Side-by-side comparison
AutoGen vs CrewAI
vs
Side-by-side comparison based on our agenticness evaluation framework
At a glance
Quick Facts
| Feature | AutoGen | CrewAI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Multi-Agent Orchestration, Agent Frameworks & Orchestration | Multi-Agent Orchestration, Agent Frameworks & Orchestration |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Hybrid (cloud + self-hosted) |
| Autonomy Level | Semi-autonomous | Semi-autonomous |
| Model Support | Multi-model | Single model |
| Open Source | Yes | Yes |
| MCP Support | Yes | -- |
| Team Support | Small team | Enterprise |
| Pricing Model | Free / open source | Freemium |
| Interface | api, gui, cli | gui, web, api |
32-point evaluation
Agenticness
12/32
Adaptive Collaborator
AutoGen
8/32
Guided Assistant
CrewAI
Dimension Breakdown (0-4 each)
Action Capability
AutoGen
3
CrewAI
2
Autonomy
AutoGen
2
CrewAI
1
Planning
AutoGen
2
CrewAI
1
Adaptation
AutoGen
1
CrewAI
0
State & Memory
AutoGen
1
CrewAI
0
Reliability
AutoGen
0
CrewAI
1
Interoperability
AutoGen
2
CrewAI
1
Safety
AutoGen
1
CrewAI
2
Scores from our agenticness evaluation framework. Higher is more autonomous.
Features & Use Cases
AutoGen
Features
- Builds multi-agent AI applications
- Provides a low-level Core API for message passing and event-driven agents
- Includes AgentChat for higher-level multi-agent patterns
- Supports extensions for model clients and tools
- Can connect to MCP servers for external tool use
- Works with OpenAI models in the quickstart examples
- Includes AutoGen Studio for no-code workflow prototyping
- Supports browser-based workflows through Playwright MCP
Use Cases
- Developing custom multi-agent assistants for internal workflows
- Prototyping agent workflows without writing code in AutoGen Studio
- Building tool-using assistants that can browse the web through MCP
- Orchestrating expert sub-agents for tasks like math, research, or domain-specific reasoning
- Extending existing applications with agent behavior and external integrations
CrewAI
Features
- Visual editor for building agentic workflows
- AI copilot for workflow creation
- Integrated tools and triggers
- Workflow execution limits by plan
- Cloud SaaS deployment
- Self-hosted deployment via Kubernetes and VPC for Enterprise
- SSO for Enterprise
- Secret manager integration for Enterprise
Use Cases
- Teams building production AI agent workflows with a visual interface
- Organizations that want to deploy agents in a managed cloud environment
- Enterprises that need self-hosted agent infrastructure on private cloud or on-prem systems
- Developers who want to prototype an agent workflow and later scale it for production
Pricing
AutoGen
- **Free:** Open-source framework; pricing details for hosted services or paid tiers are not publicly available in the provided content.
- **Pro:** Not publicly available.
- **Enterprise:** Not publicly available.
CrewAI
- **Free (Basic):** Free tier with a visual editor, AI copilot, integrated tools and triggers, and 50 workflow executions per month.
- **Professional ($25/month):** Includes everything in Basic, plus 1 additional seat, 100 workflow executions per month, and support via the community forum.
- **Enterprise:** Custom pricing. Includes SaaS or self-hosted deployment via Kubernetes and VPC, SOC2, SSO, secret manager integration, PII detection and masking, dedicated support, uptime SLAs, Slack or Teams support channels, and forward-deployed engineers.
Analysis
Our Verdict
Pick AutoGen when you need developer-grade control over multi-agent orchestration—core runtime + event-driven agents + AgentChat patterns—and especially when you want to integrate external tooling via MCP (including Playwright-based browser workflows) or embed agent behavior into your own systems using code or AutoGen Studio. Pick CrewAI AMP when you want a workflow platform built for scaling from prototype to production with a visual editor and AI copilot, clear execution limits per plan, and operational features like hosted deployment, plus enterprise-grade hybrid options (Kubernetes/VPC), SSO, secret management, and PII detection/masking.
Choose AutoGen if...
- +Choose AutoGen if you’re a developer building a custom multi-agent system and want to control the orchestration at the code level (core runtime with message passing + event-driven agents, plus a higher-level AgentChat API for multi-agent patterns).
- +Choose AutoGen if your agents need flexible external tool integration—especially connecting to MCP servers and using Playwright-based browser workflows—rather than relying on a prebuilt visual workflow system.
- +Choose AutoGen if you want to prototype agent behaviors quickly either by writing code (Python 3.10+ with pip installs, e.g., OpenAI-model examples) or by using AutoGen Studio for no-code workflow prototyping, while still having the option to drop down into framework internals.
- +Choose AutoGen if you’re extending an existing application with agent behavior and external integrations, since AutoGen is positioned as an open-source framework for embedding agent workflows with tool use.
Choose CrewAI if...
- +Choose CrewAI AMP if your team wants a production-focused workflow platform with a visual editor and AI copilot for creating agentic workflows, plus an easy path from experimentation to deployment (web-based workflow building and execution).
- +Choose CrewAI AMP if you want managed operations now: cloud SaaS deployment with workflow execution limits by plan (e.g., 50 executions/month on Basic, 100/month on Pro) and support/uptime-oriented plans as you scale.
- +Choose CrewAI AMP if you’re an enterprise that needs hybrid deployment and compliance features—self-hosted on Kubernetes with VPC, SSO, secret manager integration, PII detection/masking, and enterprise SLAs/support options.
- +Choose CrewAI AMP if you want to standardize how teams build and run collaborative agent workflows (teams/seats + lifecycle management) rather than wiring everything as a bespoke developer framework.