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Deer Flow alternatives (2026)
Deer Flow is a research tool: ByteDance's open-source long-horizon agent harness that researches, codes and creates using sandboxes, memory and sub-agents. Pricing, as the maker states it: Open source. Its GitHub repo has 83,959 stars. We found 46 tools in the directory that do overlapping work (writing code, building AI agents, research); 28 of them are open source and 11 list a free or freemium plan. Below are the 10 closest, ranked by how many tasks and sub-tasks they share with Deer Flow, then by GitHub stars.
Updated
Quick comparison Top 10 of 11 listed below. Pricing as the maker states it; blank means we don't have it.
| Tool | Pricing | Best for | Open source |
|---|---|---|---|
 EvoScientist | Open source | Research the web | Yes |
 Hyperresearch | Open source + cloud | Build an agent | Yes |
 LLM for Zotero | Open source | Build an agent | Yes |
 MiroFlow | Open source | Build an agent | Yes |
 Feynman | Open source | Write code | Yes |
 Agent-Reach | Open source | Build an agent | Yes |
 GPT Researcher | Open source | Write code | Yes |
 DeepAnalyze | Open source | Write code | Yes |
 OpenScience | Open source | Write code | Yes |
 Paper2Agent | Open source | Write code | Yes |
- EvoScientist (Open source): Self-evolving AI scientist system that autonomously explores research ideas, runs experiments and improves with growing skills and memory. Consider it because it also covers rules, skills and config.
- Hyperresearch (Open source + cloud): Deep research harness that turns Claude Code or Codex into a research agent building a persistent, searchable wiki, with a hosted API and MCP. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source + cloud).
- LLM for Zotero (Open source): Zotero plugin that adds a research agent to your library so you can ask questions about papers, compare sources and save notes without leaving the reader. Consider it because it is ready to use without building anything.
- MiroFlow (Open source): Research agent framework with web UI supporting MiroThinker and other models. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source).
- Feynman (Open source): Open-source research agent that searches, reads papers and writes cited reports. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source).
- Agent-Reach (Open source): Lets an AI agent read and search sites like X, Reddit, YouTube and GitHub through one toolkit, without paid APIs. Consider it because it has more GitHub stars (98,176 vs 83,959).
- GPT Researcher (Open source): Autonomous agent that researches the web and writes cited reports. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source).
- DeepAnalyze (Open source): Agentic LLM from Renmin University that autonomously runs data science pipelines and produces analyst-grade research reports. Consider it because it does the same job with a different approach (open source).
- OpenScience (Open source): Research agent workbench that reads the literature, writes and runs code and experiments and logs every step, with skills and connectors for databases like PubMed, UniProt and arXiv. Consider it because it is ready to use without building anything; it also covers SQL and databases and rules, skills and config.
- Paper2Agent (Open source): Multi-agent system that turns a research paper and its code into a working MCP server and agent skills you can query and run. Consider it because it also covers MCP servers and multi-agent orchestration.
Deer Flow vs alternatives at a glance
| Tool | Pricing | Open source / licence | GitHub stars | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Deer Flow | Open source | MIT | 83,959 | writing code, building AI agents |
| EvoScientist | Open source | Yes | 4,984 | research, memory for agents |
| Hyperresearch | Open source + cloud | Yes | 3,875 | building AI agents, research |
| LLM for Zotero | Open source | Yes | 3,351 | building AI agents, research |
| MiroFlow | Open source | Apache License 2.0 | 3,120 | building AI agents, research |
| Feynman | Open source | MIT | 9,976 | writing code, research |
| Agent-Reach | Open source | MIT | 98,176 | building AI agents, research |
| GPT Researcher | Open source | Apache License 2.0 | 30,082 | writing code, research |
| DeepAnalyze | Open source | Yes | 4,727 | writing code, research |
| OpenScience | Open source | Apache License 2.0 | 4,043 | writing code, research |
| Paper2Agent | Open source | MIT | 3,830 | writing code, building multi-agent systems |
More: Deer Flow listing · All research tools · All alternatives pages
Related searches: Open-source AI research agents
Alternatives are picked from directory data only: same category plus shared tasks and sub-tasks. Pricing is as each maker states it; GitHub stars as recorded on each listing.