ElevenLabs vs LiveKit: Full-stack voice AI or open-source framework?

TL;DR

ElevenLabs and LiveKit both enable developers to build conversational AI experiences, but their architectures are fundamentally different. ElevenLabs owns the entire voice stack. They build the TTS, STT, VAD, and turn-taking models in-house and package it all into a production-ready agents platform. LiveKit is an open-source WebRTC framework with an Agents SDK that lets developers assemble custom voice AI pipelines by choosing their own STT, TTS, and LLM providers. LiveKit lists ElevenLabs as one of its recommended TTS providers, which raises the question: why build a pipeline around ElevenLabs when you can use ElevenLabs directly? Choose ElevenLabs if you want the best voice quality, lowest latency, omnichannel deployment, built-in testing and analytics, and a production-ready platform from day one. Choose LiveKit if you need video and screen-share capabilities alongside voice, or require full self-hosting of all infrastructure.

At-a-glance comparison

Feature

ElevenLabs

Retell

Architecture

Full-stack: owns TTS, STT, VAD, turn-taking, and agent logic in one vertically integrated platform

Open-source framework: WebRTC-based SFU with an Agents SDK for assembling third-party STT, LLM, and TTS providers

Voice quality

#1 in blind listening tests; 74% human preference on Poe.com. Expressive Mode adapts tone to conversational context.

Depends on TTS provider selected - best option is ElevenLabs itself, which is listed as a recommended plugin

Streaming latency

Sub-500ms end-to-end (Flash TTS ~75ms, Scribe v2 Realtime <80ms, colocated LLMs, no cross-provider hops)

500ms-1s+ depending on selected STT, LLM, and TTS providers. Each component involves a separate API call.

Agent builder

Visual workflow builder with multi-agent routing, webhooks, tool integration, knowledge base, and built-in testing suite

Code-based: Python or Node.js agent framework. No visual builder. All logic implemented via code.

Deployment channels

Omnichannel: phone (SIP), web (widget/SDK), mobile apps, WhatsApp,SMS, email, chat, CCaaS (Genesys, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, NICE) - all from one agent config

Primarily voice and video via WebRTC. SIP integration for telephony. No native WhatsApp, email, or CCaaS support.

Telephony

Provider-agnostic: Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, RingCentral, custom SIP. Built-in voicemail detection, DTMF, language switching.

SIP integration for inbound/outbound. Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo. Native phone number purchase. DTMF and SIP REFER for transfers.

TTS provider

Own models (Eleven v3, v3 Conversational, Flash - 11,000+ voices, 70+ languages). Expressive Mode for emotionally adaptive voice.

No own TTS. Plugin ecosystem includes ElevenLabs, OpenAI, Cartesia, and others. Voice quality depends on selected provider.

STT provider

Scribe v2 Realtime (<80ms, 6.5% WER across 30 languages, keyword boosting)

No own STT. Plugin ecosystem includes Deepgram, AssemblyAI, and others.

Voice cloning

Professional cloning from 30 seconds; custom voice design from text prompt; available from $5/mo

Via ElevenLabs BYOK - but reported friction with private voice picker

Knowledge base

Built-in with sub-200ms RAG latency (nearly 5x faster than average), colocated with voice pipeline

No built-in knowledge base. Developers build their own RAG pipeline using external vector databases.

System tools

End call, language detection and auto-switch, agent transfer, transfer to human, DTMF send, skip turn, voicemail detection - all built-in

No pre-built system tools. Developers implement call management logic through code using LiveKit's SIP APIs.

Other tools

Four tool types: client tools (browser/app-side), server tools (webhook), MCP tools (Model Context Protocol with fine-grained approval controls), and system tools. Works across telephony and web.

Tool calls defined in Python/Node.js code. Native MCP integration. All tool logic implemented via code.

Testing and analytics

A/B testing (experiments), persona-based simulations, automated evaluations, conversation logs with semantic search, version control, real-time analytics, debug logs

LiveKit Cloud: Agent Observability with transcripts, session traces, audio, logs (30-day retention). OpenTelemetry export. Self-hosted requires custom setup.

