What is the best free alternative to TEN Framework?
LiveKit Agents is the closest free alternative to TEN Framework: same Real-Time Voice Agents sub-category, and it is free. Apache-2.0 open-source framework, fully self-hostable on your own servers
Best free TEN Framework alternatives
Looking for a free alternative to TEN Framework? Here are 9 real-time voice agents worth trying — 5 with a free tier. TEN Framework itself is free.
| Tool | TEN Framework (you searched) | LiveKit Agents | Pipecat | Bolna |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | free | free | free | free |
| Best for | Open-source framework for real-time conversational voice and multimodal agents | Apache-2.0 open-source framework, fully self-hostable on your own servers | BSD-2-Clause open-source Python framework for real-time voice/multimodal agents | Open-source framework for phone voice agents, from an India-based team |
| Visit | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ | Open ↗ |
TEN Framework alternatives — straight answers
Are there free TEN Framework alternatives?
Yes — 5 of the 9 alternatives listed here are free or freemium: LiveKit Agents, Pipecat, Bolna, Kyutai Unmute, XiaoZhi AI. None of them are paid-only.
Is TEN Framework free?
TEN Framework is free. There is no paid plan attached to it in the catalog.
How were these TEN Framework alternatives chosen?
They are the other tools in Real-Time Voice Agents, then the rest of AI Agents & Automation, ordered free tiers first and capped at 9. There is no sponsorship and no paid placement in that ordering — only the pricing tier decides.
All TEN Framework alternatives
Browse Real-Time Voice Agents →LiveKit Agents
Real-Time Voice Agents
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Apache-2.0 open-source framework, fully self-hostable on your own servers.
- Apache-2.0 open-source framework, fully self-hostable on your own servers
- Native WebRTC client support across web/mobile/telephony out of the box
- Native Model Context Protocol (MCP) support for tool-using voice agents
Pipecat
Real-Time Voice Agents
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — BSD-2-Clause open-source Python framework for real-time voice/multimodal agents.
- BSD-2-Clause open-source Python framework for real-time voice/multimodal agents
- Supports distributed multi-agent systems with handoffs over a shared bus
- Maintained by Daily with an active plugin ecosystem for STT/LLM/TTS providers
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Open-source framework for phone voice agents, from an India-based team.
- Open-source framework for phone voice agents, from an India-based team
- Connects to telephony, STT, LLM and TTS providers of your choice
- Supports Indian languages
- Self-host free; hosted platform is pay-as-you-go
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Wraps any text LLM with Kyutai's streaming speech-to-text and text-to-speech for voice conversation.
- Wraps any text LLM with Kyutai's streaming speech-to-text and text-to-speech for voice conversation
- Open-source code and weights that can be self-hosted
- Low-latency interruptible conversation
- Free demo available online
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Open-source ESP32 voice chatbot with wake word, Opus streaming and a display.
- Open-source ESP32 voice chatbot with wake word, Opus streaming and a display
- Free official server lets personal users try a Qwen real-time model after registering
- Device-side and cloud MCP for controlling IoT gadgets
- MIT licensed firmware supporting many ESP32 chips
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Orchestrates STT/LLM/TTS providers of choice into one low-latency voice-agent pipeline.
- Orchestrates STT/LLM/TTS providers of choice into one low-latency voice-agent pipeline
- Usage-based per-minute pricing with free trial minutes included
- SOC 2/HIPAA/PCI compliance add-ons for regulated call-center deployments
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Free starting credit with no contract required.
- Free starting credit with no contract required
- Supports swapping GPT, Claude or Gemini as the reasoning layer per agent
- Batch calling campaigns plus live AI-to-human call transfer built in
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — All-in-one per-minute pricing bundles LLM+STT+TTS with no separate token pass-through charges.
- All-in-one per-minute pricing bundles LLM+STT+TTS with no separate token pass-through charges
- Free start with call credits plus an inbound number included
- Tiered platform fees (Build/Scale) unlock lower per-minute rates for high volume
✦ WhyA TEN Framework alternative — Speech-native processing skips the STT-to-text bottleneck, preserving tone/cadence/pitch.
- Speech-native processing skips the STT-to-text bottleneck, preserving tone/cadence/pitch
- Free tier: 5¢/min including TTS for up to 5 concurrent calls
- Open-weight models (fixie-ai) published on Hugging Face for research use