Dispatch is the responsibility of the developer in Akka via a switch statement. In Orleans it is automatic and occurs via interface. That's just one example (of many) of how Orleans is aesthetically similar to basically everything else in .Net. Akka would feel familiar to Java developers, Orleans feels familiar to .Net developers and I work with more of those. Given Akka's heritage, it is likely richer than Orleans - but avoiding training is more valuable to us.