What's the main difference between ten-vad and Vapi?

Vapi is a commercial product; ten-vad is open-source and self-hostable.

Is ten-vad or Vapi better?

Neither is universally better. ten-vad is the stronger fit for an open-source, self-hostable option you control; Vapi for Developers building production voice agents with full API control over models, voices, and telephony. Use the side-by-side specs to decide by your own constraints.

Is ten-vad or Vapi free?

ten-vad is free to run and self-host; Vapi is a paid product.

Which is more popular, ten-vad or Vapi?

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.

Voice Agents · Head-to-head

ten-vad vs Vapi

ten-vad and Vapi are both voice agents. ten-vad is Voice Activity Detector (VAD): low-latency, high-performance and lightweight, while Vapi is developer platform for building, testing, and deploying voice AI agents. Here's an independent, side-by-side look at how they compare — and which fits.

ten-vad

SDK / library· Open source

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

Visit ten-vad →

Vapi

Platform· Paid product

Developer platform for building, testing, and deploying voice AI agents.

Visit Vapi →

Bottom line

ten-vad and Vapi 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

Spec	ten-vad	Vapi
Type	SDK / library	Platform
Model	Open source	Commercial
Pricing	Open source	Paid product
GitHub stars	2,185	—
Language	C	—
Last activity	Feb 2026	—

Key differences

Vapi is a commercial product; ten-vad is open-source and self-hostable.
Pricing model differs — ten-vad is open source, Vapi is paid product.

Choose ten-vad if

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

Choose Vapi if

Developers building production voice agents with full API control over models, voices, and telephony..

About ten-vad

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

Full ten-vad profile →

About Vapi

Developer platform for building, testing, and deploying voice AI agents.

Full Vapi profile →

Frequently asked

What's the main difference between ten-vad and Vapi?: Vapi is a commercial product; ten-vad is open-source and self-hostable.
Is ten-vad or Vapi better?: Neither is universally better. ten-vad is the stronger fit for an open-source, self-hostable option you control; Vapi for Developers building production voice agents with full API control over models, voices, and telephony. Use the side-by-side specs to decide by your own constraints.
Is ten-vad or Vapi free?: ten-vad is free to run and self-host; Vapi is a paid product.
Which is more popular, ten-vad or Vapi?: 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.

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