ElizaOS vs Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)

A side-by-side look at pricing, capabilities, pros, cons, and our editorial scores.

	ElizaOS Agents	Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) Agents
Tagline	Open-source agentic OS for building and orchestrating multi-agent swarms across Discord, Telegram, X, and onchain.	Google's open-source framework for building, evaluating, and deploying production AI agents
Category	Agents	Agents
Pricing	Free· Free, open-source (self-hosted); bring your own model API keys	Free· Framework itself is free and open-source (Apache 2.0). Costs come from the underlying model provider (e.g. Gemini API / Vertex AI usage) and any hosting infrastructure (Cloud Run, GKE, Agent Engine).
Model	Multi-model (BYO via plugins)	Gemini (default) plus Claude, GPT-4/5, Llama, and other providers via LiteLLM
Editorial score	7.1 / 10	—
Use cases	multi-agent-swarmssocial-botsonchain-agentstrading-agentscustomer-supportautonomous-workflows	Multi-agent research assistantCustomer support triage agentRAG chatbot backed by Vertex AI SearchCode review and refactoring agentBigQuery natural-language analytics agentDocument processing pipelineVoice/streaming conversational agentInternal tool-use agent orchestrating APIsEvaluation and regression testing of LLM workflowsEnterprise workflow automation on Agent Engine
Pros	Fully open-source with a large, active contributor base Plugin-first architecture lets you swap models, stores, and transports First-class support for Discord, Telegram, X, and onchain rails Multi-agent primitives (Worlds, Rooms) built in, not bolted on	Genuinely open-source (Apache 2.0) with active Google engineering behind it, not a hosted-only product Multi-language: first-class Python, Java, and Go SDKs — rare among agent frameworks that are usually Python-only Built-in dev UI (`adk web`) with trace inspection, event stream, and session replay speeds up debugging enormously Model-agnostic via LiteLLM — Gemini is default but Claude, GPT, and local models plug in cleanly Rich multi-agent primitives out of the box: SequentialAgent, ParallelAgent, LoopAgent, and hierarchical sub-agents Tight Google Cloud integration for deployment (Cloud Run, GKE, Agent Engine) plus native BigQuery/Vertex Search tools Evaluation harness with trajectory-level scoring is included, not a separate paid add-on First-class MCP (Model Context Protocol) client and server support
Cons	Framework, not a managed service — you self-host and operate everything Ecosystem skews heavily toward crypto/onchain use cases Steeper learning curve than no-code agent builders	Documentation and examples lean heavily on Gemini + Google Cloud; non-Google paths work but feel like second-class citizens API surface is still evolving — breaking changes between minor versions have been common through 2025-2026 Multi-agent orchestration primitives are powerful but the graph/callback model has a real learning curve compared to a plain prompt loop Agent Engine deployment is convenient but locks you into GCP billing and quotas TypeScript/Kotlin support lags the Python SDK in features and community examples
Website	elizaos.ai	google.github.io

Pick ElizaOS if

✅ Fully open-source with a large, active contributor base
✅ Plugin-first architecture lets you swap models, stores, and transports
✅ First-class support for Discord, Telegram, X, and onchain rails
✅ Multi-agent primitives (Worlds, Rooms) built in, not bolted on

Pick Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) if

✅ Genuinely open-source (Apache 2.0) with active Google engineering behind it, not a hosted-only product
✅ Multi-language: first-class Python, Java, and Go SDKs — rare among agent frameworks that are usually Python-only
✅ Built-in dev UI (`adk web`) with trace inspection, event stream, and session replay speeds up debugging enormously
✅ Model-agnostic via LiteLLM — Gemini is default but Claude, GPT, and local models plug in cleanly

Compare a different pair →