Compliance

SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS Level 1 (externally validated), HIPAA (BAA), GDPR, CSA STAR, TX-RAMP, Cyber Essentials Plus, NHS DSP Toolkit. Zero-retention mode, E2E encryption, data residency (US, EU, India). First insurable AI agents.

SOC 2 Type II. HIPAA BAA on Scale and Enterprise plans. Self-hosted offers full data control.

Beyond agents

14 products: TTS, STT, dubbing, SFX, music, cloning, and more

Real-time communication infrastructure (voice, video, data channels).

Pricing model

Per-minute pricing; all core platform features included (testing, workflows, analytics, omnichannel)

Open-source server is free to self-host. Cloud: Build (free, 1,000 mins), Ship ($50/mo), Scale ($500/mo), Enterprise (custom). STT, TTS, and LLM costs are additional.

Free tier

10,000 credits/mo

$10 free credits, 20 concurrent calls

Detailed comparison

Architecture: full-stack vs open-source framework

This is the fundamental difference between ElevenLabs and LiveKit.

ElevenAgents owns the full stack. The same company that builds the TTS models (Eleven v3, Eleven v3 Conversational) also builds the STT (Scribe v2 Realtime), proprietary VAD and turn-taking models, the agent logic layer, hosts colocated LLMs, and provides omnichannel deployment. Voice data flows through a single optimized pipeline with no third-party hops. ElevenLabs also hosts and operates open-source LLMs within its infrastructure, further reducing latency and cost.

LiveKit is an open-source framework. Its SFU (Selective Forwarding Unit) provides the real-time media transport layer, while the Agents SDK lets developers build voice AI pipelines in Python or Node.js. Developers choose, configure, and orchestrate their own STT, TTS, and LLM providers through LiveKit's plugin ecosystem. LiveKit also offers a managed cloud service for teams that prefer not to self-host. The framework approach provides maximum flexibility but each component involves a separate external API call, adding latency at every stage of the pipeline.

Many LiveKit developers choose ElevenLabs as their TTS provider through LiveKit's plugin system. This means they are building a pipeline around ElevenLabs, adding framework overhead they could eliminate by using ElevenLabs directly.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs eliminates the framework layer, delivering lower latency, lower total cost, and a production-ready platform. LiveKit offers maximum infrastructure control and true video multimodality at the expense of significant engineering effort and added pipeline latency.

Voice quality

ElevenLabs is the industry leader in voice quality, consistently ranked #1 in independent blind listening tests, with 74% of Poe.com users choosing ElevenLabs voice models over all other options. The lowest word error rate at 2.83% further demonstrates the precision of the voice output.

Eleven v3 Conversational is the most emotionally intelligent, context-aware TTS model, optimized for real-time dialogue. It powers Expressive Mode in ElevenAgents - agents that detect frustration and respond with empathy, adapting to how people feel, not just what they say. This emotional expressiveness requires co-optimization of turn-taking, VAD, and TTS within a vertically integrated stack. It cannot be replicated by plugging a third-party TTS model into a framework.

LiveKit does not build its own TTS. Voice quality depends entirely on which plugin provider you select. When LiveKit developers choose ElevenLabs as their TTS provider, they get ElevenLabs voice quality but with added latency from the cross-provider API calls. They also do not get access to Expressive Mode, which is exclusively available within ElevenAgents. Native voice cloning is not available through LiveKit. Developers must configure it through their selected TTS provider.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs makes the best TTS available, with Expressive Mode delivering emotionally adaptive voice quality that framework-based pipelines cannot replicate. Using ElevenLabs directly gives you better voice quality than routing through LiveKit, with lower latency and access to features like Expressive Mode.

