Agent Frameworks (Developers)free

Haystack

Apache-2.0 framework for context-engineered, production RAG and agent pipelines

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What Haystack does

  • Apache-2.0 framework for context-engineered, production RAG and agent pipelines
  • Modular components with retrievers, generators and tool calling
  • Integrates most vector stores and model providers

Haystack — straight answers

What is Haystack?

Haystack is listed under Agent Frameworks (Developers), in the AI Agents & Automation category on Flocci AI Tools. Apache-2.0 framework for context-engineered, production RAG and agent pipelines. It is free, with no paid plan attached, and it lives at haystack.deepset.ai.

Is Haystack free?

Haystack is listed as fully free — there is no paid tier attached to it in the catalog. That makes it one of the 397 entries on Flocci AI Tools with no upgrade path built in.

Can I use Haystack in a browser, or is there an app?

Haystack needs to be installed or self-hosted — it doesn't run in a browser tab. It is available on an API and self-hosting.

What can Haystack do?

Haystack does 3 things the catalog singles out: Apache-2.0 framework for context-engineered, production rag and agent pipelines; modular components with retrievers, generators and tool calling; integrates most vector stores and model providers.

What is the best free alternative to Haystack?

Agno is the closest free alternative: it sits in the same Agent Frameworks (Developers) sub-category and is free. AWS Strands Agents, CAMEL and Claude Agent SDK also start free. The full list is on the alternatives page.

See the full list →

Haystack alternatives

Compare all alternatives →

LangGraph

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
free
  • Build stateful, multi-agent apps as graphs
  • Human-in-the-loop and durable execution
  • Works with any LLM
  • Open-source with a hosted platform
Visit

CrewAI

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
freemium
  • Role-based multi-agent 'crews'
  • Simple Python API for collaboration
  • Tasks, tools and flows
  • Open-source core
Visit

OpenAI Agents SDK

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
free
  • Lightweight agent orchestration from OpenAI
  • Agent handoffs, guardrails and tracing
  • Tool and function calling built in
  • Open-source, pay only for model usage
Visit

Microsoft AutoGen

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
free
  • Multi-agent conversation framework
  • Event-driven, async agent design
  • Studio UI for prototyping
  • Fully open-source
Visit

LlamaIndex

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
freemium
  • Leading framework for RAG and data agents
  • Connect LLMs to your documents & APIs
  • Agentic document workflows
  • Open-source with a hosted cloud
Visit

Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)

Agent Frameworks (Developers)
free
  • 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
Visit

Head-to-head comparisons

Haystack vs LangGraphHaystack vs CrewAIHaystack vs OpenAI Agents SDKHaystack vs Microsoft AutoGenHaystack vs LlamaIndexHaystack vs Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)