Head to head · Voice agents · October 2026 research run

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP vs Inworld Realtime API

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP scores 72.6 (BB) on agent readiness against Inworld Realtime API's 60.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Inworld Realtime API leads on payments & pricing. Both do voice agents.

Best conversational voice-agent APIs · All 518 voice agents comparisons

Which one, for what

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP BB

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

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 75 against 62
  • Schema & documentation, 92 against 60
  • Agent ergonomics, 77 against 68
  • Security & auth, 83 against 58
  • Maintenance & community, 85 against 71
  • Transparency & trust, 78 against 63

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

$0.08 a minute excludes LLM tokens and carrier minutes

Inworld Realtime API C

Best for Teams moving off OpenAI's Realtime API who want a choice of LLM and Inworld voices.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for

No per-minute price. A session's cost depends on STT, LLM tokens and TTS characters, and interrupted segments are still billed

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Schema & documentation ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +32

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 92

Public OpenAPI at api.elevenlabs.io/openapi.json (25). llms.txt with Markdown copies of each page (10). The docs explain each agent setting with guidance on when to use it, such as turn timeout and soft-timeout fillers (16 of 20). The OpenAPI types every field, but conversation_config is a large nested object (12 of 15). The errors page lists codes, types and fixes, and every error carries a request_id (14 of 15). Weekly dated changelog entries and a versioned API (15).

Inworld Realtime API 60

No AsyncAPI or other machine-readable file for the socket, and the spec paths redirect (0). llms.txt, Markdown twins and a docs MCP server (10). The overview, OpenAI migration guide, providerData reference and the billing page's account of how a session is counted say what to use when (16 of 20). The reference lists every client and server event with field types and required marks, as text rather than a schema (12 of 15). JavaScript and Python example projects and an error event with type, code and param, without a list of codes (9 of 15). Dated release notes with affected clients and required actions, but no API version beyond /v1 (13 of 15). Total 60.

Security & auth ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +25

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 83

The hosted MCP server signs in with OAuth and asks for scoped access to agents and speech. API keys can be limited to endpoint groups, given a credit limit, owned by a service account, rotated, and are disabled if found on GitHub (30). Scoped keys and signed URLs for private agents keep the main key off clients (17 of 20). Agents pass caller speech to an LLM. The guardrails docs, generally available since 19 October 2026, describe a Manipulation guardrail that detects prompt injection in user turns and can end the conversation, included at no extra cost, and the MCP security page recommends Always Ask approval for tool calls. It is a setting the builder turns on, not a default we could confirm (12 of 15, was 5). Audit logs cover over 100 endpoints through GET /v1/workspace/audit-logs, but only on Enterprise, and every conversation keeps a transcript (12 of 15). security.txt valid to 6 October 2027 (re-read on 1 November) and HIPAA BAAs are available with zero retention mode. We didn't re-check certifications or a bug bounty (12 of 20). 30 + 17 + 12 + 12 + 12 = 83.

Inworld Realtime API 58

Workspace API keys sent as Basic credentials, deleted to revoke, with separate keys per environment advised. The CLI mints read-only keys unless --write is given, but write toggles cover only the Voice and Router APIs, so no key is limited to one product. Browsers use short-lived tokens minted server side. Session IDs, not secrets, go in the URL (25 of 30). Tools run in the client, so the developer approves side effects, with no approval step in the API (10 of 20). The agent listens to callers and passes their speech to an LLM, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (5 of 15). Usage per key and a Performance page with errors and throttling (8 of 15). SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA claimed and a vulnerability report form, with no security.txt or bug bounty, per the 4 November reading (10 of 20). Total 58. Zero data retention covers session content from the Developer plan up, but not requests routed to third-party LLM providers.

Transparency & trust ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +15

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 78

Closed service with clear terms and MIT SDKs (18 of 30). Conversation data is kept 2 years by default, set per agent in days, with per-agent zero retention mode and audio saving that can be turned off, and the statements agree (22 of 30). Dated changelog entries, but we didn't find a deprecation policy for the agents product (10 of 20). EU, India and Singapore residency endpoints are documented. We didn't check the subprocessor list this run (15 of 20).

