Skip to content
AgentTested
Sponsor us
Agents and automationFreeCTested

AutoGen

Multi-agent framework, now archived. It's for people who write code. It's free.

Get patch notes

Same daily newsletter as the rest of the site. One email a day.

One email a day. Unsubscribe in one click.

Official siteHow tests work

No affiliate link on file. Outbound goes to github.com. Identity checked October 21, 2026. Score null is from the run on October 21, 2026.

Grade

We tried it ourselves. Grade C.

Grade
C · We tried it
Score
6/10
Price
Free

Best for

Jobs people use this for.

Test details

Microsoft's multi-agent framework, archived in favour of Microsoft Agent Framework. MIT code. The repo lists CC-BY-4.0 for docs, which was not re-verified.

Hands-on review · 2026-10-21

TestedC6/10
  • CPU-only box: 8 cores, 15 GB RAM (about 4-10 GB free during tests), no GPU.
  • 3 questions
  • Archived upstream

AutoGen's agent called our price tool correctly every time, handled the unknown-SKU error gracefully, and did the multiply-after-lookup step, with both backends. It did better than LangChain did on the same error case. The catch is that Microsoft has archived AutoGen and points new users to Microsoft Agent Framework, so it won't get fixes.

3/3 on both backends, but the project is archived.

Coverage
Price tool, unknown SKU, and tool-then-math. Hosted and local.
What we tested
The site's agents task, as for LangChain: a get_price tool that knows MUG-01 and errors on unknown SKUs, plus a tool-then-math question. Hosted and local backends.

Method

autogen-agentchat / autogen-ext[openai] 0.7.5, AssistantAgent with reflect_on_tool_use, OpenAIChatCompletionClient pointed at OpenRouter nemotron-3.5-super-vl:free and at Ollama gemma4-e2b. Temperature 0.

Prompts

  1. What is the price of SKU MUG-01? Use the tool.
  2. What is the price of SKU XYZ-99? Use the tool.
  3. What is the total price of 3 units of SKU MUG-01? Use the tool, then compute.

Measured

  • install28 packages, about 1.5 s with a warm uv cache
  • import_s1.5
  • pass3/3 on both backends. The hosted XYZ-99 answer ('not recognized in our system') was graded a pass by hand; our keyword check missed it
  • openrouter.mugtool MUG-01, final 'The price of SKU MUG-01 is $12.50.', 24.5 s, passed
  • openrouter.unknowntool XYZ-99, final 'I'm sorry, but SKU XYZ-99 is not recognized in our system.', 1.3 s, keyword check failed
  • openrouter.totaltool MUG-01, final 'The price for SKU MUG-01 is 12.50 per unit. Total price for 3 units: 3 × 12.50 = **37.50**', 1.8 s, passed
  • local.mugtool MUG-01, final 'The price of SKU MUG-01 is $12.50.', 11.6 s, passed
  • local.unknowntool XYZ-99, final 'I am sorry, I cannot find the price for SKU XYZ-99. The system returned an unknown SKU.', 14.3 s, passed
  • local.totaltool MUG-01, final 'The total price for 3 units of SKU MUG-01 is $37.50.', 20.7 s, passed

Pros

  • Tool calls and error handling worked with both a hosted and a local model
  • Little code for a tool-using agent
  • Error from the tool reached the model and became a plain answer

Cons

  • The project is archived; Microsoft says to use Microsoft Agent Framework for new work
  • First hosted call took 24.5 s (upstream latency)
  • Needs a hand-written model_info block for non-OpenAI models

Raw test log

Status
Not run
Date
October 21, 2026
Time to first output
—
Cost
—
Result
—
Evidence
Log linked below

Queued task. Run a fixed multi-step workflow with one tool call and one failure case. Log setup time and cost.

FAQ

What is the agent-tested verdict for AutoGen?

Multi-agent framework, now archived. It's for people who write code. It's free. We tried it ourselves. Grade C.

How much does AutoGen cost?

Free. Free, open source

Do sponsors outrank this tool?

No. A sponsored slot is labeled and sold separately from tiers. It cannot move this listing.