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Automation Integration · head to head

CrewAI vs Orkes

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Automation Integration

The Enterprise Agent Build and Runtime for the work your business runs on

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Orkes logo

Orkes

Automation Integration

Commercial Conductor, now the maintainer of the workflow engine Netflix archived

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Each has a real cost: CrewAI free tier limited to only 50 workflow executions per month; Orkes netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 31 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which CrewAI and Orkes actually diverge.

Attributes where CrewAI and Orkes differ
AttributeCrewAIOrkes
Pricing modelfreemiumquote
PlatformsWebLinux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud

Identical on both: starting price (Free), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Automation Integration).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in CrewAI

Nothing recorded that Orkes does not also cover.

Only in Orkes

  • JSON workflow definitions
  • Polyglot workers
  • Visual workflow builder
  • AI and LLM tasks
  • Human tasks
  • Event handlers
  • RBAC and secrets
  • Hosted or self-hosted

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

CrewAI

  • Enriching sales leads with company revenue and insights automaticallynot Orkes
  • Accelerating first contact with leads from multiple systemsnot Orkes
  • Automating quality assurance testing for voice agentsnot Orkes
  • Generating curriculum content and instructor materials instantlynot Orkes

Orkes

  • A microservices estate that needs orchestration across services written in different languages without a shared SDKnot CrewAI
  • A team already running Conductor OSS that wants a supported distribution now that Netflix has stopped maintaining itnot CrewAI
  • An AI platform composing agent steps, model calls and vector lookups as versioned workflow definitionsnot CrewAI
  • A business process needing human approval steps interleaved with automated service callsnot CrewAI

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

CrewAI

  • Free tier limited to only 50 workflow executions per month
  • Enterprise pricing is not published; requires contact for quote
  • No public information about paid tier pricing between free and enterprise

Orkes

  • Netflix archived the Conductor repository in December 2023 and Orkes took over maintenance, so the large-company backing that justified many original adoptions no longer exists.
  • Enterprise pricing is entirely unpublished, and the only free option is explicitly a prototyping sandbox whose limits can change at any time, so there is no supported low-cost entry point.
  • Self-hosting Conductor OSS in production means operating the engine plus its persistence and indexing dependencies, typically Postgres or Cassandra with Elasticsearch, which is a substantial platform commitment.
  • JSON workflow definitions are language agnostic but verbose and awkward to test, and teams accustomed to defining workflows in code find them a step backwards in developer experience.
  • Orkes is a small company whose commercial future is tied to a single open source project it also maintains, which concentrates both vendor and project risk in the same place.

Pricing, plan by plan

CrewAI

Free
  • BasicFree
    • 50 workflow executions/month
    • Visual editor and AI copilot
    • GitHub integration
  • Enterprise$null/month
    • Custom pricing upon request
    • Everything in Basic plus advanced features
    • Enterprise connectors

Orkes

Free
  • Developer EditionFree
    • All Conductor OSS features plus enterprise capabilities
    • Sandbox for prototyping only
    • Rate limits and resources may change without notice
  • Enterprise$undefined/year
    • Availability SLA up to 99.99%
    • Orkes-hosted or customer-hosted deployment
    • Dedicated technical account manager

Which should you pick?

Choose CrewAI if

  • You want to start without paying.
CrewAI review

Choose Orkes if

  • You need json workflow definitions.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
  • You also want polyglot workers.
Orkes review

Questions people ask

Is CrewAI or Orkes better?
Neither clearly leads. CrewAI starts at Free and Orkes at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, CrewAI or Orkes?
CrewAI starts at Free and Orkes at Free.
Does CrewAI or Orkes run on more platforms?
CrewAI runs on Web. Orkes runs on Linux, Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud.
Can I use CrewAI for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is CrewAI best used for?
CrewAI is most often used for enriching sales leads with company revenue and insights automatically, accelerating first contact with leads from multiple systems, automating quality assurance testing for voice agents, generating curriculum content and instructor materials instantly. Of those, enriching sales leads with company revenue and insights automatically and accelerating first contact with leads from multiple systems are not what Orkes is typically brought in for.
What can CrewAI do that Orkes cannot?
Orkes covers JSON workflow definitions, Polyglot workers, Visual workflow builder, AI and LLM tasks.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

CrewAI: Is CrewAI free?

CrewAI offers a free Basic tier that includes 50 workflow executions per month, access to the visual editor, AI copilot, and GitHub integration. Enterprise plans with custom pricing are available for larger deployments.

Source
Orkes: Does Netflix still maintain Conductor?

No. Netflix archived its repository in December 2023. The open source project continues at conductor-oss under Apache 2.0, maintained by Orkes.

CrewAI: How much does CrewAI Enterprise cost?

CrewAI Enterprise pricing is custom and available upon request. Enterprise includes dedicated VPC deployment, FedRamp High compliance, SSO and RBAC, PII redaction, and dedicated support with 45-day onboarding.

Source
Orkes: Is there a free production tier?

No. The Developer Edition is a sandbox that the vendor states is unsuitable for production. Self-hosting Conductor OSS is the free production route.

CrewAI: Can I self-host CrewAI?

Enterprise tier customers can deploy CrewAI on their own VPC or own infrastructure in addition to CrewAI cloud deployment, but specific pricing for self-hosted options is not published.

Source
Orkes: What does Enterprise cost?

Nothing is published; it is quoted by deployment and support requirements.

Orkes: How does it compare with Temporal?

Conductor uses declarative JSON workflow definitions and external workers; Temporal defines workflows in code. Temporal has the larger community.

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