Inworld Realtime API 63

Closed service with clear terms naming Theai, Inc. dba Inworld AI (15). The ZDR page says what a session keeps and that third-party LLM requests aren't covered, but the terms and privacy notice disagree on training (12 of 30). Release notes flag potentially breaking changes with the clients affected and what to do, without stating a notice period (14 of 20). US headquarters with EU and India residency on Enterprise, and no sub-processor list in the docs, while sessions may route to third-party LLM providers (10 of 20). Total 51.

Maintenance & community ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +14

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 85

Changelog entry on 26 October 2026, and @elevenlabs/client 1.32.1 and @elevenlabs/react 1.20.2 tagged on 29 October (30). Weekly entries, with 108 tags in the agents packages repository since 3 August (20). Weekly changelog and incident write-ups on the status page, support we didn't test (12 of 15 for a closed service). Python and JavaScript SDKs with over a million weekly downloads each per the 1 October check, plus mobile SDKs (15). MIT SDKs on GitHub (8 of 10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 8 = 85.

Inworld Realtime API 71

Release note of 16 October 2026 (cache_transcript), 21 days ago (30). Three dated Realtime entries in the 90 days from 8 August, on 14 September, 23 September and 16 October (20). Discord and support@inworld.ai, with no evidence of answers read (8 of 15). Works with OpenAI's Realtime clients and the CLI is current at 1.5.0, but there is no Inworld Realtime SDK (8 of 15). CLI on npm under MIT, CI not read (5 of 10). Total 71.

Reliability ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +13

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 75

Read as a hosted service. Status page at status.elevenlabs.io (incident.io) with an ElevenAgents component group (Conversations, Telephony, Integrations, Other Agents APIs, Quality, RAG, UI) and dated component history (20). Re-read on 1 November from the history page, which dates each component's impact, as the ElevenLabs text-to-speech and voice cloning listings were read; the incidents feed was re-posted on 21 October and leaves older incidents out. In the 90 days from 3 August, ten incidents touched Agents components, all partial or under an hour. The longest, from 08:50 UTC on 13 October, a database behind the Agents platform in the US stalled, and the write-up says roughly 45 per cent of US calls failed and 7 per cent of API requests returned errors until 14:18 UTC, on seven Agents components marked partial outage. That is a share of requests in one region, read as partial, as hubspot-mcp's "many customers in North America" was and as the ElevenLabs text-to-speech and voice cloning listings read this incident, not every user in a region as in google-drive-api's regional major. The others are Inbound Twilio calls on 18 August (under 1 per cent), EU batch calling delays on 27 August, EU conversation history on 10 September, some calls failing to start on 18 and 19 September (1 hour 25 minutes), the EU platform unresponsive from 13:40 to 14:18 UTC on 28 September (38 minutes, one region), a usage datastore fault from 15:56 to 19:36 UTC on 29 September that caused latency and some failed requests on Agents conversations, STT and Creative products (partial outage), EU SIP calls with static IPs from 9:53 to 12:06 UTC on 6 October (one region, one call path) and SIP conversations from 14:21 to 15:15 UTC on 8 October. Minor only (20 of 30, was 5). Concurrency per plan is published, from 4 calls on Free to 40 on Business with burst to three times the cap (15). The errors page returns 429 with rate_limit_exceeded, concurrent_limit_exceeded or system_busy and tells callers to back off exponentially. No Retry-After header and no idempotency keys found (10 of 15). No SLA found for a self-serve tier, and Enterprise lists custom terms around SLAs (0). Agents is generally available (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 75.

Inworld Realtime API 62

Hosted reading of the checklist. status.inworld.ai is a public status page (20), with history we couldn't read, as on inworld-tts (5). Concurrent sessions are published per plan, 10 on On-Demand up to 1,000 on Growth (15). The rate limits page gives exponential backoff with jitter and Retry-After on longer windows, and sessions emit rate_limits.updated, with nothing on reconnecting a dropped session (12 of 15). An SLA appears only in the Enterprise column, with no terms (0). No preview or beta label on the Realtime API (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 62.

