Features, pricing, and fit
Compare Realtime API and Vapi on voice capabilities, pricing, and fit.
Compare OpenAI Realtime and Vapi for AI phone agents, Voice AI platforms, then match channels, workflows, and deployment models to your call flow.
Model-level realtime API for text and audio input/output over WebRTC, WebSocket, or SIP, with function calling.
Product and engineering teams building a spoken application around a realtime model instead of a packaged contact-center product.
Explore its buying criteria: AI phone agents · Voice AI platforms.
Developer platform for composing voice agents from selectable speech, language, and voice providers, with phone and web call paths.
Engineering teams that want provider-level control over STT, LLM, and TTS choices, tools, and call orchestration.
Explore its buying criteria: AI phone agents · Voice AI platforms · Conversation builders.
Both profiles checked 2026-09-04.
Use the table below to compare each provider’s documented scope.
Before you decide
OpenAI Realtime: Token-based API pricing for text, audio, and image modalities; audio input/output rates are published per million tokens. Vapi: Usage-based hosting plus model and telephony pass-through; Scale adds an annual contract, committed volume, and volume pricing. Ask both vendors to quote the same expected workload, required channels, and implementation scope. Include required subscriptions and usage charges before comparing the total; the listed starting prices alone may cover different work.
The recorded knowledge and data sources for OpenAI Realtime include Not publicly documented. For Vapi, they include Not publicly documented. Ask each provider to demonstrate access for the exact systems you use, with permissions, freshness, and failure behavior. A source missing from this directory is not proof that a provider cannot support it.
Use the same representative calls, approved instructions, and escalation rules in both pilots. How does it handle interruption and uncertainty? Which actions can it complete, and which require approval? What context reaches a human during transfer? Record conversation quality, completed tasks, human handoffs, and total cost in the buyer worksheet. Check these specific cautions before launch: OpenAI Realtime: Not a turnkey contact center. Implement telephony operations, identity, tools, monitoring, evaluation, retention, and escalation. Vapi: Price every selected provider; the buyer owns prompts, tools, carrier setup, compliance, and reliability.
Record your requirements and pilot results in the buyer worksheet →
Swipe or scroll the table to see every column.
| Criterion | Realtime API | Vapi |
|---|---|---|
| Provider type | Native realtime multimodal model API | Voice agent API and orchestration platform |
| Best fit | Product and engineering teams building a spoken application around a realtime model instead of a packaged contact-center product. | Engineering teams that want provider-level control over STT, LLM, and TTS choices, tools, and call orchestration. |
| Key capabilities | audio-to-audio conversation; WebRTC; WebSocket; SIP; tools | provider selection; tools; testing; analytics; inbound and outbound calls |
| Team sizes | startup; mid-market; enterprise; developer | startup; mid-market; enterprise; developer |
| Call surfaces | WebRTC; WebSocket; SIP; API / SDK | phone / PSTN; SIP; web voice; API / SDK |
| Voice stack | Native audio input/output with tool calling | Configurable pipeline, including STT-LLM-TTS and OpenAI Realtime |
| Telephony | SIP connection; carrier integration remains buyer responsibility | managed numbers; bring-your-own telephony; SIP |
| Call controls | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented |
| Languages | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented |
| Integrations | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented |
| Knowledge and data | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented |
| Pricing model | Token-based API pricing for text, audio, and image modalities; audio input/output rates are published per million tokens. | Usage-based hosting plus model and telephony pass-through; Scale adds an annual contract, committed volume, and volume pricing. |
| Pricing signal | GPT-Realtime audio $32 per million input audio tokens and $64 per million output audio tokens. | $0.05/min hosting plus provider and telephony pass-through; 60 minutes, 10 calls, and $10/month number listed. |
| Free plan or trial | Not publicly documented | Not publicly documented |
| What stands out | GPT-Realtime accepts and returns audio directly, while the Agents SDK supplies transport helpers plus tools, guardrails, handoffs, and session history. | Vapi exposes the STT-LLM-TTS components separately while also documenting an OpenAI Realtime option; the same platform covers phone, web, SDK, testing, and tool calls. |
| Considerations | Not a turnkey contact center. Implement telephony operations, identity, tools, monitoring, evaluation, retention, and escalation. | Price every selected provider; the buyer owns prompts, tools, carrier setup, compliance, and reliability. |
Product and engineering teams building a spoken application around a realtime model instead of a packaged contact-center product.
GPT-Realtime accepts and returns audio directly, while the Agents SDK supplies transport helpers plus tools, guardrails, handoffs, and session history.
Engineering teams that want provider-level control over STT, LLM, and TTS choices, tools, and call orchestration.
Vapi exposes the STT-LLM-TTS components separately while also documenting an OpenAI Realtime option; the same platform covers phone, web, SDK, testing, and tool calls.
Verify current pricing, limits, security, and required integrations directly with each provider before purchasing.
Test recognition, speech quality, interruptions, language switching, tool use, and human transfer with your own calls in the required language. Availability can vary by model, plan, and phone route.
DocsBot documents multilingual voice workflows and Japanese support. Verify the exact voice, phone path, and transfer behavior in your pilot. Review DocsBot language information ↗
Other providers’ language claims reflect cited vendor material; confirm Japanese and other required languages directly with each provider.
Listing does not imply endorsement or a performance guarantee. This directory is published by DocsBot. Editorial policy
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