{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "bandwidth-voice", "name": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP", "vendor": "Bandwidth", "vendorUrl": "https://www.bandwidth.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "voice-calling", "summary": "Programmable voice on Bandwidth's own US carrier network, with BXML call control, bidirectional WebSocket media streams, recording, transcription and transfers.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bandwidth-voice", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bandwidth-voice.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bandwidth-voice.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bandwidth-voice.json", "repo": "https://github.com/Bandwidth/mcp-server", "transports": [ "http", "stdio", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "bandwidth-sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "bandwidth-sdk" } ], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 client credentials. Exchange the client ID and secret at api.bandwidth.com/api/v1/oauth2/token for a Bearer token. Legacy Basic-auth API users are being migrated. The MCP server takes BW_CLIENT_ID and BW_CLIENT_SECRET.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Free Build trial with 3,000 credits, a US number and no card, then pay as you go. US local outbound $0.01 and inbound $0.0055 a minute. Recording $0.002 a minute, transcription $0.045 standard or $0.0451 real time, media streaming $0.0035 one-way or $0.004 bidirectional. Number rental and SIP trunking are quoted by sales (https://www.bandwidth.com/pricing/).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 or stablecoin payment path in the voice docs, pricing or llms.txt (checked 2026-09-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 2, "npmWeekly": 12740, "pypiWeekly": 39218, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://dev.bandwidth.com/docs/voice", "llmsTxt": "https://dev.bandwidth.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://dev.bandwidth.com/spec/voice.yml", "capabilities": [ "voice.calls", "voice.numbers", "voice.streaming", "voice.sip", "voice.recording", "voice.transfer" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "no-card", "mcp", "llms-txt", "openapi", "typescript", "python", "webhooks", "streaming" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-22", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 63.7, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 338, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 65, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 35, "reliability": 58, "schema": 88, "security": 60, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "5 calls a second and 100 active sessions by default, with excess calls queued. Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published.", "bestFor": "US and Canada outbound voice agents that need capacity from day one and a carrier-owned network.", "strengths": [ "5 calls a second and 100 active sessions by default, with excess calls queued", "No-card Build trial with 3,000 credits, a US number and SIP trunking", "OAuth 2.0 client credentials with 1-hour tokens, per-credential roles and secret rotation", "OpenAPI spec and llms.txt with Markdown pages", "Per-call debug logs with API request history and webhook delivery attempts" ], "weaknesses": [ "Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published", "No bug bounty, security.txt or callback signing found", "LAX and JFK datacentre incidents hit voice for about 7 and 5 hours in August", "No Retry-After or backoff guidance on 429", "MCP server is beta, installed by git clone, with no licence file" ], "agentNotes": [ "Get a token from the OAuth endpoint first, then POST to /accounts/{accountId}/calls with an applicationId and answerUrl", "Keep the call alive with Pause or a redirect while a bidirectional stream runs, or it hangs up when BXML runs out", "Read the 429 message to tell a rate limit from a concurrency limit before retrying", "Load the MCP server with BW_MCP_PROFILE=voice to keep the tool list short" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 63.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 65, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 35, "reliability": 58, "schema": 88, "security": 60, "transparency": 35 }, "provenanceScore": 90 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST \"https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2/accounts/$BW_ACCOUNT_ID/calls\" -H \"Authorization: Bearer $BW_ACCESS_TOKEN\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" -d '{\"to\":\"+15555550123\",\"from\":\"+15555550100\",\"applicationId\":\"'$BW_VOICE_APPLICATION_ID'\",\"answerUrl\":\"https://example.com/answer\"}'", "config": { "mcpServers": { "bandwidth": { "args": [ "--from", "/path/to/mcp-server", "start" ], "command": "uvx", "env": { "BW_ACCOUNT_ID": "${BW_ACCOUNT_ID}", "BW_CLIENT_ID": "${BW_CLIENT_ID}", "BW_CLIENT_SECRET": "${BW_CLIENT_SECRET}", "BW_MCP_PROFILE": "voice" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/voice.calls", "tool": "https://letme.dev/bandwidth-voice" }, "sameCompany": [ "bandwidth" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "US outbound, local", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.01, "note": "outbound to US local numbers" }, { "item": "US inbound, local", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.0055, "note": "inbound on a US local number" }, { "item": "Media streaming, bidirectional", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.004, "note": "per streamed minute" }, { "item": "Media streaming, one-way", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.0035, "note": "per streamed minute" }, { "item": "Recording", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.002, "note": "per recorded minute" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Bandwidth