Comparison

OpenAI Agents SDK vs Semantic Kernel

A like-for-like, spec-level comparison. Both entries are verified against their docs and repo.

OpenAI Agents SDK

OpenAI's lightweight agents SDK (Swarm successor).

+ Minimal and readable abstraction
+ First-class OpenAI tracing and guardrails
− OpenAI models first
− Young ecosystem

Semantic Kernel

Microsoft's SDK for enterprise AI orchestration.

+ Strong .NET and Java story for enterprise
+ Planner abstraction for tool orchestration
− Enterprise-flavored, less hacker-friendly
− Concept-heavy docs

Spec	OpenAI Agents SDK	Semantic Kernel
Category	framework	framework
License	MIT	MIT
Open source	Yes	Yes
Self-hostable	Yes	Yes
MCP support	Yes	Yes
Pricing	free	free
Starting price	BYOK usage cost	BYOK usage cost
Models	gpt	gpt, claude, byok
Languages	python	csharp, python, java
GitHub stars	27.4k	28.2k
Last activity	2026-06-24	2026-06-25