# Mastra review (2026): is the free plan enough? > TypeScript framework for building and running AI agents Checked Nov 12, 2026 ยท graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA. Mastra is an open-source TypeScript framework for building AI agents and agent-powered apps, with agents, workflows, memory, a server and observability in one package. Apps run locally or on any Node.js host, and Mastra Cloud adds hosted deployment and trace storage on usage-based workspace plans. - **Category:** AI Agents - **Made by:** Mastra (since 2024) - **Website:** https://mastra.ai - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Not for you if you want no-code, since building an agent means writing TypeScript. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 12, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 12, 2026, Mastra has a free plan, and paid plans start at $25 per workspace / month. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** Unlimited agents, users and deployments, 100K observability events, 1 GB egress, 5 connections and 15-day trace retention. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Free | $0 | Unlimited agents, users and deployments, 100K observability events, 1 GB egress, 5 connections and 15-day trace retention. | | Starter | $25 per workspace / month | One small dedicated project, usage alerts, 250K observability events, 10 GB egress, 10 connections and 60-day trace retention. | | Team | $250 per workspace / month | One small and two medium dedicated projects, a SOC 2 report, 10M observability events, 100 GB egress, 50 connections and 180-day trace retention. | | Enterprise | Custom | RBAC, SSO, audit logs, custom allowances and connections, and dedicated support. | Read from https://mastra.ai/pricing on Nov 12, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Mastra before buying. ## Key features - **Agents:** Typed agents are defined in code with instructions, a model, tools and runtime behavior in one place. - **Workflows:** Typed steps can be chained with retries and branches into workflows that a team can inspect. - **Memory:** Agents can keep durable context through thread-aware storage, semantic recall and an observational memory option. - **Observability and evals:** Traces, metrics and logs sit alongside evaluation tools such as scorers, datasets and experiments. - **MCP servers:** Agents, tools and other resources can be exposed as Model Context Protocol servers that any MCP-capable system can call. - **Deploy anywhere:** A Mastra app runs on any Node.js host or as a standalone server, with optional deployers for Vercel, Netlify and Cloudflare, or on Mastra Cloud. ## Good for - TypeScript teams building agents inside Next.js, React or Node apps - Developers who want a free framework and only pay if they use the hosted cloud - Teams that want agents, workflows, memory and traces from one library ## Worth knowing - It is a code framework, so building an agent means writing TypeScript; there is no no-code builder. - Cloud usage past each plan's allowance is billed separately, for example $0.10 per GB of egress and $10 per 100K observability events. - RBAC, SSO and audit logs are Enterprise only, and the SOC 2 report starts at the Team plan. - Some directories in the repository are under a separate enterprise license (ee/), so not every file carries the main open-source terms. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.8 out of 4**, graded Nov 12, 2026. Mastra is an open-source TypeScript framework for agents, workflows, memory and evals, with a free cloud plan with 100K observability events. You have to write code, there is no no-code builder, and usage past each plan's allowance is billed separately. - **Value for money: A.** The framework is open source and the cloud has a free plan. Starter is $25 a workspace a month and Team $250. - **Free plan and trial: B.** Free cloud plan: unlimited agents, users and deployments, 100K observability events and 15-day trace retention. A solo developer can live on that. - **Features: B.** Agents, workflows, memory, evals, MCP servers and deployment to many hosts. Nothing in the listing is missing for code-first agent work. - **Ease of use: D.** No store rating, and building an agent means writing TypeScript and running it yourself. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web with deployment to Vercel, Netlify and Cloudflare, and Next.js, React, Hono and Express listed. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Mastra's own pages on 12 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI agents - Mastra's GPA of 2.8 is higher than 88 of the 101 other AI agents we grade, and level with 8. - It stands best on value for money (A, above 91 of 101) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $25 a month, against a middle price of $22.13 for the category: 36 of the 65 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 20 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/ai-agents ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace Mastra you would be making an AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 2.8 is higher than 88 of the 101 other AI agents we grade. It costs $300 a year. Mastra is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself. - You could not: An AI agent, with the models and the safeguards behind it. - You could not: Connections to other products, each kept working as those products change. - You could not: The depth: we grade its features B, which means it covers the whole job. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Next.js, React, Node.js, Vercel, Netlify, Cloudflare, Hono, Express **Tags:** AI agents, Open source, Self-hostable, Workflow automation, AI features ## Alternatives - [CrewAI](https://toolgpa.com/tools/crewai): Multi-agent platform to build, run and govern AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crewai-vs-mastra) - [Letta](https://toolgpa.com/tools/letta): Stateful agents with long-term memory, from the MemGPT team. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/letta-vs-mastra) - [Langflow](https://toolgpa.com/tools/langflow): Open-source visual builder for AI agents and MCP servers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/langflow-vs-mastra) - [Vellum](https://toolgpa.com/tools/vellum-ai): Personal AI assistant with long-term memory that acts across apps. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/mastra-vs-vellum-ai) - [Dify](https://toolgpa.com/tools/dify): Open-source platform for building AI agents and agentic workflows. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/dify-vs-mastra) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 12, 2026: - https://mastra.ai/pricing - https://mastra.ai - https://mastra.ai/about - https://github.com/mastra-ai/mastra - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mastra-ai/mastra/main/LICENSE.md Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/mastra Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).