Pipecat
- Strength
- A 1.97s response time with 94.21% task completion across 242 scored calls.
- What can be improved
- Routing completed, but the returned route ID was omitted from the handoff.
STT, LLM and TTS
- nova-3-general
- gpt-4.1
- sonic-3.5
All platform comparisons
Pipecat · ranked 6 of 8Retell · ranked 1 of 8
Pipecat vs Retell
Retell is ahead on repeatable reliability, infrastructure reliability, tool call accuracy, voice tone and clarity and interruption handling, and Pipecat on task completion and response time.
Last updated Methodology by Luis Ojeda
Verdict
Which to pick
Pick Pipecat for completing the caller's task (0.33 points higher) and fast replies (0.24s faster). Pick Retell for reliability across repeated runs (12.20 points higher), calls that connect and stay up (1.22 points higher), accurate tool calls (0.26 higher), how the agent sounds (0.62 higher) and handling interruptions (0.03 higher).
Head to head
Every metric, side by side
Bars share one scale across all 8 platforms. The place next to each figure is its rank in the field.
Repeatable reliability
Share of the 82 scenarios that passed on all three runs.
- Pipecat
- 63.41%6th
- Retell
- 75.61%1st
Retell, 12.20 points higher
Task completion
Calls where the expected outcome was fully reached.
- Pipecat
- 94.21%4th
- Retell
- 93.88%5th
Pipecat, 0.33 points higher
Infrastructure-clean calls
Calls with no connection, audio or platform failure.
- Pipecat
- 97.15%5th
- Retell
- 98.37%4th
Retell, 1.22 points higher
Tool call accuracy
Mean score for calling the right tool with the right arguments.
- Pipecat
- 4.58/55th
- Retell
- 4.84/51st
Retell, 0.26 higher
Voice tone and clarity
Mean score for how clear and natural the agent sounds.
- Pipecat
- 3.74/57th
- Retell
- 4.36/52nd
Retell, 0.62 higher
Interruption handling
Mean score for yielding and recovering when the caller cuts in.
- Pipecat
- 4.97/53rd
- Retell
- 5.00/51st
Retell, 0.03 higher
Mean response time
Mean time for the agent to start replying after the caller stops.
- Pipecat
- 1.97s4th
- Retell
- 2.21s5th
Pipecat, 0.24s faster
246 calls per platform: 82 scenarios, 3 runs each.
On the calls
What each platform ran, and what we saw
Retell
- Strength
- Leads repeatable reliability at 75.61% pass³.
- What can be improved
- The transcript captured a phone number correctly, but a different number was sent to the tool.
STT, LLM and TTS
- accurate (Retell-managed STT)
- gpt-5.5
- eleven_flash_v2
Frequently asked questions
Is Pipecat or Retell more reliable?
Retell is more reliable, by 12.20 points. Pipecat passed 63.41% of the 82 scenarios on all 3 runs and Retell passed 75.61%. A scenario only counts when every run of it passed.
Which responds faster, Pipecat or Retell?
Pipecat starts replying sooner, 0.24s faster. Mean response time is 1.97s for Pipecat and 2.21s for Retell.
Which completes more calls, Pipecat or Retell?
Pipecat reached the expected outcome on 94.21% of calls and Retell on 93.88%. Pipecat is ahead on task completion.
How were Pipecat and Retell tested?
Both ran the same Appointment and Medicare agents through the same 82 caller scenarios, 3 times each, with the same evaluators and mock tools. Only the platform and its speech and model components changed.