# OpenAI Agents SDK vs Strands Agents

> OpenAI Agents SDK scores 86.2 (AA) to Strands Agents's 80 (A) for agent frameworks. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

OpenAI Agents SDK scores 86.2 (AA) on agent readiness against Strands Agents's 80 (A), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Strands Agents leads on security & auth. Both do agent frameworks.

- OpenAI Agents SDK: grade AA, 86.2/100, rank #3 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-agents-sdk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-sdk.json
- Strands Agents: grade A, 80/100, rank #15 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/strands-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-agents.json
- Best agent frameworks and SDKs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/frameworks/index.md
- All 171 frameworks comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/frameworks/index.md

## Which one, for what

### 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:
- Agent ergonomics, 97 against 87
- Maintenance & community, 100 against 87
- Transparency & trust, 89 against 72

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Strands Agents loses 4 points for them

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

### Strands Agents (A)

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:
- Security & auth, 89 against 80

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it

Watch for: Three advisories in October 2026 on A2A session sharing and world-readable default session files, fixed in 1.43.0 and 1.48.0


## Why the edge

### Transparency & trust: OpenAI Agents SDK +17

- OpenAI Agents SDK (89): MIT (30). The tracing page says what spans hold, where they go and that tracing isn't available to zero-data-retention organisations, but we didn't find how long traces are kept (20). Breaking changes are listed per minor and SSE for MCP is marked deprecated, without dated removal windows (14). Tracing and its content capture are disclosed with three ways to turn them off (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.

### Maintenance & community: OpenAI Agents SDK +13

- OpenAI Agents SDK (100): 0.24.0 on PyPI on 2026-10-15, 17 days before 1 November (30). 11 PyPI releases in the 90 days to 1 November, from 0.19.3 on 4 August to 0.24.0 (20). 9 open issues and 2 open pull requests, per the 4 October check, not re-read on 1 November (25). Python 0.24.0 and @openai/agents 0.21.0 (tagged 20 October) both current (15). Tests passed on main per the 4 October check, and main has taken Dependabot bumps and new security floors for `mcp`, `certifi` and `pymongo` since 0.24.0 (10).
- Strands Agents (87): Python 1.64.0 and TypeScript 1.24.0 tagged on 4 November 2026 (30). Python 1.55.0 on 8 September, 1.61.0 on 14 October, 1.62.0 on 21 October and 1.63.0 on 30 October among many releases in 90 days (20). 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). Both official SDKs are current (15). Dependency floors, security-audit workflows and CI passing on main (10). 30+20+12+15+10 = 87.

### Agent ergonomics: OpenAI Agents SDK +10

- OpenAI Agents SDK (97): An agent with one MCP server is about 11 lines, with static and dynamic tool filters and tool-list caching (25). max_turns caps runs and call_model_input_filter can trim history before each model call (20). Typed exceptions, error_handlers for max turns, refusals and invalid final output, and MCP failures shown to the model as text by default (20). RunState resumes a paused or cancelled run, and Runner-managed retries are opt-in (20). An agent needs a name and instructions, but 0.20.0 changed the default model (7). Python and JavaScript (5).
- Strands Agents (87): Framework reading. An MCPClient is passed straight to the agent in a few lines and its lifecycle is managed, with tool filtering per client (22). Conversation managers, turn limits, token budgets and cancellation bound each run (20). Stop reasons and typed events, and hooks that can retry a model or tool call (16). Retry strategies, session managers that persist and resume a conversation, and interrupts that resume where they paused (17). Two official languages, but the default provider is Bedrock, which needs AWS credentials and model access (12). 22+20+16+17+12 = 87.

