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Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run

guilds.run vs Microsoft Agent Framework

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 56.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent frameworks.

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guilds.runCigale AI · Agent framework C56.5/100#674 of 1084 Microsoft Agent FrameworkMicrosoft · Agent framework A82.2/100#6 of 1084

Which one, for what

guilds.run C

Best 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.

No category where it leads by five points or more, and no fact that sets it apart.

Watch for

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

Microsoft Agent Framework A

Best 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 53
  • Schema & documentation, 95 against 58
  • Agent ergonomics, 87 against 67
  • Security & auth, 93 against 68
  • Maintenance & community, 91 against 41
  • Transparency & trust, 83 against 52

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • No key needed to call it

Watch for

Changes marked [BREAKING] shipped in minor releases of released packages, including agent-framework-core in 1.20.0 on 2 October 2026

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runguilds.runMicrosoft Agent FrameworkEdge
Reliability16%205378Microsoft Agent Framework +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25895Microsoft Agent Framework +37
Agent ergonomics13%16.26787Microsoft Agent Framework +20
Security & auth14%17.56893Microsoft Agent Framework +25
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84191Microsoft Agent Framework +50
Transparency & trust7%8.85283Microsoft Agent Framework +31
Negative events≤15-2-2
TotalC 56.5/100A 82.2/100

Facts side by side

Factguilds.runMicrosoft Agent Framework
KindAgent frameworkAgent framework
VendorCigale AIMicrosoft
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthAPI keyNone
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceAGPL-3.0-onlyMIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnono
Last releasenone2026-10-08
Terms last updatedno document linkedno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno 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
Popularity57 stars14k stars, 48k PyPI/wk

Verdicts

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.

Microsoft Agent Framework

Python 1.21.0 and .NET 1.24.0 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

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

Microsoft Agent Framework

  1. Pin exact versions. Minor releases have carried [BREAKING] changes, 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, guilds.run or Microsoft Agent Framework?

Microsoft Agent Framework scores 82.2 (A) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 56.5 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

Are guilds.run and Microsoft Agent Framework open source?

Yes. guilds.run is open source (AGPL-3.0-only). Microsoft Agent Framework is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with guilds.run or Microsoft Agent Framework

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