Inc.", "domain": "bandwidth.com", "domainRegistered": "1995-02-20", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.bandwidth.com/legal/communications-services-agreement/", "privacy": "https://www.bandwidth.com/legal/privacy/", "statusPage": "https://status.bandwidth.com", "changelog": "https://www.bandwidth.com/release-notes/", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Provenance shared with the Bandwidth messaging listing." ], "score": 90 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bandwidth-voice.json", "live": { "slug": "bandwidth-voice", "probe": { "target": "https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T11:46:22.834849152Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 403, "lastMs": 81, "lastNote": "asks for credentials", "authRequired": true, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 72, "p95ms24h": 122, "samples24h": 259, "samples30d": 2311, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 125, "ok": 125 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.bandwidth.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T11:37:26.948220868Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "Bandwidth/mcp-server", "version": "v0.3.0", "released": "2026-06-11", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:01:52.626981628Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "bandwidth-sdk", "version": "8.3.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:01:46.859039577Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "bandwidth-sdk", "version": "23.3.0", "released": "2026-09-22", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:01:48.701622941Z" } ], "githubStars": 2, "npmWeekly": 14835, "pypiWeekly": 31119, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://bandwidth.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:40.294505928Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://dev.bandwidth.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:05.730513463Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "bandwidth.com", "registered": "1995-02-20", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/bandwidth.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:08:39.296680691Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.bandwidth.com/release-notes/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:33.129437281Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:10:59.307800281Z", "fingerprint": "7d91d1b7186d" }, { "url": "https://www.bandwidth.com/pricing/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:31.134772816Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:10:57.392456679Z", "fingerprint": "95133f452473" }, { "url": "https://www.bandwidth.com/legal/privacy/", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:29.531228145Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:10:55.663793504Z", "fingerprint": "5641472cb592" }, { "url": "https://www.bandwidth.com/legal/communications-services-agreement/", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:26.888109703Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:10:53.080518052Z", "fingerprint": "e33840c59822" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T11:46:22.834849152Z" } }, "answer": "LiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "livekit-telephony", "name": "LiveKit Telephony", "vendor": "LiveKit Incorporated", "vendorUrl": "https://livekit.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "voice-calling", "summary": "LiveKit Telephony connects phone calls to LiveKit rooms as SIP participants. On LiveKit Cloud it covers SIP trunks to outside carriers, US inbound phone numbers, dispatch rules and transfers, managed through a Twirp API, server SDKs and the `lk` CLI.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/livekit-telephony.json", "repo": "https://github.com/livekit/sip", "license": "Proprietary cloud service under LiveKit's Terms of Service. The SIP service (livekit/sip), the protocol definitions, the CLI and the server SDKs are Apache 2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "livekit-server-sdk" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "livekit-api" }, { "registry": "go", "name": "github.com/livekit/server-sdk-go/v2" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A project API key and secret, created in the LiveKit Cloud dashboard, sign a JWT sent as `Authorization: Bearer \u003ctoken\u003e`. The token's `sip` grant carries `admin` (trunks, dispatch rules, phone numbers) or `call` (`CreateSIPParticipant` and `TransferSIPParticipant`), and its lifetime is set by whoever signs it. Keys can be rotated in the dashboard and the secret is shown once. Access is self-serve after a browser sign-up. The CLI links a project with `lk cloud auth`, which opens a browser.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free Build plan with no card. It includes 1 US local number, 50 US local inbound minutes and 1,000 third-party SIP minutes a month as a hard cap. Ship starts at $50 a month and Scale at $500, with third-party SIP minutes at $0.004 and $0.003 past the allowance, US local inbound at $0.01 a minute, toll-free inbound at $0.02, local numbers $1 a month and toll-free $2. A third-party carrier bills its own trunk and number charges. A number released mid-month is billed for the full month. Enterprise is priced by sales (https://livekit.com/pricing.md, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$1 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the telephony docs, the SIP and Phone Numbers API references or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 480, "npmWeekly": 2938925, "pypiWeekly": 1673299, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.livekit.io/telephony/", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.livekit.io/telephony/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "voice.calls", "voice.sip", "voice.numbers", "voice.transfer", "voice.streaming" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "sip", "open-source", "llms-txt", "cli", "typescript", "python", "go", "webhooks", "free-tier", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-08", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.5, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 234, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 3, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 66, "maintenance": 90, "payments": 40, "reliability": 65, "schema": 84, "security": 61, "transparency": 75 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Signed tokens separate the right to dial (`sip.call`) from the right to manage trunks (`sip.admin`), and per-minute prices are public with a free plan that needs no card. LiveKit's own phone numbers are US only and inbound only, so outbound calls need a third-party SIP trunk, and no 429 or retry guidance was found.", "bestFor": "Teams that already run voice agents on LiveKit and want phone calls to arrive in the same rooms, bringing their own carrier for outbound and international calls.", "strengths": [ "Token grants separate `sip.call` (dial and transfer) from `sip.admin` (trunks, dispatch rules, numbers), with a lifetime the issuer sets", "Free Build plan with no card has one US local number, 50 inbound minutes and 1,000 third-party SIP minutes a month", "Per-minute and per-number prices are public, also as Markdown at livekit.com/pricing.md", "The SIP service is open source under Apache 2.0, with 12 tagged releases from 10 July to 5 October 2026", "Status page lists SIP per region and US Phone Numbers as separate components" ], "weaknesses": [ "LiveKit Phone Numbers are US only and inbound only, and `TransferSIPParticipant` does not work on them yet", "Outbound calls need a trunk from another carrier, billed by that carrier on top of LiveKit's SIP minutes", "No 429, Retry-After or idempotency guidance was found for the SIP API, so a retried `CreateSIPParticipant` may dial twice", "The 99.99% uptime on the pricing page is an objective only, with no credits outside a written Enterprise agreement", "Sign-up and `lk cloud auth` need a person in a browser, and no machine payment protocol was found", "The terms bar benchmarking for competitive purposes without written consent" ], "agentNotes": [ "Ask the operator for a short-lived token with only the `sip.call` grant to dial or transfer. Trunk, dispatch rule and number changes need `sip.admin`", "Use a third-party outbound trunk for outbound calls. LiveKit Phone Numbers only receive calls", "Set `wait_until_answered` on `CreateSIPParticipant` and read the SIP status on `SipCallError` before retrying. Voicemail answers with 200 OK", "Send every request as a JSON POST to `/twirp/livekit.SIP/\u003cMethod\u003e` or `/twirp/livekit.PhoneNumberService/\u003cMethod\u003e` on the project's own host, with `{}` for an empty body", "A released number is billed for the whole month, and the free Build allowance is a hard cap after which requests fail" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 66, "maintenance": 90, "payments": 40, "reliability": 65, "schema": 84, "security": 61, "transparency": 69 }, "provenanceScore": 81 }, "connect": { "install": "brew install livekit-cli", "http": "curl -X POST https://\u003cyour LiveKit URL domain\u003e/twirp/livekit.SIP/ListSIPInboundTrunk \\\n\t-H \"Authorization: Bearer \u003ctoken-with-sip-admin\u003e\" \\\n\t-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n\t-d '{}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/voice.calls", "tool": "https://letme.dev/livekit-telephony" }, "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Third-party SIP minutes, Ship plan", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.004, "note": "past 5,000 included minutes, carrier charges extra" }, { "item": "Third-party SIP minutes, Scale plan", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.003, "note": "past 50,000 included minutes, carrier charges extra" }, { "item": "US local inbound minutes", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.01, "note": "LiveKit Phone Numbers, past 100 (Ship) or 1,000 (Scale) included minutes" }, { "item": "US toll-free inbound minutes", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.02, "note": "Ship and Scale only" }, { "item": "US local number", "unit": "month", "usd": 1, "note": "first number free on every plan" }, { "item": "US toll-free number", "unit": "month", "usd": 2, "note": "Ship and Scale only" }, { "item": "Ship plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 50, "note": "starting price" }, { "item": "Scale plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 500, "note": "starting price" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "LiveKit Incorporated", "domain": "livekit.com", "domainRegistered": "2000-02-24", "endpointOnVendorDomain": false, "terms": "https://livekit.com/legal/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://livekit.com/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.livekit.io", "changelog": "https://github.com/livekit/sip/releases", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "livekit.io answers 308 to livekit.com. Docs stay at docs.livekit.io, the dashboard at cloud.livekit.io and the status page at status.livekit.io.", "The terms link is the Terms of Service Agreement for the Build, Ship and Scale plans of LiveKit Cloud, last updated 6 October 2026, between the customer and LiveKit Incorporated of San Francisco. Enterprise customers sign a separate agreement we did not see.", "The privacy policy was last updated 6 October 2026. A Data Processing Addendum of the same date is at https://livekit.com/legal/data-processing-addendum and the sub-processor list (10 September 2026) at https://livekit.com/legal/sub-processors.", "Each project's API answers on its own host under livekit.cloud and SIP at \u003csubdomain\u003e.sip.livekit.cloud, a second domain. LiveKit's disclosure policy lists *.livekit.cloud among its own systems.", "livekit.com/.well-known/security.txt gives security@livekit.io, a PGP key and the policy at https://livekit.com/security/policy. It has no Expires field. livekit.com/security.txt returns 404.", "No changelog page for LiveKit Cloud was found (livekit.com/changelog returns 404). Dated changes are in the livekit/sip release tags and `CHANGELOG.md` in livekit/protocol.", "RDAP for livekit.com gives a registration date of 2000-02-24, long before the company existed. RDAP for livekit.io returned no events.", "livekit/sip tagged v1.18.0 on 5 October 2026 and livekit-cli tagged v2.19.0 on 8 October 2026." ], "score": 81 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony.json", "live": { "slug": "livekit-telephony", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.livekit.