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A visual workflow builder where you link apps and AI steps together on a canvas. Popular because you can run it on your own server.
Best for: Teams who want control over their data without writing much code.
An orchestrator is the conductor: software that gets several AI agents, tools and steps working together on one job. There is no single best one. The right choice depends on whether you write code and which tools you already use.
A visual workflow builder where you link apps and AI steps together on a canvas. Popular because you can run it on your own server.
Best for: Teams who want control over their data without writing much code.
The best-known automation tool, now with AI steps and agents. Connects to thousands of everyday apps.
Best for: Complete beginners automating everyday tasks between common apps.
A visual builder for creating AI agents that work inside Microsoft 365 and Teams.
Best for: Organisations already running on Microsoft.
Lets you map out an agent system as a flowchart with loops, memory and pause points, so a workflow can wait for a person and pick up where it left off.
Best for: Complex, long-running workflows that need approval steps.
You set up a crew of agents and give each one a role, like researcher, writer and editor, then they work through a task together.
Best for: Getting a multi-agent prototype working quickly.
Reached version 1.0 in April 2026, merging Microsoft's earlier AutoGen and Semantic Kernel projects into one toolkit for Python and .NET.
Best for: Companies building on Azure and the Microsoft stack.
A lightweight toolkit built around agents handing tasks to one another. Tuned for OpenAI's own models.
Best for: Fast prototypes when you already use OpenAI.
Google's Agent Development Kit for building and deploying agent systems, designed to fit Gemini and Google Cloud.
Best for: Teams already on Google Cloud.
Anthropic's toolkit, with built-in handoffs between agents and support for so agents can discover and use tools in a standard way.
Best for: Teams building on Claude who want standardised tool connections.
Compiled from 2026 comparison guides by Rasa, TrueFoundry, LangChain, Coworker. Several of these are written by companies that sell their own tools, so treat rankings with care. Last checked 25 September 2026.
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