LiveKit vs Vapi: Features, Pricing and User Reviews 2026
Compare features, pricing, reviews, and more to make an informed decision
LiveKit
LiveKit is an open-source platform for building real-time video, audio, and AI agent applications with low latency.
Vapi
Vapi is a developer platform for building voice AI agents that handle phone calls with human-like conversations and real-time responses.
LiveKit
LiveKit is an open-source platform for building real-time video, audio, and AI agent applications with low latency.
Vapi
Vapi is a developer platform for building voice AI agents that handle phone calls with human-like conversations and real-time responses.
LiveKit
Real-time video and audio streaming with WebRTC
AI voice agent framework with popular integrations
SDKs for all major platforms and languages
Self-hosted or managed cloud deployment options
End-to-end encryption and security features
Telephony and phone system integration
Global edge network for low latency
HIPAA compliant for healthcare applications
Enterprise SSO and access controls
Vapi
Real-time voice processing with sub-500ms response times
Integration with 40+ AI providers (OpenAI, ElevenLabs, Deepgram)
Visual Flow Studio for no-code conversation building
Support for 100+ languages and dialects
SOC2, HIPAA, PCI compliant security
A/B testing and analytics tools
Tool calling and webhook integrations
Enterprise-grade scalability and reliability
LiveKit
LiveKit offers flexible pricing plans designed to scale with your project's growth:
Build Plan (Free): Perfect for getting started with 100 concurrent participants, 5,000 connection minutes monthly, 50GB bandwidth, and 1,000 telephony minutes. Includes community support and basic analytics.
Ship Plan ($50/month): For production applications with 1,000 concurrent participants, 150,000 connection minutes (then $0.50 per thousand minutes), 500GB bandwidth (then $0.12 per GB), and enhanced features like noise cancellation and email support.
Scale Plan ($500/month): Advanced plan with higher limits, priority support, and additional enterprise features like SSO and shared Slack channels.
Enterprise Plan (Custom pricing): Tailored for large organizations with dedicated support engineers, HIPAA compliance, on-premise deployment options, and custom SLAs.
All plans include the core platform features, with higher tiers adding operational support, compliance certifications, and dedicated assistance for scaling applications.
Vapi
Vapi uses a transparent usage-based pricing model that scales with your needs. The platform charges $0.05 per minute as a base fee, plus the actual costs from AI providers you choose.
Total costs typically range from $0.13 to $0.30 per minute depending on your configuration. This includes transcription (around $0.01/minute), text-to-speech ($0.02-$0.07/minute), and language model usage ($0.02-$0.20/minute based on the model you select).
Free Trial - New users receive $10 in credits, providing approximately 60 minutes of testing time to evaluate the platform.
Enterprise Plans - For high-volume users, Vapi offers custom pricing with volume discounts, dedicated support, and service level agreements. These plans include priority support and forward-deployed engineering assistance.
The pay-as-you-go model means no upfront commitments, making it easy for developers to start small and scale as their applications grow.
