LiveKit Agents vs Retell AI (2026): which should you pick?

Pick LiveKit Agents if

• Fits if you are a developer who wants to build and ship a voice agent in one place
• Works for teams that start on the free plan and add phone lines later

Look elsewhere if

• Not for you if you want no-code: you build agents in code
• Tight if you leave the free plan: 1,000 minutes, 5 concurrent sessions
• Pricey if you add it up: sessions, phone lines and models are billed per minute on top of the plan
• Watch out: private links, role-based access and HIPAA reports start at Scale, $500 a month

Pick Retell AI if

• Fits if you want to pay per minute with no monthly commitment
• Works for developers wiring phone agents into Twilio or HubSpot

Look elsewhere if

• Pricey if you add it up, as model, voice and telephony sit on top of the $0.055 base
• Watch out: HIPAA and BAA, SSO, role-based access and custom retention are Enterprise only
• Watch out: AI quality assurance and PII removal are charged per minute on top
• Not for you if you want a fixed bill, because cost moves with minutes

LiveKit Agents

• The plan prices are 'starting at' and add per-minute charges for agent sessions, telephony and model use.
• An estimator on the pricing page gives about $0.0479 a minute for one sample phone-call setup; model choice changes it.
• Private links, role-based access and HIPAA reports start at the Scale plan.

Retell AI

• The rate is a sum of parts: voice infrastructure is $0.055 per minute, with model, voice and telephony on top, hence $0.07 to $0.31.
• The comparison table lists HIPAA and BAA, SSO, role-based access and custom data retention for Enterprise only.
• Dedicated implementation support and a dedicated stable server are Enterprise add-ons.
• Add-ons such as AI quality assurance and PII removal are charged per minute on top of the base rate.

LiveKit Agents

Agents framework

An open source framework for building and testing voice agents in Python or Node.js.

LiveKit Inference

One API key for speech-to-text, language and text-to-speech models, billed by model per minute.

Agent deployment

Hosts agents on LiveKit Cloud with rollback, deployment metrics and a global network.

Telephony

Phone numbers and SIP integrations so an agent can take or place calls.

Observability and simulations

Session recordings, event logs and text simulations for testing agents.

Retell AI

Inbound and outbound phone agents

Agents answer or place calls, transfer to a human, book appointments, use a knowledge base and navigate keypad menus.

Batch calls and caller ID

The deploy menu lists batch calling for high-volume campaigns, branded caller ID and verified phone numbers.

Testing and monitoring

Simulation testing, call transcripts and analytics, post-call analysis and AI quality assurance are listed for monitoring agents.

Model and voice choice

The cost estimator offers language models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google and voices from Retell, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Minimax, Fish and OpenAI.

Chat agents

The same platform runs chat agents, priced from $0.002 per message.

LiveKit Agents

• Build$0

  1,000 agent session minutes, 5 concurrent sessions, $2.50 of inference credits, community support.

• Ship$50

  per month, starting at

  5,000 session minutes then $0.01 a minute, 20 concurrent sessions, team access and email support.

• Scale$500

  per month, starting at

  50,000 session minutes, up to 600 concurrent sessions, roles, region pinning and HIPAA reports.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Volume pricing, SSO, a support SLA and a shared Slack channel.

Retell AI

• Pay as you go$0

  to start, then $0.07-$0.31 per minute

  Voice agents at $0.07-$0.31 per minute, chat agents from $0.002 per message, 20 free concurrent calls, API access and email support.

• EnterpriseCustom

  Custom voice and chat pricing, role-based access, custom SSO, MSA, DPA and BAA terms, and 24/7 support with a dedicated portal.