--- title: "Speko vs Pipecat" description: "Compare Speko Agents with Pipecat, the open-source voice agent framework, on scope, telephony, model choice, who runs the agent and pricing, with sources." canonical: "https://speko.ai/speko-vs-pipecat" last-updated: "2026-11-11" --- > ## Speko page index > The complete index of every page on this site is at: https://speko.ai/llms.txt > Read it before exploring further. It lists the exact Markdown URL for every canonical HTML page. # Speko vs Pipecat Comparison Speko Agents runs the agent for you. With Pipecat, your team builds and runs it in code. The two also work together. Short answer Choose Pipecat to build the realtime pipeline in code and run it yourself or on Pipecat Cloud. Choose Speko Agents to let Speko host the agent, phone numbers, testing and monitoring at $0.09 per minute. If you already run Pipecat, keep it and add Speko Router inside it. **By** Speko engineering **Published** November 11, 2026 **Updated** November 11, 2026 ## Which should you pick: Speko or Pipecat? ### Pick Speko Agents whenours - You want phone numbers, inbound and outbound calls, SMS and transfers in one console. - You want one price per minute, with speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech included. - You want to test an agent with simulated callers and score every real call. ### Pick Pipecat when - The team wants code-level control of the realtime pipeline. - The team runs the agent itself, or on Pipecat Cloud's managed deployment. - Each speech and language service should be wired in code. [Get started free](https://platform.speko.ai/sign-in) [Book a demo](https://speko.ai/book) ## How do Speko and Pipecat compare? | | Speko Agents ours | Pipecat | | --- | --- | --- | | Who runs the agent | Speko hosts it | Your team runs it, or Pipecat Cloud | | Published price | $0.09/min Speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech included | Open source; you pay your own providers | | Phone calls | Included: Speko numbers or your SIP trunk | The transport your app picks | | How you buy | Self-serve, no contract | Open source | **See the full comparison, with sources** | Dimension | Speko Agents (hosted) Hosted phone agents | Pipecat | Speko Router + Gateway Model layer, your runtime | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Category | Hosted voice agent platform with phone numbers, calls and SMS. | Open-source framework with an optional managed cloud. | Voice model router. | | Scope | The whole agent: prompt, voice, tools, knowledge and the phone number live in the Speko console and API. Speko runs the conversation loop. | Pipecat is a code framework for realtime pipelines; Pipecat Cloud is a separate managed deployment service. | One API for STT, LLM and TTS model calls. It does not run the conversation loop. | | Telephony | Included. Inbound and outbound phone calls on a Speko number or on a number you already own (SIP trunk import); SMS on Speko numbers; blind and warm transfers to a human. | A self-hosted application selects its transport or telephony integration. Pipecat Cloud offers managed deployment around Pipecat workloads. | Not included. Your runtime handles phone calls and WebRTC. | | Model routing | Measured selection and pre-response failover across STT, LLM and TTS. An agent can also pin providers, or run on a speech-to-speech model: Grok Voice 3.0 at the same per-minute rate, or GPT-Live, which adds its reasoning model's tokens at the provider's published rate plus 5%. | Developers wire individual STT, LLM and TTS services in code, or point those services at an external router. | Your application can pin a model, or let Speko pick from measured routes. | | Runtime ownership | Speko operates the agent runtime and the phone legs, records the call, persists transcripts and events, and finalizes a call report after hangup. The customer configures the agent. | The application team owns a self-hosted Pipecat runtime. Pipecat Cloud manages deployment infrastructure, scaling, operations and monitoring for hosted workloads. | Speko runs the routing API; you keep LiveKit, Pipecat or your own runtime. | | Observability and failover | Lifecycle events, a call report and a recording per call; signed workspace webhooks; call lists of up to 1,000 rows with a call window. | Self-hosted teams run their own operations; Pipecat Cloud runs them for hosted workloads. | Response headers give the route, the reason, the failover count and the first-byte time. Failover happens before the response starts, not mid-stream. | | Benchmark transparency | An agent's default stack is