# OpenAI Realtime API vs Pipecat (slim)

> Pipecat scores 68.9 (B) to OpenAI Realtime's 63.3 (B) for voice agents. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-17
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Pipecat scores 68.9 (B) on agent readiness against OpenAI Realtime API's 63.3 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do voice agents.

- OpenAI Realtime API: B 63.3, rank #439 of 1133 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openai-realtime.min.md
- Pipecat: B 68.9, rank #215 of 1133 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pipecat.min.md
- OpenAI Realtime API, good for Teams building their own voice agent on one speech-to-speech model who want browser, server and phone transports from one vendor and can run a backend for secrets and tools. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; No incidents deducted, where Pipecat loses 4 points for them.
- Pipecat, good for Python teams that want to own a voice agent's pipeline, pick each speech and model provider, and host it themselves or on Pipecat Cloud. Ahead on Reliability, 72 against 67; Schema & documentation, 90 against 84; Payments & pricing, 60 against 20; Maintenance & community, 87 against 52; Transparency & trust, 81 against 71. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card; Open source.

| Category | OpenAI Realtime API | Pipecat |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 67 | 72 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 84 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 76 | 72 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 61 | 57 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 52 | 87 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 71 | 81 |

| Fact (where they differ) | OpenAI Realtime API | Pipecat |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Agent framework |
| Vendor | OpenAI | Daily |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.openai.com/v1/realtime` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Free |
| Price for voice agents | not published | $0.01 per minute of call |
| Licence | Proprietary service. The service terms on openai.com were not read. The Agents SDK for TypeScript and the OpenAPI description are MIT | BSD-2-Clause for the framework. Pipecat Cloud is a hosted service under Daily's terms of service |
| Last release | 2026-07-28 | 2026-09-26 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read |  |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read |  |
| Popularity | none | 16k stars, 98k npm/wk, 302k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.3/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |