Compare Lab
AssemblyAI vs LiveKit
AssemblyAI is positioned as transcription APIs for live and recorded audio, with model-specific language and analysis options. LiveKit is positioned as realtime agent infrastructure for teams that own the application and model sta
AssemblyAI is positioned as transcription APIs for live and recorded audio, with model-specific language and analysis options. LiveKit is positioned as realtime agent infrastructure for teams that own the application and model stack. Start by deciding who owns the missing layers, then inspect the documented differences below.
STT and Developer Frameworks are different product categories. An underlying engine or framework is not a complete substitute for a deployed agent workflow.
18 jointly documented catalog fields. This measures evidence coverage, not equivalent quality or an overall winner.
Test opening hours, booking conflicts and an unanswered transfer.
Start where the records differ.
Values and evidence states are compared together. Shared facts follow the differences; Unknown never means No.
| Decision point | AssemblyAI | LiveKit |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unitDifferent records | Async audio hours; streaming connection hours; agent session minutes; gateway tokens | Plan/month + agent minutes + telephony minutes + inference tokens/characters/audio + observability entries |
| Bring your telephonyDifferent records | Yes | Yes |
| Warm transferDifferent records | Unknown | Yes |
| Billing modelShared state | component-stack | component-stack |
| Bring your modelShared state | Yes | Yes |
| HIPAA pathShared state | Yes | Yes |
Your requirements & next steps
Your requirements
Ready-made / AI receptionist · Strict evidence mode
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STT hours/session duration, agent minutes, gateway tokens and add-ons remain distinct.
Plan plus session, telephony, inference, observability and other usage; example calculator minute total is not fixed price.
Model rates are scoped; add-ons stack; reference states updated May 29, 2026 and conflicts are retained.
Agent session component only; not complete call cost.
Idle streaming connection duration is billable. No fabricated all-in phone cost per minute.
No universal conversion of model inference to minute rate.
SSO costs $199 per connection per month; do not mistake no base fee for no fixed optional charges.
Usage overages and model inference additional.
Not a fixed monthly audio allowance; credits do not expire.
Separate allowance buckets; no implied complete free call quantity.
No invented bundle overage.
Build allowances are hard caps; paid usage beyond allowances is incremental, not a complete price/minute.
Component choices and call mix must be specified.
Usage mix and selected providers required.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
No complete phone bill ceiling from minutes alone; carrier, model and addon scope vary.
The calculator example $0.0479/min is assumption-specific; no maximum complete bill from minutes alone.
No complete phone bill ceiling from minutes alone; carrier, model and addon scope vary.
The calculator example $0.0479/min is assumption-specific; no maximum complete bill from minutes alone.
Anyone with this link can view the encoded decision criteria.
Vendor documentation establishes a claim. Public model benchmarks are separate context, not measurements of these platforms.
Open saved comparison ↗What to verify together.
AssemblyAI
A transcription hour is not a complete agent hour.
Universal-2 async / Universal-Streaming $0.15/hour; U3.5 Pro async $0.21/hour; U3 realtime $0.45/hour; Voice Agent $0.075/min · V3.3 evidence review · Voice Agent API reference; standalone STT is hourly; transport/add-ons separate
Excluded / confirm: Complete cost cannot be established from this reference. No complete phone bill ceiling from minutes alone; carrier, model and addon scope vary. · Twilio carrier; optional custom/Gateway LLM; standalone STT add-ons and per-channel billing
STT hours/session duration, agent minutes, gateway tokens and add-ons remain distinct.
LiveKit
Agent-session pricing excludes a complete inference and telephony stack.
Paid Cloud agent sessions $0.01/min beyond allowance · V3.3 evidence review · Cloud Ship starting subscription; session overage, inference, transport and artifacts extra
Excluded / confirm: Complete cost cannot be established from this reference. The calculator example $0.0479/min is assumption-specific; no maximum complete bill from minutes alone. · Inference, phone number/transport, recording and observability, outbound carrier, bandwidth and optional private links
Plan plus session, telephony, inference, observability and other usage; example calculator minute total is not fixed price.
The evidence overlap.
Both records have documented values for Product type, Technical setup, Pricing model, Published numeric pricing, Twilio, Call recording, Realtime / streaming audio, AssemblyAI STT, OpenAI models, Anthropic models, Google models, Bring your model and additional fields shown in Compare. Matching availability does not measure behavior under your call conditions.
Run the same booking, tool failure and unsuccessful human-transfer cases. Record both outcomes and billable units before signing a deployment agreement.
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