Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run
guilds.run vs smolagents
smolagents scores 58.7 (C) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 53.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do agent frameworks.
Best agent frameworks and SDKs · All 171 frameworks comparisons
Which one, for what
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.
Also in its favour
- Free to start without a card
Watch for
No tagged release, version number or published image on 4 November 2026. Users install whatever is on main, including breaking changes
Best for Small Python projects and research that want code-writing agents with minimal abstraction.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 64 against 43
- Schema & documentation, 81 against 58
- Maintenance & community, 34 against 21
- Transparency & trust, 65 against 60
Also in its favour
- No key needed to call it
Watch for
No release since 1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, and few commits to main since August
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Schema & documentation smolagents +23
guilds.run 58
Framework reading. No OpenAPI document for the HTTP API. The recipe format guilds.recipe v2 rejects unknown keys, and connector manifests are validated with TypeBox at load (12 of 25). No llms.txt on docs.guilds.run (404 on 4 November). The docs are Markdown in the repository with an AGENTS.md (5 of 10). Pages state what the code does today, which page to read for which job, and the trust boundary in numbered rules (15 of 20). Tool input schemas, recipe caps and typed manifest fields (11 of 15). The getting-started walk says what you should see at each step, and the Operate page explains each startup error message (11 of 15). CHANGELOG.md (since 15 October) holds only an Unreleased section with no version or date, and the security register keeps dated history (4 of 15, the earlier partial kept). 12 + 5 + 15 + 11 + 11 + 4 = 58.
smolagents 81
Framework reading. A typed Python API with reference pages for agents, models, tools and executors (22). llms.txt and Markdown pages on huggingface.co (10). The docs say when to use CodeAgent or ToolCallingAgent and when a sandbox is needed (17). Tools declare typed inputs in a schema dictionary or from a decorated function (12). Many runnable examples; error classes exist but aren't catalogued (10). Versions tagged with release notes, no changelog file (10). 22+10+17+12+10+10 = 81.
Reliability smolagents +21
guilds.run 43
Read with the local-software lines, because the owner runs it. Docker with Compose is the stated requirement, and the install is a git clone of main plus ./setup.sh, which builds the images. No package, tagged release or published image exists, since the image workflow runs only on a v* tag and the remote still has none on 4 November 2026 (10 of 20, the earlier partial kept). The verify workflow runs scripts/check.sh on every push, with typecheck, lint, orchestrator, UI and web tests and a smoke test of the Compose stack, and the clone has 356 test files. GitHub's Actions pages and API answered 403 on 4 November, so the pass state on main is unread (15 of 25, down from 25 on the 14 October reading of 13 passing runs). Open issues per the 14 October check, not re-read on 4 November (18 of 25). CHANGELOG.md, added on 15 October, marks each change no impact, rebuild or breaking and CONTRIBUTING.md defines a semver tag policy, but no version has been cut (0, the earlier value kept). Not versioned or declared stable (0). 10 + 15 + 18 + 0 + 0 = 43.
smolagents 64
Local-package reading. Official PyPI package with Python 3.10 or newer (20). A public tests workflow runs pytest on Python 3.10 and 3.12 for pushes and pull requests; whether main passes wasn't read (15). 416 open issues and 1,045 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 144 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 26 had a comment and 1 was closed. Two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond to the reporter, and seven commits reached main from 8 August to 6 November (6). Release notes on GitHub tags but no changelog file, and the remote WasmExecutor was removed in a minor release (8). 1.0 since 31 December 2024 (15). 20+15+6+8+15 = 64.
Maintenance & community smolagents +13
guilds.run 21
No tagged release, version or dated changelog entry. Main, which the install clones and SECURITY.md names as the supported version, last changed on 3 November 2026 (1,072 of the commits since 14 October by one author), but commits with no version or tag aren't releases in this run (hyperqwen, brave-search-mcp), and CONTRIBUTING.md itself defines a release as a vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH tag, so nothing has been released (0, from 20). No releases or dated changelog entries in the 90 days from 6 August (0). Issues and pull requests per the 14 October check (eight, all closed, the three issues within an hour), not re-read on 4 November (15 of 25). No published package (0). CI on every push with a frozen pnpm lockfile, and still no Dependabot configuration in the repository (6 of 10). 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 + 6 = 21.
smolagents 34
v1.26.0 on 29 May 2026, 161 days before this check (10). No release in the 90 days to 6 November (0). 416 open issues and 1,045 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 144 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 26 had a comment and 1 was closed. Two 2026 CVE records say the vendor didn't respond to the reporter, and seven commits reached main from 8 August to 6 November (6). Python only, and the package is the current one (10). CI with actions pinned to commit SHAs and Dependabot for actions (8). 10+0+6+10+8 = 34.
