Claude Agent SDKvsMastra
Generated from the two spec rows. Green marks the better value where a spec has a clear direction. Everything else is just different.
Claude Agent SDK
Anthropic · Agent framework
OSSMCP
Panel
6.92 spec wins
- Reliability
- 7.2
- Usefulness
- 7.5
- Cost
- 6.2
- Longevity
- 6.7
“Lets you ship Claude Code inside your product, on the condition that you never call it Claude Code.”
Mastra
Mastra · Agent framework
OSSMCP
Panel
6.86 spec wins
- Reliability
- 6.7
- Usefulness
- 6.8
- Cost
- 6.5
- Longevity
- 7.0
“Publishes two books on building agents and a weekly podcast, so the documentation now has documentation.”
Spec by spec
| Spec | Claude Agent SDK | Mastra |
|---|---|---|
| Architecture | ||
| Category | Agent framework | Agent framework |
| Runs | local, cloud | local, cloud |
| Platforms | macos, linux, windows | macos, linux, windows |
| Context window | 200k tokens, 1M on select models | not documented |
| Protocols | ||
| MCP client | Yes | Yes |
| MCP server | No | Yes |
| Capabilities | ||
| Runs terminal commands | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-file edits | Yes | No |
| Git operations | Yes | No |
| Browser control | No | Yes |
| Sandboxed execution | No | Yes |
| Multi-agent orchestration | Yes | Yes |
| Headless / CI mode | Yes | Yes |
| Models | ||
| Backbone | Claude | OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini, xAI, 40+ providers |
| Bring your own model | No | Yes |
| Local models | No | Yes |
| Cost | ||
| Pricing model | byok | byok |
| Starts at | $0/mo | $0/mo |
| Free tier | Yes | Yes |
| Bring your own key | Yes | Yes |
| Openness | ||
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| License | MIT (SDK); use governed by Anthropic Commercial Terms | Apache-2.0 (core) / Mastra Enterprise License (ee directories) |
| GitHub stars | 8,199 | 28,490 |
Which one would each critic pick
| Critic | Claude Agent SDK | Mastra | Pick |
|---|---|---|---|
| El Juez | — | — | not enough reviews |
| El Amigo | 7.3 | 7.3 | no preference |
| El Crítico | 6.5 | 6.5 | no preference |
| El Profesor | 7.0 | 6.8 | Claude Agent SDK — Eight documented built-in tools, subagents with their own context, hooks and resumable sessions; other languages get the same loop by shelling out to the CLI with -p and --output-format json. |
| La Inversora | 8.0 | 7.0 | Claude Agent SDK — Renaming the Claude Code SDK to the Claude Agent SDK is Anthropic saying the product is the loop, not the CLI, and the upsell above it is already named: Managed Agents. |
| La Jefa | 7.3 | 6.5 | Claude Agent SDK — As a dependency it rides the Bedrock, Vertex AI or Foundry contract we already have, costs nothing per seat, forbids consumer subscriptions, and comes with branding rules legal will want to read. |
| El Hacker | 5.3 | 6.5 | Mastra — Apache-2.0 core, npm install @mastra/mcp for a client that consumes servers and a server that exposes my agents, forty-plus providers through one router, and a local endpoint is just another base URL. |
Picks are derived from each critic's own scores. Humans vote on matchups on the duels page.