OpenAI Agents SDK ranks #2 of 16 in our ai agent frameworks testing. minimal, clean and production-ready — despite the name.
89/100
the productionised successor to swarm: a tight event-loop with handoffs, guardrails and built-in tracing that ships fast and reads cleanly. thinner on durability than langgraph, but you can bolt temporal on.
why people look for an alternative
−no native durable execution (pair with temporal)
−leans toward openai's own apis
−lighter state story than langgraph
stay with OpenAI Agents SDK if minimal, readable, fast to ship is the thing you care about most — nothing below beats it on that.
#1 in ai agent frameworks · the most production-proven stateful-agent runtime
92/100
verdictthe thing serious teams build on: a low-level graph runtime with real durability and human-in-the-loop, 1.0-stable, and proven at production scale. steeper to learn, but it earns it.
LangGraph vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
LangGraph
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + js/ts
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
graph / state machine
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
yes (checkpointers)
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch forteams that need durable state, human-in-the-loop and fine-grained control
pros
+genuine durable state, hitl and retries via checkpointers
#3 in ai agent frameworks · type-safe agents from the team that validates half of python ai
88/100
verdictthe type-safety pick: v1-stable, native temporal durable execution and opentelemetry built in, from the team whose library underpins most python ai. younger multi-agent story than the leaders.
Pydantic AI vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Pydantic AI
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
typed agent + graph
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
yes (native temporal)
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch forpython teams that want typed, validated agent outputs and clean observability
pros
+best type-safety and structured outputs in python
+v1 stable with native temporal durable execution
+opentelemetry/logfire tracing and first-class mcp
#4 in ai agent frameworks · code-first, ga, enterprise deploy — with gemini gravity
86/100
verdicta clean, ga code-first framework with strong multi-agent orchestration and a real enterprise deploy story on vertex — model-agnostic via litellm, but at its best on gemini and gcp.
Google ADK vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Google ADK
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — Apache-2.0 (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + java
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
agent + workflow agents
license
MIT
Apache-2.0
durable execution
via temporal integration
via vertex agent engine
provider lock-in
cross-provider
model-agnostic (litellm)
switch forteams building multi-agent systems that will deploy on google cloud
#5 in ai agent frameworks · the exact harness that runs claude code, as a library
85/100
verdictthe best-in-class tool-using autonomous loop, because it's literally what runs claude code — with context management no one else matches. the trade-off is deliberate: claude-only.
Claude Agent SDK vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Claude Agent SDK
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + typescript
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
autonomous tool loop
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
context mgmt, not durable state
provider lock-in
cross-provider
claude-only
switch forautonomous agents that use files, commands and code with long-running context
pros
+unmatched for file/command/code-using autonomous agents
#6 in ai agent frameworks · the fastest 'team of agents' mental model, now standalone
83/100
verdictthe most intuitive role-based framework, now free of its old langchain dependency, with flows for when you need determinism. great ergonomics; fine-grained control is the newer part.
CrewAI vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
CrewAI
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
role-based crews + flows
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
flow persistence
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch forteams that think naturally in roles and want agents collaborating on tasks
pros
+fastest role-based 'team of agents' model
+now standalone — dropped the langchain dependency
+large community; flows add deterministic control
cons
−autonomous crews hard to make deterministic at scale
−fine-grained control lives in newer flows
−durability weaker than langgraph/temporal-backed tools
#7 in ai agent frameworks · the ga successor that merged autogen and semantic kernel
81/100
verdictthe official convergence of autogen and semantic kernel — 1.0 ga, the only serious first-class .net agent framework — but young as a merged product and heavy on azure gravity.
Microsoft Agent Framework vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Microsoft Agent Framework
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + .net
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
agent + workflow orchestration
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
azure-backed
provider lock-in
cross-provider
multi-provider (azure-deepest)
switch for.net shops and azure-centric enterprises building orchestrated agent fleets
pros
+only serious first-class .net agent framework
+official 1.0 ga successor to autogen + semantic kernel
#8 in ai agent frameworks · model-driven, ga, and already running inside aws services
80/100
verdicta clean, model-driven framework that's genuinely production-used inside aws, ga at 1.0 with four multi-agent primitives — model-agnostic, but with the expected aws pull.
AWS Strands Agents vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
AWS Strands Agents
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — Apache-2.0 (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + typescript
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
model-driven loop
license
MIT
Apache-2.0
durable execution
via temporal integration
remote session manager
provider lock-in
cross-provider
model-agnostic
switch foraws-centric teams that want a model-first loop with native multi-agent primitives
pros
+genuinely production-used inside aws services
+ga 1.0 with four native multi-agent primitives
+model-agnostic — swap backends without code changes
#9 in ai agent frameworks · the right pick when the agent is rag- and data-heavy
78/100
verdictan event-driven, 1.0-stable workflow runtime sitting on the strongest rag stack — the natural choice when retrieval, not orchestration, is the hard part of your agent.
LlamaIndex Workflows vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
LlamaIndex Workflows
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — MIT (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python + typescript
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
event-driven steps
license
MIT
MIT
durable execution
via temporal integration
workflow persistence
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch foragents whose core job is retrieval over your own data
#10 in ai agent frameworks · fast, full-stack, now framework-agnostic — after a churny v2
76/100
verdicta high-performance, batteries-included library with a genuinely novel framework-agnostic runtime — but the breaking v2 rewrite and the phidata rename hurt its stability story.
Agno vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Agno
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — Apache-2.0 (open source)
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
python
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
agent + team + agentos
license
MIT
Apache-2.0
durable execution
via temporal integration
agentos runtime
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch forteams wanting a fast, batteries-included runtime that can host other frameworks' agents
pros
+very fast, batteries-included
+novel framework-agnostic agentos runtime
+teams and workflows for multi-agent
cons
−v2 was a breaking rewrite requiring migration
−phidata rename plus v2 churn hurt stability perception
#11 in ai agent frameworks · the most complete typescript-native agent framework
75/100
verdictthe batteries-included choice for typescript: workflows with suspend/resume, memory, evals and a dev playground, with excellent dx. younger and smaller than the python leaders.
Mastra vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK
Mastra
price
free — MIT (open source)
free — Apache-2.0 core
free tier
yes
yes
language
python + typescript
typescript
core abstraction
event loop + handoffs
agent + workflow
license
MIT
Apache-2.0 core (+ commercial ee/)
durable execution
via temporal integration
workflow suspend/resume
provider lock-in
cross-provider
cross-provider
switch fortypescript teams that want agents, workflows, memory and evals in one place
pros
+most complete typescript-first agent framework
+workflows with suspend/resume, memory and evals
+excellent developer experience and dev playground
every tool on this page went through the same test as OpenAI Agents SDK — same tasks, same order, scored the same way. the comparison tables are the figures from that testing, not vendor spec sheets.