LiveKit vs Stream
On the evidence we track, Stream leads this comparison with a composite score of 80/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.
Capabilities
Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for communication apis. “-” means undocumented, not absent.
What each one is
The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.
LiveKit
LiveKit is a platform for developing conversational AI applications with voice and video capabilities. It provides global real-time infrastructure and integrations for telephony, enabling developers to deploy voice agents across web, mobile, and phone interfaces.
Stream
LeaderStream provides developer-friendly APIs and pre-built SDKs that integrate chat, live video, activity feeds, and automated content moderation into applications, allowing developers to add complex real-time features without building infrastructure from scratch.
Pricing
List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.
LiveKit
Free tier (Build: $0/mo) or starting at $50/mo (Ship). Usage-based per-minute pricing for agent sessions, telephony, LLM, STT, and TTS.
- BuildFree
- Agent deployment
- Agent observability
- Inference credits
- Global edge network
- Telephony (1 free number)
- +2 more
- Ship$50/mo
- Everything in Build
- Team collaboration
- Custom voices
- Instant rollback to previous deployments
- Email support
- Scale$500/mo
- Everything in Ship
- Role-based access
- Metrics export APIs
- Region pinning
- Security reports / HIPAA
- +1 more
- EnterpriseContact sales
- Everything in Scale
- Volume pricing including inference
- Shared Slack channel
- SSO Support
- Support SLA
Stream
LeaderFrom $499/month. Free tier for makers. Usage-based overage charges.
- BuildFree
- REST API
- SDKs (Node, Python, Ruby, PHP)
- Webhooks
- Customizable UI
- Flat & Timeline Feeds
- +3 more
- Start$499/month (annual commitment) or $599/month (monthly). Overages: $25 per 1k activities, $9 per 10k API calls
- Ranked Feeds
- Ticketed Support
- Dedicated Regional Servers
- HIPAA
- 2FA
- +3 more
- Elevate$899/month (annual commitment) or $999/month (monthly). Overages: $23 per 1k activities, $9 per 10k API calls
- All Start features
- EnterpriseContact sales
- 99.999% SLA
- SAML/SSO
- Private Dedicated Servers
- 24/7 Support
- Activity-based pricing
- +1 more
Platform & deployment
Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.
Integrations
What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.
LiveKit
- OpenAI
- SIP
Stream
Leader- Jenkins
- GitHub
- Slack
- Postman
- Xcode
- Android Studio
- React
- React Native
- Flutter
- Swift
- SwiftUI
- Kotlin
- Jetpack Compose
- Expo
- Vercel AI SDK
LiveKit or Stream: which one depends on you
A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.
Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works
Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.