Our take
Pick Ably if app teams who will stay on Free $0 (200 connections, 500 msg/s, 6M messages/month) while they ship a first React pub/sub page, then buy Standard at $29/month + usage when they need 10k channels / 10k connections / 2.5k msg/s — or Pro at $399/month + usage for 50k / 50k / 10k. Pick LiveKit if voice teams who will burn Build for $0 (1,000 agent minutes, $2.50 inference credits, 1 free number) and only
realtime pub/sub desk
Best for
Ably Messages you start at $0
LiveKit A voice or video agent with rooms, phones, and traces
Free plan
Ably $0 · proof of concept. 200 concurrent connections. 500 messages / second. 6M messages / month. Build with any Ably product. Community & email support (best effort). No commitment
LiveKit $0 · you host the media server and the agent process
Lowest paid
Ably Usage $2.50
LiveKit Ship $50/mo
Next step up
Ably Standard $29/mo
LiveKit Scale $500/mo
Coding agent
Ably AI Transport
LiveKit Voice Agents
Runs where
Ably
LiveKit Hosted
Watch out
Ably $29 / $399 is a floor, not the bill
LiveKit Build $0 is not free tokens
Last checked
Ably 2026-10-22 · ably.com/pricing
LiveKit 2026-10-22 · livekit.io/pricing
app teams who will stay on Free $0 (200 connections, 500 msg/s, 6M messages/month) while they ship a first React pub/sub page, then buy Standard at $29/month + usage when they need 10k channels / 10k connections / 2.5k msg/s — or Pro at $399/month + usage for 50k / 50k / 10k.
Read the Ably pagevoice teams who will burn Build for $0 (1,000 agent minutes, $2.50 inference credits, 1 free number) and only open Ship at $50 when they need a second deploy and email support.
Read the LiveKit page