Comparison
Genkit vs ADK: Choosing an AI Framework
Genkit and Google ADK are both open source frameworks published by Google, but they answer different questions. Genkit gives you typed flows, prompts and tool calling to put AI features inside an application, in TypeScript, Go or Python. ADK gives you agents that plan, call tools and delegate to other agents, with an evaluation harness and a deployment path to Google Cloud. I use both, sometimes in the same project.
Feature-by-feature
| Feature | Genkit | Google ADK |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | AI features inside an app: flows, prompts, RAG, tool calling | Autonomous and multi-agent systems that plan and delegate |
| Languages | TypeScript first, plus Go and Python | Python first, plus Java, Go and TypeScript |
| Multi-agent orchestration | You wire agents yourself inside flows | Native: coordinator agents, sequential, parallel and loop workflows |
| Tools and MCP | Typed tools, MCP client through a plugin | Function tools, built-in Google tools, MCP toolsets, agents as tools, A2A |
| Models | Model agnostic through plugins: Gemini, OpenAI, Anthropic, Ollama and more | Gemini native, other models through LiteLLM |
| Deployment | Firebase, Cloud Run, or any Node or Go runtime | Cloud Run, Vertex AI Agent Engine, or any container |
| Observability and evaluation | Developer UI, tracing, Firebase Genkit Monitoring | Developer UI, session traces, evaluation harness with test sets |
| When I pick it | A chatbot, content generation, extraction or RAG feature in a Next.js or Firebase product | A workflow where several agents split the work on Google Cloud |
Verdict
Pick Genkit when the AI lives inside an app you already run, especially on Next.js and Firebase, and you want typed flows you can test and monitor. Pick ADK when the product is the agent system itself: several specialised agents, tool use, evaluation runs and deployment on Google Cloud. ADK clearly wins on orchestration and evaluation; Genkit wins on integration speed and model freedom. In my own builds the site concierge and the content engine run on Genkit and the Gemini SDK, and I bring in ADK when a client needs a real multi-agent workflow.