### Security & auth: Strands Agents +9

- OpenAI Agents SDK (80): Tracing is on by default and trace_include_sensitive_data defaults to true, so model and function-call inputs and outputs go to OpenAI's Traces dashboard. OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1 and set_tracing_disabled turn it off globally, and RunConfig turns it off per run. Through 0.23.1 the per-run opt-out didn't apply inside the caller's own trace. The fix shipped in 0.24.0 on 15 October (10). Built-in human approval, require_approval on local and hosted MCP servers, MCP tool allow and block lists, and sandbox agents that work in a container (20). Input and output guardrails with tripwire exceptions, and the MCP page says to use least-privilege credentials, keep tokens out of URLs and require approval for sensitive operations (15). Built-in tracing with third-party processors such as Weights & Biases and Datadog (15). SECURITY.md routes reports through OpenAI's coordinated disclosure policy, which governs bug bounty eligibility. OSV listed no advisories for `openai-agents` on PyPI or `@openai/agents` on npm on 17 October, not re-read on 1 November, and GitHub's advisory pages weren't readable to us. On main, unreleased on 1 November, pyproject.toml raises the `mcp` floor to 1.30.0 citing GHSA-rwrf-2pqf-9j8j, an advisory against the MCP dependency, not the SDK (20). Framework reading, so SOC 2 isn't scored.
- Strands Agents (89): Framework reading (telemetry defaults, approvals, guardrails, sandboxing). No usage analytics found in either SDK, and OpenTelemetry is opt-in (25). Interrupts and the harness's interventions gate tool calls behind human approval or Cedar policies, but the default sandbox is the local host (16). Guardrails, PII redaction and trusted message history pages, with Bedrock Guardrails integration (13). OpenTelemetry traces for every model and tool call (15). The AWS Vulnerability Disclosure Program on HackerOne and three advisories in October 2026 published with fixed versions (20). 25+16+13+15+20 = 89.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | OpenAI Agents SDK | Strands Agents | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 85 | 87 | Strands Agents +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 | 87 | OpenAI Agents SDK +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 80 | 89 | Strands Agents +9 |
| 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 | 87 | OpenAI Agents SDK +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 89 | 72 | OpenAI Agents SDK +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -4 | |
| **Total** | | **86.2 · AA** | **80 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | OpenAI Agents SDK | Strands Agents |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Amazon Web Services |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports |  |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-11-04 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Popularity | 30k stars, 1.3M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk | 9.1k stars, 698k npm/wk, 8.9M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.9/5 (8) | none |

## How the scores have moved

### OpenAI Agents SDK

- -0.3 on 8 October 2026: checklist

### Strands Agents

No score change since it was listed.

## 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.

**Strands Agents.** An Apache-2.0 agent SDK for Python and TypeScript with a managed MCP client, multi-agent patterns, interrupts and Cedar policies for approval, opt-in OpenTelemetry and no usage analytics. Bedrock is the default model, the default sandbox is the local host, and three session-isolation advisories were fixed in October 2026.

## Before you call either

### OpenAI Agents SDK

1. Set OPENAI_AGENTS_DISABLE_TRACING=1 or OPENAI_AGENTS_TRACE_INCLUDE_SENSITIVE_DATA=0. On versions before 0.24.0, 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

### Strands Agents

1. Upgrade to strands-agents 1.48.0 or later, and set a private session directory rather than the /tmp default
2. Pass a model explicitly when AWS credentials aren't configured, since Bedrock is the default
3. Use interrupts or the harness's `interventions` for tools that write, send or pay
4. Run shell and file tools in the Docker or SSH sandbox when the agent runs untrusted code
5. Pin a minor version when using A2A, MCP or experimental modules

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, OpenAI Agents SDK or Strands Agents?

OpenAI Agents SDK scores 86.2 (AA) on agent readiness against Strands Agents's 80 (A), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Strands Agents leads on security & auth.

### Are OpenAI Agents SDK and Strands Agents open source?

Yes. OpenAI Agents SDK is open source (MIT). Strands Agents is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-strands-agents.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/openai-agents-sdk-vs-strands-agents.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "openai-agents-sdk", "b": "strands-agents"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare openai-agents-sdk strands-agents`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/openai-agents-sdk.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/strands-agents.json

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