Agent ergonomics ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +9

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP 77

We couldn't count the hosted MCP server's tools, since the docs list about ten capabilities without a tool list, so we scored context cost on the API, where list endpoints take page sizes and cursors (18 of 25). Conversation lists page and filter (18 of 20). Typed error codes with suggested fixes (18 of 20). MCP clients can set each tool to ask first and the docs warn that deleting an agent is destructive, but we found no idempotency keys (8 of 20). Few required fields to create an agent and official SDKs for Python, JavaScript, React, Swift, Kotlin and Flutter (15).

Inworld Realtime API 68

Scored as an API. Conversation history defaults to the last 100 items, can be trimmed, and can be cached on Anthropic models, and every response.done carries a usage block (18 of 25). No lists to page. Output controls are modalities, turn detection settings, optional transcription and response.speak (12 of 20). Error events follow OpenAI's type and code shape, unsupported fields come back as non-fatal unsupported_field warnings, and item_not_found names the bad parameter (14 of 20). Tools run on the client and a follow-up response starts automatically after a tool result. Nothing covers side effects of a tool call cut off by an interruption (12 of 20). Works with OpenAI Realtime clients after changing the URL and key, with no Inworld Realtime SDK (12 of 15). Total 68.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runElevenLabs Agents API + MCPInworld Realtime APIEdge
Reliability16%207562ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +13
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.29260ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +32
Agent ergonomics13%16.27768ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +9
Security & auth14%17.58358ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +25
Payments & pricing10%12.53540Inworld Realtime API +5
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88571ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +14
Transparency & trust7%8.87863ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +15
Negative events≤15-30
TotalBB 72.6/100C 60.1/100

Facts side by side

FactElevenLabs Agents API + MCPInworld Realtime API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorElevenLabsInworld AI
Hosted endpointhttps://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convaino (local only)
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPwebsocket, HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for voice agents$0.08 per minute of call$25 per 1M characters
x402nono
LicenceMIT (SDKs)none
Tools exposednone0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
MCP registryio.elevenlabs/mcpnot listed
Last release2026-10-292026-10-16
Terms last updated2026-03-312025-06-11
Privacy policy last updated2026-05-202026-01-18
Customer content may train modelsyes, with an opt-outnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity114 stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews3.5/5 (2)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP

API keys scoped to endpoint groups, with per-key credit limits and service accounts, and a documented prompt-injection guardrail. $0.08 a minute excludes LLM tokens and carrier minutes, and a US database fault on 13 October failed about 45 per cent of US calls for about five hours.

Inworld Realtime API

Inworld's Realtime API speaks OpenAI's Realtime protocol over WebSocket or WebRTC, with a choice of LLM, client-side tools and dated release notes. Cost is the sum of STT, LLM and TTS usage with no per-minute price, there is no machine-readable event schema, and status history couldn't be 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. Turn on the Manipulation guardrail and set MCP tools to Always Ask for agents that take actions
  5. Set platform_settings.privacy.retention_days where you don't need 2 years of history

Inworld Realtime API

  1. Set the auto follow-up off if your client sends its own response.create after a tool result, or replies double
  2. Read response.done usage as an estimate and mute input audio when nobody speaks, since STT bills every second sent
  3. Use response.speak for fixed greetings, which skips the LLM
  4. Treat unsupported_field errors as warnings and keep the session open
  5. Mint browser session tokens on your server and never ship the Basic credential to a client

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP or Inworld Realtime API?

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP scores 72.6 (BB) on agent readiness against Inworld Realtime API's 60.1 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Inworld Realtime API leads on payments & pricing.

Do ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP and Inworld Realtime API need an API key?

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Inworld Realtime API needs an API key.

Can an agent call ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP and Inworld Realtime API without installing anything?

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai. No hosted endpoint is listed for Inworld Realtime API.

Other comparisons with ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP or Inworld Realtime API

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