Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run
CrewAI vs OpenAI Agents SDK
OpenAI Agents SDK has a score of 86.5 (AA) against CrewAI's 67 (B). Both do agent frameworks. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 21 points.
CrewAICrewAI · Agent framework
B67/100#149 of 452
OpenAI Agents SDKOpenAI · Agent framework
AA86.5/100#1 of 452
Which one, for what
Pick CrewAI for
No category where it leads by five points or more.
Pick OpenAI Agents SDK for
- reliability (+7)
- schema & documentation (+21)
- agent ergonomics (+17)
- security & auth (+15)
- payments & pricing (+20)
- maintenance & community (+12)
- transparency & trust (+20)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | CrewAI | OpenAI Agents SDK | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 78 | 85 | OpenAI Agents SDK +7 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 74 | 95 | OpenAI Agents SDK +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 80 | 97 | OpenAI Agents SDK +17 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 65 | 80 | OpenAI Agents SDK +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 40 | 60 | OpenAI Agents SDK +20 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 88 | 100 | OpenAI Agents SDK +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 72 | 92 | OpenAI Agents SDK +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -4 | 0 | |
| Total | 67 · B | 86.5 · AA |
Facts side by side
| Fact | CrewAI | OpenAI Agents SDK |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | CrewAI | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2026-09-17 |
| Popularity | 59k stars, 552k PyPI/wk | 30k stars, 1.3M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.9/5 (8) |
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.
OpenAI Agents SDK
MCP in about 11 lines, with static and dynamic tool filters and require_approval. Tracing on by default, with model and tool content, sent to OpenAI.
Before you call either
CrewAI
- Set CREWAI_DISABLE_TELEMETRY=true before the first run
- Put MCP keys in headers, not in the URL as the docs' Exa example does
- Pin a stable version. Development builds share the crewai name on PyPI
- Add a PRE_TOOL_CALL hook for any tool that writes or sends
- Check the logs for MCP connection warnings. A failed server doesn't stop the agent
OpenAI Agents SDK
- Set OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1, or OPENAI_AGENTS_TRACE_INCLUDE_SENSITIVE_DATA=0 to keep content out of traces
- Pin to a minor version. Each 0.Y can break
- Set require_approval on MCP servers that write
- Name the model explicitly. The default changed in 0.20.0
- Use an error handler for max_turns instead of catching MaxTurnsExceeded
Other comparisons with CrewAI or OpenAI Agents SDK
Machine-readable
/api/v1/tools/crewai.json·/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-sdk.json- This page as Markdown,
/compare/crewai-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md