Skip to content
effecthub

Agno vs Haystack

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Both have one
Public API
Both have one
Best fit
Agno: Python developers building product copilots, research or support agents they will host themselves · Haystack: Python teams building production RAG or search applications
Platforms
Agno: Web · Haystack: Linux, macOS, Windows
Trust score
About even — Agno 88, Haystack 90

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

AgnoOpen-source Python SDK and self-hosted runtime for building agents, teams and workflows, with a web control plane to monitor them.HaystackApache-licensed Python framework for building RAG pipelines and agents out of swappable components, maintained by deepset.

Side by side

FactAgnoHaystack
CategoryAgent Frameworks & OrchestrationLLM Orchestration Frameworks
Pricing modelFreemiumFreemium
Starts at$150/mo—
Public APIYesYes
Trust score88 / 10090 / 100
PlatformsWeb, APILinux, macOS, Windows, API
CompanyAgnodeepset
Launched20222019
Last verifiedOct 2, 2026Oct 2, 2026

What our research says

Agno

Agno suits Python developers who want a compact framework and a runtime they host themselves, rather than a managed agent service. The free tier is unusually complete, since the local control plane is unlimited, and you pay only when you want a live control plane with team access. Teams that prefer graph-style orchestration or a larger plugin ecosystem may find other frameworks more familiar.

Pros

  • Apache-2.0 SDK with agents, teams, workflows and 100+ toolkits
  • Runtime serves agents over REST, MCP and chat interfaces and runs in your own cloud
  • Free plan has no usage caps or retention limits on the local control plane
  • Large open-source community, with over 40,000 GitHub stars

Cons

  • The live control plane starts at $150 a month before add-ons
  • Heavy rebranding history means older tutorials show Phidata imports and APIs
  • SAML SSO is a $300 a month add-on and custom RBAC is Enterprise only

Haystack

Haystack is a mature, component-based alternative to LangChain for teams that want explicit, inspectable pipelines instead of hidden chains. It is code-first and aimed at engineers, so non-developers will not get far without the commercial platform. Pick it when retrieval quality and debuggability matter more than a huge ecosystem of ready-made recipes.

Pros

  • Apache 2.0 licence with an active repository maintained by a funded company
  • Modular components for retrieval, routing, memory and generation
  • Many model providers and vector databases supported out of the box
  • Pipelines are serializable and suitable for Kubernetes deployment

Cons

  • Code-only; building pipelines requires Python skills
  • Smaller community and fewer tutorials than LangChain
  • Enterprise features and support are sold separately with no published price

Which one fits

Choose Agno if you need

  • Python developers building product copilots, research or support agents they will host themselves
  • Teams that want built-in memory, knowledge, tracing and approvals without stitching tools together
  • Companies that need agent data to stay in their own cloud

Choose Haystack if you need

  • Python teams building production RAG or search applications
  • Engineers who want explicit pipeline graphs they can serialize, test and deploy
  • Organizations that want an Apache-licensed core with optional vendor support

Agno vs Haystack: the questions people ask

Is Agno cheaper than Haystack?

Agno starts at $150/mo. Haystack has a free tier; what its paid plans cost is not confirmed by us yet.

Does Agno or Haystack have a free tier?

Both: Agno has a free tier, and Haystack has a free tier.

Which has a public API, Agno or Haystack?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

More comparisons

All Agno alternatives →Browse all Agent Frameworks & Orchestration →