Google Agent Development Kit vs Vellum
Google Agent Development Kit
adk.devVellum
vellum.aiSide by side
| Figure | Google Agent Development Kit | Vellum |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | $30/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | Yes | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | — | Yes |
| Android | — | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 2 | 9 |
| Spec score · AI Agent Platforms | 8.8 (#7) | 8.7 (#9) |
| Documentation depth | The documentation site includes getting-started guides, component references, deployment, observability, evaluation, safety, MCP, A2A and API references. | Developer documentation covers architecture, security, integrations, skills, browser automation, attachments, event streaming, deployment, SDKs, and API references. |
| Integrations | The integrations catalog includes tools and connectors for MCP, Google Cloud, databases, search, observability, and third-party services. | OAuth integrations include GitHub, Notion, Linear, Airtable, Spotify, Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, and other services, while MCP servers provide additional tools. |
| Limit: learning curve | InfoWorld reports that ADK's extensive capabilities require substantial time and effort to learn. | A Capterra reviewer identifies a learning curve for Vellum's more advanced features. |
| Self-hosting | The framework can be containerized and operated on infrastructure chosen by the developer without changing agent code. | The runtime can be self-hosted locally or on user infrastructure, including Linux hosts and customer VPC deployments. |
| Support | The site links to community resources and says Google and the ADK team do not support the content in external community resources. | Vellum lists support contact as [email protected]. |
| What it does | ADK is Google's open-source framework for building, debugging, evaluating and deploying production AI agents and multi-agent systems. | Vellum is a personal AI assistant that can read files, manage calendars, control computers, take calls, perform transactions, and retain personal context. |
Plans
Google Agent Development Kit
- ADK frameworkFree
- Google Agent Development Kit (ADK)Free
Vellum
- BaseFree
- FreeFree
- Mighty$30 a month
- Mighty$30 a month
- Custom$50 a month
- Super$100 a month
- Super$100 a month
- Ultra$200 a month
- Ultra$200 a month
In their own words
Google Agent Development Kit
Google Agent Development Kit (ADK) is an open-source framework for building, debugging, evaluating, and deploying AI agents. It is available in Python, TypeScript, Go, Java, and Kotlin. Graph-based workflows can combine deterministic code with adaptive AI reasoning, and hierarchical agents can delegate work to specialized agents. ADK supports Gemini and adapters for other model providers, including locally running models. Its integrations catalog includes tools and connectors for MCP, Google Cloud, databases, search, observability, and third-party services. Teams can create multi-turn evaluation datasets and run evaluations locally through the CLI or development UI. ADK also supports live agents with bidirectional text and audio streaming, manages session context, and connects to longer-term memory services. Deployment options include Google Cloud Agent Runtime, Cloud Run, GKE, container-friendly infrastructure, and local Docker or Podman environments. Security guidance covers identity, authorization, guardrails, sandboxed code execution, and network controls. ADK is free; model and cloud-service use may require separate access or billing. Agent Config is narrower: it currently supports only Gemini models and requires Python.
Vellum
Vellum is a personal AI assistant that can read files, manage calendars, send email, run code, and control a computer. It saves preferences and context in its workspace for later conversations, and users can create, install, and manage skills. Listed OAuth services include Discord, GitHub, Google services, HubSpot, Linear, Twitter (X), Asana, Notion, Microsoft Outlook, and Todoist. Vellum says OAuth tokens stay in a credential vault rather than being exposed to the language model. Sensitive actions prompt for approval, and users can set trust rules for standing permissions. By default, conversation context is sent to Anthropic to generate responses; OpenAI, Google, OpenRouter, Fireworks, and local Ollama are listed alternatives. An internet connection is required. Vellum Cloud runs assistants in isolated environments with private storage and 24/7 availability. The Free plan includes first tasks and pay-as-you-go credits. Mighty costs $30 a month, Super $100 a month, and Ultra $200 a month. There is no shipped Linux desktop client, but Linux users can use the web app, Chrome extension, or self-host the runtime.