Ably Chat vs LiveKit Agents
Ably Chat
ably.com
LiveKit Agents
livekit.comSide by side
| Figure | Ably Chat | LiveKit Agents |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $29/mo | $50/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| macOS | — | Yes |
| Linux | — | Yes |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | — | Yes |
| Plans published | 4 | 4 |
| Spec score · Communication Platform as a Service (cPaaS) Platforms | 8.6 (#2) | 9.0 (#1) |
| Compliance | Ably states it completes SOC 2 Type 2 audits, offers HIPAA BAA agreements, and is EU GDPR-compliant. | LiveKit lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA / CPRA, and the EU–US Data Privacy Framework; it says PCI DSS and ISO 27001 are in progress. |
| Headquarters | London, UK | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Integrations | Ably lists integrations including AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Cloudflare Workers, Google Cloud Functions, Kafka, Zapier, and Terraform. | LiveKit Inference provides models from providers including OpenAI, Google, AssemblyAI, Deepgram, Cartesia, and ElevenLabs, while open source plugins connect to additional providers. |
| Product | Ably Chat is a chat API and SDK platform for building realtime chat applications at scale. | LiveKit Agents is an open source framework and cloud platform for building voice, video, and physical AI agents. |
| SDKs | The Chat page shows JavaScript, React, Swift, and Kotlin SDK examples. | The framework lets Python or Node.js programs join LiveKit rooms as realtime participants. |
| Security | Ably states that client-to-server communication is secured by TLS by default and that optional private-key encryption uses 256-bit AES. | LiveKit says prompts, audio, and completions handled by LiveKit Inference and its model providers are not logged or retained. |
| Support | The Free package includes community and email support on a best-effort basis; Standard lists a one-day email support SLA. | Build includes community support, Ship includes email support, and Enterprise includes a support SLA. |
Plans
LiveKit Agents
- BuildFree
- Ship$50 a month
- Scale$500 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
In their own words
LiveKit Agents
LiveKit Agents is an open source framework and cloud platform for building voice, video, and physical AI agents. Python or Node.js programs can join LiveKit rooms as realtime participants, and deployments can run on LiveKit Cloud or a developer-chosen environment. Agents can process realtime voice, video, and text input and produce output in any modality. The framework supports LLM tool use, frontend RPC calls, multi-agent handoffs, and connections to phone systems through native SIP. LiveKit Inference provides models from providers including OpenAI, Google, AssemblyAI, Deepgram, Cartesia, and ElevenLabs; open source plugins connect to other providers. LiveKit Cloud includes agent insights such as session replay, transcripts, trace spans, logs, and reports. The free Build plan includes 1,000 agent session minutes, five concurrent sessions, and one deployment. Ship starts at $50 a month and includes 5,000 minutes, then $0.01. LiveKit says prompts, audio, and completions handled by LiveKit Inference and its model providers are not logged or retained. It lists SOC 2 Type II, GDPR, HIPAA, CCPA / CPRA, and the EU–US Data Privacy Framework; PCI DSS and ISO 27001 are in progress.