# Agno vs Strands Agents

> Strands Agents scores 80 (A) to Agno's 70.9 (BB) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Strands Agents scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Agno's 70.9 (BB), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Agno leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent frameworks.

- Agno: grade BB, 70.9/100, rank #179 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/agno.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agno.json
- Strands Agents: grade A, 80/100, rank #15 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strands-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-agents.json
- Best agent frameworks and SDKs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/frameworks/index.md
- All 171 frameworks comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/frameworks/index.md

## 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:
- Transparency & trust, 84 against 72

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

### Strands Agents (A)

Good for: Python or TypeScript teams, especially on AWS, who want a model-driven loop with MCP, multi-agent patterns and approval gates.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 95 against 90
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 76
- Security & auth, 89 against 64
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 50

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: Three advisories in October 2026 on A2A session sharing and world-readable default session files, fixed in 1.43.0 and 1.48.0


## Why the edge

### Security & auth: Strands Agents +25

- Agno (64): Telemetry is on by default. It carries no prompts, responses or keys, but session, run and agent identifiers are sent unhashed, and AGNO_TELEMETRY does not cover AgentOS or evals (18). Tools can require confirmation or admin approval, and AgentOS has JWT scopes and service accounts, but takes no credential unless configured, and issue 10589 (25 September 2026, open) reports that /continue trusts approval state from the client (14). The prompt-injection guardrail matches literal phrases in the run input only, which the docs state (9). OpenTelemetry tracing, run history and an audit log in the 3.1 authorisation package (13). A valid security.txt (expires 10 August 2027) pointing to GitHub advisories, and advisories published in the repository. No SECURITY.md, no bounty found, and the trust centre was not read (10). Framework reading.
- Strands Agents (89): Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). No usage analytics found in either SDK, and OpenTelemetry is opt-in (25). Interrupts and the harness's interventions gate tool calls behind human approval or Cedar policies, but the default sandbox is the local host (16). Guardrails, PII redaction and trusted message history pages, with Bedrock Guardrails integration (13). OpenTelemetry traces for every model and tool call (15). The AWS Vulnerability Disclosure Program on HackerOne and three advisories in October 2026 published with fixed versions (20). 25+16+13+15+20 = 89.

### Transparency & trust: Agno +12

- Agno (84): Apache 2.0 (30). The telemetry page lists the fields sent and says identifiers are not hashed, and the pricing page says the control plane holds no copy of customer data. The terms and privacy pages render only with JavaScript and were not read, and no retention period for telemetry was found (15). Migration guides for 2.0 and 3.0 and migration notices on what was removed, with no written deprecation policy found (10). Telemetry is disclosed in the README and docs with an opt-out, though the environment variable does not cover AgentOS or evals (18).
- Strands Agents (72): Apache-2.0 (30). A library that stores session state where the developer configures it. The default FileSessionManager kept sessions world-readable in /tmp until 1.48.0, which the October advisories record and fix (20). A written deprecation policy with warnings and removal at majors, without a dated support window (16). Telemetry is opt-in and documented (20). 30+20+16+20 = 86.

### Agent ergonomics: Strands Agents +11

- Agno (76): An agent with an MCP server is about ten lines through MCPTools, with include_tools, exclude_tools and tool_name_prefix (22). tool_call_limit exists but defaults to None, and sessions, history and compression are configurable (14). A typed exception hierarchy, with RetryAgentRun and StopAgentRun to steer the loop from a tool (16). Runs continue by run ID after a pause and AgentOS has a durable queue, which is off by default (16). Few required parameters, Python only (8).
- Strands Agents (87): Framework reading. An MCPClient is passed straight to the agent in a few lines and its lifecycle is managed, with tool filtering per client (22). Conversation managers, turn limits, token budgets and cancellation bound each run (20). Stop reasons and typed events, and hooks that can retry a model or tool call (16). Retry strategies, session managers that persist and resume a conversation, and interrupts that resume where they paused (17). Two official languages, but the default provider is Bedrock, which needs AWS credentials and model access (12). 22+20+16+17+12 = 87.

### Payments & pricing: Strands Agents +10

- Agno (50): No payment protocol (0). Self-hosted rule, with the paid option scored. The control plane has public plan prices, Free at $0 and Pro at $150 a month, with Enterprise by quote (10). The package installs with no card (20) and runs with no Agno account (20).
- Strands Agents (60): Self-hosted rule. Free Apache-2.0 packages with nothing to buy from the project (20 + 20 + 20). No payment protocol (0). Model calls are paid to the provider. 0+20+20+20 = 60.