Latency and real-time performance

ElevenAgents can achieve sub-500ms end-to-end agent response times through colocation of its in-house models. Flash TTS delivers ~75ms, Scribe v2 Realtime delivers <80ms STT, and colocated LLMs (including Qwen3-30b-a3b at 130ms median Time to First Sentence) eliminate cross-provider network hops. Proprietary turn-taking models co-optimized with the transcription pipeline are able to detect conversational intent from audio prosody, not just silence detection, resulting in more natural pacing. The built-in knowledge base delivers sub-200ms RAG latency, nearly 5x faster than typical implementations.

LiveKit's end-to-end latency depends on the selected STT, LLM, and TTS providers, typically ranging around 1 second. Each component in the pipeline involves a separate external API call, and the cumulative network overhead adds measurable delay. LiveKit offers preemptive generation and turn detection models to reduce perceived latency, but the underlying pipeline architecture means each provider handoff is an irreducible source of delay. The difference between 500ms and 1s+ is the difference between a conversation that feels natural and one where users notice the gap.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs delivers sub-500ms latency because it owns and colocates the full pipeline - roughly 2-3x faster than a typical LiveKit pipeline. LiveKit's latency is fundamentally constrained by the number of cross-provider API calls in the pipeline.

Agent builder, testing, and workflows

This is where the platform vs framework difference has the most practical impact for teams deploying agents at scale.

ElevenAgents provides a visual workflow builder for complex conversation logic, including multi-agent orchestration with intent-based routing to specialized agents or human handoffs. Deterministic steps ensure sensitive actions only fire when conditions are met. The platform includes four tool types: client tools (browser/app-side), server tools (webhook to your API), MCP tools (Model Context Protocol with fine-grained approval controls), and system tools (voicemail detection, language detection, DTMF, agent transfer, end call). A built-in testing suite enables persona-based simulations, automated evaluations with custom success criteria, and structured data extraction from transcripts. A/B testing (experiments) lets teams compare agent configurations like prompt, workflow, and voice, to promote the version that delivers the best outcomes. Version control provides full history of every configuration change with staged rollouts. Guardrails enable real-time compliance monitoring during live conversations, including content filtering, topic restrictions, and PII redaction.

LiveKit provides a code-based agent framework in Python and Node.js. There is no visual builder - all conversation logic, routing, and tool calls are implemented through code. This gives engineering teams maximum control but requires developers for every change. There are no pre-built system tools; call management features like end call, transfers, and DTMF must be coded using LiveKit's SIP APIs. There is no built-in testing framework for simulating agent behavior or running automated evaluations. LiveKit Cloud offers Agent Observability with synchronized playback of transcripts, traces, audio, and logs (retained for 30 days), with OpenTelemetry export to Grafana, LangFuse, and other backends. Self-hosted deployments require custom observability setup.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs offers a complete agent development lifecycle - visual builder, pre-built tools, testing, experiments, guardrails, and analytics - that CX and engineering teams can use without rebuilding infrastructure. LiveKit gives maximum code-level control at the cost of building and maintaining every capability yourself.

Deployment channels

This is a significant differentiator between the two platforms.

ElevenLabs supports omnichannel deployment: phone lines (SIP), websites (widget/SDK), mobile apps, WhatsApp, email, and chat - all from a single agent configuration. The platform also integrates natively with CCaaS and helpdesk platforms including Genesys, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, NICE, and Intercom. CRM integrations with Salesforce and HubSpot, plus calendar integrations with Cal.com and Google Calendar, connect agents to backend systems. Design once, deploy everywhere.

LiveKit's deployment is centered on WebRTC-based voice and video. SIP integration enables telephony for inbound and outbound calls. For web and mobile, LiveKit provides client SDKs. However, there is no native support for WhatsApp, email, or chat deployment channels. There are no pre-built CCaaS or helpdesk integrations. LiveKit's advantage here is video and screen-share support through its WebRTC architecture, capabilities that ElevenLabs does not focus on. For teams building video-first applications, this matters.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs offers true omnichannel deployment from a single agent config, with native CCaaS and CRM integrations. LiveKit's advantage is video and screen-share via WebRTC. For voice agent use cases specifically, ElevenLabs covers far more channels out of the box.

