The AI-first alternative to LiveKit
LiveKit sells the open-source SFU and the agent room. Orbit sells the same in-browser room plus the messaging, email, contact center, and AI around it, on one account.
Orbit vs LiveKit, in one answer
Orbit is the AI-first alternative to LiveKit for a team that wants the room plus the account around it, not another stack to self-host. Orbit ships in-browser video rooms with full moderator controls, live broadcast, session recording, agent co-browse, and AI video avatar participants, and the same account also runs programmable voice, SMS and MMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email, AI voice agents, and a built-in contact center — one self-serve account and one pay-as-you-go bill instead of an open-source RTC server plus separate messaging and email vendors. LiveKit is a genuine RTC specialist: its open-source SFU is a real product, its Agents framework lets code participants join a room, and parties screensharing in-call are documented SDK features. Where Orbit is not the right fit: if you need to white-label the video stack under your own brand or self-host the media server for compliance reasons, a self-hosted open-source SFU is the correct shape. Migrate by embedding Orbit's prebuilt room component where LiveKit's room SDK renders today; the voice and messaging channels land on the same account as you move them.
of B2B technology search queries now surface an AI-generated answer — up from 36% a year earlier.
BrightEdge, 2026
LiveKit is the open-source RTC specialist — a WebRTC SFU you self-host or consume as LiveKit Cloud, with agent primitives (the LiveKit Agents framework) that let code participants join a room, and no messaging, email, or contact center on the account.
| Feature | Orbit | LiveKit |
|---|---|---|
| Video & real-time engagement | ||
| Embeddable in-browser video rooms | ||
| Full moderator controls (mute, spotlight, lock, remove) | 3 | |
| Live broadcast to an audience | ||
| Session recording with share & revoke links | 3 | |
| Agent co-browse (screen guidance in-call) | 3 | |
| AI video avatar participants (talking-head agents that join a room) | 3 | |
| Published voice-agent latency budget & methodology | 1 | |
| The account around the video | ||
| Programmable voice & SMS/MMS messaging on the same account | ||
| WhatsApp Business messaging | ||
| Email API | ||
| Native AI voice agents on one API | ||
| Built-in contact center (CCaaS) | ||
| Commercial model | ||
| Published pricing on website | ||
| Self-serve signup (no sales call) | ||
| Pay-as-you-go usage billing | ||
| One unified bill across video, voice, messaging & email (no per-channel contracts) | ||
- 1Per-stage latency budget & methodology published on Orbit's voice-agent latency page.
- 3RTC capability claims are substantiated on Orbit's RTC-PaaS feature page.
Comparison data as of Q3 2026. Competitor pricing and feature details sourced from public vendor documentation, G2, and Gartner Peer Insights. Subject to change at the vendor's discretion. Yes Partial No
Orbit vs LiveKit — frequently asked
- Is Orbit a good LiveKit alternative?
- Yes — Orbit is a full platform alternative for teams replacing a dedicated video vendor. Orbit's RTC platform ships in-browser video rooms with full moderator controls, live broadcast, session recording, agent co-browse, and AI avatar participants, and the same account also runs voice, messaging, email, and AI voice agents, so you sign one contract instead of a video vendor plus a messaging vendor. Signing up for Orbit needs no sales call — it is self-serve with usage-based pricing published on the site.
- What does Orbit offer that LiveKit doesn't?
- LiveKit is a real-time engagement platform — video and audio rooms. Orbit runs the same video rooms on the same platform as programmable voice, SMS and MMS, WhatsApp, RCS, email, AI voice agents, and a built-in contact center, so video conversations can move across channels without leaving the account — for example a support session that starts as a co-browse can follow up over SMS and email without integrating a second vendor.
- How does Orbit's pricing compare to LiveKit's?
- Orbit is pay-as-you-go per-active-minute usage billing for video — the same volume-cheap model LiveKit uses — but every channel bills to one wallet with no paid support tier and no carrier or compliance surcharges stacked on top of usage, so a customer replacing LiveKit is not choosing between pricing models; it is choosing between one contract that covers the whole stack and one video-only contract plus separate messaging and email vendors.
- Can I embed video rooms in my product the way I do with LiveKit?
- Yes. Orbit ships prebuilt in-browser video room components and an SDK that a product team embeds for consultations, onboarding, or support, with moderator roles, spotlight, and recording built in — the same embed-a-room pattern LiveKit's SDK offers, on an account that also carries the voice, messaging, and email channels around the call.
Ready to build on the AI-first platform?
Start free and ship an AI voice agent today, or talk to our team about moving from LiveKit. No annual contract, one pay-as-you-go bill across every channel.
See transparent pay-as-you-go pricing
Shopping by business size? Alternatives for 2026 — CPaaS and AI agent infrastructure, by business size