{"id":"voice-agent-platform","slug":"voice-agent-platform","name":"Full voice-agent platform (STT+TTS+orchestration)","shortName":"Full voice-agent platform (STT+TTS+orche…","problemStatement":"Ship a realtime voice agent without stitching STT, LLM, and TTS yourself.","whenNotTopPick":"Want OSS realtime media control and to compose models yourself — LiveKit; STT-quality is the product — Deepgram; already on Cartesia Sonic+Ink and only need their voice agent minutes.","categoryIds":["cat-media-gen","cat-inference-apis"],"depotPickProviderId":"vapi","depotPickRationale":"End-to-end capability to ship without stitching. Round 4: Vapi is the actual orchestration SKU; Deepgram remains production-stt pick. Watch Deepgram Flux TTS promo expiry 2026-09-14.","runnersUpIds":["bland","retell","livekit","deepgram","cartesia"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.3,"pricePerformance":0.16,"latencyReliability":0.2,"developerDx":0.16,"privacyPosture":0.08,"lockInRisk":0.05,"maturity":0.05},"methodologyNotes":"End-to-end capability to ship without stitching. Round 4: Vapi is the actual orchestration SKU; Deepgram remains production-stt pick. Watch Deepgram Flux TTS promo expiry 2026-09-14.","tags":["voice"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Want OSS realtime media control and to compose models yourself — LiveKit; STT-quality is the product — Deepgram; already on Cartesia Sonic+Ink and only need their voice agent minutes.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"bland","name":"Bland AI","overallForJob":7.91,"pickOverallForJob":8.25,"beatsPickOn":["pricePerformance","privacyPosture"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":6.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[{"text":"HIPAA/ZDR add-ons are expensive vs LiveKit self-host","field":"weaknesses"}],"selfHostFallback":[],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up Bland AI (5 vs 6.5).","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-09-14","ageDays":43,"stale":true,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":2,"sourcesReachable":2,"pricingRows":1,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":1,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"vapi","slug":"vapi","name":"Vapi","tagline":"Depot pick for shipping a phone/voice agent without assembling vendors. LiveKit when you want OSS + realtime…","overall":8.25},"runnersUp":[{"id":"bland","slug":"bland","name":"Bland AI","tagline":"Pick for high-volume outbound when bundled $/min and dialer features beat BYOK flexibility. Vapi/Retell when…","overall":7.91},{"id":"retell","slug":"retell","name":"Retell AI","tagline":"Best Vapi peer for balanced inbound voice agents with clear $/min math. Vapi remains Depot default; Bland for…","overall":8.32},{"id":"livekit","slug":"livekit","name":"LiveKit Cloud","tagline":"Default when the agent is a realtime session (voice or video) you want to own. Vapi for turnkey telephony…","overall":8.6},{"id":"deepgram","slug":"deepgram","name":"Deepgram","tagline":"Default STT and strong voice-agent platform. Standard Flux TTS / Voice Agent rates live since 2026-09-15…","overall":8.55},{"id":"cartesia","slug":"cartesia","name":"Cartesia","tagline":"Top pick for realtime low-latency voice agents. ElevenLabs for voice library breadth.","overall":7.93}]}