The 10 best AI agent frameworks for production teams in February 2026

The comparison of AI agent frameworks for production highlights the importance of governance, security, and compliance which many frameworks lack. Openlayer emerges as the best option for production teams, offering comprehensive features including automated behavioral testing, real-time security guardrails, and compliance mapping, making it particularly suitable for regulated industries. Other frameworks like LangGraph, CrewAI, AutoGen, and PydanticAI are noted for their strengths in building agents but are criticized for lacking essential production readiness features such as automated testing and security controls. IBM Watsonx and LangSmith provide specific observability and governance capabilities but are limited to certain ecosystems or lack real-time security features. The analysis underscores the need for teams to combine orchestration frameworks with governance solutions to ensure agent reliability and compliance in production environments.