Retell AI vs LiveKit Agents

Retell AI9.4Visit LiveKit Agents9.2Visit

Higher score Retell AI #1 in AI Voice Agents 9.4/10 Paid ✓ 4 of 4 features Visit Retell AI

vs

LiveKit Agents #3 in AI Voice Agents 9.2/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 4 of 4 features Visit LiveKit

• Retell AI fits best

  Teams needing practical phone automation quickly

• LiveKit Agents fits best

  Developers building realtime voice agents

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Side by side

Feature	Retell AI 9.4/10 Visit ↗	LiveKit Agents 9.2/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.4	9.2
Ranking	#1 in AI Voice Agents	#3 in AI Voice Agents
Best for	Teams needing practical phone automation quickly	Developers building realtime voice agents
Pricing model	Paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	$0.07 usage-based	$50/mo
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Self-hosted
Integrations	12 integrations	11 integrations
Features Retell AI 4/4 · LiveKit Agents 4/4
Inbound calls	✓	✓
Outbound calls	✓	✓
Human handoff	✓	✓
Custom phone numbers	✓	✓
Specs
Supported languages	55 languages	Not checked yet
Concurrent calls	20 calls	20 calls
Our review
Pros	Handles inbound calls, outbound campaigns, IVR, and DTMF navigation Transfers callers with transcript context and supports knowledge-base responses Includes analytics, transcripts, simulation testing, and CRM integrations	Connects pluggable LLM, STT, TTS, and realtime model providers Supports inbound and outbound telephony, transfers, and agent handoffs Includes testing, recordings, transcripts, traces, and logs
Cons	Usage-based pricing can vary by model, voice, telephony, and add-ons Enterprise features such as SSO and role-based access require custom pricing The platform is focused on business phone operations rather than general voice use	Building with the framework requires developer-led implementation Ship starts at $50/month; Scale is $500/month The listed feature set may be broader than needed for simple voice bots
Our verdict	Retell AI is a platform for building, testing, deploying, and monitoring AI voice agents for business phone operations. It supports inbound call answering, outbound batch calling, appointment booking, record updates, IVR navigation, DTMF… Read the review →	LiveKit Agents is an open-source framework for building programmable, realtime voice and multimodal AI agents. It is aimed at developers and teams creating conversational voice applications or other realtime AI experiences. Agents can run… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Retell AI — where it wins

  • Handles inbound calls, outbound campaigns, IVR, and DTMF navigation
  • Transfers callers with transcript context and supports knowledge-base responses
  • Includes analytics, transcripts, simulation testing, and CRM integrations

  Where it doesn't

  • Usage-based pricing can vary by model, voice, telephony, and add-ons
  • Enterprise features such as SSO and role-based access require custom pricing
  • The platform is focused on business phone operations rather than general voice use

• LiveKit Agents — where it wins

  • Connects pluggable LLM, STT, TTS, and realtime model providers
  • Supports inbound and outbound telephony, transfers, and agent handoffs
  • Includes testing, recordings, transcripts, traces, and logs

  Where it doesn't

  • Building with the framework requires developer-led implementation
  • Ship starts at $50/month; Scale is $500/month
  • The listed feature set may be broader than needed for simple voice bots

• Retell AI9.4/10 · Paid

  Practical inbound and outbound phone automation with transfers, testing, and analytics.

  Visit Retell AIFull verdict →
• LiveKit Agents9.2/10 · Free plan

  An open framework for building realtime voice agents, with optional managed cloud plans.

  Visit LiveKitFull verdict →