# Alternatives to Microsoft Agent Framework > Source: https://theagentsindex.com/microsoft-agent-framework/alternatives (current datasheets, evidence-ranked) Candidates share the baseline category or are previously researched peers. Requirements, preserved strengths, explicit trade-offs and research coverage decide the order; paid tier does not. ## Shortlist ### 1. Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) Open-source framework for building, evaluating and deploying AI agents in Python, TypeScript, Go, Java or Kotlin. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Ships it: yes — Deployment is part of the framework: one command pushes an agent to Google Cloud, and the same agent can be containerised and run on infrastructure you control instead.](https://adk.dev/) - [In your editor: partial — There is no ADK editor extension; instead Agents CLI installs ADK skills into existing AI coding environments, and a docs MCP server can be added to the same tools.](https://adk.dev/tutorials/coding-with-ai/) - [On the command line: yes — A terminal surface is first-class: an interactive run command with session save, resume and replay flags in the Python CLI, and an embedded launcher for Go binaries.](https://adk.dev/runtime/command-line/) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - No researched regression against the baseline. [View Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)](https://theagentsindex.com/google-adk) ### 2. AgentsKit Composable MIT-licensed TypeScript packages for agent runtime, tools, memory, RAG and chat UI. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Writes code: yes — A bundled coder skill writes real multi-file TypeScript against scoped filesystem and allowlisted shell tools, so the agent you assemble authors code rather than snippets.](https://www.agentskit.io/docs/agents/skills/coder) - [In your editor: partial — The docs give three DIY patterns for running an agent inside VS Code or Raycast, but no editor extension is shipped and the LSP route is deferred.](https://www.agentskit.io/docs/production/embedded) - [On the command line: yes — A first-party CLI covers scaffolding, interactive chat, one-shot runs, a dev server and environment diagnosis, and an Ink binding gives a terminal chat UI.](https://www.agentskit.io/llms.txt) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - No researched regression against the baseline. [View AgentsKit](https://theagentsindex.com/agentskit) ### 3. Pydantic AI Open-source Python agent framework from the Pydantic team, with a typed agent loop and swappable models. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [In your editor: partial — An agent can appear inside editors such as Zed through the ACP adapter, but that adapter is shipped under the harness experimental path and may be removed in any release without deprecation.](https://pydantic.dev/docs/ai/harness/acp/) - [On the command line: yes — The clai command ships with the package and runs an interactive terminal chat against any model, and any agent object can launch the same interface with Agent.to_cli_sync().](https://pydantic.dev/docs/ai/integrations/cli/) - [In a browser: yes — A browser chat interface ships in the package via Agent.to_web() or clai web, though the docs position it for local development and debugging rather than production use.](https://pydantic.dev/docs/ai/guides/web/) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Getting out: partial — Prepaid Gateway credits are non-refundable and expire after twelve months of account dormancy; Logfire data is exportable over its query API and Growth adds self-serve deletion.](https://pydantic.dev/legal/terms-of-service) [View Pydantic AI](https://theagentsindex.com/pydantic-ai) ### 4. Mastra Open-source TypeScript framework for building AI agents, with a hosted platform for running and observing them. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Done-for-you service: partial — You run the software, but Mastra sells professional services (Concierge, forward-deployed engineering) and enterprise support covering planning, prototyping and workshops.](https://mastra.ai/terms-of-service) - [In your editor: partial — No IDE extension of its own; Mastra ships an MCP docs server and a skill that coding agents inside editors consume.](https://mastra.ai/reference/build-with-ai) - [On the command line: yes — A Mastra CLI builds, starts and dev-serves the project (mastra build, mastra start, mastra dev).](https://mastra.ai/docs/deployment/mastra-server) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Getting out: partial — You own your data and can cancel any time, but retention is capped by plan (15 days to 6 months), backups are your responsibility and downgrading may delete data over the new limit.](https://mastra.ai/terms-of-service) [View Mastra](https://theagentsindex.com/mastra) ### 5. Agno Python SDK, open-source AgentOS runtime and hosted control plane for building and operating agents. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Writes code: yes — Ships a CodingTools toolkit whose documented job is editing files and running commands in a scoped project directory.](https://docs.agno.com/use-cases/coding-agents) - [In your editor: yes — `agno connect` writes MCP config for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex and Cursor so those clients can run your agents.](https://docs.agno.com/cli/connect) - [On the command line: yes — The `agno` command scaffolds a project, starts and stops it, connects clients and mints service-account tokens.](https://docs.agno.com/cli/overview) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Runs are unattended unless a tool is marked for approval; then the run pauses in your database until an admin resolves it.](https://docs.agno.com/agent-os/approvals/overview) - [Open source: partial — SDK and AgentOS are Apache 2.0; the control plane is the commercial part and is not published as source.](https://www.agno.com/compare/agno-vs-langgraph) [View Agno](https://theagentsindex.com/agno) ### 6. CrewAI Open-source multi-agent framework with a managed platform for deploying and governing agent workflows. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Done-for-you service: partial — You run the software yourself, but the Enterprise plan sells forward-deployed engineers, onboarding and training separately, so people-delivered build help exists as a paid extra.](https://www.crewai.com/pricing) - [In your editor: partial — There is no CrewAI editor extension; instead the vendor publishes a skill pack that teaches Claude Code, Cursor and Codex to scaffold CrewAI projects inside your editor.](https://docs.crewai.com/en/skills) - [On the command line: yes — A first-class terminal surface covers scaffolding, running, training, testing, replaying and deploying crews and flows, including login against enterprise SSO.](https://docs.crewai.com/en/concepts/cli) **Trade-offs against Microsoft Agent Framework:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Code execution is off by default in the framework and the platform adds human-in-the-loop checkpoints and guardrails, but the governance layer described here is an Enterprise plan feature.](https://www.crewai.com/agent-management-platform) - [Getting out: partial — Automation source can be pulled back as a ZIP over the API and traces can be shipped to your own OpenTelemetry collector; nothing published covers rollover of unused executions.](https://docs-platform.crewai.com/api/v1/reference/automations/export-an-automation-zip) [View CrewAI](https://theagentsindex.com/crewai) ## Method Unknown data is never treated as a benefit or a trade-off. Featured placement is labelled but cannot alter recommendation order.