# ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP vs GPT-Live

> ElevenLabs Agents scores 71.3 (BB) to GPT-Live's 66.8 (B) for voice agents. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-17

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against GPT-Live's 66.8 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do voice agents.

- ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP: grade BB, 71.3/100, rank #138 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elevenlabs-agents.json
- GPT-Live: grade B, 66.8/100, rank #296 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gpt-live.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gpt-live.json
- Best conversational voice-agent APIs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/voice-agents/index.md
- All 184 voice agents comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/voice-agents/index.md

## Which one, for what

### ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP (BB)

Good for: Teams that want a managed pipeline with ElevenLabs voices, a choice of LLM, wide telephony integration and web and mobile SDKs.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 92 against 87
- Security & auth, 76 against 66
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 20

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: $0.08 a minute excludes LLM tokens and carrier minutes

### GPT-Live (B)

Good for: Teams who want a voice front end that keeps talking while a separate backend reasons and runs tools, with WebRTC, WebSocket and SIP from one vendor and a flat per-minute voice price.

Watch for: openai.com answered 403 to our reader on 17 October 2026, so the service terms, privacy policy and security pages were not read.


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP | GPT-Live | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 62 | GPT-Live +2 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 92 | 87 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 76 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 76 | 66 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 20 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 85 | 82 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 76 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **71.3 · BB** | **66.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP | GPT-Live |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | ElevenLabs | OpenAI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai` | `https://api.openai.com/v1/live/sessions` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |
| Price for voice agents | $0.08 per minute of call | not published |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (SDKs) | Proprietary service. The service terms on openai.com were not read. The Python SDK is Apache-2.0, and the OpenAPI description and the OpenAI Live Console sample are MIT |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.elevenlabs/mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-16 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-03-31 | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-20 | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 114 stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (4) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**GPT-Live.** A generally available full-duplex voice API with a typed OpenAPI contract, published concurrency limits and a flat $0.05 a minute for the voice session. Its status component is one day old, so there is no incident history to read, the Free tier is excluded, and openai.com refused our reader, so the terms and privacy policy were not read.

## Before you call either

### 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

### GPT-Live

1. Create sessions on a server with the project API key. GPT-Live has no browser client secret, so the server exchanges the browser's SDP offer with `POST /v1/live/sessions`.
2. Choose `delegation.type` at creation. Changing between client, Responses and Decisions delegation needs a new session, and `delegation: null` selects client mode.
3. After `session.started`, listen for `error` with code `responses_validation_failed`. Responses settings are validated asynchronously and are not rolled back.
4. Do not retry an outbound SIP `POST /v1/live/sessions` after a timeout. Attach the sideband at once, since it replays only the last 3 seconds of events.
5. Keep the transport open until `session.closed` to read the final `usage.seconds`. A WebRTC session bills 15 seconds at creation, credited once it runs.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP or GPT-Live?

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP scores 71.3 (BB) on agent readiness against GPT-Live's 66.8 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Do ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP and GPT-Live need an API key?

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. GPT-Live needs an API key.

### Can an agent call ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP and GPT-Live without installing anything?

Yes. ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai and GPT-Live at https://api.openai.com/v1/live/sessions.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-gpt-live.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-gpt-live.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "elevenlabs-agents", "b": "gpt-live"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare elevenlabs-agents gpt-live`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elevenlabs-agents.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gpt-live.json

## Other comparisons with ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP or GPT-Live

- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)
- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs GPT-Live](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-gpt-live.md)
- [Bland AI API + MCP vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)
- [Bland AI API + MCP vs GPT-Live](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gpt-live.md)
- [Bolna API + MCP vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)
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- [Deepgram Voice Agent API vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)
- [Deepgram Voice Agent API vs GPT-Live](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-gpt-live.md)
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- [Gemini Live API vs GPT-Live](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-gpt-live.md)
- [GPT-Live vs PlaceCall](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-placecall.md)
- [GPT-Live vs Synthflow API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-synthflow.md)
- [GPT-Live vs Vocily AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-vocily.md)
- [GPT-Live vs Vogent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-vogent.md)
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- [ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP vs Pipecat PhoneLLM](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-pipecat-phonellm.md)
- [GPT-Live vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-hume-evi.md)
- [GPT-Live vs LiveKit Agents](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-livekit-agents.md)
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- [GPT-Live vs Pipecat](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-pipecat.md)
- [GPT-Live vs Retell AI API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gpt-live-vs-retell-ai.md)
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