Telephony

Both platforms support telephony integration for inbound and outbound calling.

ElevenAgents is provider-agnostic, supporting any telephony provider through standard audio formats (PCM 8000 Hz and u-law 8000 Hz), including Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, RingCentral, and custom SIP setups. Built-in system tools include DTMF send for IVR navigation, voicemail detection, automatic language detection with voice switching across 70+ languages, warm transfers to human agents, and agent-to-agent transfers. These capabilities work out of the box with no custom development.

LiveKit offers SIP integration for inbound and outbound calls, with support for Twilio, Telnyx, and Plivo. Native phone number purchase is available. DTMF support and call transfer via SIP REFER are included. However, voicemail detection, automatic language switching, and warm transfer logic must be implemented through custom code. Every telephony management feature that ElevenLabs provides natively requires engineering effort in LiveKit.

Bottom line:Both platforms support core telephony. ElevenLabs provides more built-in telephony capabilities (voicemail detection, automatic language switching, warm transfers) out of the box. LiveKit supports native phone number purchase and SIP REFER transfers but requires custom development for advanced features.

Compliance and security

ElevenLabs holds the broadest compliance footprint in the conversational AI category: SOC 2 Type II, SOC 3, ISO/IEC 27001, ISO/IEC 27017 (Cloud Security), ISO/IEC 27018 (Cloud Privacy), PCI DSS Service Provider Level 1 (externally validated by QSA), HIPAA (BAA available), GDPR (independently assessed), CSA STAR Level 1, TX-RAMP Level 2, Cyber Essentials Plus, NHS DSP Toolkit, and ISO/IEC 42001. ElevenLabs also offers zero-retention mode for sensitive data handling, end-to-end encryption, data residency options across the US, EU, and India, and customizable guardrails for real-time compliance monitoring including PII redaction. ElevenLabs is the first platform to offer insurable AI agents, making it the first in its category that reduces risk for procurement and legal teams evaluating AI adoption. ElevenLabs never trains on customer data.

LiveKit holds SOC 2 Type II certification. HIPAA BAA is available on Scale and Enterprise plans. Self-hosted deployments offer full control over data residency, which is a genuine advantage for teams with strict on-premises requirements. Recording can be disabled per session. However, LiveKit's managed cloud compliance footprint is significantly narrower - no PCI DSS, no ISO certifications, no zero-retention mode, and no regional data residency options on the cloud service.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs has a significantly broader compliance footprint with 12+ certifications, zero-retention mode, E2E encryption, insurable agents, and data residency in three regions. LiveKit's self-hosted option gives teams full infrastructure control, but its managed cloud compliance is limited to SOC 2 and HIPAA.

Pricing and total cost

This is where the framework vs full-stack architecture has real financial impact.

LiveKit's open-source server is free to self-host but self-hosting means managing infrastructure, scaling, and reliability yourself, plus paying separately for every STT, TTS, and LLM provider in your pipeline. LiveKit Cloud starts at $0/month for the Build tier with 1,000 included agent session minutes, but STT, TTS, and LLM costs are additional. The competitive enablement data shows that developer platforms advertising $0.05/min base fees are misleading - that is the platform fee alone, before you add TTS, STT, and LLM costs, which often make the total cost higher than ElevenLabs all-in pricing. Factor in engineering time to build and maintain the pipeline, and the total cost of ownership increases further.

ElevenAgents uses per-minute pricing that includes TTS, STT, agent logic, and proprietary turn-taking and VAD models without component stacking. All core platform features like testing, workflows, analytics, guardrails, omnichannel deployment, and knowledge base are included. Because ElevenLabs owns the voice layer, there is no third-party TTS markup. Volume discounts are available for enterprise customers.

