# CrewAI vs AutoGen: license, pricing and features compared (October 2026)

Canonical: https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/crewai-vs-autogen · Last verified: 2026-10-26 · Published: 2026-10-25 · Author: Agentic Weekly (operated independently from Texas, US) · Evidence: Evidence: Both tools have a Tested entry (scope on each tool page). The facts in the tables were read from each vendor's own pages and the public GitHub API on 2026-10-25 (America/Chicago) and are Reported. The What we measured section lists what we have actually run, with links to the test logs, and what we have not run yet; anything we could not confirm is marked as not captured.

**Our pick:** Pick CrewAI for developers who want role-based multi-agent flows; pick AutoGen for existing AutoGen projects that need reference material. No overall winner: we have not benchmarked them against each other. **Updated:** 2026-10-26 (America/Chicago).

> CrewAI and AutoGen are both listed under Agent building. License: CrewAI is MIT; AutoGen is MIT (code) and CC-BY-4.0 (docs), per GitHub. GitHub stars on Oct 25, 2026: AutoGen 61,562 (microsoft/autogen) vs CrewAI 60,100 (crewAIInc/crewAI). Stars measure attention, not quality. CrewAI is the better fit for: developers who want role-based multi-agent flows. AutoGen is the better fit for: existing AutoGen projects that need reference material. Facts were read from vendor and GitHub pages on Oct 25, 2026 and are Reported; what we ran ourselves is under What we measured.

## What we measured

We ran both CrewAI and AutoGen ourselves; the table links each full test log. These are smoke tests on one CPU-only machine, not benchmarks. Both ran the same task on the same local model, so the two results are comparable on that one task only. Model-driven runs used a small local Qwen2.5-3B-Instruct model.

Table: Our own tests for CrewAI and AutoGen

| Test | CrewAI | AutoGen |
|---|---|---|
| Hands-on test log (install and a real task) | Tested: CrewAI 1.15.30, Oct 25, 2026: passed. CrewAI 1.15.30 passed our one-tool task on a local 3B model: 3 of 3 trials; cold uv install 8.4 s. [Full test log](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests/crewai) | Tested: AutoGen 0.7.5, Oct 25, 2026: passed. AutoGen 0.7.5 passed our one-tool task on a local 3B model: 3 of 3 trials; cold uv install 1.9 s. [Full test log](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests/autogen) |

How we test and label results: [methodology](https://theagenticweekly.com/methodology#testing-rig). All test logs: [test hub](https://theagenticweekly.com/tests).

## CrewAI vs AutoGen at a glance

CrewAI and AutoGen are both listed under Agent building. Agentic Weekly's AutoGen page names CrewAI as an alternative. CrewAI: Reasonable if you like the crew-of-agents mental model; the memory and tool-loop fixes in this release are worth taking. AutoGen: Microsoft's open-source multi-agent framework; its README now says the project is in maintenance mode and points to Microsoft Agent Framework.

Table: CrewAI and AutoGen side by side (vendor pages and GitHub, 2026-10-25)

|  | CrewAI | AutoGen |
|---|---|---|
| Vendor | CrewAI | Microsoft |
| Listed under | Agent building | Agent building |
| License | MIT | MIT (code) and CC-BY-4.0 (docs), per GitHub |
| Pricing model | Not captured on the pages we read | Free and open source |
| Free tier | Not captured on the pages we read | Free to self-host |
| Paid plans | Not captured on the pages we read | None listed for the library |
| Platforms | Not captured on the pages we read | Python and .NET |
| Public repository | crewAIInc/crewAI: 60,100 stars, last push Oct 26, 2026 UTC (GitHub API, Oct 25, 2026) | microsoft/autogen: 61,562 stars, last push Oct 16, 2026 UTC (GitHub API, Oct 25, 2026) |
| Latest release we saw | 1.15.30, Oct 23, 2026 | python-v0.7.5, Sep 30, 2025 |
| Evidence | Tested (scope on its tool page) | Tested (scope on its tool page) |

## How CrewAI and AutoGen differ

- License: CrewAI is MIT; AutoGen is MIT (code) and CC-BY-4.0 (docs), per GitHub.
- GitHub stars on Oct 25, 2026: AutoGen 61,562 (microsoft/autogen) vs CrewAI 60,100 (crewAIInc/crewAI). Stars measure attention, not quality.
- Latest release we saw: CrewAI 1.15.30 on Oct 23, 2026; AutoGen python-v0.7.5 on Sep 30, 2025 (388 days earlier).
- AutoGen is "Free and open source"; the entry for CrewAI has no pricing model we could confirm (pricing not verified).
- AutoGen's pricing details were captured; CrewAI's were not published or could not be read, so a price comparison would be one-sided.

