AutoGen alternatives built for production, now that AutoGen is in maintenance mode.
Microsoft's own AutoGen README says the framework will not get new features and is now community-managed, and that AutoGen Studio is for prototyping, not production. Scheduling, approvals, access control, and audit trails are all left for you to build.
Unmeshed gives you those from day one. Agents run as steps inside durable workflows, next to your APIs, batch jobs, and human approvals, on a free tier that never expires.
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Overview
About Unmeshed
Unmeshed is a workflow orchestration platform built by the team behind Netflix Conductor. You define workflows in JSON or YAML, with code-based workers in Java, Go, TypeScript, or Python. Agents run as steps next to plain code, API calls, and human approvals, and the engine keeps state, retries failed steps, and records every run.
About AutoGen
AutoGen is a free, open-source framework from Microsoft Research for building multi-agent AI applications in Python and .NET. It has a layered design, MCP support, and AutoGen Studio, a no-code interface for prototyping. AutoGen is now in maintenance mode, and Microsoft points new projects to Microsoft Agent Framework.
Comparison
| Unmeshed | AutoGen | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | ||
| Built for | Production workflows where AI agents are one kind of step | Building multi-agent AI apps in code |
| Workflow definitions | JSON, YAML, or code | Python or .NET code |
| Visual designer | Included | |
| Multi-agent coordination | Included | Included |
| Resiliency and operations | ||
| Actively developed with new features | Included | Not included |
| Persistent state that survives restarts | Included | |
| Human-in-the-loop approvals | Included | Included |
| Built-in scheduling and run history | Included | Not included |
| Pricing | ||
| Cost to start | Free tier, no credit card | Free, MIT licensed |
| Pricing model | Flat, predictable plans | No paid plans; you run and support it yourself |
| Paid plan with support | Included | Not included |
| Upgrade without a sales call | Included | Not included |
| Security, compliance, and governance | ||
| Role-based access control | Included | Not included |
| SSO / SAML | Not included | |
| Audit logs | Included | Not included |
| Self-hosted / on-premises deployment | Included | Included |
Take your agents past the prototype.
Build workflows where agents, code, and approvals run together in production, on a free tier you sign up for yourself.
Pricing
AutoGen costs nothing to download. Production still needs a platform.
AutoGen is free, and that is a real advantage. What it leaves out is everything around the agents: scheduling, access control, audit logs, and a way to run it all for a team.
Unmeshed lists three plans with prices on the page and covers those pieces for you. You can move from free to paid yourself.
Free forever
For solo builders exploring workflow orchestration.
$0/month
No credit card required
Get Started Free- 2,000 workflow executions a month
- Unlimited steps per workflow
- Community support
Premium
For individuals and small teams ready to orchestrate at scale.
$20/month
Billed monthly. Annual billing available, saves 2 months
Get Started- 10,000 workflow executions a month
- Batch job scheduling
- Email support
Enterprise
For organizations with scale, compliance, and infrastructure requirements.
Custom pricing
Tailored to your scale and compliance requirements
Contact Sales- Unlimited executions, workflows, and seats
- SSO/SAML and role-based access control
- Dedicated support with SLAs
AutoGen cost, for reference
See AutoGen on GitHubAutoGen, free
MIT licensed, and we found no paid plans from AutoGen itself. You pay for your own hosting, model calls, and the engineering time to add scheduling, access control, and audit
Support, community managed
Help comes through GitHub and Discord. Microsoft Agent Framework, the successor, is also open source
Confirm current terms on Microsoft's site before publishing.
Agentic AI
Multi-agent orchestration, now with the production pieces
AutoGen
AutoGen helped pioneer multi-agent orchestration, and its group chat and agent tool patterns are still widely copied. It is a framework for the agents themselves, and it is now in maintenance mode.
Unmeshed
Unmeshed also coordinates many agents in one workflow, and adds the parts that production needs. The same engine runs your APIs, batch jobs, decisions, and human approvals around your agents. If you already have AutoGen agents, keep them. Call them from an Unmeshed worker and let Unmeshed handle state, retries, and audit.
Cost and infrastructure
Free to run. You build everything else.
AutoGen
AutoGen runs anywhere Python or .NET runs, with no license fee, which is why so many teams started with it. The cost shows up later, when you need a scheduler, access control, an audit trail, and someone to keep it all running as the framework stops receiving new features.
Unmeshed
Unmeshed self-hosts the whole platform on your own VM or Kubernetes cluster, or you can use Unmeshed Cloud, and you choose without a sales call first.
Feature comparison
AutoGen makes you plan for this. Unmeshed already did.
The stuff you won't have to build yourself.
Production readiness
An active platform, not a maintenance branch.
Unmeshed
Actively developed, with durable state, retries, scheduling, and run history built into the engine.
AutoGen
In maintenance mode with no new features, and AutoGen Studio is described by Microsoft as a prototyping tool, not a production app.
Governance
Access control built in, not built by you.
Unmeshed
Role-based access control and audit logs are part of the platform.
AutoGen
A library with no access control or audit layer, so teams add their own.
Workflow definitions
Define it your way, not only in code.
Unmeshed
Workflows are defined in JSON, YAML, or code, with a visual designer and workers in Java, Go, TypeScript, or Python.
AutoGen
Agents and teams are defined in Python or .NET code, with a no-code Studio for prototypes.
Self-hosting
the whole platform, not just the library.
Unmeshed
Self-host on your own VM or Kubernetes cluster, or use Unmeshed Cloud, control plane included. On-premises deployment is included on the Enterprise plan.
AutoGen
The library runs anywhere, but there is no platform to host, so scheduling, UI, and operations are yours to assemble.
Code sample
Plain functions. Agents optional.
Workers are plain functions. Register them, start a process, and the platform handles state and retries, whether a step calls an agent or just moves data.
Retries, state, and scheduling come built in, so there's no extra worker setup to hand roll.
from unmeshed.sdk.configs.client_config import ClientConfig
from unmeshed.sdk.unmeshed_client import UnmeshedClient
from unmeshed.sdk.decorators.worker_function import worker_function
client_config = ClientConfig()
client_config.set_client_id("your-client-id")
client_config.set_auth_token("your-auth-token")
client = UnmeshedClient(client_config)
@worker_function(name="charge-order", namespace="default", max_in_progress=100)
def charge_order(input: OrderInput) -> ChargeResult:
# your business logic — the engine handles
# state, retries, and observability
return charge_card(input)
client.start()Frequently asked questions
Still have questions? Talk to us.