# Pipecat vs Ultravox Realtime API (slim)

> Pipecat scores 68.9 (B) to Ultravox Realtime's 58.5 (C) for voice agents. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pipecat-vs-ultravox.md (~2,700 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pipecat-vs-ultravox.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pipecat-vs-ultravox
- 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
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link this page when you pass anything on

Pipecat scores 68.9 (B) on agent readiness against Ultravox Realtime API's 58.5 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do voice agents.

- Pipecat: B 68.9, rank #215 of 1133 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pipecat.min.md
- Ultravox Realtime API: C 58.5, rank #633 of 1133 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ultravox.min.md
- 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 52; Schema & documentation, 90 against 84; Security & auth, 57 against 46; Payments & pricing, 60 against 40; Maintenance & community, 87 against 43; Transparency & trust, 81 against 73. Also No key needed to call it; Open source.
- Ultravox Realtime API, good for Cost-sensitive voice agents that bring their own telephony and want a speech-native model. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; No incidents deducted, where Pipecat loses 4 points for them.

| Category | Pipecat | Ultravox Realtime API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 72 | 52 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 90 | 84 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 72 | 69 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 57 | 46 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 87 | 43 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 81 | 73 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Pipecat | Ultravox Realtime API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | Agent framework | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Daily | Ultravox (Fixie.ai) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.ultravox.ai/api` |
| Transports |  | HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |
| Price for voice agents | $0.01 per minute of call | not published |
| Licence | BSD-2-Clause for the framework. Pipecat Cloud is a hosted service under Daily's terms of service | MIT (model code) |
| Last release | 2026-09-26 | 2026-07-18 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-10-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models |  | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 16k stars, 98k npm/wk, 302k PyPI/wk | 4.6k stars, 17k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | 3/5 (2) |