Bottom line:LiveKit's open-source option is free to self-host, but total cost includes separate provider fees for every pipeline component plus engineering overhead. For teams that would choose ElevenLabs as their TTS provider through LiveKit (which many do), ElevenAgents is more cost-effective because it eliminates the framework layer and includes all platform features in the base price.

Enterprise readiness and scale

ElevenLabs operates at production scale: 4 million agents launched on the platform completing over 40 years worth of conversations each month, 40 million users across the platform, and 75% of the Fortune 500 with active ElevenLabs users. Trusted by brands including Revolut, Disney, Meta, Nvidia, and Deutsche Telekom. The platform is supported by Forward Deployed Engineers (FDEs) who embed with enterprise customers from day one - co-developing brand-aligned agents with clear KPIs and shared accountability beyond launch. Over 100,000 developers have launched an agent on ElevenLabs, making it the largest ecosystem of conversational agent engineers globally.

LiveKit is backed by $174 million in funding at a $1 billion valuation as of January 2026. Its open-source project has strong community adoption for real-time communication use cases. LiveKit Cloud offers serverless agent deployment for teams that prefer not to manage infrastructure. However, the framework approach means enterprise features like built-in testing, A/B experiments, guardrails, and analytics must be built and maintained by your team. There are no FDEs or implementation partnerships, deployment is self-serve.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs offers enterprise-grade scale, compliance, and dedicated FDE support. LiveKit offers strong open-source community and infrastructure flexibility, but enterprise readiness features must be built in-house.

Platform breadth

ElevenLabs offers 14 products beyond conversational AI: Text to Speech, Speech to Text, Voice Cloning, AI Dubbing, Sound Effects, AI Music, Voice Isolator, Voice Changer, Voice Library, Projects/Studio, Audio Native, Pronunciation Dictionaries, and ElevenReader. Teams that need voice and audio capabilities beyond agents, like dubbing content, generating sound effects, building TTS into products, etc, get everything from one platform and one vendor relationship.

LiveKit is real-time communication infrastructure. It provides voice, video, data channels, and ingress/egress for streaming. It is not an audio AI platform and does not offer standalone TTS API, dubbing, sound effects, music generation, or other audio AI capabilities. LiveKit's strength is as a low-level transport layer for any real-time media use case.

Bottom line:ElevenLabs is a complete audio AI platform. LiveKit is real-time communication infrastructure. If your needs extend beyond voice agents into broader audio AI, ElevenLabs covers more ground from a single platform.

Who should choose ElevenLabs

ElevenLabs is the right choice if you:

• Want the best voice quality with emotionally adaptive Expressive Mode
• Need the lowest possible end-to-end latency (sub-500ms vs 1s+)
• Are already using or considering ElevenLabs for TTS and want to eliminate framework overhead
• Need omnichannel deployment across phone, web, mobile, WhatsApp, email, and chat from a single agent
• Need native CCaaS integrations (Genesys, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, NICE)
• Want a visual workflow builder, built-in testing suite, A/B experiments, and real-time guardrails without building them yourself
• Need a comprehensive compliance stack with PCI DSS Level 1, 12+ certifications, zero-retention mode, insurable agents, and data residency across US, EU, and India
• Want transparent per-minute pricing without separate bills for every pipeline component
• Need enterprise support with Forward Deployed Engineers
• Want voice capabilities beyond agents (dubbing, SFX, standalone TTS, music)

Ideal ElevenLabs customer: A development, CX, or product team building voice agents that prioritizes voice quality, latency, and production readiness. Especially for teams already using ElevenLabs TTS through LiveKit who want to eliminate the framework layer, reduce total cost, and gain access to the full platform including omnichannel deployment, testing, guardrails, and enterprise compliance.

