Pipecat vs Retell AI
Pipecat
pipecat.ai
Retell AI
retellai.comSide by side
| Figure | Pipecat | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | $0.01/mo | $0.07/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | Yes |
| Open source | Yes | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | Yes | — |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| Linux | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Android | Yes | — |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | Yes |
| Plans published | 7 | 4 |
| Spec score · AI Voice Agents | 9.0 (#3) | 8.0 (#13) |
| Spec score · Conversational AI Platforms | 8.9 (#5) | 7.9 (#22) |
| Deployment | Pipecat can run on self-managed infrastructure wherever Python runs or be deployed to Pipecat Cloud, which provides scaling and observability. | Agents can be deployed for inbound calls, outbound campaigns, web, and SMS, including through a website widget. |
| Enterprise deployment | Pipecat Enterprise offers Pipecat Cloud deployed in a customer's environment, including AWS, Azure, and GCP, with enterprise support. | Retell says its Enterprise on-prem option deploys within a customer's infrastructure for security and data residency requirements. |
| Integrations | LinkedIn describes 60-plus LLM and service integrations, multi-vendor telephony, function calling, cross-platform libraries and HTTP, WebSocket and WebRTC networking. | The integrations directory lists Twilio, GoHighLevel, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make, n8n, and Google Workspace. |
Plans
Pipecat
- Pipecat Cloud agent-1x reservedFree
- Pipecat frameworkFree
- Pipecat Cloud$0.01 a month
- Pipecat Cloud agent-1x active$0.01 a month
- Pipecat Cloud agent-2x active$0.02 a month
- Pipecat Cloud agent-3x active$0.03 a month
- Pipecat Cloud EnterprisePriced on request
Retell AI
- Pay as you go$0.07 a month
- EnterprisePriced on request
- Pay as you goFree
- Enterprise PlanPriced on request
In their own words
Pipecat
Pipecat is an open-source ecosystem for building voice and multimodal AI agents. Its pipelines can handle voice, video, text, and images, with control over individual frames in a conversation. Because frames move through the pipeline as they are produced, an agent can begin responding before a person has finished speaking. The framework includes interruption handling, turn detection, context management, subagent handoffs, and Pipecat Flows, and its homepage lists more than 200 providers and services for speech, language, and vision. Transports include WebRTC, SIP, and PSTN, alongside client SDKs, a UI kit, metrics, traces, and OpenTelemetry. Teams can run it on infrastructure that supports Python or deploy it to Pipecat Cloud, which adds scaling and observability. Cloud capabilities include telephony, noise cancellation, monitoring, recordings, and persistent transcription storage. Pipecat Cloud is listed at $0.001 per participant minute for Daily WebRTC voice and $0.004 per participant minute for voice and video; connected third-party services using customer keys are billed by their providers.
Retell AI
Retell AI is a platform for building, deploying and managing AI agents that handle phone calls. Agents can also work through web and in-app chat, SMS and custom API-based communication. A visual canvas supports call flows with functions, integrations, transfers, DTMF, SMS and custom logic. Teams can simulate scenarios, turn production calls into regression tests and QA calls. Deployment options include inbound calls, outbound campaigns, web and SMS, including a website widget. Call handling includes IVR navigation, live monitoring and transfer or takeover by a person. The integrations directory names Twilio, GoHighLevel, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, Make, n8n and Google Workspace. The homepage lists HIPAA, SOC 2 Type II, GDPR and ISO 27001 compliance, along with SSO, personal information redaction and module-level role permissions. Enterprise on-premise deployment is available within a customer’s infrastructure. Pay as you go is listed at $0.07 a month, with voice agents priced at $0.07-$0.31 per minute, $10 in free credits and 20 concurrent calls included. Enterprise pricing is custom.