Agent Frameworks
LangChain vs LlamaIndex.
Both sit in Agent Frameworks, scored on the same six pillars from the same published methodology. Here is where they actually differ.
The short answer
LangChain scores higher — 85.4 against 81.9, a margin of 3.5 points. That is the overall answer, not the whole one: the pillar breakdown below is where the decision usually actually gets made.
LangChain leads on integrations & ecosystem and momentum.
LangChain, Inc.
85.4
Excellent
The most adopted framework for building LLM applications and agents.
- From
- Free / LangSmith from $39 per month
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Maturity
- Established
- Founded
- 2022
LlamaIndex, Inc.
81.9
Strong
The data framework for RAG and knowledge-grounded agents.
- From
- Free / LlamaCloud from $50 per month
- Pricing
- Open Source
- Maturity
- Established
- Founded
- 2022
Pillar by pillar
The same six pillars and fixed weights used for every tool on the site. A lead of fewer than 5 points is not called for either side — these are evidence-backed judgements, not measurements. Read the methodology.
Capability
Level
Value for Money
Level
Security & Compliance
Level
Integrations & Ecosystem
LangChain by 7
Maturity & Reliability
Level
Momentum
LangChain by 6
Which one, and when
Pick LangChain if
- →it has to fit the stack you already run — it leads Integrations & Ecosystem by 7 points.
- →where the product will be in a year matters as much as today — it leads Momentum by 6 points.
- →Production agent systems
- →RAG pipelines
- →Teams needing provider flexibility
The catch
- Abstraction layers can obscure what's happening under the hood
- Historical API churn; major-version migrations required effort
Pick LlamaIndex if
- →Enterprise document Q&A
- →Complex PDF/table extraction
- →Knowledge-grounded agents
The catch
- Narrower scope than general agent frameworks
- Managed cloud pricing based on credits needs monitoring
What each is good at
LangChain
- ✓Largest integration catalog in the ecosystem
- ✓LangGraph provides durable, controllable agent orchestration
- ✓LangSmith closes the loop with tracing, evals and monitoring
LlamaIndex
- ✓Best-in-class document parsing for complex PDFs and tables
- ✓Purpose-built for retrieval quality over enterprise data
- ✓Clean workflow abstractions for agentic RAG
Other comparisons in Agent Frameworks
Comparing something else? Build your own side-by-side across any tools in the catalog.