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 a developer-centric multi-agent orchestration framework where you’ll be wiring agents, tool use (including MCP), and browser automation (Playwright via MCP) directly in code on a self-hosted setup. Pick CrewAI when you want a workflow platform that accelerates building with a visual editor and AI copilot, then scales with cloud or enterprise self-hosting (Kubernetes/VPC) plus enterprise-grade features like SSO, secret management, and PII detection/masking, backed by SLA-oriented operations.
Choose AutoGen if...
- +Choose AutoGen if you want a developer-first, code-based framework to orchestrate multi-agent systems—using its Core runtime for message passing/event-driven agents and the higher-level AgentChat API for faster multi-agent pattern prototyping.
- +Choose AutoGen if your workflows need flexible external tool connectivity, such as connecting to MCP servers and using Playwright-based browser workflows via MCP for web browsing and automated actions.
- +Choose AutoGen if you want to integrate with specific model/tool ecosystems directly during development (e.g., the provided examples show OpenAI model integrations) and you plan to keep everything self-hosted while building custom agent logic.
Choose CrewAI if...
- +Choose CrewAI if you want an end-to-end, production-oriented agent platform with a visual editor for building collaborative agentic workflows, plus an AI copilot to help create workflows.
- +Choose CrewAI if you want to move from prototype to production with managed deployment options (cloud SaaS) and then later scale with enterprise self-hosting on Kubernetes/VPC, including enterprise controls like SSO, secret manager integration, and PII detection/masking.
- +Choose CrewAI if your team values operational readiness—plan-based workflow execution limits, uptime/SLAs, and dedicated enterprise support—rather than building the orchestration layer from scratch.