Keywords AI
DSPy vs LangChain
Compare DSPy and LangChain side by side. Both are tools in the Agent Frameworks category.
Quick Comparison
| Category | Agent Frameworks | Agent Frameworks |
| Pricing | — | Open Source |
| Best For | — | Developers building complex LLM applications who need a comprehensive orchestration framework |
| Website | dspy.ai | langchain.com |
| Key Features | — |
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| Use Cases | — |
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When to Choose DSPy vs LangChain
- Building RAG applications
- Multi-agent orchestration with LangGraph
- Tool-using conversational agents
How to Choose a Agent Frameworks Tool
Key criteria to evaluate when comparing Agent Frameworks solutions:
About DSPy
DSPy is a framework from Stanford for programming—not prompting—foundation models. It replaces manual prompt engineering with composable, optimizable modules. DSPy compilers automatically tune prompts and weights for your specific pipeline and dataset, enabling more reliable LLM applications.
About LangChain
LangChain is the most widely adopted framework for building LLM-powered applications and AI agents. It provides abstractions for chains, agents, tools, memory, and retrieval that make it easy to compose complex AI systems. LangGraph, its agent orchestration layer, enables building stateful, multi-actor workflows with human-in-the-loop capabilities. LangSmith provides tracing, evaluation, and monitoring. The LangChain ecosystem is the largest in the AI application development space.
What is Agent Frameworks?
Developer frameworks and SDKs for building autonomous AI agents with tool use, planning, multi-step reasoning, and orchestration capabilities.
Browse all Agent Frameworks tools →Frequently Asked Questions
What is an AI agent framework?▾
An agent framework provides the building blocks for creating AI agents that can autonomously plan, use tools, and complete multi-step tasks. Instead of building tool use, memory, and orchestration from scratch, you get pre-built components that handle the common patterns.
Do I need a framework or can I build agents with raw API calls?▾
For simple single-tool agents, raw API calls work fine. Frameworks become valuable when you need multi-step planning, tool orchestration, error recovery, memory, or multi-agent coordination. They save significant development time for complex agent architectures.
Which agent framework should I choose?▾
LangChain and LlamaIndex are the most mature with the largest ecosystems. CrewAI is best for multi-agent workflows. Vercel AI SDK is ideal for TypeScript/Next.js applications. Evaluate based on your language preference, use case complexity, and integration needs.