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Home / Comparisons / Vendor voice AI vs an open framework
Straight comparison

Vendor voice AI, or an open framework?

Packaged voice agents are quick and genuinely good. The question is what happens in year two, when the per-minute price changes or you want the agent to do something the product does not do.

[ 01 / SIDE BY SIDE ]

The comparison, without the marketing

Every row is something we have actually been asked in a scoping call.

Packaged vendor productBetr Agency
Time to first callDays. That is the real advantage.Two to four weeks including tuning on our own line first
Per-minute costSet by the vendor and revisable by themModel and telephony at cost; the framework itself is free
Licence of the coreProprietaryApache-2.0 for LiveKit Agents, open source for Pipecat
Changing telephony providerUsually means changing productPortable. The agent moves; your number stays.
Custom behaviourWhat the product exposesWhatever you can specify, since the pipeline is yours
Where your call data sitsThe vendor's infrastructureInfrastructure you control
Who fixes a bad callA support ticketUs, against transcripts we can read line by line
Sensible whenYou want to test whether voice AI works for you at allYou have decided it does and want it to be an asset
[ 02 / THE HONEST BIT ]

When the other option is the right one

A comparison page that never recommends the alternative is an advertisement, not a comparison.

[ CHOOSE THEM ]

Packaged vendor product wins when

  • You want to find out cheaply whether callers accept an AI agent at all
  • Call volume is low enough that per-minute pricing never bites
  • You have no appetite for owning any part of the stack

If two of those are true of you, do that instead. We would rather tell you now than take a deposit for something that will not pay for itself.

[ CHOOSE US ]

We win when

  • Voice is a core channel and you expect volume to grow
  • You want to keep your phone numbers and your provider options open
  • The agent needs to reach into your job system, not just take a message

If two of those are true, the build usually pays for itself inside a year. You can check that yourself on the instant scope page.

[ 03 / THE BUILDS ]

What this looks like as a build

Priced on the page, and you can add them to a scope without talking to anyone.

Know which way you are leaning?

Price the build yourself first. If the number does not work, you have saved us both a call.