OpenAI Agents SDK is open source and Claude Agent SDK is not, so the question is whether you want source access and the option to fork, or would rather have a vendor accountable for it.
The Claude Code loop as a library, for agents that are not about code.
Same harness as Claude Code, but you own the entrypoint and the tool surface.
Lightweight loop with handoffs, guardrails and sessions.
| Claude Agent SDK | OpenAI Agents SDK | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Proprietary | Open source |
| Pricing | usage based | usage based |
| Self-hostable | No | No |
| Languages | TypeScript, Python | Python, TypeScript |
| Install | npm install @anthropic-ai/claude-agent-sdk | pip install openai-agents |
| Keys required | ANTHROPIC_API_KEY | OPENAI_API_KEY |
OpenAI Agents SDK is open source and Claude Agent SDK is not, so the question is whether you want source access and the option to fork, or would rather have a vendor accountable for it. Claude Agent SDK: The Claude Code loop as a library, for agents that are not about code. OpenAI Agents SDK: Lightweight loop with handoffs, guardrails and sessions.
Claude Agent SDK is a hosted service only. OpenAI Agents SDK is a hosted service only.
Claude Agent SDK is proprietary (usage based). OpenAI Agents SDK is open source (usage based).
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-openai-agents-sdk