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LiveKit vs OpenAI Realtime API
LiveKit is positioned as realtime agent infrastructure for teams that own the application and model stack. OpenAI Realtime API is positioned as speech-to-speech API for developers implementing their own voice application. Start by
LiveKit is positioned as realtime agent infrastructure for teams that own the application and model stack. OpenAI Realtime API is positioned as speech-to-speech API for developers implementing their own voice application. Start by deciding who owns the missing layers, then inspect the documented differences below.
12 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 | LiveKit | OpenAI Realtime API |
|---|---|---|
| Billing unitDifferent records | Plan/month + agent minutes + telephony minutes + inference tokens/characters/audio + observability entries | 1 million text/audio/image tokens; transcription separately metered |
| Bring your modelDifferent records | Yes | Unknown |
| Warm transferDifferent records | Yes | Unknown |
| HIPAA pathDifferent records | Yes | Unknown |
| Billing modelShared state | component-stack | component-stack |
| Bring your telephonyShared state | Yes | Yes |
Your requirements & next steps
Your requirements
Ready-made / AI receptionist · Strict evidence mode
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Plan plus session, telephony, inference, observability and other usage; example calculator minute total is not fixed price.
Realtime model tokens plus input transcription, tools and carrier/hosting; not GPT-Live session-minute billing.
Agent session component only; not complete call cost.
Cached audio/text and image inputs have separate rates. Rate is not per-minute.
No universal conversion of model inference to minute rate.
Model scope fixed to GPT-Realtime-2, not all voice models.
Usage overages and model inference additional.
Published Realtime token rates do not establish these account/contract terms. GPT-Live duration billing and unrelated fine-tuning discounts must not be imported.
Separate allowance buckets; no implied complete free call quantity.
Published Realtime token rates do not establish these account/contract terms. GPT-Live duration billing and unrelated fine-tuning discounts must not be imported.
Build allowances are hard caps; paid usage beyond allowances is incremental, not a complete price/minute.
Published Realtime token rates do not establish these account/contract terms. GPT-Live duration billing and unrelated fine-tuning discounts must not be imported.
Usage mix and selected providers required.
Repeated context, cache behavior and turn count affect token charges.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
Not yet researched against this buyer-critical field standard.
The calculator example $0.0479/min is assumption-specific; no maximum complete bill from minutes alone.
Full bill requires measured model/token/cache/tool/carrier usage; conversation minutes alone are insufficient.
The calculator example $0.0479/min is assumption-specific; no maximum complete bill from minutes alone.
Full bill requires measured model/token/cache/tool/carrier usage; conversation minutes alone are insufficient.
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.
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.
OpenAI Realtime API
A token rate cannot be compared directly with a bundled call-minute price.
GPT-Realtime-2 audio input $32/M, audio output $64/M; text input $4/M, output $24/M · V3.3 evidence review · GPT-Realtime-2 input audio tokens only; output/audio/text/cache have different rates; not 2.1 rate evidence
Excluded / confirm: Complete cost cannot be established from this reference. Full bill requires measured model/token/cache/tool/carrier usage; conversation minutes alone are insufficient. · Input transcription, tool/backend calls, carrier and application infrastructure
Realtime model tokens plus input transcription, tools and carrier/hosting; not GPT-Live session-minute billing.
The evidence overlap.
Both records have documented values for Product type, Technical setup, Pricing model, Published numeric pricing, Realtime / streaming audio, OpenAI models, MCP tools, Function / tool calling, Interruption controls, Official product documentation, Checked within 30 days, Retained price snapshot. 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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