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Head-to-head · LLM Application Development Frameworks

Spring AI vs Haystack

  • Updated Oct 2026
  • Both researched from official sources
  • 4 checks side by side
Higher score Spring AI #4 in LLM Application Development Frameworks 9.0/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 3 of 5 features Visit Spring AI
Haystack #5 in LLM Application Development Frameworks 8.9/10 Open source ✓ 0 of 5 features Visit Haystack

Spring AI leads on 4 checks, Haystack on 0, and 0 are even. Who comes out ahead on the 4 yes/no, price and count checks where we have data for both products. The editor score weighs everything else too.

Our verdict

  • Highest scoreSpring AI · 9.0/10
  • Free planonly Spring AI
  • Most featuresSpring AI · 3 of 5

Spring AI scores higher on our rubric for llm application development frameworks: 9.0 against 8.9 out of 10; our editors rank them #4 and #5.

Spring AI offers free plan; Haystack doesn't publish it. Spring AI offers rag support; Haystack doesn't publish it. Spring AI offers agent and tool use; Haystack doesn't publish it. Spring AI offers prompt optimization; Haystack doesn't publish it.

Spring AI is the better fit for java teams building RAG and AI applications. Haystack is the better fit for teams building composable RAG and retrieval pipelines.

  • Spring AI fits best

    Java teams building RAG and AI applications

  • Haystack fits best

    Teams building composable RAG and retrieval pipelines

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click some links. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature Spring AI 9.0/10 Visit ↗ Haystack 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score 9.0 8.9
Ranking #4 in LLM Application Development Frameworks #5 in LLM Application Development Frameworks
Best for Java teams building RAG and AI applications Teams building composable RAG and retrieval pipelines
Pricing model Free Free
Starting price Not published Not published
Free plan ✓ (best) Not published
Free trial — —
Deployment Self-hosted Self-hosted
Support Docs, Community Community, Docs
Integrations 16 integrations 183+ integrations
Built for Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Spring AI 3/5 · Haystack 0/5
RAG support ✓ (best) Not published
Agent and tool use ✓ (best) Not published
Workflow graphs Not published Not published
Prompt optimization ✓ (best) Not published
JavaScript/TypeScript SDK Not published Not published
Specs
Primary language Java Not published
Open-source license Apache-2.0 Not published
Our review
Pros
  • Portable APIs cover multiple model providers and synchronous or streaming use.
  • RAG advisors, document ETL, evaluation, and observability support end-to-end workflows.
  • Connects to a broad range of model providers and vector stores.
  • Combines keyword and embedding search in composable pipelines
  • Supports document reranking and answers with referenced documents
  • Connects to model providers, vector databases, and monitoring tools
Cons
  • Java and Spring focus makes it less suited to teams using other application stacks.
  • Self-hosted deployment puts application operation on the adopting team.
  • Framework code requires developers to assemble and maintain the application.
  • Requires developers to compose and operate their own workflows
  • Its feature set is more retrieval-centered than agent-orchestration leaders
  • Community and documentation are the listed support channels
Our verdict

Spring AI is an open-source Java framework for building AI-powered applications in the Spring ecosystem. It is aimed at teams that want to connect models, enterprise data, and application APIs while keeping model-provider implementations…

Read the review →

Haystack is an open-source Python framework for developers building LLM applications, RAG systems, AI agents, multimodal applications, and semantic search pipelines. Its composable components let teams shape retrieval, ranking, generation,…

Read the review →
  1. Spring AILLM Application Development Frameworks 9.0Free plan
  2. HaystackLLM Application Development Frameworks 8.9Open source

Strengths and trade-offs

  • Spring AI — where it wins

    • Portable APIs cover multiple model providers and synchronous or streaming use.
    • RAG advisors, document ETL, evaluation, and observability support end-to-end workflows.
    • Connects to a broad range of model providers and vector stores.

    Where it doesn't

    • Java and Spring focus makes it less suited to teams using other application stacks.
    • Self-hosted deployment puts application operation on the adopting team.
    • Framework code requires developers to assemble and maintain the application.

  • Haystack — where it wins

    • Combines keyword and embedding search in composable pipelines
    • Supports document reranking and answers with referenced documents
    • Connects to model providers, vector databases, and monitoring tools

    Where it doesn't

    • Requires developers to compose and operate their own workflows
    • Its feature set is more retrieval-centered than agent-orchestration leaders
    • Community and documentation are the listed support channels

More comparisons

All LLM application development frameworks comparisons → · Full ranking →

Reviewed by iTechGuides Editors · Editorial team · Updated Oct 2026

Last updated · How we research and update