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Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run

Agno vs Microsoft Agent Framework

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against Agno's 72.8 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Agno leads on reliability. Both do agent frameworks.

AgnoAgno Inc. · Agent framework BB72.8/100#81 of 629 Microsoft Agent FrameworkMicrosoft · Agent framework A82.2/100#6 of 629

Which one, for what

Agno BB

Good for Python teams that want agents, teams and workflows plus a self-hosted server with REST, MCP, approvals and scheduling in one package.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 83 against 78

Watch for

Usage telemetry is on by default and sends session, run and agent identifiers unhashed. Prompts and outputs are not sent

Microsoft Agent Framework A

Good for Teams on Azure or .NET, and for teams moving off AutoGen or Semantic Kernel, that want MCP, approval, checkpointed workflows and OpenTelemetry in one SDK.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 95 against 90
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 76
  • Security & auth, 93 against 64
  • Payments & pricing, 60 against 50
  • Maintenance & community, 91 against 86

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

Changes marked [BREAKING] shipped in minor releases of released packages, including agent-framework-core in 1.20.0 on 2 October 2026

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runAgnoMicrosoft Agent FrameworkEdge
Reliability16%208378Agno +5
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29095Microsoft Agent Framework +5
Agent ergonomics13%16.27687Microsoft Agent Framework +11
Security & auth14%17.56493Microsoft Agent Framework +29
Payments & pricing10%12.55060Microsoft Agent Framework +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88691Microsoft Agent Framework +5
Transparency & trust7%8.88383even
Negative events≤15-3-2
Total72.8 · BB82.2 · A

Facts side by side

FactAgnoMicrosoft Agent Framework
KindAgent frameworkAgent framework
VendorAgno Inc.Microsoft
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthAPI keyNone
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceApache-2.0MIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-022026-10-08
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be read
Popularity43k stars, 476k PyPI/wk14k stars, 48k PyPI/wk

Verdicts

Agno

An Apache 2.0 Python agent framework at 3.1.1 with an MCP client, tool confirmation and admin approvals, a durable job queue and 25 stable releases in 90 days. Usage telemetry is on by default with unhashed identifiers, and three high or critical advisories were published against it in the last 12 months, all fixed.

Microsoft Agent Framework

Python 1.21.0 and .NET 1.24.0 are MIT, past 1.0 and released about weekly, with an MCP client, tool approval, checkpointed graph workflows and OpenTelemetry. Breaking changes ship in minor releases, a version User-Agent and a feature-usage token are sent by default, and a high-severity advisory in the .NET declarative workflows package was published on 7 October 2026.

Before you call either

Agno

  1. Set AGNO_TELEMETRY=false before the first run, and pass telemetry=False to AgentOS and to each eval, which ignore the variable
  2. Configure JWT_VERIFICATION_KEY with AgentOS authorisation switched on, or OS_SECURITY_KEY, before exposing AgentOS. With neither set, REST and MCP routes take no credential
  3. Mark tools that write with requires_confirmation, and resume with continue_run once every requirement is resolved
  4. Set tool_call_limit on agents. The default is None
  5. Install extras for what you use, such as agno[mcp] for MCPTools and agno[os,mcp] for AgentOS with its MCP server

Microsoft Agent Framework

  1. Pin exact versions. Minor releases have carried [BREAKING] changes, so read python/CHANGELOG.md or the upgrade guides before moving up
  2. Set approval_mode="always_require" on tools and MCP servers that write. The default is never_require
  3. Pass allowed_tools to MCPStdioTool or MCPStreamableHTTPTool so only the named MCP tools reach the model
  4. Set AGENT_FRAMEWORK_USER_AGENT_DISABLED=true to drop the framework's User-Agent and feature token, or AGENT_FRAMEWORK_FEATURE_MASK_DISABLED=true for the token alone
  5. On .NET, use Microsoft.Agents.AI.Workflows.Declarative 1.24.0 or later. Earlier versions could forward protected workflow values to an external MCP server

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Agno or Microsoft Agent Framework?

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against Agno's 72.8 (BB), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Agno leads on reliability.

Are Agno and Microsoft Agent Framework open source?

Yes. Agno is open source (Apache-2.0). Microsoft Agent Framework is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with Agno or Microsoft Agent Framework

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