Pipecat

What it is for

Pipecat is a BSD-2-Clause voice-agent framework: wire STT → LLM → TTS as a pipeline, talk to it in a browser, then optionally host it on Pipecat Cloud. Use it when the job is orchestrate providers you already pay, not when you need a no-code room with a printed $50 seat.

What makes it unique: the cover is the official pipecat-ai/pipecat GitHub file list — src/pipecat/, examples/, docs/, BSD-2-Clause in the About pane — not a pricing card.

Key features

• Pipeline — Pipeline([transport.input(), stt, llm, tts, transport.output()]) so speech goes in and speech comes out (Quickstart). One conversation loop; Deepgram / OpenAI / Cartesia (or swaps) are SKU, not three products.
• Transports — Daily WebRTC, SmallWebRTC, or a websocket you bring (uv run bot.py; -t daily). A pipe, not the LLM.
• Multi-agent — specialists hand off, fan out, or run as sidecars on a shared bus; job() / job_group() dispatch work across agents (README; Job Coordination). Orchestration across agents, not extra processors on one pipeline.
• Pipecat Cloud — pipecat cloud deploy hosts the same bot (agent-1x $0.01/active min) (Cloud pricing). A host, not the library.
• Telephony — Twilio / Daily SIP / PSTN so the pipeline answers a phone (Cloud Telephony; TV #4 phone project). A call, not a browser tab.

VAD, context aggregators, and RTVI sit on this pipeline. pipecat init / pip / Docker are install. Agent-minutes, transport minutes, and your STT/LLM/TTS keys are the meter.

Who it's for

Best fit: voice engineers who will run OSS for $0 (you pay Deepgram / OpenAI / Cartesia) and only open Cloud when they want pipecat cloud deploy instead of a box.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) from the BSD-2-Clause LICENSE, docs.pipecat.ai, and daily.co/pricing/pipecat-cloud.

• Software (OSS) — BSD-2-Clause. License fee $0. You pay the providers you plug in.
• Cloud agent-1x (0.5 vCPU / 1 GB) — active $0.01/min; reserved $0.0005/min.
• Cloud agent-2x (1 vCPU / 2 GB) — active $0.02/min; reserved $0.0010/min.
• Cloud agent-3x (1.5 vCPU / 3 GB) — active $0.03/min; reserved $0.0015/min.
• Transport — Daily WebRTC voice $0.001 (free for 1:1 on Cloud); voice+video $0.004 / participant-min.
• Telephony — Daily SIP $0.003–$0.02/min; PSTN $0.018/min; SIP Refer $0.20/event. Twilio billed to Twilio.
• Krisp VIVA — first 10k session minutes free; then $0.0015/min.
• Recording — audio $0.005/min; audio+video $0.01349/min; storage $0.003/min.
• Enterprise support — AWS Marketplace lists $5,000/month (Healthcare $5,500). Confirm that card; it is support, not hosting.

Do not invent a $20 Cloud seat.

Limitations / costs

• OSS is $0; the keys are not. The quickstart needs Deepgram + OpenAI + Cartesia.
• Cloud is per-minute. Reserved capacity bills even when idle.
• pipecat init is a starter. The CLI scaffolds a bot; it is getting-started, not a product surface.
• A pipeline kit, not a hosted room SKU. For a $0/$50/$500 Cloud card, see LiveKit.

Alternatives

• LiveKit — rooms + Agents with a printed Build/Ship/Scale card.
• Vapi — a hosted voice-agent desk when you do not want to write a pipeline.
• Gladia — STT only when you do not need the rest of the loop.

Official tutorial

Official Daily channel video: Pipecat TV - Episode 4 - Getting Started (oEmbed author: Daily). Pipecat is Daily’s framework; this is the first-party CLI scaffold.

Written path: Pipecat Quickstart plus Cloud pricing.

Website

https://www.pipecat.ai

Repository

https://github.com/pipecat-ai/pipecat

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is the official pipecat-ai/pipecat GitHub file list (BSD-2-Clause + src/pipecat). License fee $0; Cloud agent-1x $0.01/active min. Tutorial oEmbed author: Daily.

Last verified

2026-10-22 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.