computed from the same benchmark dataset that feeds the public boards at speko.ai/benchmarks; the picks are written into the agent at create time. | No sourced statement | Public voice benchmark boards at speko.ai/benchmarks; automatic selection ranks over the published snapshot. | | Pricing model | $0.09 per minute all-in for STT, LLM and TTS, billed from answer to hang-up; unanswered calls cost nothing. Calls on a Speko number add the carrier's charge plus 20%, at least $0.015 per minute outbound and $0.01 per minute inbound; calls over your own SIP trunk add nothing. A Speko number is $1 setup and $2 a month. $10 signup credit. | The framework is open source. Self-hosted model, transport and hosting costs are separate; Pipecat Cloud is a separately priced managed service. | $0.09 per minute on Speko infrastructure for STT, LLM and TTS; phone calls on Speko numbers add the carrier's charge for the call, including its taxes and fees, plus 20%. Current terms are kept on the pricing page. | Pipecat sources: [Pipecat documentation](https://docs.pipecat.ai/) [Pipecat Cloud documentation](https://docs.pipecat.ai/pipecat-cloud/introduction) [Pipecat repository](https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat) ## What does Pipecat cost compared with Speko? - Speko ours Speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech included $900 $0.09/min - Vapi Hosting only; models billed at cost on top $500 $0.05/min - Retell AI Range set by the components you choose $700 to $3,100 $0.07 to $0.31/min - Synthflow Annual enterprise agreement; no rate by the minute No published rate - LiveKit Cloud Agent hosting only; models billed on top $100 $0.01/min - Twilio ConversationRelay Speech relay only; voice minutes and your LLM on top $700 $0.07/min Monthly figures use the published per-minute rate only. They leave out plan fees, phone numbers, carriage and any models a vendor bills on top. **See every price term, with sources** | Platform | Per minute | Included | Telephony | Monthly fee | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Speko our product | $0.09 per minute, all-in | Speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech on Speko infrastructure. Billed per second from answer to hang-up; unanswered calls cost nothing. | Calls on Speko numbers add the carrier's charge for the call, including its taxes and fees, plus 20%, at least $0.01 per minute inbound and $0.015 per minute outbound. Calls over your own SIP trunk add nothing. | None. A Speko phone number is $1 setup and $2 a month for most numbers. | [speko.ai/pricing](https://speko.ai/pricing) | | Vapi | $0.05 per minute Vapi hosting, pre-paid | Vapi hosting. Speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech are passed through at the provider's cost on top. | Transport is charged by the carrier, not Vapi; Vapi's own SIP transport is listed as free. | None on the usage-only plan (1 included number, 4 concurrent calls). Core $29 a month; Pro $999 a month minimum; HIPAA $2,000 a month. | [vapi.ai/pricing](https://vapi.ai/pricing) | | Retell AI | $0.07 to 0.31 per minute for AI voice agents | Retell voice infrastructure at $0.055 per minute plus the selected text-to-speech and LLM components, each priced per minute. | Retell-provided numbers $0.015 per minute in the US; own SIP trunk or custom telephony at no charge from Retell. | None. A Retell phone number is $2 a month; 20 concurrent calls included, $8 per extra concurrent call a month. | [retellai.com/pricing](https://www.retellai.com/pricing) | | Synthflow | No rate by the minute, per Synthflow's pricing page; annual enterprise agreement | Scoped per contract. | Native telephony or SIP trunking, scoped per contract. | Quote only. Synthflow's pricing page says it has no free plan or trial. | [synthflow.ai/pricing](https://synthflow.ai/pricing) | | LiveKit Cloud | $0.01 per agent session minute after the included minutes on Ship and Scale | Agent hosting on LiveKit Cloud. Models are separate: each plan includes LiveKit Inference credits, and Ship and Scale then bill at model prices. | US local numbers: 1 free, then $1.00 a month on Ship and Scale. After the included minutes, US local inbound is $0.01 per minute and third-party SIP is $0.004 per minute on Ship, $0.003 on Scale. | Build $0 (1,000 agent session minutes); Ship from $50 (5,000); Scale from $500 (50,000); Enterprise custom. | [livekit.com/pricing](https://livekit.com/pricing) | | Twilio ConversationRelay | $0.07 per minute for ConversationRelay | The speech relay between a Twilio call and your own server. Twilio does not say on the pricing page whether speech is included in the rate; your LLM is billed by its own provider. | Twilio Voice, billed separately: US local calls $0.0085 per minute inbound and $0.0140 per minute outbound. | None. A US local number is $1.15 a month. | [twilio.com/voice/pricing/us](https://www.twilio.com/en-us/voice/pricing/us) | ## How do I switch from Pipecat to Speko? 