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T11:39:49.458870192Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T11:39:49.458870192Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Bandwidth", "b": "LiveKit Incorporated", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, stdio, Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "Proprietary cloud service under LiveKit's Terms of Service. The SIP service (livekit/sip), the protocol definitions, the CLI and the server SDKs are Apache 2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-22", "b": "2026-10-08", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2025-09-11", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-08-25", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "2 stars, 13k npm/wk, 39k PyPI/wk", "b": "480 stars, 2.9M npm/wk, 1.7M PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "LiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Bandwidth Voice API + MCP or LiveKit Telephony?" }, { "answer": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. LiveKit Telephony needs an API key.", "question": "Do Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for LiveKit Telephony.", "question": "Can an agent call Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Bandwidth Voice API + MCP. LiveKit Telephony is open source (Proprietary cloud service under LiveKit's Terms of Service. The SIP service (livekit/sip), the protocol definitions, the CLI and the server SDKs are Apache 2.0).", "question": "Are Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": [ "A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install", "Runs on your own machine", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "US and Canada outbound voice agents that need capacity from day one and a carrier-owned network.", "slug": "bandwidth-voice", "watchFor": "Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 58", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 90 against 78", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 63" ], "also": [ "Open source" ], "goodFor": "Teams that already run voice agents on LiveKit and want phone calls to arrive in the same rooms, bringing their own carrier for outbound and international calls.", "slug": "livekit-telephony", "watchFor": "LiveKit Phone Numbers are US only and inbound only, and `TransferSIPParticipant` does not work on them yet" } ], "job": { "capability": "voice.calls", "name": "Voice calls" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-exotel-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Exotel Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-exotel-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-infobip-calls.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Infobip Calls API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-infobip-calls" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-jambonz.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs jambonz", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-jambonz" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-plivo-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Plivo Voice API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-plivo-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-signalwire-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs SignalWire Voice API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-signalwire-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-sinch-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Sinch Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-sinch-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-telnyx-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Telnyx Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-telnyx-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-twilio-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Twilio Programmable Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-twilio-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-vonage-voice.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Vonage Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-vonage-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-voximplant.json", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Voximplant", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-voximplant" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exotel-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.json", "title": "Exotel Voice API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exotel-voice-vs-livekit-telephony" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-calls-vs-livekit-telephony.json", "title": "Infobip Calls API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-calls-vs-livekit-telephony" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jambonz-vs-livekit-telephony.json", "title": "jambonz vs LiveKit Telephony", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jambonz-vs-livekit-telephony" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-plivo-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Plivo Voice API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-plivo-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-signalwire-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs SignalWire Voice API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-signalwire-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-sinch-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Sinch Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-sinch-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-telnyx-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Telnyx Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-telnyx-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-twilio-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Twilio Programmable Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-twilio-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-vonage-voice.