# Haystack vs Microsoft Agent Framework — Fit & Features

Canonical: https://trutool.co/compare/haystack-vs-microsoft-agent-framework
Author: Snehil (https://trutool.co/authors/snehil)

Compare Haystack and Microsoft Agent Framework by use case, features, limitations, and evaluation questions.

## Compare fit, features, and limitations

### Haystack
Framework for retrieval-augmented generation and AI agent pipelines.
Best fit: Developers building and evaluating custom agents.
- Framework for retrieval-augmented generation and AI agent pipelines
Before you choose: Check licensing, maintenance status, supported providers, and hosting or inference costs.
Pricing: https://haystack.deepset.ai/
- [Read Haystack profile](https://trutool.co/tools/haystack): Read Haystack profile

### Microsoft Agent Framework
Build agents and orchestrated workflows using Microsoft's agent framework.
Best fit: Developers composing agents, structured model outputs, and tool workflows.
- Agent orchestration
- Tool integration
- Workflow development
Before you choose: Check licensing, provider compatibility, maintenance, and tool permissions. Test failure recovery before enabling agent actions.
Pricing: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/agent-framework/overview/
- [Read Microsoft Agent Framework profile](https://trutool.co/tools/microsoft-agent-framework): Read Microsoft Agent Framework profile
