Category
Voice agents & realtime AI — phone, support, and live conversation stacks
Vapi, Retell, Bland, LiveKit Agents, Cartesia, Hume, Deepgram, Pipecat and more—build AI that can pick up the phone.
Voice agents exploded in 2025: chain **STT + LLM + TTS + telephony/WebRTC** to run front-desk, pre-sales, scheduling, and follow-ups. Four things decide the build: **end-to-end tail latency** (target < 700ms), **barge-in and turn-taking**, **regional numbering and compliance** (TCPA, two-party consent), and **hosted vs self-built**. On TTS, judge realism and voice-clone licensing; on STT, stress-test noise and accents.
Editorial / GSC add-ons
Vapi vs Retell vs Bland
Vapi and Retell are dev-first and let you swap STT/LLM/TTS. Bland is more batteries-included. Record a real script and run 50 calls through each before committing.
How do you get low latency with barge-in?
You need VAD plus duplex audio, streaming STT, streaming LLM, and streaming TTS. LiveKit Agents and Pipecat are popular plumbing; Cartesia and ElevenLabs drive the TTS-side latency that makes conversations feel natural.
Compliance and disclosure duties?
Most jurisdictions require consent before recording/transcription. Outbound phone work also involves numbering rules, holiday/time windows, and do-not-call lists—get local counsel.
Tools in this category
Summaries and official links live on each tool page—browse related picks in-category.
Developer-first voice agent platform with pluggable STT/LLM/TTS and phone numbers—minute-metered pricing for inbound/outbound bots and scheduling agents.
Voice agent platform tuned for low latency and natural barge-in—visual orchestration, rented phone numbers, and templates for inbound/outbound call flows.
Bland AI: popular AI product—see the official site for features, pricing, supported regions, data handling, and latest model lineup.
LiveKit Agents: popular AI product—see the official site for features, pricing, supported regions, data handling, and latest model lineup.
Low-latency TTS with streaming APIs and custom voices (Sonic series)—a go-to layer for natural-feeling voice agents and audio products.
Hume AI: popular AI product—see the official site for features, pricing, supported regions, data handling, and latest model lineup.
Deepgram: popular AI product—see the official site for features, pricing, supported regions, data handling, and latest model lineup.
Pipecat: popular AI product—see the official site for features, pricing, supported regions, data handling, and latest model lineup.