Head to head · Agents · updated Oct 27, 2026
Pipecat vs LiveKit Agents
Pipecat scores 42 to LiveKit Agents's 37 on public evidence for voice & phone agents, and they rank #1 and #2 there. Both are free to start. Numbers below are the same public signals the ranking uses, recomputed nightly — nothing here is sponsored.
Pipecat
Open-source pipeline for voice and multimodal agents, built from swappable frames.
+ The pipeline is explicit, so interruption handling and turn-taking are yours to tune.
− A library, not a dashboard: no call logs or flow editor unless you build them.
LiveKit Agents
Open-source framework for realtime voice and video agents on WebRTC transport.
+ WebRTC underneath means in-app and in-browser voice, not only phone calls.
− You run the media plane or pay for theirs - the framework alone is not a product.
Side by side
public evidence| Pipecat | LiveKit Agents | |
|---|---|---|
| Evidence score / 100 | 42 | 37 |
| GitHub stars | 16,852 | 14,965 |
| Hacker News stories, 30d | 1 | 0 |
| Release-feed mentions, 30d | 0 | 0 |
| Last activity | 0 days ago | 0 days ago |
| Pricing | Open source · BSD-2; you pay only the services you plug in | Open source · Apache 2.0; LiveKit Cloud is the paid hosted transport |
| Platforms | api, cli, linux, mac | web, api, cli, linux |
| Maker | Daily | LiveKit |
Which one?
Pick Pipecat if
- you want the stronger public evidence (42 vs 37)
- you need it on mac
Best for engineers who want the voice loop in their own code.
Pick LiveKit Agents if
- you need it on web
Best for voice inside your own app or website.