Who should choose LiveKit

LiveKit is a strong option if you:

• Need video and screen-share capabilities alongside voice agents (LiveKit's WebRTC architecture is genuinely differentiated here)
• Require full self-hosting of all infrastructure for strict on-premises or data sovereignty requirements
• Want maximum code-level control over every component in the pipeline
• Are building a custom real-time communication application that goes beyond voice agents
• Have a strong engineering team comfortable building and maintaining agent pipelines, testing, analytics, and deployment infrastructure
• Need the flexibility to swap between multiple STT, TTS, and LLM providers at the framework level

Ideal LiveKit customer: An engineering team building a custom real-time application that requires video and voice together, or a team with strict self-hosting requirements that has the engineering capacity to build and maintain the full agent pipeline, including testing, observability, telephony management, and deployment infrastructure.

Migrating from LiveKit to ElevenLabs

If you are a LiveKit customer considering switching to ElevenAgents:

What transfers

• Agent logic concepts: Conversation flows, intent structures, and business logic translate to ElevenLabs' agent builder and visual workflow builder
• Phone numbers: Numbers may be portable depending on carrier
• Knowledge base content: Documents and data sources can be imported into ElevenLabs' built-in knowledge base
• If you were already using ElevenLabs as your TTS provider through LiveKit's plugin, voice quality remains the same - with lower latency and access to Expressive Mode

What needs rebuilding

• Agent code: LiveKit's Python/Node.js agent logic needs to be recreated in ElevenLabs' visual workflow builder or API
• Custom tool implementations: LiveKit tools implemented in code need reconfiguration as ElevenLabs server tools, client tools, or MCP tools
• Provider-specific configurations: Any STT/TTS provider tuning is no longer needed (ElevenLabs provides its own)
• Custom observability: Any custom monitoring built for LiveKit pipelines is replaced by ElevenLabs' built-in analytics, conversation logs, and debug tools

Migration timeline

Plan 1-3 weeks for a full agent migration, depending on complexity. Simple single-agent deployments can be migrated faster. ElevenLabs' free tier lets you build and test agents before committing.

FAQ

Is ElevenLabs better than LiveKit for voice agents?

For voice agents specifically, ElevenLabs agents (ElevenAgents) offers better voice quality, lower latency, and a more complete platform than LiveKit. ElevenAgents achieves sub-500ms end-to-end latency compared to LiveKit's typical 1s+ because it owns and colocates the entire voice pipeline. Many LiveKit developers already use ElevenLabs as their TTS provider - ElevenAgents lets them eliminate the framework layer and get the same voice quality with less latency, lower total cost, and access to Expressive Mode. ElevenLabs also offers omnichannel deployment, a visual workflow builder, built-in testing and experiments, real-time guardrails, and 12+ compliance certifications. LiveKit's advantages are video/screen-share capabilities via WebRTC and the option to fully self-host all infrastructure.

Does LiveKit use ElevenLabs?

Yes. ElevenLabs is one of the recommended TTS providers in LiveKit's plugin ecosystem. LiveKit developers can use ElevenLabs for both TTS and STT within LiveKit Agents pipelines. This means LiveKit developers choosing ElevenLabs TTS are building a framework around ElevenLabs, adding cross-provider API calls that increase latency and cost. ElevenAgents eliminates this framework layer entirely.

Is LiveKit cheaper than ElevenLabs?

LiveKit's open-source server is free to self-host, but the total cost includes separate fees for every STT, TTS, and LLM provider in your pipeline, plus the engineering cost of building and maintaining the infrastructure. Developer platforms advertising low base fees ($0.05/min) often exclude TTS, STT, and LLM costs - the actual total frequently exceeds ElevenLabs' all-in pricing. LiveKit Cloud tiers start at $0/month (Build) but include limited session minutes, and provider costs are additional. For users who select ElevenLabs as their TTS provider through LiveKit, ElevenAgents is typically more cost-effective because it eliminates the framework markup and includes all platform features in the base price.

Can I switch from LiveKit to ElevenLabs?