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Vonage Voice API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-vonage-voice" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-voximplant.json", "title": "LiveKit Telephony vs Voximplant", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-voximplant" } ], "scores": [ { "bandwidth-voice": 58, "by": 7, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "reliability", "livekit-telephony": 65, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 88, "by": 4, "edge": "bandwidth-voice", "key": "schema", "livekit-telephony": 84, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 65, "by": 1, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "ergonomics", "livekit-telephony": 66, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 60, "by": 1, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "security", "livekit-telephony": 61, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 35, "by": 5, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "payments", "livekit-telephony": 40, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 78, "by": 12, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "maintenance", "livekit-telephony": 90, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "bandwidth-voice": 63, "by": 12, "edge": "livekit-telephony", "key": "transparency", "livekit-telephony": 75, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "LiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do voice calls.", "verdicts": { "bandwidth-voice": "5 calls a second and 100 active sessions by default, with excess calls queued. Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published.", "livekit-telephony": "Signed tokens separate the right to dial (`sip.call`) from the right to manage trunks (`sip.admin`), and per-minute prices are public with a free plan that needs no card. LiveKit's own phone numbers are US only and inbound only, so outbound calls need a third-party SIP trunk, and no 429 or retry guidance was found." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.min.md" }, "markdown": "LiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do voice calls.\n\n- Bandwidth Voice API + MCP: grade B, 63.7/100, rank #338 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bandwidth-voice.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bandwidth-voice.json\n- LiveKit Telephony: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #234 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/livekit-telephony.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/livekit-telephony.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Bandwidth Voice API + MCP (B)\n\nGood for: US and Canada outbound voice agents that need capacity from day one and a carrier-owned network.\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published\n\n### LiveKit Telephony (B)\n\nGood for: Teams that already run voice agents on LiveKit and want phone calls to arrive in the same rooms, bringing their own carrier for outbound and international calls.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 65 against 58\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 90 against 78\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 75 against 63\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: LiveKit Phone Numbers are US only and inbound only, and `TransferSIPParticipant` does not work on them yet\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Bandwidth Voice API + MCP | LiveKit Telephony | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 58 | 65 | LiveKit Telephony +7 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 84 | Bandwidth Voice API + MCP +4 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 66 | LiveKit Telephony +1 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 61 | LiveKit Telephony +1 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | LiveKit Telephony +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 90 | LiveKit Telephony +12 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 63 | 75 | LiveKit Telephony +12 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **63.7 · B** | **67.5 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Bandwidth Voice API + MCP | LiveKit Telephony |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Bandwidth | LiveKit Incorporated |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2` | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP, stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary cloud service under LiveKit's Terms of Service. The SIP service (livekit/sip), the protocol definitions, the CLI and the server SDKs are Apache 2.0 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-22 | 2026-10-08 |\n| Terms last updated | 2025-09-11 | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-08-25 | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |\n| Popularity | 2 stars, 13k npm/wk, 39k PyPI/wk | 480 stars, 2.9M npm/wk, 1.7M PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Bandwidth Voice API + MCP.** 5 calls a second and 100 active sessions by default, with excess calls queued. Number rental and SIP trunking prices aren't published.\n\n**LiveKit Telephony.