{ "title": "CrewAI Alternatives 2027: 10 Paid, Free & Open-Source", "url": "https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/crewai/", "summary": "The best CrewAI alternatives in 2027 are Relevance AI (best overall), Dify (best free plan) and LangChain / LangGraph (best open source). CrewAI: Free plan with 50 executions a month; Enterprise by custom quote. Zekai checked these prices on vendor pages on 13 Nov 2026; 7 more are compared below.", "tool": { "name": "CrewAI", "starting_price": "Free plan with 50 executions a month; Enterprise by custom quote.", "free_plan": "50 workflow executions a month, 2 automations", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.crewai.com/pricing" }, "task": "AI agent builder / framework", "prices_checked": "2026-11-13", "date_modified": "2026-11-13", "alternatives": [ { "name": "LangChain / LangGraph", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "$39/seat/mo (hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "Stateful graph-based agent workflows in code", "difference": "LangGraph models agents as nodes in a stateful graph and pairs with LangSmith for tracing; CrewAI organises agents as role-based crews and tasks with its own cloud studio.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.langchain.com/pricing", "website": "https://www.langchain.com", "repository": "https://github.com/langchain-ai/langgraph", "last_release": "2026-11-12", "zekai_score": 7.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/langchain/" }, { "name": "Microsoft Agent Framework", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": ".NET and Python multi-agent workflows", "difference": "Ships APIs for both Python and C#/.NET with graph workflows supporting sequential, concurrent, handoff and group patterns, checkpointing and time-travel; CrewAI is Python only.", "website": "https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework", "repository": "https://github.com/microsoft/agent-framework", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/microsoft-agent-framework/", "last_release": "2026-11-07", "zekai_score": 7.5, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/microsoft-agent-framework/" }, { "name": "Google ADK", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Apache-2.0", "best_for": "Code-first agents with built-in evaluation", "difference": "Code-first Python toolkit from Google with evaluation built into the framework description and Apache-2.0 licensing; CrewAI's repo is MIT and pushes its hosted studio.", "website": "https://github.com/google/adk-python", "repository": "https://github.com/google/adk-python", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/adk-python/", "last_release": "2026-11-12", "zekai_score": 8.4, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/adk-python/" }, { "name": "CAMEL", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Apache-2.0", "best_for": "Research on large agent societies", "difference": "CAMEL describes itself as a framework for building and scaling agent societies and is Apache-2.0; CrewAI targets production workflows and ships a 50-execution free cloud plan.", "website": "https://github.com/camel-ai/camel", "repository": "https://github.com/camel-ai/camel", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/camel/", "last_release": "2026-09-03", "zekai_score": 7.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/camel/" }, { "name": "Langflow", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "Free (self-hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "Visual drag-and-drop agent flows", "difference": "Drag-and-drop builder for multi-agent flows released under MIT as a standalone app; CrewAI Studio is tied to CrewAI's cloud and capped at 2 automations on the free plan.", "website": "https://www.langflow.org", "repository": "https://github.com/langflow-ai/langflow", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/langflow/", "last_release": "2026-11-10", "zekai_score": 8.8, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/langflow/" }, { "name": "Dify", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "$59/mo (hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "Dify Open Source License (not OSI-approved)", "best_for": "Visual LLM apps with built-in RAG", "difference": "Cloud Sandbox gives 5 apps and 50 knowledge documents free, and Professional bills per workspace with 3 members at $59 a month; CrewAI Basic is limited by 50 executions.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://dify.ai/pricing", "website": "https://dify.ai", "repository": "https://github.com/langgenius/dify", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/dify/", "last_release": "2026-11-04", "zekai_score": 8.6, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/dify/" }, { "name": "n8n", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "$20/mo billed yearly", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "licence": "Sustainable Use License", "best_for": "Workflow automation with AI agent nodes", "difference": "Prices by workflow executions (2.5k on Starter) with unlimited steps, includes an AI Agent node, MCP server trigger and 1,600 assistant credits; CrewAI Basic allows 50 executions.