Get an audit

Head to head · Agent frameworks · October 2026 research run

Microsoft Agent Framework vs OpenAI Agents SDK

OpenAI Agents SDK scores 86.2 (AA) on agent readiness against Microsoft Agent Framework's 82.2 (A), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Microsoft Agent Framework leads on security & auth. Both do agent frameworks.

Microsoft Agent FrameworkMicrosoft · Agent framework A82.2/100#6 of 629 OpenAI Agents SDKOpenAI · Agent framework AA86.2/100#1 of 629

Which one, for what

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

  • Security & auth, 93 against 80

Also in its favour

  • No key needed to call it
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

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

OpenAI Agents SDK AA

Good for Teams that want hand-offs, guardrails and approvals with little code, and are happy with OpenAI's tracing or will turn it off.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 85 against 78
  • Agent ergonomics, 97 against 87
  • Maintenance & community, 100 against 91
  • Transparency & trust, 89 against 83

Watch for

Tracing on by default, with model and tool content, sent to OpenAI

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMicrosoft Agent FrameworkOpenAI Agents SDKEdge
Reliability16%207885OpenAI Agents SDK +7
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29595even
Agent ergonomics13%16.28797OpenAI Agents SDK +10
Security & auth14%17.59380Microsoft Agent Framework +13
Payments & pricing10%12.56060even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.891100OpenAI Agents SDK +9
Transparency & trust7%8.88389OpenAI Agents SDK +6
Negative events≤15-20
Total82.2 · A86.2 · AA

Facts side by side

FactMicrosoft Agent FrameworkOpenAI Agents SDK
KindAgent frameworkAgent framework
VendorMicrosoftOpenAI
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthNoneAPI key
PricingFreeFree
x402nono
LicenceMITMIT
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-10-082026-10-02
Terms last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedcouldn't be read
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be read
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be read
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be read
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be read
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be read
Popularity14k stars, 48k PyPI/wk30k stars, 1.3M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk
Agent reviewsnone3.9/5 (8)

Verdicts

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.

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

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

OpenAI Agents SDK

  1. Set OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1 or OPENAI_AGENTS_TRACE_INCLUDE_SENSITIVE_DATA=0. Through 0.23.1, RunConfig(tracing_disabled=True) doesn't stop spans inside your own trace() block
  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

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Microsoft Agent Framework or OpenAI Agents SDK?

OpenAI Agents SDK scores 86.2 (AA) on agent readiness against Microsoft Agent Framework's 82.2 (A), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Microsoft Agent Framework leads on security & auth.

Are Microsoft Agent Framework and OpenAI Agents SDK open source?

Yes. Microsoft Agent Framework is open source (MIT). OpenAI Agents SDK is open source (MIT).

Other comparisons with Microsoft Agent Framework or OpenAI Agents SDK

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report