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Daily.co Alternatives

Video APIFree tier available
Visit Daily.co
PlanMonthlyAnnual
FreeFree—
Pay-as-you-go$50.00/mo—
ScaleMost popular$2,500.00/mo$30,000.00/yr
Enterprise$8,000.00/mo$96,000.00/yr

Verdict

Daily.co is the developer-friendly video API platform with $0.004 per participant-minute and 10K free minutes monthly. Where alternatives win: Twilio Video offers $0.004 group + $0.0015 peer-to-peer with mature ecosystem, Whereby Embedded is the simplest iframe-based integration at $9.99 monthly Build, Agora.io specializes in live streaming with $0.99-$1.99 per 1K minutes HD, 100ms ships HMS prebuilt UI from $0.005 per participant-minute, Vonage Video is OpenTok-compatible at $0.00475 per participant-minute, and LiveKit is Apache 2 OSS for self-hosting plus optional Cloud from $0.0015 per minute.

By Subrupt EditorialPublished Reviewed

Video API platforms emerged because building reliable WebRTC at growth-stage volume (signaling, NAT traversal, SFU/MCU, recording, transcription) takes 12-18 months and 5+ engineers. Twilio Video launched in 2015 as the established choice; Daily.co (2018) targeted developer ergonomics; Whereby pivoted to embedded API in 2020; Agora and 100ms specialized in live streaming and prebuilt UI; LiveKit (2021) launched as OSS self-hostable. The 2024-2026 wave saw all platforms add AI features (transcription, summarization, real-time translation) as table stakes.

Pricing math: a typical telehealth product running 100K participant-minutes monthly on Daily.co pays $400 (after 10K free minutes); same on Twilio Video Group at $0.004 is $400; Whereby Embedded Build covers it for $10 plus usage; Agora.io HD at $0.99 per 1K minutes is $99; 100ms at $0.005 is $500; Vonage Video at $0.00475 is $475; LiveKit Cloud Pro at $0.0015 is $150. Pricing spread is 3-5x at small scale; at high volume (1M+ monthly minutes), Agora.io and LiveKit are typically 2-3x cheaper than Daily.co.

Pick by your shape. Established mature ecosystem: Twilio Video. Simplest iframe-based integration: Whereby Embedded. Live streaming specialist: Agora.io. HMS prebuilt UI included: 100ms. OpenTok-compatible API: Vonage Video. OSS self-hostable: LiveKit.

Affiliate disclosure: Subrupt earns a commission when you switch to a service through our recommendation links. This never changes the price you pay. We only recommend services where there's a real cost or feature advantage for you, and our picks are based on the data on this page, not on which programs pay the most.

Quick pick by use case

If you only have thirty seconds, find your situation below and skip to that pick.

If your team wants the established mature video API ecosystem with broad SDKsTwilio VideoTwilio Video charges $0.004/participant-min Group + $0.0015/min Peer with React Native + iOS + Android + JS SDKs.If your priority is iframe-based simplicity with $9.99 entryWhereby EmbeddedWhereby Embedded Build at $9.99/mo covers iframe + React SDK with $0.005-$0.012 per participant-minute usage.If your use case is large-scale live streaming with cheap per-minute pricingAgora.ioAgora.io Free covers 10K minutes/mo; Pay-as-you-go at $0.99/1K min HD video + $1.99/1K min Full HD makes large-scale streaming cost-efficient.If you want HMS prebuilt UI shipped out of the box100ms100ms Free covers 10K minutes/mo; pay-as-you-go from $0.005/min with HMS prebuilt UI for fast time-to-launch.If your stack uses OpenTok-compatible APIs and you need migration pathVonage Video APIVonage Video API is OpenTok-compatible at $0.00475/participant-minute with JS + iOS + Android SDKs.

At a glance: Daily.co alternatives

Quick comparison across pricing floor, best fit, and switching effort. Tap a row to jump to the full pick.

Our picks for Daily.co alternatives

#1

Twilio Video

Free tierHigh switching effort

Best for established mature ecosystem

Try Twilio Video

Twilio Video Pay-as-you-go charges $0.004 per participant-minute (Group) plus $0.0015 per participant-minute (Peer-to-Peer) with JS plus iOS plus Android plus React Native SDKs; Twilio Premium Support at $1K monthly plus 4% Twilio spend covers standard SLA plus faster response plus architectural reviews; Twilio Enterprise covers multi-region plus dedicated tenancy with SOC 2 plus HIPAA plus dedicated CSM. The differentiator vs Daily.co is the ecosystem maturity: Twilio is the most-established video API platform with the broadest SDK support, deepest integrations, and largest customer base. For enterprise teams who value vendor longevity and ecosystem depth, Twilio fits where Daily.co's smaller ecosystem creates risk. The trade vs Daily.co: less developer-friendly modern UX, slower feature pace.

