Skip to content
Agent Search Engine

Issue 001 / A living technical almanac

Rankings never sold

Voice Agents · Head-to-head

ElevenLabs Agents vs ten-vad

ElevenLabs Agents and ten-vad are both voice agents. ElevenLabs Agents is Conversational voice agents powered by ElevenLabs' leading speech models, while ten-vad is voice Activity Detector (VAD): low-latency, high-performance and lightweight. Here's an independent, side-by-side look at how they compare — and which fits.

ElevenLabs Agents

Platform· Freemium

Conversational voice agents powered by ElevenLabs' leading speech models.

Visit ElevenLabs Agents
ten-vad

SDK / library· Open source

Voice Activity Detector (VAD): low-latency, high-performance and lightweight

Visit ten-vad

Bottom line

ElevenLabs Agents and ten-vad take different routes to the same job: one is a commercial product, the other open-source and self-hostable. Choose based on whether you want a managed experience or full control.

Side by side

SpecElevenLabs Agentsten-vad
TypePlatformSDK / library
ModelCommercialOpen source
PricingFreemiumOpen source
GitHub stars2,185
LanguageC
Last activityFeb 2026

Key differences

  • ElevenLabs Agents is a commercial product; ten-vad is open-source and self-hostable.
  • Pricing model differs — ElevenLabs Agents is freemium, ten-vad is open source.

Choose ElevenLabs Agents if

Voice agents that need best-in-class speech quality and voice cloning..

Choose ten-vad if

you want an open-source, self-hostable option you control.

About ElevenLabs Agents

Conversational voice agents powered by ElevenLabs' leading speech models.

Full ElevenLabs Agents profile →

About ten-vad

Voice Activity Detector (VAD): low-latency, high-performance and lightweight

Full ten-vad profile →

Frequently asked

What's the main difference between ElevenLabs Agents and ten-vad?
ElevenLabs Agents is a commercial product; ten-vad is open-source and self-hostable.
Is ElevenLabs Agents or ten-vad better?
Neither is universally better. ElevenLabs Agents is the stronger fit for Voice agents that need best-in-class speech quality and voice cloning; ten-vad for an open-source, self-hostable option you control. Use the side-by-side specs to decide by your own constraints.
Is ElevenLabs Agents or ten-vad free?
ElevenLabs Agents is free to start (freemium), with paid tiers; ten-vad is free to run and self-host.
Which is more popular, ElevenLabs Agents or ten-vad?
We rank open-source projects by GitHub adoption, but at least one of these is a commercial product and stars don't measure commercial adoption — so compare them on capabilities and pricing instead.
Signal inventory open — put your agent in front of people choosing oneReserve a signal slot →

More voice agents comparisons

All voice agents