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LiveKit

Open-source real-time voice, video, and AI agent infrastructure

freemiumopen sourceupdated Apr 21, 2026

LiveKit is an open-source WebRTC infrastructure platform for building real-time voice, video, and data applications. It powers ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode and serves as the foundation for AI agent voice interactions. LiveKit provides server-side SDKs for Go, Python, Node.js, and Rust alongside client SDKs for every major platform. The Agents framework lets developers build voice-enabled AI assistants with speech-to-text, LLM processing, and text-to-speech pipelines in Python or Node.js.

LiveKit provides the real-time communication layer that connects users to each other and to AI agents. The open-source server handles WebRTC signaling, media routing, and selective forwarding for voice and video streams at scale. Unlike traditional WebRTC solutions that require managing STUN/TURN servers and complex NAT traversal, LiveKit packages everything into a single Go binary that can be deployed on any cloud provider or self-hosted on your own infrastructure.

The Agents framework is what makes LiveKit particularly relevant for AI developers. It provides a pipeline architecture where voice input flows through speech-to-text, gets processed by any LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, or self-hosted), and returns as natural speech through text-to-speech providers like ElevenLabs, Cartesia, or Deepgram. The framework handles voice activity detection, interruption handling, and turn-taking automatically—the hard problems that make voice AI feel natural rather than robotic.

LiveKit Cloud offers managed infrastructure with pay-as-you-go pricing starting at $0.0004 per participant minute for WebRTC. The platform includes Egress for recording and streaming sessions, Ingress for bringing in RTMP/WHIP streams, and SIP connectivity for bridging to traditional phone networks. With over 18,000 GitHub stars and Apache 2.0 licensing, LiveKit has become the default real-time infrastructure for AI-native applications.

Pricing

Free open source. Cloud from $0.0004/participant-min.

full pricing breakdown →

Platforms

Self-hosted (Go binary) or LiveKit Cloud. SDKs for all platforms.

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FAQ

What is LiveKit?

LiveKit is an open-source WebRTC infrastructure platform for building real-time voice, video, and data applications. It powers ChatGPT Advanced Voice Mode and serves as the foundation for AI agent voice interactions. LiveKit provides server-side SDKs for Go, Python, Node.js, and Rust alongside client SDKs for every major platform. The Agents framework lets developers build voice-enabled AI assistants with speech-to-text, LLM processing, and text-to-speech pipelines in Python or Node.js.

Is LiveKit free?

LiveKit offers a free tier alongside paid plans. Free open source. Cloud from $0.0004/participant-min.

Is LiveKit open source?

Yes — LiveKit is open source.

What are the best LiveKit alternatives?

The top editor-verified LiveKit alternatives are Twill AI, Trent AI.