Strengths

  • +Most established video API ecosystem
  • +JS + iOS + Android + React Native SDKs
  • +$0.0015/min Peer-to-Peer cheapest mode
  • +Premium Support tier available

Trade-offs

  • −Less developer-friendly UX than Daily.co
  • −Slower feature pace
  • −Premium support adds 4% Twilio spend
Pay-as-you-go
$0.004/participant-min Group
Peer mode
$0.0015/participant-min
Premium Support
$1K/mo + 4% Twilio spend
Enterprise
Custom + HIPAA
Migration steps
  1. Sign up at twilio.com (free trial credits).
  2. Migrate Daily.co rooms to Twilio Video rooms.
  3. Replace daily-js SDK with twilio-video SDK.
  4. Run parallel for 60-90 days before cancelling Daily.co.

Not for: Twilio Video is the wrong fit for teams who depend on Daily.co's modern developer experience or specific features (Daily Prebuilt UI, transcription); staying with Daily.co is correct for those.

Paid plans from $1,000.00/mo

#2

Whereby Embedded

Free tierLow switching effort

Best for iframe-based simplicity

Try Whereby Embedded

Whereby Embedded Free Trial covers $10 free credits with $0.005-$0.012 per participant-minute; Build at $9.99 monthly plus usage covers 1080p plus recording plus breakouts with iframe or React SDK; Grow at $500-$2K monthly typical covers volume discounts plus multi-region with Slack support plus analytics; Enterprise covers multi-region plus dedicated tenancy with HIPAA plus dedicated CSM. The differentiator vs Daily.co is the iframe-first integration: where Daily.co requires more SDK integration code, Whereby Embedded provides a one-line iframe plus optional React SDK. For non-engineering teams or teams who want to ship video in days rather than weeks, Whereby's iframe approach removes the integration complexity. The trade vs Daily.co: less customizable than full SDK, smaller customer base.

Strengths

  • +One-line iframe integration
  • +$9.99/mo Build entry friendly
  • +1080p + recording + breakouts
  • +iframe + React SDK options

Trade-offs

  • −Less customizable than full SDK
  • −Smaller customer base than Daily.co
  • −Iframe limits some UX patterns
Free Trial
$10 credits
Build
$9.99/mo + usage
Grow
Custom (~$500-$2K/mo)
Enterprise
Custom + HIPAA
Migration steps
  1. Sign up at whereby.com/information/embedded ($10 trial).
  2. Replace Daily.co integration with Whereby iframe or React SDK.
  3. Configure recording and analytics.
  4. Cancel Daily.co when Whereby covers your needs at lower complexity.

Not for: Whereby Embedded is the wrong fit for teams who need deep customization beyond iframe limits; staying with Daily.co is correct for full SDK control.

Paid plans from $9.99/mo

#3

Agora.io

Free tierMedium switching effort

Best for large-scale live streaming

Try Agora.io

Agora.io Free covers 10K free minutes monthly with Voice plus Video plus Live Streaming for iOS plus Android plus Web plus Unity; Pay-as-you-go charges $0.99 per 1K min HD video plus $1.99 per 1K min Full HD video with standard SDKs plus analytics; Premium Support at $1K monthly covers premium tier plus architectural reviews; Enterprise covers multi-region plus dedicated tenancy with SOC 2 plus dedicated CSM. The differentiator vs Daily.co is the live streaming focus and pricing: Agora.io specializes in 1-to-many live streams at $0.99-$1.99 per 1K minutes (~$0.001-$0.002 per minute), where Daily.co at $0.004 per minute is 2-4x more expensive at production size. For consumer apps with large-audience live streaming (events, broadcasts, classes), Agora is visibly cheaper. The trade vs Daily.co: less polished modern dev experience, larger learning curve for SDKs.

Strengths

  • +10K free minutes/mo
  • +$0.99-$1.99 per 1K min cheapest at production volume
  • +Voice + Video + Live Streaming
  • +Unity SDK for game/metaverse use

Trade-offs

  • −Less polished modern dev UX
  • −Larger learning curve
  • −Per-1K-minutes pricing different model
Free
10K minutes/mo
Pay-as-you-go
$0.99-$1.99 per 1K min
Premium Support
$1K/mo
Enterprise
Custom + SOC 2
Migration steps
  1. Sign up at agora.io (free 10K minutes/mo).
  2. Build representative test with Agora SDKs.
  3. Replace Daily.co integration with Agora SDK.
  4. Run parallel for 30-60 days before cancelling Daily.co.

Not for: Agora is the wrong fit for small-scale 1:1 video calls where Daily.co's developer ergonomics matter more than pricing; staying with Daily.co is correct for small-scale.