** Signed tokens separate the right to dial (`sip.call`) from the right to manage trunks (`sip.admin`), and per-minute prices are public with a free plan that needs no card. LiveKit's own phone numbers are US only and inbound only, so outbound calls need a third-party SIP trunk, and no 429 or retry guidance was found.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Bandwidth Voice API + MCP\n\n1. Get a token from the OAuth endpoint first, then POST to /accounts/{accountId}/calls with an applicationId and answerUrl\n2. Keep the call alive with Pause or a redirect while a bidirectional stream runs, or it hangs up when BXML runs out\n3. Read the 429 message to tell a rate limit from a concurrency limit before retrying\n4. Load the MCP server with BW_MCP_PROFILE=voice to keep the tool list short\n\n### LiveKit Telephony\n\n1. Ask the operator for a short-lived token with only the `sip.call` grant to dial or transfer. Trunk, dispatch rule and number changes need `sip.admin`\n2. Use a third-party outbound trunk for outbound calls. LiveKit Phone Numbers only receive calls\n3. Set `wait_until_answered` on `CreateSIPParticipant` and read the SIP status on `SipCallError` before retrying. Voicemail answers with 200 OK\n4. Send every request as a JSON POST to `/twirp/livekit.SIP/\u003cMethod\u003e` or `/twirp/livekit.PhoneNumberService/\u003cMethod\u003e` on the project's own host, with `{}` for an empty body\n5. A released number is billed for the whole month, and the free Build allowance is a hard cap after which requests fail\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Bandwidth Voice API + MCP or LiveKit Telephony?\n\nLiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony need an API key?\n\nBandwidth Voice API + MCP uses an OAuth sign-in. LiveKit Telephony needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony without installing anything?\n\nBandwidth Voice API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://voice.bandwidth.com/api/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for LiveKit Telephony.\n\n### Are Bandwidth Voice API + MCP and LiveKit Telephony open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Bandwidth Voice API + MCP. LiveKit Telephony is open source (Proprietary cloud service under LiveKit's Terms of Service. The SIP service (livekit/sip), the protocol definitions, the CLI and the server SDKs are Apache 2.0).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bandwidth-voice\", \"b\": \"livekit-telephony\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bandwidth-voice livekit-telephony`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bandwidth-voice.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/livekit-telephony.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Bandwidth Voice API + MCP or LiveKit Telephony\n\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Exotel Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-exotel-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Infobip Calls API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-infobip-calls.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs jambonz](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-jambonz.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Plivo Voice API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-plivo-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs SignalWire Voice API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-signalwire-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Sinch Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-sinch-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Telnyx Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-telnyx-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Twilio Programmable Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-twilio-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Vonage Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-vonage-voice.md)\n- [Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs Voximplant](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-voximplant.md)\n- [Exotel Voice API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exotel-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.md)\n- [Infobip Calls API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/infobip-calls-vs-livekit-telephony.md)\n- [jambonz vs LiveKit Telephony](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/jambonz-vs-livekit-telephony.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Plivo Voice API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-plivo-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs SignalWire Voice API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-signalwire-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Sinch Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-sinch-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Telnyx Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-telnyx-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Twilio Programmable Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-twilio-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Vonage Voice API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-vonage-voice.md)\n- [LiveKit Telephony vs Voximplant](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/livekit-telephony-vs-voximplant.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony", "url": "" } ], "description": "LiveKit Telephony scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Bandwidth Voice API + MCP's 63.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do voice calls. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP B 63.7", "LiveKit Telephony B 67.5", "scores" ], "h1": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony.png", "path": "/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Bandwidth Voice API + MCP vs LiveKit Telephony for AI agents", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bandwidth-voice-vs-livekit-telephony" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2550, "slim": 680 }, "version": 1 }