8 min read

Open source AI agent platforms compared

Paperclip, CrewAI, AutoGen and n8n: what each is genuinely good at, what self-hosting really costs, and when open source is the wrong answer.

Last updated 12 August 2026

Open source dominates this category, and for technical teams it is usually the right call. The licence is free. The running is not.

What each one is for

Paperclip

MIT licensed. Solves the organisational layer — org charts, delegation, budgets, governance, audit trails, company templates. Runtime-agnostic. Closest thing to a company rather than a script. Full comparison.

CrewAI

Role-playing crews with clean abstractions and a large community. Fastest of these to a working prototype. Full comparison.

AutoGen

Microsoft's conversational multi-agent framework, strong for research. Worth noting Microsoft has moved active development toward the Microsoft Agent Framework. Full comparison.

n8n

Source-available workflow automation with AI nodes. Best of these for deterministic, auditable pipelines. Full comparison.

What self-hosting actually costs

  • A server and a database, plus whoever keeps them up
  • Model API spend on your own keys, uncapped unless you build ceilings
  • The upgrade treadmill as the project moves
  • Someone on call when an agent stops at 2am
When open source is the wrong answer

When nobody on your side wants the job. Free software with no operator is not cheaper — it is an unfinished project with a monthly hosting bill.

We run Paperclip so our clients never have to. See all nine comparisons.

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