Vapi vs LiveKit
Vapi charges usage-based and LiveKit charges usage-based. Here's how they compare on price, features and compliance, using each vendor's own published information.
Checked October 15, 2026 (Vapi) and October 15, 2026 (LiveKit)
| Detail | Vapi | LiveKit |
|---|---|---|
| Charges by | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Starts at | Free tier | Free tier |
| Includes | $5 in free credits; 1 phone number; 4 concurrent calls; 14-day data retention | 1,000 agent session minutes; 5 concurrent agent sessions; 1 free US local number with 50 inbound minutes; $2.50 inference credit |
| Overage | — | $0.01 per agent session minute on Ship and Scale |
| Per minute | $0.05 | $0.01 |
| Free trial | $5 in free credits | Build plan is free with no credit card required |
| How it works | AI only | AI only |
| Answers inbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Places outbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Books appointments | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Warm transfer to a person | Yes | Yes |
| Text follow-up | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Call recording | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Transcripts | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| CRM sync | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Keep your number (porting) | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| Spanish | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Other languages | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Web chat | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Custom voice | Yes | Unconfirmed |
| Signs a HIPAA BAA | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type II | SOC 2 Type II |
Integrations
Both list: Twilio.
Only Vapi: Telnyx, Vonage, Five9, Genesys, Avaya, NICE, Talkdesk, Amazon Connect, Cisco, Zendesk, Salesforce, HubSpot, GoHighLevel, Apollo.io, Clay, Google Calendar, Google Sheets, Notion, Slack, Zapier, Make, n8n.
Pricing notes
Vapi: Vapi charges a pre-paid hosting fee of $0.05/min. Transcription, LLM and voice are passed through at provider cost with no markup (calculator ranges: Deepgram transcription about $0.0095-$0.0099/min, OpenAI model about $0.0077-$0.0452/min, ElevenLabs voice about $0.0146-$0.0238/min). Vapi telephony/SIP, WebSockets and Daily WebRTC are free; carrier minutes are charged by the provider (Twilio $0.008/min inbound and $0.014/min outbound, Vonage $0.00814/min, Telnyx $0.0055/min). Vapi's own example for 1,000 minutes/month totals an estimated $82-$129. Add-ons on any package: HIPAA compliance $2,000/month (includes standard DPA and BAA), extra concurrency $10 per line per month, extra organizations $20 per org per month. The Pro package fee is 10% of the hosting fee with a $999/month minimum; it is recorded here at the minimum.
LiveKit: LiveKit Cloud bills agent session time ('time spent in a session by an agent deployed on LiveKit Cloud') at $0.01/min beyond plan allowances on Ship and Scale. Speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech are not included: they are billed per model through LiveKit Inference (after a small included credit) or paid directly to the provider when customers bring their own keys. Telephony is separate: US local numbers (one free, then $1/month on Ship and Scale), US local inbound $0.01/min after included minutes, US toll-free numbers $2/month plus $0.02/min inbound, third-party SIP minutes $0.004/min (Ship) or $0.003/min (Scale) after included minutes, and Twilio/WhatsApp connectors $0.004/min (Ship) or $0.003/min (Scale). LiveKit's own calculator example totals about $0.048/min for a phone call with LLM, STT and TTS; this is an illustration, not a quoted rate.