Yes. Agent logic concepts, knowledge base content, and phone numbers (if portable) can transfer to ElevenAgents. LiveKit's Python/Node.js agent code needs to be recreated in ElevenLabs' visual workflow builder or API, and custom tools need reconfiguration. If you were already using ElevenLabs as your TTS provider through LiveKit, the voice quality remains the same - with lower latency and access to Expressive Mode. Plan 2-4 weeks for a full migration. Test on the free tier first.

What is the best alternative to LiveKit for voice agents?

ElevenLabs is the top alternative to LiveKit for teams that want a production-ready voice agent platform without building and maintaining a custom pipeline. ElevenLabs achieves sub-300ms end-to-end latency, offers 11,000+ voices across 70+ languages, Expressive Mode for emotionally adaptive voice, omnichannel deployment, and a complete audio AI platform beyond agents. Other alternatives include Vapi (for multi-provider orchestration with a developer-first approach), Retell (for a visual flow builder with telephony focus), and building a fully custom stack in-house. See our full guide: Top LiveKit Alternatives.

Does ElevenLabs support telephony for voice agents?

Yes. ElevenAgents is provider-agnostic, supporting any telephony provider through standard audio formats (PCM and u-law at 8000 Hz), including Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, RingCentral, and custom SIP setups. Built-in system tools include DTMF send, voicemail detection, automatic language detection with voice switching across 70+ languages, and warm transfers to human agents. The platform also supports WhatsApp, and email alongside telephony. While LiveKit offers SIP integration with native phone number purchase and SIP REFER transfers, ElevenLabs' telephony benefits from the lower latency of the full-stack architecture and unique capabilities like voicemail detection and seamless language switching.

Can I deploy agents beyond telephony?

ElevenLabs supports omnichannel deployment: phone lines (SIP), websites (widget/SDK), mobile apps, WhatsApp, email, chat, and native CCaaS integrations (Genesys, Zendesk, Salesforce Service Cloud, NICE) - all from a single agent configuration. LiveKit provides voice and video via WebRTC with SIP integration for telephony, but does not natively support WhatsApp, email, or CCaaS channels. For teams that need to deploy agents across messaging and customer service channels alongside phone, ElevenLabs provides broader coverage out of the box.

How do ElevenLabs and LiveKit handle compliance and data retention?

ElevenLabs offers customizable data retention from immediate deletion to unlimited storage, plus zero-retention mode for HIPAA compliance, end-to-end encryption, and real-time guardrails for compliance monitoring during live conversations including PII redaction. It holds SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001, ISO 27017, ISO 27018, PCI DSS Level 1 (externally validated), HIPAA (BAA), GDPR, CSA STAR, TX-RAMP, Cyber Essentials Plus, NHS DSP Toolkit, and ISO 42001. Data residency options span the US, EU, and India. ElevenLabs never trains on customer data. LiveKit Cloud retains agent observability data for 30 days (transcripts, traces, logs, audio) with recording disableable per session. SOC 2 Type II certified, with HIPAA BAA on Scale and Enterprise plans. Self-hosted LiveKit deployments offer full control over data residency and retention.

Does LiveKit support video alongside voice agents?

Yes. LiveKit's WebRTC-based architecture supports voice, video, text, and screen share. This is a genuine differentiator - if your use case requires video alongside voice (such as video customer support, telehealth with visual components, or screen-sharing workflows), LiveKit provides native capabilities that ElevenLabs does not focus on. For voice-only agent use cases, ElevenLabs offers a more complete and lower-latency solution.

Related pages

• Top LiveKit Alternatives - Full guide to LiveKit alternatives
• ElevenLabs vs Vapi - Compare ElevenLabs with another voice agent platform
• ElevenLabs vs Retell - Compare ElevenLabs with Retell's agent middleware
• ElevenLabs vs Bland - Compare ElevenLabs with Bland's enterprise voice agents
• ElevenLabs Pricing - See all plans and pricing
• Voice Samples and Playground - Hear ElevenLabs voices for yourself
• Compare ElevenLabs - All competitor comparisons

email is defensible as its feasible via zendesk (or if its not rn it will be in 2w)

would correct that everywhere