Agent Development Kit (ADK) vs Microsoft Agent Framework

Agent Development Kit (ADK) and Microsoft Agent Framework are both agent frameworks tracked by AIDiveForge. Below is a side-by-side comparison of pricing, capabilities, platforms, and ownership — sourced from each tool's live website and verified before publishing.

Agent Development Kit (ADK)

ADK is the open-source agent development framework that lets you build, debug, and deploy reliable AI agents at enterprise scale.

Microsoft Agent Framework

A framework for building, orchestrating and deploying AI agents and multi-agent workflows with support for Python and .NET.

Attribute	Agent Development Kit (ADK)	Microsoft Agent Framework
Pricing	Free	Free
Free trial	No	No
Open source	No	No
Has API	Yes	Yes
Self-hosted option	Yes	Yes
Platforms	Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java	Python and .NET with consistent APIs. Available for both .NET and Python
Languages	Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java	Python, C# (.NET)
Released	2025-04	2025-10
Pros	Context is treated like source code with structured assembly of sessions, memory, tool outputs, and artifacts, automatic filtering of irrelevant events, summarization of older turns, lazy-loading of artifacts, and token usage tracking to keep agents fast, efficient, and reliable by default Multi-language support with Python, TypeScript, Go, and Java implementations Model-agnostic and compatible with other frameworks while optimized for Gemini Built-in development UI for testing, evaluating, debugging, and showcasing agents When deploying to Google Cloud, agents inherit managed infrastructure, built-in authentication, Cloud Trace observability, and enterprise-grade security without code changes	Unifies the enterprise-ready foundations of Semantic Kernel with the innovative orchestration of AutoGen Full framework support for both Python and C#/.NET implementations with consistent APIs and built-in OpenTelemetry integration for distributed tracing, monitoring, and debugging Open standards & interoperability — MCP, A2A, and OpenAPI ensure agents are portable and vendor-neutral Supports integration with any API via OpenAPI, collaboration across runtimes with Agent2Agent (A2A), and dynamic tool connections using MCP Enterprise readiness — built-in observability, approvals, security, and long-running durability
Cons	Optimized primarily for Google Cloud deployment and Gemini models, though model-agnostic capabilities exist Development version builds directly from latest code commits may contain experimental changes or bugs not present in stable release	Public preview released October 1, 2025, with AutoGen and Semantic Kernel entering maintenance mode Requires understanding of agentic AI concepts and orchestration patterns Dependent on external model providers for LLM capabilities

Bottom line

Agent Development Kit (ADK) and Microsoft Agent Framework are closely matched on pricing model, openness, and API availability — pick by feature set and platform support in the table above.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Agent Development Kit (ADK) and Microsoft Agent Framework?

Agent Development Kit (ADK) is Free, while Microsoft Agent Framework is Free. Compare pricing, free trial, API, platforms, and pros/cons in the table above on AIDiveForge.

Is Agent Development Kit (ADK) better than Microsoft Agent Framework?

It depends on your workflow. Use the side-by-side attributes (pricing, open source, API, self-hosted, platforms) to decide. AIDiveForge does not rank a universal winner — we publish verified facts so you can choose.