StepFun Step 3.5 Flash vs Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0
Which one should you pick? Here's the full breakdown.
StepFun Step 3.5 Flash
StepFun's (China) agent-focused open-weight model -- Step 3.5 Flash launched 2026-02-01. 196B sparse MoE, ~11B active. Benchmarks slightly ahead of DeepSeek V3.2 at over 3x smaller total size. Step 3 (321B / 38B active, Apache 2.0) and Step3-VL-10B multimodal also in the family
Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0
Microsoft's MIT-licensed open-source agent orchestration framework -- GA on 2026-04-03. Merges Semantic Kernel and AutoGen into a single SDK. Python and .NET. Native MCP and A2A protocol support. Connectors for Foundry, Azure OpenAI, OpenAI, Claude, Bedrock, Gemini, Ollama
| Category | StepFun Step 3.5 Flash | Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Ease of Use | 6.0 | 6.0 |
| Output Quality | 8.0 | 8.5 |
| Value | 9.0 | 10.0 |
| Features | 8.0 | 9.0 |
| Overall | 7.8 | 8.4 |
Pricing Comparison
| Feature | StepFun Step 3.5 Flash | Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 |
|---|---|---|
| Free Tier | Yes | Yes |
| Starting Price | $0 | $0 |
Which Should You Pick?
Pick StepFun Step 3.5 Flash if...
Teams building agent systems on Chinese open-weight foundations who want something other than DeepSeek or Qwen, especially if agentic tool-use is the primary workload. Also good for Chinese-market products where StepFun's domestic tuning advantages matter. And for anyone looking to add diversity to their open-weight evaluation matrix beyond the top-3 Chinese labs.
Visit StepFun Step 3.5 FlashPick Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 if...
- ✓Better value for money (10/10)
- ✓More features (9 vs 8)
Enterprise developers on .NET or mixed Python + .NET stacks who want an MIT-licensed agent orchestration framework with real enterprise credibility. Also good for Azure Foundry customers who want first-class native integration. Teams migrating from Semantic Kernel or AutoGen should plan the move to Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 now rather than later.
Visit Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0Our Verdict
Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 edges out StepFun Step 3.5 Flash with a 8.4 vs 7.8 overall score. Both are solid picks, but Microsoft Agent Framework 1.0 has the advantage in output quality.