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://n8n.io/pricing", "website": "https://n8n.io", "repository": "https://github.com/n8n-io/n8n", "zekai_open_source_page": "https://zekaiwork.com/free-open-source/n8n/", "zekai_score": 9.3, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/n8n/" }, { "name": "Lindy", "type": "Free plan + paid", "starting_price": "$29.99/mo", "free_plan_limit": "$50 in free credits that last 7 days, no card", "best_for": "No-code agent teammate for non-developers", "difference": "Credit-based no-code agent teammate with Slack, inbox and meeting skills and 3,000+ integrations, top-ups at $10 per 1,000 credits; CrewAI is a developer framework.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.lindy.ai/pricing", "website": "https://www.lindy.ai", "zekai_score": 5.5, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/lindy/" }, { "name": "LlamaIndex", "type": "Open source", "starting_price": "$500/mo (hosted)", "free_plan_limit": "No limit (self-hosted)", "licence": "MIT", "best_for": "Document-heavy RAG and parsing agents", "difference": "Centres on data and document agents with LlamaParse parsing and extraction priced in credits; CrewAI's cloud has no document parsing credits and counts workflow executions.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://www.llamaindex.ai/pricing", "website": "https://www.llamaindex.ai", "repository": "https://github.com/run-llama/llama_index", "last_release": "2026-09-21", "zekai_score": 7.9, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/llamaindex/" }, { "name": "Relevance AI", "type": "Paid", "starting_price": "Enterprise plan sold by quote only; no public price listed.", "free_plan_limit": "No free plan", "best_for": "Managed AI workforce for sales and ops", "difference": "Sells an AI Workforce with enterprise triggers, calling and meeting agents and 2,000+ integrations on custom pricing; CrewAI also offers a free Basic cloud tier.", "price_checked": "2026-11-13", "pricing_url": "https://relevanceai.com/pricing", "website": "https://relevanceai.com", "zekai_score": 6, "zekai_review": "https://zekaiwork.com/ai-tools/relevance-ai/" } ], "faq": [ { "q": "What is the best alternative to CrewAI in 2027?", "a": "Relevance AI is the best overall CrewAI alternative on this page (Enterprise plan sold by quote only; no public price listed.). For no cost, Dify has a free plan (Sandbox: 200 message credits, 1 team member, 5 apps). To self-host, LangChain / LangGraph is open source (MIT)." }, { "q": "Is there a free version of CrewAI?", "a": "Yes. CrewAI has a free plan: 50 workflow executions a month, 2 automations. Paid plans start at Free plan with 50 executions a month; Enterprise by custom quote., checked on 13 Nov 2026." }, { "q": "Is there a 100% free alternative to CrewAI?", "a": "Yes. LangChain / LangGraph, Microsoft Agent Framework, Google ADK, CAMEL, Langflow, Dify, LlamaIndex are open source and free to self-host. Lindy has a free plan with limits, shown in the table." }, { "q": "How much do CrewAI alternatives cost for a team of 5?", "a": "If each of 5 people buys the entry paid plan, at the prices Zekai checked on 13 Nov 2026, the monthly cost is n8n $100/mo, Lindy $149.95/mo, LangChain / LangGraph $195/mo. Team and business plans can cost more per seat. The Zekai Cost Finder on this page recalculates for any team size." }, { "q": "Which is better, Relevance AI or CrewAI?", "a": "Sells an AI Workforce with enterprise triggers, calling and meeting agents and 2,000+ integrations on custom pricing; CrewAI also offers a free Basic cloud tier. Choose Relevance AI if you want vendor-managed agents for sales or support teams rather than assembling a code framework. Stay with CrewAI if you want an MIT-licensed framework and a free tier before signing a custom contract." }, { "q": "Why are people leaving CrewAI?", "a": "The documented reasons are: Version 1.15.29 removed CrewAgentExecutor and its import paths, and made the fifth identical tool call stop the task (23 Oct 2026); Version 1.14.0 removed CodeInterpreterTool and deprecated the code execution parameters (7 Apr 2026). Each is sourced in the section above." }, { "q": "What is the best CrewAI alternative?", "a": "LangGraph is the most compared rival, with a stateful graph approach. Microsoft Agent Framework suits .NET teams, and Langflow or Dify suit teams wanting a visual builder." }, { "q": "Is CrewAI better than LangGraph?", "a": "They solve orchestration differently: CrewAI uses role-based crews and tasks, LangGraph uses explicit state graphs. Pick by how much control over state and branching you need." } ], "publisher": "Zekai (zekaiwork.com) — independently reviewed; prices read on vendor pages on the dates shown.", "licence": "Free to quote with a link to https://zekaiwork.com/alternatives/crewai/. Bulk copying or republishing the dataset is not permitted." }