LlamaIndex review

LlamaIndex built its name on retrieval-augmented generation, and its framework remains the best option when an agent's main job is working over your documents. The MIT-licensed Python toolkit gives you ingestion pipelines, node parsers, vector store integrations and query engines, and treats a RAG pipeline as one tool an agent can call. Agent Workflows are event-driven, multi-step processes with branching, retries, concurrency, streaming and human-in-the-loop review, and can run as durable services. The company now leads with LlamaParse, its paid parsing and extraction platform for 130+ file formats. Pay-as-you-go costs $0 a month with 10K free credits and then $1.5 per 1,000 credits, while Pro is $500 a month with cheaper credits and a one-time credit bonus for business email domains. For agents that rarely touch documents, the framework's strengths matter less and lighter SDKs are easier to start with.

Who it is for

Teams building agents that answer questions or act on large sets of PDFs, slide decks and other documents.

Price

Framework free (MIT); LlamaParse pay-as-you-go from $0 with 10K free credits; Pro $500 per month.

Pro $500 /month
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 6, 2026.

Key features

• Retrieval-augmented generation pipelines as tools for agents
• Event-driven Agent Workflows with branching, retries and human review
• Durable workflows and deployment as services
• MCP support for converting workflows and tools
• LlamaParse parsing and extraction across 130+ file formats

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: The shortest path from parsed documents to an agent that uses them
• Strength: LlamaParse includes 10K free credits on pay-as-you-go
• Strength: Large library of vector store and data connectors
• Weakness: Framework is now positioned behind LlamaParse in the company's own messaging
• Weakness: LlamaParse Pro starts at $500 a month
• Weakness: Less suited to agents that do not work over documents

Key facts

• License: MIT
• LlamaParse pay-as-you-go: $0 a month, 10K free credits, $1.5 per 1K credits
• LlamaParse Pro: $500 a month, $1.25 per 1K credits
• File types: 130+ formats

Where it ranks

LlamaIndex is No. 10 in our Best AI Agent Frameworks verdict.