Transparency & trust smolagents +5
guilds.run 60
AGPL-3.0-only, OSI approved (30). No privacy policy or terms. The footer still links to both and they returned 404 on 4 November 2026. The docs say where data lives (PostgreSQL and STATE_ROOT on your host), that model keys go only to their provider, and that stored credentials are encrypted under one master key in .env (12 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices. CHANGELOG.md marks breaking changes with steps, undated, and the security register is dated (3 of 20, the earlier partial kept). Sentry is opt-in and documented on the Configure page, and the models.dev catalogue fetch and the connector registry address are documented with their switches (18 of 20). 30 + 12 + 3 + 18 = 63.
smolagents 65
Apache-2.0 (30). The library stores nothing itself; the default model sends prompts to Hugging Face's inference providers, which the docs show (20). Breaking removals such as WasmExecutor shipped in minor releases, without a written deprecation policy (5). No telemetry, though no page states it (12). 30+20+5+12 = 67.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | guilds.run | smolagents | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 43 | 64 | smolagents +21 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 58 | 81 | smolagents +23 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 67 | 68 | smolagents +1 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 68 | 66 | guilds.run +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 21 | 34 | smolagents +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 60 | 65 | smolagents +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -6 | |
| Total | D 53.4/100 | C 58.7/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | guilds.run | smolagents |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | Cigale AI | Hugging Face |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0-only | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | none | 2026-05-29 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2022-09-15 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2023-03-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 57 stars | 30k stars, 171k PyPI/wk |
How the scores have moved
smolagents
No score change since it was listed.
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. It has no tagged release, version or package, so users track main, its own security register lists 28 open issues of 58, and the site's terms and privacy links return 404.
smolagents
A compact Python library for code-writing and tool-calling agents, with MCP tools, any model provider and remote sandboxes through E2B, Docker, Modal or Blaxel. The newest release is 1.26.0 of 29 May 2026, a critical remote-executor RCE took about eight weeks to fix, and the local executor isn't a security boundary.
Before you call either
guilds.run
- Keep the box on loopback or behind an authenticating proxy with AUTH_MODE=trusted-header. The default mode does not authenticate
- Put agents that hold different secrets or GitHub tokens on different machines. Agents on one machine can read each other's homes and tokens
- Back up the .env file written by ./setup.sh. It holds the only copy of the key that encrypts stored credentials
- Pin a commit of main when you deploy and read CHANGELOG.md's Unreleased section before pulling. Breaking changes land on main
- Set MODELS_DEV_URL empty for an offline box. The model catalogue is otherwise fetched from models.dev hourly
smolagents
- Run CodeAgent with
executor_typeset to e2b, docker, modal or blaxel whenever the model or its inputs aren't trusted - Use smolagents 1.24.0 or later to get the remote-executor deserialisation fix
- Set max_steps and final_answer_checks so a run stops on its own
- Pass structured_output explicitly to MCPClient to avoid the default-change warning
- Pin the version, since minor releases have removed APIs
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, guilds.run or smolagents?
smolagents scores 58.7 (C) on agent readiness against guilds.run's 53.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.
Are guilds.run and smolagents open source?
Yes. guilds.run is open source (AGPL-3.0-only). smolagents is open source (Apache-2.0).
Other comparisons with guilds.run or smolagents
- AgentOS vs guilds.run
- AgentOS vs smolagents
- Agno vs guilds.run
- Agno vs smolagents
- BoxLang AI vs guilds.run
- BoxLang AI vs smolagents
- Claude Agent SDK vs guilds.run
- Claude Agent SDK vs smolagents
- CrewAI vs guilds.run
- CrewAI vs smolagents
- Cursor Agent SDK vs guilds.run
- Cursor Agent SDK vs smolagents
- Docker Agent vs guilds.run
- Docker Agent vs smolagents
- Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs guilds.run
- Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs smolagents
- guilds.run vs LangGraph
- guilds.run vs LlamaIndex Framework
- guilds.run vs Mastra
- guilds.run vs Microsoft Agent Framework
- guilds.run vs OpenAI Agents SDK
- guilds.run vs Pydantic AI
- guilds.run vs Strands Agents
- guilds.run vs TradingAgents
- guilds.run vs AI SDK
- LangGraph vs smolagents
- LlamaIndex Framework vs smolagents
- Mastra vs smolagents
- Microsoft Agent Framework vs smolagents
- OpenAI Agents SDK vs smolagents
- Pydantic AI vs smolagents
- smolagents vs Strands Agents
- smolagents vs TradingAgents
- smolagents vs AI SDK
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/guilds-run-vs-smolagents.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/guilds-run.json·/api/v1/tools/smolagents.json - From a terminal
anchor compare guilds-run smolagents(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "guilds-run", "b": "smolagents"}at/mcp, no key