LangGraph vs LlamaIndex
A side-by-side comparison of LangGraph and LlamaIndex, two Orchestration tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
LangGraph
OrchestrationGraph-based agent orchestration. Stateful loops with checkpoints.
View LangGraphLlamaIndex
OrchestrationThe data framework for LLM apps — RAG, agents, and document workflows.
View LlamaIndexAt a glance
| Attribute | LangGraph | LlamaIndex |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Orchestration | Orchestration |
| Pricing (differs) | FREE | FREEMIUM |
| License (differs) | Open source | Open core |
| Deployment | — | — |
| Platforms | API, CLI | API, CLI |
| Model support | Model-agnostic | Model-agnostic |
| Vendor (differs) | LangChain | LlamaIndex |
The honest brief
LangGraph
Durable checkpointed state-graph with human-in-the-loop — long agent runs pause and resume, unlike one-shot chains.
- Durable checkpointed state
- Low-level graph control
- Debuggable long-running agents
- Runs in production at major firms
- Steeper learning curve
- More boilerplate than chains
- Tied to LangChain conventions
LlamaIndex
Retrieval-first where LangChain is orchestration-first — LlamaParse is the go-to for PDFs that defeat normal parsers.
- Best-in-class RAG primitives
- LlamaParse for hard documents
- Python + TypeScript
- Managed LlamaCloud option
- Narrower than full orchestration frameworks
- LlamaCloud parsing is paid
- API churn between versions