# Swarms review (2026): is the free plan enough? > Multi-agent framework, hosted API and agent marketplace Checked Nov 13, 2026 ยท graded Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA. Swarms is a stack for building multi-agent systems: an open-source Python framework, a Rust version, a hosted API for running agent configurations over REST, a cloud dashboard for monitoring runs, and a marketplace where agents and prompts are sold. Usage is billed by tokens, with optional monthly plans for higher limits. - **Category:** AI Agents - **Made by:** Swarms - **Website:** https://www.swarms.ai - **Runs on:** Web - **Who should skip it:** Skip it if you want a no-code builder, as agents are built in code or the API. - **Facts last checked:** Nov 13, 2026 ## Pricing As of Nov 13, 2026, Swarms has a free plan, and paid plans start at $19.99 per month. - **Pricing model:** Free plan - **Free plan:** 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:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | 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. | | Enterprise | Custom | Custom rate limits, dedicated infrastructure, on-premise or VPC deployment, custom SLAs and white-label options. | Read from https://www.swarms.ai/pricing on Nov 13, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Swarms before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **Premium billed yearly saves 15%** (Annual discount): Premium is $100 a month, or $1,020 a year, which the pricing page describes as a 15% saving. Source: https://www.swarms.ai/pricing - **Half-price tokens overnight** (Other savings): Swarm completions get 50% off token costs between 8 PM and 6 AM Pacific Time; agent fees are unchanged. Source: https://www.swarms.ai/pricing ## Key features - **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. ## Good for - Developers building multi-agent systems in Python or Rust - Teams that want to call hosted agent orchestration over a REST API - Builders who want to sell agents or prompts through a marketplace ## Worth knowing - 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. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 2.2 out of 4**, graded Nov 13, 2026. Swarms is a multi-agent stack: an open-source Python framework, a Rust version, a hosted API and a marketplace. The free plan has rate limits and no premium endpoints, and model tokens carry a 15% fee on top. - **Value for money: B.** Pro 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: C.** A 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: C.** Several multi-agent patterns, Python and Rust frameworks, a hosted API and monitoring. Premium endpoints sit on paid plans. - **Ease of use: D.** No rating on record. Agents are built in code or through the API, with no no-code builder. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web dashboard and API plus Python and Rust, with Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp and Exa connections. No desktop or phone app. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Swarms's own pages on 13 November 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among AI agents - Swarms's GPA of 2.2 is higher than 81 of the 178 other AI agents we grade, and level with 41. - It stands best on value for money (B, above 135 of 178) and worst on ease of use (D, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $19.99 a month, against a middle price of $25 for the category: 25 of the 98 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.0 out of 4. 24 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 Swarms 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 costs $239.88 a year. Swarms 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: Sharing with other people, which means accounts and invitations. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with Telegram, Discord, WhatsApp, Exa **Tags:** AI agents, Open source, Public API, Workflow automation ## Alternatives - [CrewAI](https://toolgpa.com/tools/crewai): Multi-agent platform to build, run and govern AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/crewai-vs-swarms) - [LangGraph](https://toolgpa.com/tools/langgraph): Open-source framework for building controllable AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/langgraph-vs-swarms) - [LlamaIndex](https://toolgpa.com/tools/llamaindex): Document parsing and extraction platform for AI agents. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/llamaindex-vs-swarms) - [Agno](https://toolgpa.com/tools/agno): Open-source agent runtime with a hosted control plane. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/agno-vs-swarms) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Nov 13, 2026: - https://www.swarms.ai/pricing - https://www.swarms.ai Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/swarms Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).