What is the best free alternative to DSPy?
LangGraph is the closest free alternative to DSPy: same Agent Frameworks (Developers) sub-category, and it is free. Build stateful, multi-agent apps as graphs
Best free DSPy alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to DSPy? Here are 9 agent frameworks (developers) worth trying — 9 with a free tier. DSPy itself is free.
| Tool | DSPy (you searched) | LangGraph | OpenAI Agents SDK | Microsoft AutoGen |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | free | free | free | free |
| Best for | Open-source (MIT) framework from Stanford NLP, 37k+ GitHub stars | Build stateful, multi-agent apps as graphs | Lightweight agent orchestration from OpenAI | Multi-agent conversation framework |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
DSPy alternatives — straight answers
Are there free DSPy alternatives?
Yes — 9 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: LangGraph, OpenAI Agents SDK, Microsoft AutoGen, Google Agent Development Kit (ADK), Pydantic AI. None of them are paid-only.
Is DSPy free?
DSPy is free. There is no paid plan attached to it in the catalog.
How were these DSPy alternatives chosen?
They are the other tools in Agent Frameworks (Developers), then the rest of AI Agents & Automation, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.
All DSPy alternatives
Browse Agent Frameworks (Developers) →LangGraph
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Build stateful, multi-agent apps as graphs.
- Build stateful, multi-agent apps as graphs
- Human-in-the-loop and durable execution
- Works with any LLM
- Open-source with a hosted platform
OpenAI Agents SDK
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Lightweight agent orchestration from OpenAI.
- Lightweight agent orchestration from OpenAI
- Agent handoffs, guardrails and tracing
- Tool and function calling built in
- Open-source, pay only for model usage
Microsoft AutoGen
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Multi-agent conversation framework.
- Multi-agent conversation framework
- Event-driven, async agent design
- Studio UI for prototyping
- Fully open-source
Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Open-source Python/Java framework from Google for building multi-agent systems.
- Open-source Python/Java framework from Google for building multi-agent systems
- Native integration with Vertex AI Agent Engine and Gemini models
- Model-agnostic — works with non-Google LLMs via LiteLLM
Pydantic AI
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Type-safe Python agent framework from the Pydantic team, validated structured outputs.
- Type-safe Python agent framework from the Pydantic team, validated structured outputs
- Model-agnostic (OpenAI, Anthropic, Gemini, Groq, Mistral, local)
- Built-in dependency injection and streaming; pairs with Pydantic Logfire for observability
Mastra
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Open-source TypeScript framework (Apache 2.0) for agents, workflows and RAG.
- Open-source TypeScript framework (Apache 2.0) for agents, workflows and RAG
- Drops directly into existing React/Next.js apps or runs standalone
- Built-in workflow engine with suspend/resume and human-in-the-loop steps
Agno
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Open-source (Apache-2.0) Python framework, 41.7k GitHub stars.
- Open-source (Apache-2.0) Python framework, 41.7k GitHub stars
- AgentOS: FastAPI-based production runtime for deploying agents
- Control-plane UI for monitoring live agent systems across clouds
smolagents
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Extremely minimal open-source library (~1,000 lines) from Hugging Face.
- Extremely minimal open-source library (~1,000 lines) from Hugging Face
- CodeAgent paradigm: agents write actions as executable code, not JSON
- Model-agnostic and modality-agnostic (text, vision, audio) with sandboxed execution via E2B/Docker/Modal
AWS Strands Agents
Agent Frameworks (Developers)
✦ WhyA DSPy alternative — Open-source (6,800+ stars) Python and TypeScript SDK from AWS.
- Open-source (6,800+ stars) Python and TypeScript SDK from AWS
- Steering handlers/hooks that catch agent mistakes before execution
- Native Bedrock and AWS AgentCore integration, plus any-LLM support