# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-openai-agents-sdk.min.md (~380 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
- Updated: 2026-10-05

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.

- CrewAI: grade B, 67/100, rank #149 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/crewai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/crewai.json
- OpenAI Agents SDK: grade AA, 86.5/100, rank #1 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-agents-sdk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-sdk.json

## Which one, for what

Pick CrewAI for nothing in particular (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 | CrewAI | OpenAI Agents SDK | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 78 | 85 | OpenAI Agents SDK +7 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 95 | OpenAI Agents SDK +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 97 | OpenAI Agents SDK +17 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 65 | 80 | OpenAI Agents SDK +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | OpenAI Agents SDK +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 100 | OpenAI Agents SDK +12 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 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

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

### OpenAI Agents SDK

1. Set OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1, or OPENAI_AGENTS_TRACE_INCLUDE_SENSITIVE_DATA=0 to keep content out of traces
2. Pin to a minor version. Each 0.Y can break
3. Set require_approval on MCP servers that write
4. Name the model explicitly. The default changed in 0.20.0
5. Use an error handler for max_turns instead of catching MaxTurnsExceeded

## Other comparisons with CrewAI or OpenAI Agents SDK

- [Claude Agent SDK vs CrewAI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-crewai.md)
- [Claude Agent SDK vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-openai-agents-sdk.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 Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crewai-vs-pydantic-ai.md)
- [Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/google-adk-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)
- [LangGraph vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/langgraph-vs-openai-agents-sdk.md)
- [OpenAI Agents SDK vs Pydantic AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-pydantic-ai.md)