· Harness/ Head to head

Claude Agent SDK vs Letta

The deciding difference is operational: Letta can run on infrastructure you control, Claude Agent SDK cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered.

Claude Agent SDK

The Claude Code loop as a library, for agents that are not about code.

Proprietary · usage based · hosted service only · SDKs for TypeScript and Python

Same harness as Claude Code, but you own the entrypoint and the tool surface.

Letta

Stateful agent server where memory is the primary abstraction.

Open source · freemium · can be self-hosted · SDKs for Python and TypeScript

· Side by side/ 6 of 6 differ
Claude Agent SDKLetta
LicenceProprietaryOpen source
Pricingusage basedfreemium
Self-hostableNoYes
LanguagesTypeScript, PythonPython, TypeScript
Installnpm install @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdkpip install letta
Keys requiredANTHROPIC_API_KEYNone
· Common questions/ FAQ

What is the difference between Claude Agent SDK and Letta?

The deciding difference is operational: Letta can run on infrastructure you control, Claude Agent SDK cannot. If that constraint is real for you, it settles the choice before anything else is considered. Claude Agent SDK: The Claude Code loop as a library, for agents that are not about code. Letta: Stateful agent server where memory is the primary abstraction.

Can Claude Agent SDK and Letta be self-hosted?

Claude Agent SDK is a hosted service only. Letta can run on your own infrastructure.

Are Claude Agent SDK and Letta open source?

Claude Agent SDK is proprietary (usage based). Letta is open source (freemium).

Build a stack with Claude Agent SDKAll harness options
· For agents/ This page, machine-readable

Every page here answers to Accept: text/markdown and returns the same content at roughly a tenth the tokens. No separate site, no toggle — same URL.

curl -s -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://newagent.build/compare/claude-agent-sdk-vs-letta