Paid plans from $1,000.00/mo

#4

100ms

Free tierMedium switching effort

Best for HMS prebuilt UI

Try 100ms

100ms Free covers 10K free minutes monthly with standard 1080p plus recording for iOS plus Android plus Web SDKs; Pay-as-you-go charges $0.005-$0.012 per participant-minute with HMS prebuilt UI plus custom; Pro at $500-$2K monthly covers volume discounts plus multi-region with Slack support plus analytics; Enterprise covers multi-region plus dedicated tenancy with HIPAA plus dedicated CSM. The differentiator vs Daily.co is the HMS prebuilt UI: where Daily.co provides Daily Prebuilt as one option, 100ms's HMS prebuilt UI is more polished and customizable as the primary integration path. For teams who want to ship video in days with minimal custom UI work, 100ms's prebuilt approach is faster than Daily.co's. The trade vs Daily.co: smaller US customer base (100ms is India-headquartered), less mature analytics.

Strengths

  • +HMS prebuilt UI polished out of box
  • +10K free minutes/mo
  • +$0.005-$0.012 per participant-minute competitive
  • +Strong fit for fast-launch teams

Trade-offs

  • −Smaller US customer base
  • −Less mature analytics
  • −Newer platform (founded 2020)
Free
10K minutes/mo
Pay-as-you-go
$0.005-$0.012/min
Pro
Custom (~$500-$2K/mo)
Enterprise
Custom + HIPAA
Migration steps
  1. Sign up at 100ms.live (free 10K min/mo).
  2. Test HMS prebuilt UI on representative use case.
  3. Replace Daily.co integration with 100ms SDK.
  4. Cancel Daily.co when 100ms covers your needs.

Not for: 100ms is the wrong fit for teams who need US-headquartered vendor or Daily.co's specific features; staying with Daily.co is correct for those.

Paid plans from $50.00/mo

#5

Vonage Video API

Free tierMedium switching effort

Best for OpenTok-compatible API

Try Vonage Video API

Vonage Video API Free Trial covers $10 free credits; Pay-as-you-go charges $0.00475 per participant-minute (cheaper than Daily.co's $0.004 sometimes when Daily peer-to-peer fails) with OpenTok-compatible API plus JS plus iOS plus Android SDKs; Vonage Premier at $1K-$3K monthly covers volume discounts plus premium features; Enterprise covers multi-region plus dedicated tenancy with SOC 2 plus HIPAA plus dedicated CSM. The differentiator vs Daily.co is the OpenTok compatibility: Vonage acquired OpenTok in 2018 and the API remains compatible with original OpenTok integrations. For teams migrating from legacy OpenTok deployments or those using OpenTok-compatible third-party tools, Vonage is the natural path. The trade vs Daily.co: less polished modern dev UX, OpenTok legacy positioning.

Strengths

  • +OpenTok-compatible API
  • +$0.00475/participant-minute competitive
  • +$10 free trial credits
  • +Vonage Premier tier for premium features

Trade-offs

  • −Less polished modern dev UX than Daily.co
  • −OpenTok legacy positioning
  • −Smaller customer base than Twilio
Free Trial
$10 credits
Pay-as-you-go
$0.00475/participant-min
Vonage Premier
Custom (~$1K-$3K/mo)
Enterprise
Custom + HIPAA
Migration steps
  1. Sign up at vonage.com/communications-apis/video.
  2. Migrate Daily.co integration to Vonage Video SDK.
  3. Test OpenTok-compatible API features.
  4. Run parallel for 60-90 days before cancelling Daily.co.

Not for: Vonage Video is the wrong fit for greenfield teams without OpenTok legacy; staying with Daily.co is correct for modern stacks.

Paid plans from $1,500.00/mo

When to stay with Daily.co

Stay with Daily.co if your video product is built on Daily Prebuilt or daily-js, your recording plus transcription pipelines are wired in production, or your HIPAA compliance contract covers patient-facing video. The picks below address established Twilio Video, Whereby Embedded for iframe simplicity, Agora.io for live streaming, 100ms with HMS prebuilt UI, OpenTok-compatible Vonage Video, and OSS-self-hostable LiveKit.

