Best video call API for developers in 2026
There is no single best video call API. Pick by pricing model, SDKs, recording, captions, translation, hosting region and whether you need to self host. Here are eight options with prices read on 31 October 2026.
The honest answer to "best video call API for developers" is that it depends on four things: how you are billed, which platforms you build for, which extras you need (recording, captions, translation), and where the calls must run. This post gives a short list, the dated list prices of each, and a way to choose. Every price was read from the vendor's own page on 31 October 2026 and may have changed since.
The short list#
| Vendor | Best known for | Billing shape |
|---|---|---|
| Twilio Video | Fits teams already on Twilio | Per participant minute |
| Daily | Simple hosted calls with live transcription | Per participant minute, free tier |
| LiveKit | Open source media server you can also self host | Monthly plan plus overage |
| Vonage Video | Long established, pairs with Vonage voice and messaging | Per participant minute |
| Agora | Large scale, billing by video resolution | Per 1,000 minutes by resolution |
| Whereby Embedded | Small embedded projects | Monthly plan plus overage |
| Stream | Audio, video and live streaming with a monthly credit | Per 1,000 minutes plus add-ons |
| RespireSoft Meet API | Live captions and spoken translation built in | Per participant minute |
If you only want the Twilio angle, read Twilio Video alternatives first. It also shows what Twilio says about the end of life plan it reversed in October 2024.
Prices, side by side#
Dollars, list prices, checked 31 October 2026. A participant minute is one person in a call for one minute.
| Vendor | Video call price | Free or included | Recording | Captions or transcript |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twilio Video | $0.004 per participant minute | Trial credit | $0.004 per participant minute | $0.027 per room minute |
| Daily | $0.004, down to $0.0015 at 50M+ minutes | 10,000 minutes a month | $0.01349 per recorded minute plus $0.003 storage | $0.0059 per unmuted participant minute |
| LiveKit Cloud | $0.0005 over plan (Ship), $0.0004 (Scale) | 5,000 / 150,000 / 1.5M minutes (Build / Ship / Scale) | Transcode $0.02 per minute, track egress $0.001 | Not listed |
| Vonage Video | $0.00410 (see note) | Not confirmed | $0.01295 per archive minute (see note) | Not confirmed |
| Agora | HD $0.00399, Full HD $0.00899, audio $0.00099 | 10,000 minutes a month | Cloud, HD $0.00599 per minute | Not listed |
| Whereby Embedded | $0.0042 above plan | Free 2,000 minutes, Build $10.99 a month with 2,000 | $0.01 per minute | From $0.0065 per unmuted participant minute |
| Stream | Audio $0.0003, video not shown | $100 of usage free each month | HD $0.006 per minute | $0.008 per call minute |
| RespireSoft Meet API | $0.00025 | 20,000 minutes a month | $0.0009 per minute | $0.004 per caption minute |
Gaps we could not close:
- Vonage. Its pricing page returned HTTP 403 to our fetch. The two figures come from a search result that quotes the page, and older Vonage help articles show different numbers, so we could not confirm them. Check the page. Vonage lists a higher rate when more than 25 people publish at once.
- Stream. Only the audio rate is shown. Its FAQ says quality is billed at the highest level a user publishes or receives.
- LiveKit. Plans cost $0 (Build), from $50 a month (Ship) and from $500 a month (Scale). Bandwidth is billed too, with 250 GB included on Ship and $0.12 per GB above it.
- Whereby. The free plan limits meetings to 30 minutes. Some add-on rates are unclear per plan on the page.
- Meet API. Billing is not switched on yet, so you are not charged today. The prices may change.
How to choose#
1. Pricing model#
Per participant minute is the easiest to predict: people times minutes times rate. Plans with included minutes (LiveKit, Whereby) are cheap for small use and add a fixed monthly line. Per resolution pricing (Agora) rewards audio only or HD rather than Full HD. Watch the extras, because recording and transcription are often priced higher than the call itself. A 10 person, one hour call is 600 participant minutes. At $0.004 that is $2.40, and at $0.00025 it is $0.15, before any recording or captions.
2. SDKs and platforms#
Check the client you need first: web, iOS, Android, React Native, Flutter. A good web SDK does not mean a good native one. Then check the server side, since you need to create rooms and mint tokens in your own language. Read the SDK docs of two vendors before you decide, not their landing pages.
3. Recording#
Ask what is recorded (each person separately or one composed video), where it is stored, for how long, and how you download it. Twilio bills per participant and then composition on top. Daily bills recording per wall clock minute plus storage. Prices above show the large spread: $0.0009 to $0.01349 per minute.
4. Captions and translation#
Captions as an API feature are listed by Twilio, Daily, Whereby, Stream and RespireSoft. Spoken translation, where a listener hears the speaker in another language, is something we did not find on the other pricing pages, so ask each vendor directly if you need it. If you plan to bolt it on yourself, count the extra latency and the extra bill.
5. Hosting region and compliance#
If your users or your contract require a region, check it before writing code. Daily lists Regional Media Zones as a free add-on. LiveKit lists region pinning on its Scale plan. Meet API calls run on servers in the EU. Several vendors sell HIPAA support as a paid add-on (Daily $500 a month, Whereby $16.99 a month extra). We did not verify other compliance claims.
6. Self host option#
Only one vendor here says plainly that you can run the media server yourself: LiveKit describes its media server as open source and offers private deployments through sales. If self hosting is a hard requirement, start there. Everyone else is a hosted service as far as their pricing pages say.
7. Limits and support#
Look at room size, the rate limit on the REST API, and what support you get on the free tier. Daily lists email and Discord support on the free tier with best effort response. Twilio lists up to 50 participants with its calling price.
Where RespireSoft Meet API fits#
RespireSoft Meet API is ours, so read this section with that in mind. It is early, billing is off, and larger vendors beat us on track record, native mobile SDKs and compliance options. It fits when you want the following and are comfortable with a young product:
- Embed in minutes. Create a room and a meeting token on your server, then show the call with an iframe or the 2 kB embed SDK. See the embed quick start.
- Server SDKs. Node, Python, PHP and Go, with retries, idempotent writes and webhook signature checks. They are not yet published on npm, PyPI, Packagist or the Go proxy, and every REST call works over plain HTTPS from any language.
- Price per participant minute. $0.00025, with the first 20,000 minutes a month free per project, plus captions at $0.004, recording at $0.0009 and spoken translation at $0.012 per listener minute.
- Captions and translation. Up to 5 translation languages per room, transcripts in JSON, text, VTT or SRT. Read the captions and translation guide and test it in the free live interpreter and live captions.
- Recording. Audio or 720p video with transcript and chat, up to 240 minutes, kept 30 days by default.
- Hosting. EU servers, a TURN relay for strict networks, white label colours and logo.
It does not offer self hosting or phone dial in, and rooms hold up to 200 people. See pricing for the full list and add live captions to a meeting for a worked example.
Questions people ask#
What is the cheapest video call API? On list price per participant minute, LiveKit overage and Meet API are lowest of those we checked, but LiveKit adds plan and bandwidth fees. Compute your own month.
Which one has a free tier? Daily, LiveKit (Build), Agora, Whereby, Stream and Meet API all list free usage. Twilio lists a trial credit.
Can I build my own on WebRTC? Yes, with an open source media server such as LiveKit's. Budget for servers, TURN, monitoring and on call time, not only the software.