Agno vs Haystack
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted self-hosted ai options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Agno
Lightweight framework for building multi-agent systems
VS
Haystack
Framework for building production-ready LLM applications
| Feature | Agno | Haystack |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Self-Hosted AI | Self-Hosted AI |
| License | MPL-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | bare-metal, source | bare-metal, source, docker |
| GitHub stars | ★ 41,622 | ★ 26,142 |
| First released | 2024 | 2020 |
| Replaces | LangChain | LangChain |
Why pick each one
Choose Agno if…
- Released under the MPL-2.0 license
- Mature project with 41.6k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Choose Haystack if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 26.1k GitHub stars
- Written in Python
Frequently asked questions
Is Agno or Haystack better?
Neither is universally better. Agno has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Agno and Haystack free and open-source?
Yes. Agno is licensed under MPL-2.0 and Haystack under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Agno and Haystack with Docker?
Agno: check the project docs for container support. Haystack: yes.