LiveKit vs Twilio: voice AI pricing compared
Updated 2026-11-10 · listed A to Z, not ranked
LiveKit Cloud runs real-time voice and video AI agents (WebRTC, telephony and model inference). Plans set the features; usage is billed per minute.
Twilio bills messaging per message segment and voice per minute, plus a monthly fee for each phone number. Carrier fees and 10DLC registration fees are charged on top.
Listed A to Z, from livekit.com and twilio.com. Every figure below is quoted from those pages.
- Main price table
- Build, Ship, Scale, Enterprise
- Free option
- Build: $0/mo, no credit card required
- Published prices
- Build $0/mo, Ship from $50/mo, Scale from $500/mo; agent sessions $0.0100/min plus inference per model.
- Main price table
- SMS outbound or inbound (long code, toll-free, short code), MMS outbound, MMS inbound, Failed message processing fee
- Free option
- None in the published plan table
- Published prices
- SMS $0.0083 per segment, MMS, voice per minute, phone number rental and the free trial credit.
How we checked: Prices quoted from each official pricing page: LiveKit checked Nov 10, 2026, Twilio checked Nov 10, 2026. Taxes, usage overages and promotions can change what you pay; confirm with each provider before you buy.
How they compare
- Main price table. LiveKit lists 4 entries (Build, Ship, Scale, Enterprise); Twilio lists 4 (SMS outbound or inbound (long code, toll-free, short code), MMS outbound, MMS inbound, Failed message processing fee).
- Free option. LiveKit: Build: $0/mo, no credit card required. Twilio: none in the published plan table.
- How prices are quoted. LiveKit: “Plans”. Twilio: “US messaging”.
LiveKit plans and prices
| Plan | Price | For |
|---|---|---|
| Build | $0/mo, no credit card required | Starting a project: agent deployment, observability and simulations |
| Ship | Starting at $50/mo | Shipping to real users: team collaboration, custom voices, instant rollback |
| Scale | Starting at $500/mo | Scaling: role-based access, metrics export APIs, region pinning, private links, HIPAA |
| Enterprise | Custom | Volume pricing, shared Slack channel, SSO, support SLA |
LiveKit says its plans include monthly allotments for agent session minutes, inbound calling minutes (for US local phone numbers) and inference credits.
| Item | Rate |
|---|---|
| Agent session | $0.0100/min |
| Telephony, LiveKit US local number | $0.0100/min |
| Observability (enabled) | $0.0100/min |
| LLM example: Gemma 4 31B | $0.0014/min |
| STT example: AssemblyAI Universal-3.6 Pro Streaming | $0.0075/min |
| STT example: Deepgram Nova-3 (Monolingual) | $0.0048/min |
| TTS example: Fish Audio S2.1 Pro | $0.0090/min |
The page lists many more LLM, STT and TTS models, each with its own per-minute price; the calculator's default phone-call example totals $0.0479/min.
From livekit.com, checked Nov 10, 2026. Full breakdown: LiveKit pricing.
Twilio plans and prices
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| SMS outbound or inbound (long code, toll-free, short code) | $0.0083 per segment |
| MMS outbound | $0.022 per message |
| MMS inbound | $0.0165 ($0.02 toll-free) |
| Failed message processing fee | $0.001 |
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Local: make a call | $0.0140 per minute |
| Local: receive a call | $0.0085 per minute |
| Toll-free: make / receive | $0.0140 / $0.0220 per minute |
| Browser or app calling | $0.0040 per minute |
| SIP interface | $0.0040 per minute |
| Local number | $1.15 per month |
| Toll-free number | $2.15 per month |
From twilio.com, checked Nov 10, 2026. Full breakdown: Twilio pricing.
FAQ
How much does LiveKit cost?
Build $0/mo, Ship from $50/mo, Scale from $500/mo; agent sessions $0.0100/min plus inference per model. (checked Nov 10, 2026).
How much does Twilio cost?
SMS $0.0083 per segment, MMS, voice per minute, phone number rental and the free trial credit. (checked Nov 10, 2026).
Do LiveKit and Twilio have a free option?
LiveKit: Build: $0/mo, no credit card required. Twilio: none in the published plan table.
Which is better, LiveKit or Twilio?
We do not pick a winner. The two price and package their products differently; the tables above quote each official pricing page so you can match a plan to your own usage.
Where do these prices come from?
Each vendor's own pricing page: livekit.com (checked Nov 10, 2026) and twilio.com (checked Nov 10, 2026). Prices change; confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
Sources (official pages, read 2026-11-10)
- livekit.com
- livekit.com/pricing
- twilio.com
- twilio.com/en-us/sms/pricing/us
- twilio.com/en-us/voice/pricing/us
Spot something out of date? Email hello@youraitools.co and we’ll fix it.