realtime
ElevenLabs Realtime
Realtime models are ElevenLabs models built for low-latency voice conversation. There are two ways to use them:
- An ElevenAgents agent (an agent ID, the dashboard, or an
elevenlabs agentsproject withagent_configs/): set the agent's Voice mode to Realtime withconversation_config.realtime_model, and ElevenLabs manages its LLM, TTS model, and ASR settings. See Run an agent on a Realtime model. - A browser app built on OpenAI's Realtime SDK: keep the SDK and point it at the OpenAI-compatible ElevenLabs Realtime API,
wss://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai/realtime. See Migrate an app from OpenAI Realtime.
When the user is starting from scratch and it's unclear which they want, ask. An agent brings a managed system prompt, tools, knowledge base, widget, and telephony; the Realtime API is the quicker path for code that already speaks OpenAI's realtime events. For agent features beyond the voice mode (prompt, tools, workflows, widget), use the agents skill.
Models
| Model | Model ID | Optimized for |
|---|---|---|
| Eleven Realtime v1 Mini | eleven_realtime_v1_mini |
Lowest latency and cost. The default. |
| Eleven Realtime v1 Max | eleven_realtime_v1_max |
Reasons before it responds, for complex instructions and multi-step tool use. Costs more. |
Start with Mini. Choose Max when the work involves long or complex instructions or multi-step tool calls and Mini's responses aren't good enough, or when an app being migrated was on a larger OpenAI model for reasoning-heavy work. Agents add compliance and data residency constraints on the choice; see Choose the model.