Vapi vs LiveKit: Features, Pricing and User Reviews 2026
LiveKit
Open-Source Real-Time Video, Audio & AI Platform
LiveKit
Open-Source Real-Time Video, Audio & AI Platform
What are Vapi and LiveKit?
Vapi is a platform that helps developers build voice AI agents that can talk with people over the phone or inside apps. Instead of coding audio streaming, transcription, and text to speech from scratch, developers connect these pieces through Vapi and focus on the conversation logic.
It combines speech to text, a language model, and text to speech, and lets teams pick their preferred providers or bring their own keys. Agents can answer or place calls, use tools to look up data or take actions, and hand off between specialized assistants for more complex tasks.
Companies like Amazon Ring and Intuit use Vapi to power support, sales, and scheduling calls at scale.
LiveKit is a complete real-time communication platform that uses WebRTC technology to enable low-latency audio, video, and data exchange between users and AI agents. Unlike traditional communication tools, LiveKit is built specifically for developers who want to create custom real-time experiences.
The platform consists of several parts: the open-source LiveKit server that handles media routing, client SDKs for all major platforms, and LiveKit Cloud for managed hosting. It uses a Selective Forwarding Unit (SFU) architecture, which means it can efficiently handle many participants without heavy server processing.
LiveKit is especially strong for AI applications. It can connect voice agents to phone systems, enable real-time transcription, and support multimodal AI that can see and hear simultaneously. Whether you want to build a simple video chat or a complex AI assistant, LiveKit provides the foundation you need.
Features of Vapi and LiveKit
Real-time voice conversations with low latency
Speech to text, language model, and text to speech in one platform
Bring your own AI models and API keys
Inbound and outbound phone call support
Custom tools and webhook actions
Multi-agent handoffs with Squads
Call recordings and analytics dashboard
SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI compliance
Full REST API and CLI access
Embed voice calls inside web apps
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
Use Cases of Vapi and LiveKit
Pricing of Vapi and LiveKit
Vapi has two plans built around how much you need to scale. The Build plan is usage based, so you only pay for what you use, with 60+ minutes of calls and 10 concurrent calls included.
Voice Calls: $0.05 per minute
SMS or Chat: $0.0005 per message
Extra Concurrency: $10 per line per month
Model Provider Costs: Charged at cost, or $0 if you bring your own API key
Add-ons: HIPAA compliance at $2,000/month and zero data retention at $1,000/month
The Scale plan is an annual contract for larger teams, with a fixed platform fee, committed call volume, and enterprise features like SSO, SOC 2, and dedicated support. Pricing is custom, so you will need to contact Vapi's sales team directly.
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.
FAQs: Vapi vs LiveKit
Reviews: Vapi vs LiveKit
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Compare LiveKit With Other Tools
VideoSDK
Real-Time Video & Voice API Platform for Developers
VoxImplant
Cloud Communication APIs for Voice, Video & AI Contact Centers
Retell AI
Humanlike Voice Agents for Phone Calls
Bland AI
Enterprise AI Voice Agents for Calls
Synthflow
Enterprise AI Voice Agent Platform
NLPearl
AI Voice & Text Agents for Business
