Agno vs Swarms (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Agno and Swarms share a 2.2 GPA, both have a free plan, and Swarms starts cheaper, at $19.99 a month against $150 a month.
Checked Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Agno grades higher on the free plan and features. Swarms grades higher on value for money. They get the same grade on ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Agno
Open-source agent runtime with a hosted control plane
Swarms
Multi-agent framework, hosted API and agent marketplace
Which one is for you
Pick Agno if
- Fits if you want agents running in your own cloud with a console to watch them
- Works for teams that already have infrastructure and want a control plane on top
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want a live control plane, at $150 a month for 1 connection and 3 seats
- Skip it if you do not want to host a runtime and pay for infrastructure
- Tight if you grow: extra seats are $30 and extra connections $95 a month
- Watch out: SAML SSO is a $300 a month add-on on Pro
- Watch out: end-user audit logs and custom RBAC need Enterprise
Pick Swarms if
- Fits if you want to run several coordinating agents from Python or a REST call
- Works for developers who would rather rent the hosting than run it
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a no-code builder, as agents are built in code or the API
- Tight if you stay free: batch, reasoning agents and graph workflows are paid
- Watch out: tokens cost the provider price plus 15%, and each agent in a swarm adds $0.01
- Watch out: calls fail when the credit balance falls under $1.00
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAAgnoFair | 2.2GPASwarmsFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | DPro is $150 a month, the start of the category's dearest tenth, for one live connection and three seats. The runtime is free but you host it. | BPro is $19.99 a month, the start of the category's cheaper quarter. Usage adds a 15% service fee on model prices. |
| Free plan and trial | BThe free plan has no usage cap and a control plane for a local AgentOS. Going live is the paid step. | CA free plan with sign-up credits, 100 requests a minute and 200K tokens per agent. Batch, reasoning agents and graph workflows are not included. |
| Features | BRuntime, agents, teams, workflows, traces, evals and approvals. Nothing in the listing shows a gap in the core job. | CSeveral multi-agent patterns, Python and Rust frameworks, a hosted API and monitoring. Premium endpoints sit on paid plans. |
| Ease of use | DNo rating on record. You run the runtime on your own infrastructure and write code. | DNo rating on record. Agents are built in code or through the API, with no no-code builder. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb control plane and API or MCP serving, with Slack, Discord, ChatGPT, Claude and Cursor links. No desktop or phone app. | BWeb dashboard and API plus Python and Rust, with Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp and Exa connections. No desktop or phone app. |
| Best for | self-run agent runtime with paid control plane | multi-agent framework with a hosted API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Agno and Swarms. How we grade
Price against what you get
Agno starts at $150 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Swarms starts at $19.99 a month and scores 2.0.
Agno scores higher, and starts $130.01 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other AI agents on the chart, 36 score higher than Agno for less, and 24 score higher than Swarms for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Agno is self-hostable, according to its own site.
- Swarms also covers workflow automation.
At a glance
| Agno | Swarms | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan | Free plan |
| Starts at | $150 per month for the Pro control plane | $19.99 per month |
| Free plan | $0 a month, unlimited usage and retention, and a control plane for a local AgentOS. | No monthly fee, sign-up credits, pay-per-use API access, 100 requests a minute, 1,200 a day and 200K tokens per agent. |
| Free trial | Free trial of Pro offered; length not stated on the page | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Agno | Swarms |
| Price read from | agno.com | swarms.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Agno
- The paid Pro plan covers one live AgentOS connection and three seats; more cost $95 and $30 a month each.
- SAML SSO is a $300 a month add-on on Pro.
- You run the runtime on your own infrastructure, so hosting and model costs are yours.
- Governance features such as end-user audit logs and custom RBAC need Enterprise.
Swarms
- Tokens are billed at each model's provider price plus a 15% service fee, with $0.01 per agent in swarm workflows and $0.25 per image.
- Premium endpoints (batch, reasoning agents, graph workflows) are not available on the Free plan.
- Billable calls need a credit balance above $1.00 and return an error below it.
- It is a developer product: agents are built in code or through the API, not through a no-code builder.
Key features
Agno
- AgentOS runtime
- A runtime that serves agents as an API for your product and as an MCP server that ChatGPT and Claude can connect to.
- Control plane
- A web console for chat, sessions, traces, memory, knowledge, metrics, evaluations, approvals and a scheduler.
- Agents, teams and workflows
- The demo environment shows single agents, teams of agents and step-based workflows, such as an invoice flow with an approval gate.
- Runs in your own cloud
- The vendor says you own your data and compute, so it does not meter usage, storage or egress.
- Works with other frameworks
- The Free plan's control plane accepts agents built with the Agno SDK, LangGraph or Claude Code.
Swarms
- Multi-agent architectures
- Build hierarchical, sequential and parallel agent collaborations, with agent-to-agent communication and shared memory systems.
- Python and Rust frameworks
- Agents are written in Swarms Python or Swarms Rust, and the vendor describes the Python framework as open source.
- Hosted Swarms API
- Send agent configurations and a task over REST from any language and get the result back, without running the orchestration yourself.
- Run monitoring in Swarms Cloud
- A dashboard shows each run's logs, token use, cost and context use.
- Marketplace for agents
- Agents, prompts, tools, MCP servers and skills can be bought and sold; sellers keep 90% of each sale.
Plans
Agno
Free$0
Control plane for a local AgentOS with chat, traces, memory, evaluations and templates, plus community support.
Pro$150
per month for 1 live AgentOS connection and 3 seats
Control plane for a live AgentOS, basic role-based access and email support. Extra seats $30, extra connections $95 a month.
EnterpriseCustom
End-user management and audit logs, custom RBAC, Slack Connect, an SLA and security reviews.
Swarms
Free$0
Pay-per-use credits, 100 requests a minute, 1,200 requests a day, 200K tokens per agent, marketplace access.
Pro$19.99
per month
Adds global availability zones, extra multi-agent architectures, API telemetry, priority queue, Pro models and premium endpoints.
Premium$100
per month ($1,020 per year)
2,000 requests a minute, 100,000 a day, 2M tokens per agent, 500 agents per batch, SOC 2 compliance and 24/7 support.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom rate limits, dedicated infrastructure, on-premise or VPC deployment, custom SLAs and white-label options.
Ways to pay less
Agno
No public discounts listed.
Swarms
- Annual discount
Premium billed yearly saves 15%
Premium is $100 a month, or $1,020 a year, which the pricing page describes as a 15% saving.
- Other savings
Half-price tokens overnight
Swarm completions get 50% off token costs between 8 PM and 6 AM Pacific Time; agent fees are unchanged.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Agno or Swarms?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Swarms is cheaper to start with: $19.99 a month, against $150 a month for Agno. Agno starts at $150 per month for the Pro control plane, and Swarms starts at $19.99 per month.
Which has a free plan, Agno or Swarms?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both Agno and Swarms have a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.