head to head · open source
agent-framework vs atom
agent-framework has 14,527 GitHub stars, 2,570 forks, 617 open issues and last shipped yesterday. atom has 911 stars, 93 forks, 2 open issues and last shipped yesterday. agent-framework leads on adoption by 1,495% (14,527 vs 911 stars). agent-framework is written in Python under MIT; atom is written in Python under AGPL-3.0. agent-framework has attracted 18% as many forks as stars, atom 10%. atom was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (ai), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| agent-framework | atom | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 15K | ★ 911 |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Python | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-11-04 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.6K | ⑂ 93 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick agent-framework if
- You weight community size — 15K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick atom if
- You want the atom feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the AGPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and atom fits your workflow better
About agent-framework
Welcome to Microsoft Agent Framework! Microsoft Agent Framework (MAF) is an open, multi language framework for building production grade AI agents and multi agent workflows in .NET and Python . Microsoft Agent Framework is built for teams taking agents from prototype to production. It provides a consistent foundation for building, orchestrating, and operating agent systems across Python, .NET and Go, while keeping architecture choices open as requirements evolve, and supports a broad ecosystem including Microsoft Foundry, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, and the GitHub Copilot SDK, with samples and hosting patterns for…
read the full agent-framework overview →
About atom
ATOM Platform The governed agent platform — autonomy, earned. 88% of AI agent pilots never reach production. Atom is built for the other path. Industry figure (Turion 2026). Atom makes no claims about its own deployments. What is Atom? Atom is an open source, self hosted AI agent workforce — a team of specialty agents (sales, support, finance, engineering) that your people delegate to in plain language. Where other platforms sell agent capability , Atom sells agent accountability : autonomy that is earned through verified outcomes, executed inside a deterministic safety net, on your hardware. Agents that earn…
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Frequently asked questions
Is agent-framework or atom more popular?
agent-framework has 14,527 GitHub stars and atom has 911. agent-framework has the larger community by that measure.
Are agent-framework and atom free?
Both are open source. agent-framework is licensed under MIT and atom under AGPL-3.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between agent-framework and atom?
agent-framework is written in Python and atom in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, agent-framework or atom?
Choose agent-framework if you want the larger community (14,527 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose atom if its feature set, stack or AGPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.