Switch from CrewAI to Task Machine
A practical guide to moving from CrewAI's framework for building agent crews to Task Machine's packaged playbooks and approval Inbox for operators.
Prefer the side-by-side comparison?CrewAI is an open-source multi-agent framework for Python, with an enterprise platform on top, for teams that build their own agents in code. Task Machine is a packaged product for operators: you start from a playbook, decide in Chat, and approve the consequential steps from one Inbox. Teams switch when maintaining the crew has become more work than the work the crew does.
Why do people switch from CrewAI?
- The code needs an owner. A crew is software someone has to write, test, and keep running. Task Machine runs the engine for you.
- People outside engineering need to change the work. Task Machine workflows are explicit steps anyone on the team can read and adjust.
- Review has to be built. In CrewAI, the review logic around a crew is yours to write. In Task Machine, Human approval and Ask human steps and verifier checks are part of every workflow, and decisions arrive in one Inbox.
- A starting point for each job. A catalog of 140 playbooks across 17 categories installs the agents, workflows, and documents for a job in a few clicks.
What maps to what?
| In CrewAI | In Task Machine |
|---|---|
| Agents with roles, goals, and tools | Agents with instructions, skills, and Connectors |
| Tasks and crews | Tasks and teams of people and agents |
| Flows you write in Python | Workflows you build or install from a playbook |
| Review logic you code | Approval and question steps, verifier checks, and one Inbox |
| Deployment on CrewAI's cloud or your own | Hosted, with agents in the Cloud or on a computer you connect |
| Free plan with 50 executions a month | Pricing from $99 a month with included usage |
Prices and features were checked against each vendor's own pages on 6 October 2026.
What do you give up?
CrewAI lets you program any agent architecture you can describe in Python, and its open-source framework can run anywhere. Task Machine is a product, so you cannot program a custom agent architecture the way CrewAI allows. If the agents are part of your own software product, CrewAI is the better fit.
How does the switch work?
- List the crews that run recurring business work, such as research, reporting, or outreach, as the candidates. Crews that are part of your product stay in code.
- Create your Task Machine workspace, connect the accounts those jobs touch, and pick matching playbooks.
- Rebuild each crew's job as a workflow, with an approval step before anything consequential and a verifier check where the output has to meet a bar.
- Run both for one cycle, compare results using the run history, then retire the crew.
Common questions
Do I need to write any code?
No. Workflows are built in the app or installed from playbooks.
Does Task Machine replace CrewAI for developers?
No. Developers building agents into their own product should keep a framework such as CrewAI. Task Machine is for running the recurring work of the business.
Do agents act without my approval?
Only where you allow it. Each agent has an autonomy level, and the default sends consequential actions to your Inbox.
Details about CrewAI reflect its public materials at the time of writing. Check their site for current terms.