# Deepgram Voice Agent API vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP

> ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a score of 71.5 (BB) against Deepgram Voice Agent API's 68.4 (B). Both do voice agent. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 10 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
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- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a score of 71.5 (BB) against Deepgram Voice Agent API's 68.4 (B). Both do voice agent. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 10 points.

- Deepgram Voice Agent API: grade B, 68.4/100, rank #126 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/deepgram-voice-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/deepgram-voice-agent.json
- ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP: grade BB, 71.5/100, rank #83 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elevenlabs-agents.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Deepgram Voice Agent API for payments & pricing (+5).

Pick ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP for reliability (+5), agent ergonomics (+10), security & auth (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Deepgram Voice Agent API | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 60 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 92 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 77 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 76 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 35 | Deepgram Voice Agent API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 85 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 79 | Deepgram Voice Agent API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.4 · B** | **71.5 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Deepgram Voice Agent API | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Deepgram | ElevenLabs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://agent.deepgram.com/v1/agent` | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio, SSE (legacy) | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | MIT (SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.elevenlabs/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-09-29 |
| Popularity | 468 stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 805k PyPI/wk | 114 stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Deepgram Voice Agent API.** $0.075 a minute all in on Standard, $0.050 with your own LLM and TTS, $200 of credit with no card. No phone numbers or SIP, so you bridge Twilio or another carrier yourself.

**ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP.** API keys scoped to endpoint groups, with per-key credit limits and service accounts. $0.08 a minute excludes LLM tokens and carrier minutes.

## Before you call either

### Deepgram Voice Agent API

1. Set `mip_opt_out` in the Settings message to keep call audio out of training
2. Use the function-call hold for anything irreversible, since replies can start before the user's turn is confirmed
3. Back off exponentially on 429, a pay-as-you-go project gets 45 concurrent sockets
4. Pin the LLM version, an unpinned Gemini route failed for 1.5 hours on 21 July 2026
5. Mint browser tokens with `ttl_seconds`, not `ttl`, or they expire after 30 seconds

### ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP

1. Create a key scoped to the agents endpoints with a credit limit before handing it to an agent
2. Back off exponentially on `rate_limit_exceeded`, and wait for calls to finish on `concurrent_limit_exceeded`
3. Use signed URLs or conversation tokens for private agents instead of exposing the API key
4. Set `platform_settings.privacy.retention_days` where you don't need 2 years of history
5. Pick a low-latency LLM, the pipeline waits on it every turn

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