Apache Maka vs Deep Agents: Features, Pricing & Which Is Better (2026)
A side-by-side comparison of Apache Maka and Deep Agents — features, pricing, and ideal use cases — to help you decide which AI tool fits your workflow.
Apache Maka
The Apache Software Foundation
Apache-licensed local-first agent workspace that runs tools in a sandbox and records every model message and tool call as a recoverable execution log.
Key features
- Append-Only Execution Record: Model messages, tool calls, tool results, permission decisions, and turn termination events are written down durably, so the transcript is evidence rather than a disposable chat buffer.
- Context Trimming Without Data Loss: Old tool output can be omitted from the next prompt to shorten context while the full saved history remains intact and inspectable.
- Single Runtime Host: Desktop, terminal, and evaluation all execute through one runtime, so behavior does not diverge between how you develop and how you benchmark.
- Sandboxed Tool Boundary: Built-in Read, Write, Edit, Bash, Glob, and Grep tools run under a sandbox; anything leaving that boundary requires approval, and Computer Use and catalog skills are opt-in.
- Crash Recovery and Resume: Runs can be aborted, failures are classified, and an interrupted turn can optionally be resumed rather than restarted from scratch.
- Session Branching and Search: The desktop workspace supports creating, archiving, searching, renaming, retrying, regenerating, and branching sessions from any turn.
- Bring Your Own Model: Connect a cloud API, a locally hosted model, or a compatible gateway, with streaming output, thinking, usage reporting, and clearer provider errors.
- Declarative Evaluation Harness: maka eval expands multi-arm experiments into task by repetition by subject cells with immutable per-cell attempts and a result kernel covering score, normalized usage, attributable cost, duration, and failure reason.
- Local-First Storage: Sessions, settings, artifacts, and run records stay on the machine by default, with local memory and optional web search when configured.
Best for
- Auditable Agent Runs: Keeping a defensible record of exactly what an agent did and which permissions were granted during a task.
- Long Coding Sessions: Working through a multi-turn refactor with branching and resume instead of losing state when a turn fails.
- Agent Benchmarking: Running reproducible multi-arm experiments comparing models, prompts, or external agent subjects on the same task set.
- Air-Gapped or Regulated Work: Running an agent workspace where sessions and artifacts must remain on local infrastructure.
- Cost and Usage Analysis: Attributing token usage, cost, and duration per experiment cell to decide which model configuration to ship.
- Terminal Workflows: Driving an agent from the current project directory or scripting a single non-interactive turn from CI or a shell.
- Open-Source Agent Research: Building on a permissively licensed runtime whose execution semantics and architecture are fully documented.
Deep Agents
LangChain
Modular LangChain agent framework enabling planning, subagents, and filesystem-backed memory for complex, long-horizon tasks.
Key features
- Modular Middleware Architecture: Deep Agents are constructed from discrete middleware components (PlanningMiddleware, FilesystemMiddleware, SubAgentMiddleware) enabling flexible composition and extension of agent capabilities.
- Built-in Planning & Task Decomposition: Includes a write_todos tool and planning utilities that break complex objectives into discrete, trackable steps and adapt plans as new information appears.
- Filesystem-backed Long-term Memory: Provides a filesystem middleware for storing contextual data and long-term memories so agents can persist state and recall past results across sessions.
- Subagent Spawning and Delegation: Can spawn and manage subagents to delegate subtasks, enabling parallel or hierarchical workflows for large or multi-domain tasks.
- Human-in-the-Loop Approvals: Integrates with LangGraph’s interrupt/checkpointer mechanisms and prebuilt HITL middleware to pause execution and require human approval for sensitive tool operations.
- LangGraph Integration & Interactivity: Agents created with create_deep_agent are LangGraph graphs, allowing streaming, memory management, studio interaction, and parity with other LangGraph workflows.
- Modular middleware architecture (PlanningMiddleware, FilesystemMiddleware, SubAgentMiddleware) automatically attached by create_deep_agent
- Built-in planning and task decomposition tool (write_todos) for breaking down and tracking long-horizon tasks
- Filesystem-backed context and long-term memory storage for persistent state and artifacts
- Ability to spawn and coordinate subagents for parallel or delegated workflows
- Human-in-the-loop (HITL) support via LangGraph interrupts and configurable checkpointers to require approval for sensitive tool operations
- First-class LangGraph integration: agents are LangGraph graphs supporting streaming, memory, studio, and LangGraph graph operations
- Interoperability with multiple model providers, search tools, and MCP servers (examples demonstrate provider-agnostic patterns)
- Examples and reference implementations for research workflows, async parallel execution, and multi-agent coordination
- Python-first developer experience with notebooks, example scripts, and library integrations
- Configurable tool approvals and prebuilt HITL middleware for pausing/resuming execution based on user feedback
Best for
- Automated Long-Horizon Research: Orchestrate scope→research→write pipelines where the agent decomposes research tasks, runs searches, aggregates findings, and iteratively writes reports.
- Multi-step Task Orchestration: Break down complex business or engineering tasks into tracked todos, adapt plans as results arrive, and monitor progress across steps.
- Sensitive Tool Execution with Human Approval: Configure tools that require human sign-off so agents pause and await operator confirmation before performing sensitive operations.
- Parallelized Investigation via Subagents: Spawn subagents to run concurrent research threads or specialized subtasks, then consolidate results into a unified output.
- Persistent Context and Memory Use: Store intermediate artifacts, citations, and long-term knowledge on the filesystem to maintain continuity across sessions and improve accuracy.
- Build Custom Agent-driven Applications: Use Deep Agents as the core of production agent apps integrated with LangGraph for streaming, debugging, and observability in studio environments.
- Automating complex, long-horizon research workflows that require planning, decomposition, and evidence aggregation
- Multi-agent orchestration where tasks are delegated to subagents and results are merged
- Workflows needing persistent context or long-term memories (e.g., knowledge bases, document stores)
- Human-in-the-loop controlled tool execution for sensitive operations or approval-required steps
- Building reproducible research/report generation pipelines with parallelized data collection and synthesis