5 Alternatives to Daily.co

Twilio VideoFree tier

Twilio Video starts at $1,000.00/mo vs Daily.co Scale at $2,500.00/mo

From $1,000.00/mo

Save $1,500.00/mo ($18,000.00/yr)

Switch to Twilio Video
Whereby EmbeddedFree tier

Whereby Embedded starts at $9.99/mo vs Daily.co Scale at $2,500.00/mo

From $9.99/mo

Save $2,490.01/mo ($29,880.12/yr)

Switch to Whereby Embedded
Agora.ioFree tier

Agora.io starts at $1,000.00/mo vs Daily.co Scale at $2,500.00/mo

From $1,000.00/mo

Save $1,500.00/mo ($18,000.00/yr)

Switch to Agora.io
100msFree tier

100ms starts at $50.00/mo vs Daily.co Scale at $2,500.00/mo

From $50.00/mo

Save $2,450.00/mo ($29,400.00/yr)

Switch to 100ms
Vonage Video APIFree tier

Vonage Video API starts at $1,500.00/mo vs Daily.co Scale at $2,500.00/mo

From $1,500.00/mo

Save $1,000.00/mo ($12,000.00/yr)

Switch to Vonage Video API

Price Comparison

Compared against Daily.co Scale ($2,500.00/mo)

Continue your research

Twilio Video alternativesWhereby Embedded alternativesAgora.io alternatives100ms alternativesVonage Video API alternatives

How we picked

Video API platform alternatives split along three vectors: deployment shape (cloud-only vs OSS-self-hostable), workload focus (small-scale 1:1 vs large-scale live streaming vs prebuilt UI), and ecosystem fit (standalone vs Twilio-bundled vs Vonage-bundled). Picks below address each combination.

Pricing pulled from each vendor's site on the review date. We score on cost-at-volume for representative video workloads (100K-1M monthly participant-minutes), SDK ergonomics (JS, iOS, Android, React Native, native mobile), recording and transcription quality, and operational lift to migrate. We weight against tools whose advertised pricing excludes essential features (recording, multi-region delivery, enterprise compliance) at the entry tier.

Update history1 update
  • Initial published version with 5 picks.

Frequently asked questions about Daily.co alternatives

When does Daily.co's pricing become problematic?

Math: Daily.co at $0.004 per participant-minute for 1M monthly minutes is $4K monthly ($48K annual). Same workload on Agora.io HD at $0.99 per 1K minutes is $990 monthly ($12K annual); LiveKit Cloud Pro at $0.0015 per minute is $1.5K monthly ($18K annual). The price spread is 2-4x at growth-stage volume. The crossover where Daily.co's developer experience justifies the premium is typically: 100K-1M monthly minutes where dev productivity matters more than per-minute cost; above 1M monthly minutes, alternatives typically win on absolute cost.

Should I use a video API or build with native WebRTC?

Building native WebRTC requires: signaling server (Socket.io plus custom protocol), TURN/STUN servers (coturn or Twilio Network Traversal), SFU or MCU for multi-party (Janus, mediasoup, Pion), recording infrastructure, and quality monitoring. Total: 6-12 months for one engineer plus ongoing operations. Video APIs (Daily.co, Twilio, Agora) handle all of this for $0.004-$0.012 per minute. The crossover where building pays back is typically: 10M+ monthly minutes with dedicated video engineering team plus very specific UX requirements that APIs cannot meet. Below that, video APIs typically pay back vs engineering time.

How do I evaluate quality across video APIs?

Three factors: (1) MOS (Mean Opinion Score) under network stress - all listed platforms achieve 4.0+ MOS on standard broadband, differences emerge on poor networks (mobile, congested wifi); (2) latency - Agora and LiveKit are typically lowest at 150-300ms; Daily.co and Twilio at 250-400ms; (3) reliability - measured by call-completion-rate, all major platforms achieve 99.5%+ in production. Test on representative network conditions (poor wifi, mobile carrier networks) to validate quality at your specific use case.

What about recording, transcription, and AI features?

All listed platforms support recording (cloud or local). Transcription support varies: Daily.co has built-in transcription via Deepgram; Twilio Video integrates with AssemblyAI; Agora.io has Agora Speech-to-Text; 100ms has built-in transcription; LiveKit Cloud has Deepgram integration. Real-time translation is newer: Daily.co and Agora are early leaders. AI summarization is typically integrated via OpenAI or Anthropic APIs after recording, not real-time. Plan for $0.001-$0.005 per transcribed minute on top of base video pricing.

How do video APIs handle HIPAA and regulated industries?

Mixed. Daily.co, Twilio Video, Whereby Embedded, Agora.io, 100ms, and Vonage Video all offer HIPAA-eligible Enterprise tiers with BAA (Business Associate Agreement). Pricing for HIPAA tier is typically 1.5-2x base pricing. For PCI (payment processing screens via video), platforms generally do not certify; you must avoid capturing card-input screens in recordings. For COPPA (under-13 users), most platforms have COPPA-compliant modes that limit data collection. Always check the latest compliance docs from your vendor and have your security team review before deploying in regulated apps.

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About the author: Subrupt Editorial

The team behind subrupt.com. We track subscriptions, surface cheaper alternatives, and publish comparisons where the score formula is on the page so you can recompute it yourself. We do not claim 30,000 hours of testing. What we claim is live pricing from our database, a transparent composite score, and honest savings math against a category baseline.

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