Mastra vs OpenAI Agents SDK
A side-by-side comparison of capabilities, autonomy, integrations, and pricing to help you choose.
Short answer: choose Mastra if you want typescript framework for building ai agents and workflows (Supervised agent, free); choose OpenAI Agents SDK if you want lightweight open-source framework for building multi-agent workflows (Supervised agent, free).
| Mastra | OpenAI Agents SDK | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | TypeScript framework for building AI agents and workflows | Lightweight open-source framework for building multi-agent workflows |
| Type | framework | framework |
| Autonomy | Supervised agent | Supervised agent |
| Pricing | free · Free (open source; pay underlying model usage) | free · Free (open source; pay underlying model usage) |
| Best for | developers | developers |
| Deployment | self-hosted, api | self-hosted, api |
| Modalities | text, code, api | text, code, voice, api |
| Models | model-agnostic | model-agnostic, gpt |
| Protocols | mcp, function-calling, rest-api | mcp, function-calling, rest-api |
| Integrations | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, Node.js, MCP servers | OpenAI API, MCP servers, Python, JavaScript/TypeScript |
| Capabilities | 3 documented | 4 documented |
Mastra
- +TypeScript-first, filling a gap for JS/TS teams in a Python-dominated space
- +Includes agents, workflows, memory, and observability out of the box
- +Apache-2.0 licensed and backed by the experienced Gatsby team
- -TypeScript/JavaScript only
- -A framework, not a product: you build, host, and secure your agents
OpenAI Agents SDK
- +Minimal, low-abstraction framework that is quick to learn
- +Built-in handoffs, guardrails, sessions, and tracing
- +Provider-agnostic (100+ LLMs) with Python and JS/TS (and voice) SDKs
- -A framework, not a product: you build, host, and secure the agent yourself
- -Autonomy and safety depend entirely on how the developer configures it
Which should you choose?
Mastra is typescript framework for building ai agents and workflows, best for developers. OpenAI Agents SDK is lightweight open-source framework for building multi-agent workflows, best for developers. The right choice depends on the autonomy level you want, your existing integrations, and your budget, all compared above.