# OpenAI Agents SDK vs Pydantic AI

> OpenAI Agents SDK has a score of 86.5 (AA) against Pydantic AI's 80 (A). Both do agent frameworks. The largest gap is transparency & trust, 15 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-04

OpenAI Agents SDK has a score of 86.5 (AA) against Pydantic AI's 80 (A). Both do agent frameworks. The largest gap is transparency & trust, 15 points.

- OpenAI Agents SDK: grade AA, 86.5/100, rank #1 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-agents-sdk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-sdk.json
- Pydantic AI: grade A, 80/100, rank #7 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pydantic-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pydantic-ai.json

## Which one, for what

Pick OpenAI Agents SDK for agent ergonomics (+12), maintenance & community (+10), transparency & trust (+15).

Pick Pydantic AI for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenAI Agents SDK | Pydantic AI | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 83 | OpenAI Agents SDK +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 95 | 95 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 97 | 85 | OpenAI Agents SDK +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 80 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 100 | 90 | OpenAI Agents SDK +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 92 | 77 | OpenAI Agents SDK +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **86.5 · AA** | **80 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenAI Agents SDK | Pydantic AI |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Pydantic |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | 30k stars, 1.3M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk | 20k stars, 1.3M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.9/5 (8) | 4/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Pydantic AI.** Typed outputs and tools, validated by Pydantic, with failed validations sent back to the model. Python only.

## Before you call either

### OpenAI Agents SDK

1. Set OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1, or OPENAI_AGENTS_TRACE_INCLUDE_SENSITIVE_DATA=0 to keep content out of traces
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

### Pydantic AI

1. Define the output type first. Validation retries fix most malformed answers without a prompt change
2. Start with the test model to check the wiring without a key
3. Use streamable HTTP for MCP. SSE is deprecated
4. Set usage limits on every run that calls paid models
5. Stay on a current release if agents download URLs. Its cloud-metadata blocklist was bypassed twice in May 2026

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