Introduction

Founded in 2014, Agora is a video, voice, and interactive live-streaming platform. It aims to enable ubiquitous real-time engagement, enabling everyone to interact with anybody in any app, whenever and wherever they choose. A leading platform for real-time engagement APIs, Agora has global clients like HP, Talkspace, VIVA, Education First, and Unity, among others.

Although Agora is a high-quality solution, the developers' experience integrating it may not be the easiest. Why?

  1. The instructions may not be immediately evident upon reading.
  2. Agora's inadequate documentation is one of the main problems developers gripe about.
  3. Many a time, the steps needed to integrate Agora's features deviate from the ones outlined in the documentation.

Pricing as a critical decision factor

Pricing is a key deciding factor among the many things to consider when choosing which audio-video SDK to buy. Even if an SDK has all the capabilities you need for your use case, your final choice might still depend on how much various vendors charge for their kits.

With exponentially high pricing, Agora makes the integration of SDKs challenging. Agora's pricing structure is intricate and multi-layered, and as the company's customer base expands, it becomes more expensive. Agora charges for almost every basic feature and follows a pay-as-you-go, per-stream, per-minute pricing model, which can become cost-prohibitive at scale.

Dyte has several built-in features and recognizes startup needs and financial limitations, and hence, offers plugins to allow organizations to have the most collaborative and immersive experience.

Let's look at how the pricing policies of Agora contrast against Dyte in a detailed manner.

Agora SDK Pricing

1. Video

You can add customizable real-time video chat to any application. When a user's monthly usage surpasses 10K minutes, Agora automatically adds the following tier-based volume discounts:

Video HD - $3.99 per participant per 1000 mins
Video Full HD - $8.99 per participant per 1000 mins

💡For the same feature, Dyte offers fast custom, secure, and Full HD live video at flat $4 per participant per 1000 mins at one single price, with no segregation.

2. Audio

You can add voice calling to your app to offer one-to-one or small-group voice conversation with jitter-free, fluid streaming. Real-time audio conversation can be included in web, mobile, and native apps using Agora's Voice SDK.

Audio Price - $0.99 per participant per 1000 mins

💡Offering crisp, clear, and low-latency live audio, Dyte covers better quality at $1 per participant per 1000 mins

3. Cloud Recording (Custom/ Default Layouts)

You can record voice and video calls or streams using Agora Cloud Recording and store them online for later playback or storage. Phone calling, video calling, and interactive live streaming are compatible with cloud recording.

Video HD - $5.99 per 1000 mins
Video Full HD - $13.99 per 1000 mins

💡Dyte's Full HD cloud recording without any segregation is at flat $10 per 1000 mins.

4. RTMP Out

The Agora SDK can convert hosts' audio and video streams from private Agora protocols to industry standards (RTMP and RTMPS) and push those streams to CDN. The relevant URLs can be clicked to view live feeds for CDN viewers.

H.264 Full HD Output Video - $15.99 per 1000 mins
H.265 HD Output Video - $19.99 per 1000 mins
H.265 Full HD Output Video - $39.99 per 1000 mins

💡Dyte's RTMP Out is at flat $15 per 1000 mins

5. Media Pull/ External Streaming

Using Agora Media Pull, an external media stream may be injected into a live Agora channel so the hosts and audience can engage while seeing and hearing the additional stream. The Media Pull extension is compatible with voice, video, and interactive live streaming.

Audio - $1.15 per 1000 mins
HD Video - $6.86 per 1000 mins
Full HD Video - $15.49 per 1000 mins

💡With no separate pricing for media pull, Dyte has these features pre-built with Video Conferencing.

6. Chat/Group Chats

Agora provides chat support for every video or audio conferencing room you create. Users can communicate through direct or broadcast messages and receive push notifications even offline.

Chat - Starter - Starts from $349, Up To 50K MAU
Chat - Pro - Starts from $699, Up To 100K MAU

💡With no separate pricing for chats and group chats, Dyte has these features pre-built with Video Conferencing.

7. Whiteboard

Using Agora Interactive Whiteboard, developers can add real-time visual collaboration tools to their applications. With the help of the Interactive Whiteboard SDK, developers may modify real-time whiteboards to suit their unique use cases.

Whiteboard price - $1.40 per 1000 mins

💡Dyte offers access to the whiteboard at no separate costs.

8. Analytics

Agora Analytics monitors real-time voice and video usage, quality, and performance to identify quality problems and causes and resolve them to enhance the end-user experience.

Analytics - Standard - $499 per month
Analytics - Premium - $999 per month
Analytics - Enterprise - $1599 per month

💡Dyte offers free analytics at no separate pricing for analytics.

Agora Support Pricing

Agora offers four support plans:

  1. Starter - $0/month
  2. Standard - $1,200/month
  3. Premium - $2,900/month
  4. Enterprise - $4,900/month

Below mentioned are the key features of each of Agora's cost-pricing plans:

  1. The Starter plan offers prime features like ticket/email support, online documentation and KB access, reference apps' access, and Agora analytics starter.
  2. The Standard plan offers additional features like guaranteed response time and Agora analytics standard.
  3. The Premium plan provides Reference Apps Access with a guaranteed response time lower than the Standard plan. It also includes Agora Analytics premium, code review, emergency phone number access, and named CS engineer.
  4. The Enterprise Plan offers guaranteed response times lower than the Premium plan and additional features like named SA engineer, live developer consultation and training, and early release access.

💡Dyte offers customer support at no separate pricing. You can join the community and get help from 1000+ developers at Dyte at no cost.

Agora For Startups

Agora Startups Program is created for pre-seed through Series A startups. Their configurable array of audio, voice, video, and streaming APIs enables companies to innovate for the future of real-time engagement. The program offers the following benefits.

  1. Complimentary Credits - This function lets you get promotional minutes to assist in launching your product development.
  2. Technical Support - This benefit gives you access to the community of devoted developers and their expertise with this perk.
  3. Marketing Exposure - This gives Agora's network of investors and partners exclusive co-marketing opportunities and startup exposure.

Dyte Startup Program

Dyte's Startup Program offers early-stage startups technical and onboarding support and provides access to its voice and video SDK features. With just a few lines of code, developers can integrate branded, configurable, and programmable live video and audio.

The program also provides with

  • free credits,
  • faster implementation, and
  • dedicated customer success management (CSM)

Ready to take your early-stage startup to the next level with Dyte? Apply Now

Dyte Community Program

Dyte recognizes and supports communities across all spheres of work. To help them grow their endeavors, Dyte has launched a community program offering Dyte 100% free to developer groups, open-source communities, and NGOs. Each community has its own identity, norms, and presence.

Without imposing any restrictions, Dyte gives you the tools you need to maintain your branding and identity while putting in place controls. Using our "No Code" solution or the Dyte video SDK, you can create a "full-blown app" or modify the default behavior.

Read more on our official announcement.

End Note

Dyte bills itself as the "most developer-friendly" choice in the market.

It first concentrates on the essential features: quick integration, straightforward but versatile customization, and expandability via real-time interactive plugins.

It has developed a supplementary SDK for creating interactive experiences on top of such calls in addition to the video/audio calling SDK. On the user-friendly side, Dyte provides many features you'd anticipate from a video chatting platform, like virtual backgrounds, breakout rooms, chat, poll, analytics, and much more.

You can contact us or ask our developer community on Discord if you have any questions.

With all due respect

Dyte beats
replace_this anyday