# CrewAI vs guilds.run

> CrewAI scores 67 (B) to guilds.run's 56.5 (C) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-guilds-run
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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-guilds-run.min.md (~530 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
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- Updated: 2026-10-15

CrewAI scores 67 (B) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 56.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. guilds.run leads on payments & pricing. Both do agent frameworks.

- CrewAI: grade B, 67/100, rank #284 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crewai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crewai.json
- guilds.run: grade C, 56.5/100, rank #677 of 1094. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/guilds-run.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/guilds-run.json
- Best agent frameworks and SDKs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/frameworks/index.md
- All 55 frameworks comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/frameworks/index.md

## Which one, for what

### CrewAI (B)

Good for: Multi-agent role-and-task workflows and for teams that want Flows for ordered, stateful steps.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 78 against 53
- Schema & documentation, 74 against 58
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 67
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 41
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 52

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

Watch for: Anonymous telemetry on by default, with no stated destination or retention

### guilds.run (C)

Good for: A person or small team that wants a standing, inspectable team of agents with schedules, shared tables and a web app, run on one machine, and is comfortable tracking main.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: No tagged release, version number, changelog or published image. Users install whatever is on main


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | CrewAI | guilds.run | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 53 | CrewAI +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 58 | CrewAI +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 67 | CrewAI +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 68 | guilds.run +3 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | guilds.run +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 41 | CrewAI +47 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 52 | CrewAI +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **67 · B** | **56.5 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | CrewAI | guilds.run |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | CrewAI | Cigale AI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | AGPL-3.0-only |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | none |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models |  |  |
| Terms restrict automated access |  |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  |  |
| Popularity | 59k stars, 552k PyPI/wk | 57 stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**CrewAI.** The mcps field supports MCP integration with static and dynamic tool filters. Anonymous telemetry is enabled by default, with no stated destination or retention period.

**guilds.run.** A self-hosted multi-agent system that records each run's prompt, tool calls and memory changes, with per-agent models and tools and no telemetry by default. Public since 9 October 2026, it has no tagged release or published package, its own security register lists 13 open issues, and the site's terms and privacy links return 404.

## Before you call either

### CrewAI

1. Set CREWAI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true before the first run
2. Put MCP keys in headers, not in the URL as the docs' Exa example does
3. Pin a stable version. Development builds share the crewai name on PyPI
4. Add a PRE_TOOL_CALL hook for any tool that writes or sends
5. Check the logs for MCP connection warnings. A failed server doesn't stop the agent

### guilds.run

1. Keep the box on loopback or behind an authenticating proxy with AUTH_MODE=trusted-header. The default mode does not authenticate
2. Put agents that hold different secrets or GitHub tokens on different machines. Agents on one machine can read each other's homes and tokens
3. Back up the .env file written by ./setup.sh. It holds the only copy of the key that encrypts stored credentials
4. Set a spend limit at your model provider. guilds.run sets no spend cap, and max_tool_calls defaults to 50 per run
5. Pin a commit of main when you deploy. There are no tagged releases or versioned images yet

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, CrewAI or guilds.run?

CrewAI scores 67 (B) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 56.5 (C), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. guilds.run leads on payments & pricing.

### Are CrewAI and guilds.run open source?

Yes. CrewAI is open source (MIT). guilds.run is open source (AGPL-3.0-only).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with CrewAI or guilds.run

- [AgentOS vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-crewai.md)
- [AgentOS vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentos-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [Agno vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-crewai.md)
- [Agno vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agno-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [Claude Agent SDK vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-crewai.md)
- [Claude Agent SDK vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [CrewAI vs Docker Agent](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-docker-agent.md)
- [CrewAI vs Agent Development Kit (ADK)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-google-adk.md)
- [CrewAI vs LangGraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-langgraph.md)
- [CrewAI vs Microsoft Agent Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md)
- [CrewAI vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)
- [CrewAI vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-pydantic-ai.md)
- [Docker Agent vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/docker-agent-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs guilds.run](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-guilds-run.md)
- [guilds.run vs LangGraph](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-langgraph.md)
- [guilds.run vs Microsoft Agent Framework](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md)
- [guilds.run vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)
- [guilds.run vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/guilds-run-vs-pydantic-ai.md)