### Schema & documentation: Strands Agents +5

- Agno (90): A class reference under docs.agno.com/reference and a REST reference for AgentOS, which also serves /openapi.json (25). llms.txt with 3,985 lines, llms-full.txt, a Markdown twin of each page and a docs MCP server (10). Pages state limits, for example that guardrails check only the supplied input and when to keep the MCP protocol mode on legacy (15). Pydantic-typed classes and tool signatures, with a py.typed marker (13). Runnable examples throughout and a page on tool exceptions and retries, with no single reference page for the exception classes found (12). Dated changelog and release notes per version (15). Framework reading.
- Strands Agents (95): Framework reading. Typed Python and TypeScript APIs with a reference for each (25). llms.txt with a Markdown twin of every page (10). The llms.txt and docs say when to use Strands over a hand-written loop and when to take the harness rather than the SDK (18). Tools are typed from decorated functions or Zod schemas (15). Python and TypeScript examples on every page, stop reasons and hook events documented, with no catalogue of exceptions (12). Versioning page and tagged releases per package (15). 25+10+18+15+12+15 = 95.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Agno | Strands Agents | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 87 | Strands Agents +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 95 | Strands Agents +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 87 | Strands Agents +11 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 89 | Strands Agents +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 50 | 60 | Strands Agents +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 87 | Strands Agents +1 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 84 | 72 | Agno +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **70.9 · BB** | **80 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Agno | Strands Agents |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | Agno Inc. | Amazon Web Services |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-11-04 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Popularity | 43k stars, 476k PyPI/wk | 9.1k stars, 698k npm/wk, 8.9M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### Agno

- -2.0 on 1 November 2026: correction
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### Strands Agents

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Agno.** An Apache 2.0 Python agent framework at 3.1.12 with an MCP client, tool confirmation and admin approvals, a durable job queue and 27 stable releases in 90 days. Usage telemetry is on by default with unhashed identifiers, and 3.1.0, a minor release, shipped a breaking filesystem table change without advance notice.

**Strands Agents.** An Apache-2.0 agent SDK for Python and TypeScript with a managed MCP client, multi-agent patterns, interrupts and Cedar policies for approval, opt-in OpenTelemetry and no usage analytics. Bedrock is the default model, the default sandbox is the local host, and three session-isolation advisories were fixed in 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

### Strands Agents

1. Upgrade to strands-agents 1.48.0 or later, and set a private session directory rather than the /tmp default
2. Pass a model explicitly when AWS credentials aren't configured, since Bedrock is the default
3. Use interrupts or the harness's `interventions` for tools that write, send or pay
4. Run shell and file tools in the Docker or SSH sandbox when the agent runs untrusted code
5. Pin a minor version when using A2A, MCP or experimental modules

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Agno or Strands Agents?

Strands Agents scores 80 (A) on agent readiness against Agno's 70.9 (BB), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Agno leads on transparency & trust.

### Are Agno and Strands Agents open source?

Yes. Agno is open source (Apache-2.0). Strands Agents is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-strands-agents.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-strands-agents.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "agno", "b": "strands-agents"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare agno strands-agents`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/agno.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-agents.json

## Other comparisons with Agno or Strands Agents

- [AgentOS vs Agno](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-agno.md)
- [AgentOS vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Agno vs BoxLang AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-boxlang-ai.md)
- [Agno vs Claude Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-claude-agent-sdk.md)
- [Agno vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-crewai.md)
- [Agno vs Cursor Agent SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-cursor-agent-sdk.md)
- [Agno vs Docker Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-docker-agent.md)
- [Agno vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-google-adk.md)
- [Agno vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [Agno vs LangGraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-langgraph.md)
- [Agno vs LlamaIndex Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-llamaindex.md)
- [Agno vs Mastra](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-mastra.md)
- [Agno vs Microsoft Agent Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md)
- [Agno vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)
- [Agno vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-pydantic-ai.md)
- [Agno vs smolagents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-smolagents.md)
- [Agno vs TradingAgents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-tradingagents.md)
- [Agno vs AI SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.md)
- [BoxLang AI vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/boxlang-ai-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Claude Agent SDK vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [CrewAI vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Cursor Agent SDK vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Docker Agent vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-agent-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [guilds.run vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [LangGraph vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/langgraph-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [LlamaIndex Framework vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/llamaindex-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Mastra vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mastra-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Microsoft Agent Framework vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/microsoft-agent-framework-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [OpenAI Agents SDK vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Pydantic AI vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pydantic-ai-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [smolagents vs Strands Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/smolagents-vs-strands-agents.md)
- [Strands Agents vs TradingAgents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strands-agents-vs-tradingagents.md)
- [Strands Agents vs AI SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/strands-agents-vs-vercel-ai-sdk.md)

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp