--- title: "agno vs penzai" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/agno-agi-agno-vs-google-deepmind-penzai" tools: ["agno-agi-agno", "google-deepmind-penzai"] --- # agno vs penzai *GraphCanon updated Jul 11, 2026* ## Verdict Pick agno when tags unique to agno: agents, ai-agents, developer-tools; pick penzai when tags unique to penzai: fine-tuning, interpretability, jax, neural-networks. [agno](https://docs.agno.com) reports 41k GitHub stars, 5.6k forks, and 1.0k open issues, last pushed Jul 11, 2026. [penzai](https://penzai.readthedocs.io/) has 1.9k stars, 70 forks, and 17 open issues, last pushed Jun 22, 2025. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [agno's repository](https://github.com/agno-agi/agno) and [penzai's repository](https://github.com/google-deepmind/penzai). | | [agno](/tools/agno-agi-agno.md) | [penzai](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Build, run, and manage your own agent platform. | A JAX research toolkit for building, editing, and visualizing neural networks. | | Stars | 41,090 | 1,893 | | Forks | 5,627 | 70 | | Open issues | 1,009 | 17 | | Language | Python | Python | | Adopt for | Use agno for a high level of control over your AI agent platform, including 50+ production API endpoints and support for 100+ integrations. Ideal if you need to customize data ownership and permissions. | - | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | AI Agents, Developer Tools | Developer Tools | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [agno](/tools/agno-agi-agno.md) | [penzai](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Maintenance | Very active (96%) | Dormant (18%) | | Days since push | 0d | 384d | | Open issues (now) | 1.0k | 17 | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/agno-agi-agno/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: agno - **Adopt for:** Use agno for a high level of control over your AI agent platform, including 50+ production API endpoints and support for 100+ integrations. Ideal if you need to customize data ownership and permissions. ## Choose when ### Choose agno if… - Tags unique to agno: agents, ai-agents, developer-tools. - Also covers AI Agents. - Use agno for a high level of control over your AI agent platform, including 50+ production API endpoints and support for 100+ integrations. Ideal if you need to customize data ownership and permissions. ### Choose penzai if… - Tags unique to penzai: fine-tuning, interpretability, jax, neural-networks. - Leaner open-issue backlog (17). ## When NOT to use agno - AI Agents: Don't use an agent loop when a deterministic workflow would do; agents add latency, cost, and non-determinism. - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ## When NOT to use penzai - Last GitHub push was 385 days ago (dormant maintenance, Jun 22, 2025). Validate activity before betting a new project on penzai. - Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between agno and penzai? agno: Build, run, and manage your own agent platform.. penzai: A JAX research toolkit for building, editing, and visualizing neural networks.. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose agno over penzai? Choose agno over penzai when Tags unique to agno: agents, ai-agents, developer-tools; Also covers AI Agents; Use agno for a high level of control over your AI agent platform, including 50+ production API endpoints and support for 100+ integrations. Ideal if you need to customize data ownership and permissions. ### When should I choose penzai over agno? Choose penzai over agno when Tags unique to penzai: fine-tuning, interpretability, jax, neural-networks; Leaner open-issue backlog (17). ### When should I avoid agno? AI Agents: Don't use an agent loop when a deterministic workflow would do; agents add latency, cost, and non-determinism. Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ### When should I avoid penzai? Last GitHub push was 385 days ago (dormant maintenance, Jun 22, 2025). Validate activity before betting a new project on penzai. Developer Tools: A gateway is overkill when you're pinned to a single provider and model. ### Is agno or penzai more popular on GitHub? agno has more GitHub stars (41,090 vs 1,893). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are agno and penzai open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (agno: Apache-2.0, penzai: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to agno or penzai? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [agno alternatives](/tools/agno-agi-agno/alternatives) and [penzai alternatives](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai/alternatives) ([agno markdown twin](/tools/agno-agi-agno/alternatives.md), [penzai markdown twin](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/agno-agi-agno-vs-google-deepmind-penzai.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, agno or penzai? agno: Very active. penzai: Dormant. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for agno and penzai? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [agno trust report](/tools/agno-agi-agno/trust); [penzai trust report](/tools/google-deepmind-penzai/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=agno-agi-agno`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=agno-agi-agno) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_