1. ### 1Connect an agent to Speko Add Speko's MCP server to Claude Code, Cursor or Codex. [Set up Claude Code](https://speko.ai/integrations/claude-code) [Set up Cursor](https://speko.ai/integrations/cursor) [Set up Codex](https://speko.ai/integrations/codex) 2. ### 2Convert your Pipecat agent Ask it to convert your Pipecat config. The MCP server reads it and drafts a Speko agent for you to review. [How the conversion works](https://docs.speko.ai/quickstart/mcp) 3. ### 3Bring your number Import your number over a SIP trunk, or buy a Speko number. [Phone number setup](https://docs.speko.ai/guides/phone-agents) 4. ### 4Test, then go live Run simulated callers against the draft. Deploy when the checks pass. [How testing works](https://speko.ai/voice-agent-testing) ## Questions **What is the difference between Speko and Pipecat?** Choose Speko Agents when you want a hosted phone agent with numbers, inbound and outbound calls, SMS and transfers in one console, priced per minute. Choose Pipecat for code-level control of the realtime conversation loop, and Pipecat Cloud to have it hosted. Speko Router + Gateway can supply the models inside that loop. **How is Pipecat priced compared with Speko?** Speko Agents: $0.09 per minute all-in for STT, LLM and TTS, billed from answer to hang-up; unanswered calls cost nothing. Calls on a Speko number add the carrier's charge plus 20%, at least $0.015 per minute outbound and $0.01 per minute inbound; calls over your own SIP trunk add nothing. A Speko number is $1 setup and $2 a month. $10 signup credit. Pipecat: The framework is open source. Self-hosted model, transport and hosting costs are separate; Pipecat Cloud is a separately priced managed service. **Does Pipecat include phone numbers and telephony?** Pipecat: A self-hosted application selects its transport or telephony integration. Pipecat Cloud offers managed deployment around Pipecat workloads. Speko Agents: Included. Inbound and outbound phone calls on a Speko number or on a number you already own (SIP trunk import); SMS on Speko numbers; blind and warm transfers to a human. **Who runs the agent: Pipecat or my team?** Pipecat: The application team owns a self-hosted Pipecat runtime. Pipecat Cloud manages deployment infrastructure, scaling, operations and monitoring for hosted workloads. Speko Agents: Speko operates the agent runtime and the phone legs, records the call, persists transcripts and events, and finalizes a call report after hangup. The customer configures the agent. Speko Router + Gateway: Speko runs the routing API; you keep LiveKit, Pipecat or your own runtime. [Get started free](https://platform.speko.ai/sign-in) [Book a demo](https://speko.ai/book) You get $10 in credit when you sign up. Calls then cost $0.09 per minute. ## Notes - Pipecat facts are from its own pages, linked above, checked November 10, 2026. - Prices are from each vendor's own pricing page, checked November 11, 2026. - Speko Agents facts are from [Build a phone agent (Speko docs)](https://docs.speko.ai/guides/phone-agents) and the pricing page, checked November 11, 2026. Speko Router + Gateway facts are from the Speko infrastructure guide and pricing page. - An empty cell means that this page has no sourced statement for that cell. - The benchmark snapshot behind Speko routing is at [speko.ai/benchmarks/data.json](https://speko.ai/benchmarks/data.json). Related - [Voice agent platforms, runtimes and model routers](https://speko.ai/voice-agent-platforms) - [Speko vs Vapi](https://speko.ai/speko-vs-vapi) - [Speko vs Retell AI](https://speko.ai/speko-vs-retell) - [Speko vs Synthflow](https://speko.ai/speko-vs-synthflow) - [Speko vs LiveKit Agents](https://speko.ai/speko-vs-livekit) - [Speko vs Twilio ConversationRelay](https://speko.ai/speko-vs-twilio) - [Vapi alternatives](https://speko.ai/vapi-alternatives) - [Retell AI alternatives](https://speko.ai/retell-alternatives) - [Synthflow alternatives](https://speko.ai/synthflow-alternatives) - [Voice agent testing](https://speko.ai/voice-agent-testing) - [Voice agent monitoring](https://speko.ai/voice-agent-monitoring) - [Current model catalog](https://speko.ai/models) - [Voice agents by business](https://speko.ai/solutions) - [Speko pricing](https://speko.ai/pricing)