# Microsoft Agent Framework vs Strands Agents (slim)

> Strands Agents and Microsoft Agent Framework score within a point of each other for agent frameworks, 80 and 79.4 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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Strands Agents and Microsoft Agent Framework score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 80 (A) and 79.4 (A). Microsoft Agent Framework leads on transparency & trust. Both do agent frameworks.

- Microsoft Agent Framework: A 79.4, rank #18 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-agent-framework.min.md
- Strands Agents: A 80, rank #15 of 1486 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strands-agents.min.md
- Microsoft Agent Framework, 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 Transparency & trust, 85 against 72. Also Free to start without a card.
- Strands Agents, good for Python or TypeScript teams, especially on AWS, who want a model-driven loop with MCP, multi-agent patterns and approval gates. Ahead on Reliability, 87 against 78.

| Category | Microsoft Agent Framework | Strands Agents |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 78 | 87 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 95 | 95 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 87 | 87 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 93 | 89 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 91 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 85 | 72 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Microsoft Agent Framework | Strands Agents |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Amazon Web Services |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | 2026-11-04 |
| Popularity | 14k stars, 48k PyPI/wk | 9.1k stars, 698k npm/wk, 8.9M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Transparency & trust, Microsoft Agent Framework +13: Microsoft Agent Framework 85 (MIT (30). The core README says what the User-Agent and feature token are, and a design spec in the repository says the token goes only to Foundry and Azure OpenAI pipelines and not to third-party providers. That spec is still marked proposed on 1 November, and we found no statement of how long Microsoft keeps the data and no privacy document for the framework (22). Package lifecycle states are published per package, experimental APIs raise warnings, breaking changes are dated in the Python changelog and there are upgrade guides, but we found no written support window (14). Telemetry is disclosed with two opt-out variables (20).); Strands Agents 72 (Apache-2.0 (30). A library that stores session state where the developer configures it. The default FileSessionManager kept sessions world-readable in /tmp until 1.48.0, which the October advisories record and fix (20). A written deprecation policy with warnings and removal at majors, without a dated support window (16). Telemetry is opt-in and documented (20). 30+20+16+20 = 86.)
- Reliability, Strands Agents +9: Microsoft Agent Framework 78 (Read with the local-software lines. Official packages on PyPI (Requires-Python >=3.10 in the repository, though 1.24.0 makes Python 3.11 the supported baseline and says the next release drops 3.10) and NuGet (net8.0 to net10.0, netstandard2.0, net472) (20). Of the 15 most recent .NET build and test runs on 1 November 2026, 10 passed, 2 were cancelled and 4 wait for approval on a pull request, with none failed, and the scheduled runs on main passed on 31 October and 1 November (25). 610 open issues and 229 open pull requests on 1 November, up from 575 and 201 on 8 October. Closures and bug labels weren't re-counted (10). The Python changelog follows Keep a Changelog and states semantic versioning, and marks breaking changes, but they keep shipping in minor releases of released packages, such as agent-framework-core in 1.22.0 on 15 October and 1.23.0 on 22 October 2026 (8). Python 1.24.0 and .NET 1.27.0, with the root and core packages classed 5 - Production/Stable (15).); Strands Agents 87 (Local-package reading. Official PyPI and npm packages with Python 3.10 and Node 22 stated (20). A public CI workflow runs lint, type checks, unit and integration tests for each package on pull requests to main, plus security-audit workflows, and the latest Python, TypeScript, harness and MCP runs on main passed on 6 November (25). 664 open issues and 1,151 open issues and pull requests on 6 November, with 545 issues opened in the 90 days to 3 November. Of the 50 newest, 12 had a comment and 15 were closed, and 9 of the 40 newest open items carry a bug label. An issue-responder workflow runs on new issues (12). A written semantic versioning policy, experimental APIs kept apart, and deprecations removed only at a major (15). 1.0 since 15 July 2025 (15). 20+25+12+15+15 = 87.)