# Orchestrate a team of agents

> CrewAI, AutoGen, or LangGraph — what should I use for multi-agent systems?

Multiple specialized agents beating one generalist is the promise; coordination is the hard part. The three serious open-source answers each encode a different philosophy of how agents should talk.

A hand-picked shortlist from the Agent Search Engine index. Every pick is a real listing; the adoption, pricing, and activity figures are the index's live numbers. Browse on the web: https://agentsearchengine.app/use/orchestrate-multi-agent-teams

## Recommended picks

### Role-based crews: crewAI
- Open source · Framework · 57k★ · Python · MIT · active 2 days ago
- **Setup:** Developer — Python
- **Why:** Agents as a crew with roles and tasks — the most intuitive mental model and the fastest path to a working system, with the largest beginner community.
- [listing](https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/crewai) · [official](https://crewai.com)

### Conversation patterns: autogen
- Open source · Framework · 60k★ · Python · CC-BY-4.0 · active 4 months ago
- **Setup:** Developer — Python
- **Why:** Microsoft-backed, research-grade multi-agent conversation framework — the deepest well of patterns for agents that negotiate, critique, and delegate among themselves.
- [listing](https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/autogen) · [official](https://microsoft.github.io/autogen/)

### Graph control: LangGraph
- Freemium · Framework
- **Setup:** Developer — Python/TS
- **Why:** Explicit graph orchestration — every hand-off is an edge you defined, which is exactly the control you want once a multi-agent system faces production traffic.
- [listing](https://agentsearchengine.app/agents/langgraph-platform) · [official](https://langchain.com/langgraph)

## What to watch for
Multi-agent systems multiply cost and failure modes with every added agent — most tasks are still better served by one good agent with good tools. Reach for a crew when the task genuinely decomposes, and cap iterations so a disagreement between agents can't run your bill in a loop.

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Source: [Agent Search Engine](https://agentsearchengine.app) — more task-first guides: https://agentsearchengine.app/use