# Swarms vs CrewAI

## TL;DR

Swarms offers a catalog of multi-agent structures (sequential, concurrent, graph, hierarchical, group chat, mixture-of-agents) behind a `SwarmRouter`, so the pattern is a parameter. CrewAI offers two models: role-based crews and event-driven Flows, with documented human review and checkpointing. Swarms gives more patterns; CrewAI gives more documented control around each run.

## Facts side by side

|  | [Swarms](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/swarms.md) | [CrewAI](https://multiagentguide.top/tools/crewai.md) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Type | Framework | Framework |
| Languages / SDKs | Python, Rust | Python |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Pricing model | [Open core](https://docs.swarms.ai/docs/documentation/resources/pricing) | [Open core](https://crewai.com/pricing) |
| Orchestration pattern | Other | Crew / roles |
| GitHub stars | 7,221 (as of 2026-09-30) | 59,217 (as of 2026-09-30) |
| GitHub forks | 1,029 | 8,613 |
| Last push | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-29 |
| Latest release | 6.8.1 | 1.15.23 |
| Repository | [kyegomez/swarms](https://github.com/kyegomez/swarms) | [crewAIInc/crewAI](https://github.com/crewAIInc/crewAI) |
| Website | [swarms.ai](https://swarms.ai) | [crewai.com](https://crewai.com) |
| Documentation | [docs.swarms.world](https://docs.swarms.world) | [docs.crewai.com](https://docs.crewai.com/) |
| Last verified | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-30 |
| MCP support | [Yes (checked 2026-09-30)](https://docs.swarms.world/integrations/mcp) | [Yes (checked 2026-09-30)](https://docs.crewai.com/en/mcp/overview) |
| A2A support | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) | [Yes (checked 2026-09-30)](https://docs.crewai.com/en/learn/a2a-agent-delegation) |
| AG-UI support | Unknown (checked 2026-09-30) | [Partial (checked 2026-09-30)](https://docs.crewai.com/en/guides/frontend/overview) |
| Install verified | Not yet | 2026-09-30 |

## Choose Swarms if

- You want to try many orchestration patterns by switching a parameter on `SwarmRouter`.
- You want to serve agents or swarms as authenticated MCP servers with `MCPDeployer`.
- You want per-agent file-based memory (`MEMORY.md`) with context compression.

## Choose CrewAI if

- You need documented human-in-the-loop: Swarms documents only an interactive pause mode, and v13 removed leftover HITL code.
- You need checkpoint and resume for crews and flows.
- You need A2A support, which has no evidence for Swarms.

## Migration notes

A CrewAI sequential crew maps to Swarms `SequentialWorkflow`; a hierarchical crew maps to `HierarchicalSwarm` (a director writes a plan and issues orders to workers). CrewAI Flows have no single equivalent; `GraphWorkflow` covers DAG-shaped flows. In the other direction, Swarms structures without a CrewAI counterpart (mixture-of-agents, bidding group chat) need custom Flow code. Check two Swarms caveats before moving production work: telemetry is on by default and captures truncated prompts and outputs until `SWARMS_TELEMETRY_ON` is set to an off value, and an open issue reports that several structures do not reset their `Conversation` between tasks. Swarms major versions include breaking changes (v13 removed the speaker-function API), and its GitHub Releases page stops at 6.8.1, so read the docs changelog for versions.

## FAQ

### Is Swarms related to OpenAI Swarm?

No. Swarms (kyegomez/swarms) is an independent Apache-2.0 project. OpenAI Swarm is a separate educational repository from OpenAI.

### Do both support MCP?

Yes. Swarms documents MCP client and server (MCPDeployer); CrewAI documents an MCP client through the `mcps` field.

### Which has a paid offering?

Both vendors sell a hosted product: Swarms has a paid Swarms API, CrewAI sells AMP. The Python libraries are Apache-2.0 and MIT respectively.

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Data as of 2026-09-30. Not affiliated with listed projects. HTML version: https://multiagentguide.top/compare/swarms-vs-crewai