data framework for LLM apps — connectors, indices, query engines, agents, workflows. Memory is one of many subsystems (LlamaIndex Memory cross-listed).
- OpenAI Swarm (deprecated) T4
OpenAI Swarm — experimental educational multi-agent framework released Oct 2024; deprecated in favour of the OpenAI Agents SDK in Mar 2025.
- Strands Agents (AWS) T3
AWS-released open-source agent framework — released March 2025; model-driven, simple Agent abstraction. Predecessor of AWS Agent SDK / Bedrock AgentCore.
- Agency Swarm T3
Agent framework built on OpenAI Assistants API — agencies (roles + comm flow); replaced after Assistants v2 changes.
Related systems
Referenced by (13)
- ArangoDB integrates with — ArangoGraphML for ML pipelines; LangChain integration.
- AWS Bedrock AgentCore Memory integrates with — Native integrations with LangChain/LangGraph and Strands.
- Dgraph integrates with — Google Gen AI Toolbox integration; LangChain agent orchestration.
- Flowise Memory integrates with — LangChain-native memory nodes (Buffer, Buffer Window, Conversation Summary Buffer)
- Flowise Memory depends on at runtime — Visual LangChain canvas. LangChain-native memory nodes (Buffer, Buffer Window, Conversation Summary B
- LangMem (LangChain) depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: requires LangChain / LangGraph; BYO LLM + store
- LangSmith integrates with — Best integration with the LangChain / LangGraph stack — debug memory + chain + agent in one trace
- LangSmith depends on at runtime — backend-storage cell: custom (LangChain-managed)
- Memgraph integrates with — Memgraph 3.0 adds native vector search alongside graph traversal. LangChain toolkit.
- pgvector integrates with — Used as agent conversation memory via LangChain + MCP.
- pgvector depends on at runtime — conversation memory via LangChain + MCP. Foundation of Supabase AI and many self-hosted RAG s
- Phidata / Agno competes with — soning. Lightweight alternative to LangChain. ~25k+ stars combined Phidata + Agno repos. Mozilla Venture
- Steamship depends on at runtime — adjacent-infrastructure cell: LangChain (deep integration); Heroku-style PaaS heritage; YC alumni network