## Which should you pick?

- Pick CrewAI if: developers who want role-based multi-agent flows; teams that want a built-in eval command. Skip it if: you prefer an explicit graph model.
- Pick AutoGen if: existing AutoGen projects that need reference material; researchers studying multi-agent patterns. Skip it if: you are starting a new production project: Microsoft points to Agent Framework instead.

## Strengths and limits

Table: Strengths and limits as listed on each tool page

|  | CrewAI | AutoGen |
|---|---|---|
| Strengths | MIT license and a large GitHub following; Built-in eval command; Fixes to memory and tool-loop behavior in this release | MIT-licensed code; Large community |
| Limits | Very fast release cadence (several versions per week); Some fixes address leaks and loops, which signals earlier rough edges; An unpinned install resolved to an older version (1.6.1) in our shared venv; we only ran a one-agent crew against a local model | Maintenance mode per its own README; Last release tag we saw is from Sep 2025; Our test was one small task on a local 3B model; it does not show behaviour with hosted models or larger jobs |

## What we did not verify

- CrewAI: Pricing of CrewAI's hosted platform (not covered).
- AutoGen: Exact end-of-support dates.
- Output quality, speed and reliability beyond the smoke tests listed under What we measured: not compared.

## FAQ

### Is CrewAI or AutoGen open source?

CrewAI: MIT. AutoGen: MIT (code) and CC-BY-4.0 (docs), per GitHub. Licenses come from each project's GitHub repository or the vendor's own pages, read Oct 25, 2026; read the license text itself before redistributing or building a competing service.

### Does CrewAI or AutoGen have a free plan?

CrewAI: we did not capture free-tier details. AutoGen: Free: to self-host. Checked Oct 25, 2026; prices and limits change, so confirm on each vendor's page.

### Which was updated more recently, CrewAI or AutoGen?

CrewAI's newest release we saw is 1.15.30 (Oct 23, 2026); AutoGen's is python-v0.7.5 (Sep 30, 2025). Read Oct 25, 2026 from the official release page or repository; a newer date is not a quality ranking.

### What is the main difference between CrewAI and AutoGen?

License: CrewAI is MIT; AutoGen is MIT (code) and CC-BY-4.0 (docs), per GitHub. GitHub stars on Oct 25, 2026: AutoGen 61,562 (microsoft/autogen) vs CrewAI 60,100 (crewAIInc/crewAI). Stars measure attention, not quality.

## Sources

- [CrewAI 1.15.29 release](https://github.com/crewAIInc/crewAI/releases/tag/1.15.29) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [CrewAI 1.15.30 release](https://github.com/crewAIInc/crewAI/releases/tag/1.15.30) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [README](https://github.com/crewAIInc/crewAI) (fetched 2026-10-25)
- [AutoGen README](https://github.com/microsoft/autogen) (fetched 2026-10-25)

## Related

- [CrewAI facts and sources](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/crewai)
- [AutoGen facts and sources](https://theagenticweekly.com/tools/autogen)
- [Alternatives to CrewAI](https://theagenticweekly.com/alternatives/crewai)
- [Alternatives to AutoGen](https://theagenticweekly.com/alternatives/autogen)
- [Agent building: all tools we track](https://theagenticweekly.com/best/agent-building)
- [Agno vs CrewAI](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/agno-vs-crewai)
- [smolagents vs CrewAI](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/smolagents-vs-crewai)
- [Google ADK vs CrewAI](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/google-adk-vs-crewai)
- [LangGraph vs AutoGen](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/langgraph-vs-autogen)
- [AutoGen vs Semantic Kernel](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/autogen-vs-semantic-kernel)
- [AutoGen vs OpenAI Agents SDK](https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/autogen-vs-openai-agents-sdk)

## Changelog

- 2026-10-25: First published. Facts read from vendor pages and the GitHub API on 2026-10-25.

## How to cite

Agentic Weekly, "CrewAI vs AutoGen: license, pricing and features compared (October 2026)", last updated 2026-10-26, https://theagenticweekly.com/compare/crewai-vs-autogen