# Cursor Agent SDK vs Microsoft Agent Framework

> Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) to Cursor Agent SDK's 63.6 (B) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.md (~2,650 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cursor-agent-sdk-vs-microsoft-agent-framework.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- 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
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-10-27

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against Cursor Agent SDK's 63.6 (B), and leads in every scored category. Both do agent frameworks.

- Cursor Agent SDK: grade B, 63.6/100, rank #443 of 1217. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cursor-agent-sdk.json
- Microsoft Agent Framework: grade A, 82.2/100, rank #5 of 1217. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-agent-framework.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-agent-framework.json
- Best agent frameworks and SDKs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/frameworks/index.md
- All 78 frameworks comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/frameworks/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Cursor Agent SDK (B)

Good for: Teams already on Cursor who want version-controlled agents for pull request review, triage and Slack, with evals in CI and one-command hosting.

Watch for: Closed source under Cursor's terms, with no public repository, CI or issue tracker

### 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:
- Reliability, 78 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 95 against 82
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 80
- Security & auth, 93 against 68
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 30
- Maintenance & community, 91 against 74
- Transparency & trust, 83 against 70

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- No key needed to call it
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Changes marked [BREAKING] shipped in minor releases of released packages, including agent-framework-core in 1.20.0 on 2 October and 1.22.0 on 15 October 2026


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cursor Agent SDK | Microsoft Agent Framework | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 78 | Microsoft Agent Framework +33 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 95 | Microsoft Agent Framework +13 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 87 | Microsoft Agent Framework +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 93 | Microsoft Agent Framework +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 60 | Microsoft Agent Framework +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 91 | Microsoft Agent Framework +17 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 83 | Microsoft Agent Framework +13 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **63.6 · B** | **82.2 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cursor Agent SDK | Microsoft Agent Framework |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | Cursor | Microsoft |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | None |
| Pricing | Your plan | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary. The package's LICENSE.md reads "© Anysphere Inc. All rights reserved", with use subject to Cursor's Terms of Service (updated 3 September 2026). No source repository is published | MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-10-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-03 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-29 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | none | 14k stars, 48k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**Cursor Agent SDK.** An agent-as-code framework with typed tools, declared read and write effects that drive retries and dry runs, an approval gate per tool and evals that assert on tool calls. It's closed source, every model turn runs through Cursor's backend on a Cursor plan, local sandboxing is off by default, and the changelog has two entries.

**Microsoft Agent Framework.** Python 1.22.0 and .NET 1.25.0 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

### Cursor Agent SDK

1. Install `@grok/agent-sdk`, not `@cursor/agent-sdk` from the launch post. That name answers 404 on npm
2. Set `local.sandbox` before a turn reads webhook payloads, pull request diffs or chat. Without it shell commands auto-approve with the host's credentials
3. Give every tool an `effect`. A tool without one counts as a write, runs once and is stubbed in dry runs
4. Start `agent-sdk serve` with `--bearer-token` on any shared host. `--allow-anonymous` admits every caller as one principal
5. Delete bot/hooks/memory.ts when sessions serve different people. The journal shares each turn's message and result with later turns

### Microsoft Agent Framework

1. Pin exact versions. Minor releases have carried [BREAKING] changes, and 1.22.0 writes stored state that earlier runtimes can't read, 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, Cursor Agent SDK or Microsoft Agent Framework?

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against Cursor Agent SDK's 63.6 (B), and leads in every scored category.

### Are Cursor Agent SDK and Microsoft Agent Framework open source?

No open-source release is listed for Cursor Agent SDK. Microsoft Agent Framework is open source (MIT).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Cursor Agent SDK or Microsoft Agent Framework

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

---

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