Output Media API by Recall.ai
API to stream AI agent audio and video into live meetings
Output Media is the only unified approach that makes a meeting bot actually talk. If you're building an AI agent that must be a live participant across Zoom, Meet, or Teams, this saves real months of integration work. You still own the intelligence layer, so non-technical users should walk away. Per-hour pricing (free first 5 hours, then $0.50/hr) is predictable for prototyping, and the Zoom RTMS partnership strengthens the case for Zoom-heavy use.
Verified 5d ago · liveness 77/100 · cite: rightaichoice.com/tools/output-media-api-by-recall-ai
- Developers building AI agents that join meetings and interact via audio/video
- Teams creating virtual meeting assistants, avatars, or automated presenters
- Product builders needing a unified API across major meeting platforms
- Startups prototyping multi-platform meeting bots with quick setup
- Non-technical users seeking a no-code meeting bot
- Users who only need passive recording without active output capabilities
- Teams requiring on-premise deployment (cloud-only with data residency options)
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Skip Output Media if you're not a developer, if you need a complete AI agent out of the box, if you require on-premise deployment, or if you only need passive recording without the ability to actively output audio/video into meetings.
Storage beyond 7 days costs $0.05 per hour of recording retained for 30 days, so long-term archiving adds up.
For early-stage startups prototyping, the Pay As You Go plan ($0.50/hr with first 5 hours free) is extremely cheap compared to building multi-platform bot infrastructure yourself, and the startup program ($0.25/hr for first 10,000 hours) undercuts most competitors. For scale, custom pricing with volume discounts is comparable to other meeting API providers, but the unified platform saves engineering time.
In short
Output Media API by Recall.ai — API to stream AI agent audio and video into live meetings. Best for Developers building AI agents that join meetings and interact via audio/video, Teams creating virtual meeting assistants, avatars, or automated presenters, Product builders needing a unified API across major meeting platforms. Free to start; paid plans from $0.5/mo.
What's new in Output Media API by Recall.ai
Checked 3 days agoAcross the latest 3 updates: 3 news mentions.
Recall.ai and Zoom partner to help companies build with meeting data
Recall.ai partners with Zoom to use Zoom RTMS for real-time meeting data access, enabling deeper integration for building on meeting data.
How to get transcripts from Microsoft Teams programmatically
Guide to get Microsoft Teams transcripts using Recall.ai's Meeting Bot API with sample code, highlighting Teams support.
Granola AI alternatives: Breakdown of open source options
Technical deep dive into self-hosted and open-source desktop meeting recorders, comparing capabilities.
What people actually say about Output Media API by Recall.ai — is it worth it?
We ran a structured research pass across product reviews, community discussions, and post-purchase forum threads to surface the patterns vendors won't publish themselves. Below: the recurring strengths, the hidden costs people mention most, and the cohort that consistently regrets adopting this tool.
31 mentions across 2 sources (YouTube, Product Hunt) · researched Jul 5, 2026.
- +Unified API across Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, and more.
- +Enables active AI participation—output audio/video and chat in real time.
- +Built-in transcription at $0.15/hr, cheaper than many alternatives.
- +Calendar integration with Google and Microsoft for automated meeting joining.
- +Data residency options in US, EU, and JP for compliance.
- −Still in preview—may have stability and breaking changes.
- −Very little community feedback available to vet reliability.
- −Costs add up: $0.15/hr transcription + $0.05/hr storage.
- −Limited third-party integrations documented (only calendar and webhooks).
- −No support for self-hosting or on-premises deployment.
- • No free tier—starting costs immediately for transcription and storage
- • Additional costs for third-party transcription or AI models
Viability Score
How well maintained and how widely used is Output Media API by Recall.ai? Built from what the vendor actually publishes (docs, changelog, tutorials, integrations, pricing), whether the site is live, and how much real users discuss it. How we calculate this
Last calculated: September 2026
How we score →Key Features
- Render any web app into ultra-low-latency audio and video output
- Unified API to stream audio/video into Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, Webex, GoTo, Slack Huddles
- Display video and play audio in the meeting (AI avatars)
- Real-time audio and video recording
- Asynchronous audio and video recording
- Send and receive meeting chat messages
- Participant names and metadata extraction
- Built-in transcription at $0.15/hr
- Third-party transcription provider integrations
- Google Calendar and Microsoft Calendar integration
- US, EU, JP data residency selection
- Prorated billing to the second
- Free storage for first 7 days of recordings
- Desktop Recording SDK for on-device recording without bots
- Zoom RTMS partnership for real-time meeting data access
About Output Media API by Recall.ai
Output Media by Recall.ai is an API that lets developers render any web application into ultra-low-latency audio and video and stream it directly into a video conference through a bot, with a single line of code. This means AI avatars, real-time speech, live translations, or automated presentations can become live meeting participants. It's built for engineering teams creating AI sales agents, coaches, recruiters, project managers, and notetakers who need to go from prototype to production without wrestling with per-platform SDKs and authentication. The API supports Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, GoTo Meeting, and Slack Huddles through one unified interface. On the data side, you get the full meeting-bot feature set: real-time and async audio/video recording, chat send/receive, participant metadata, and calendar enrichment via Google Calendar and Microsoft Calendar. Transcription is built in at $0.15 per hour, or you can integrate third-party providers. Storage is free for the first 7 days, then $0.05 per hour of recording retained for 30 days. Choose US, EU, or JP data residency, and billing is prorated to the second—you pay for actual meeting length, not participant count. A recent partnership with Zoom (June 2026) leverages Zoom RTMS for real-time meeting data access, deepening integration for Zoom-heavy workloads. Output Media is not a complete AI agent—it's the transport layer. You implement the AI behavior yourself. But for teams that want to skip meeting-platform plumbing and focus on their agent's intelligence, this API cuts time-to-market dramatically compared to building on individual SDKs.
Behind the Verdict
Output Media is the missing transport layer for AI agents that need to show up and talk in a meeting. Most teams building an AI sales rep or an interviewer end up writing a ton of glue code just to get pixels and audio into Zoom or Meet. This API collapses that work into one call. The unified coverage of Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, GoTo, and Slack Huddles is rare—most competitors support one or two platforms. We'd reach for this when the use case demands live interaction, not just passive recording. The per-hour pricing scales with meeting length, not participant count, which keeps costs predictable for one-on-one sales calls or coaching sessions. But it's not a full AI agent. You have to build the brain yourself—the natural language understanding, the avatar rendering, the decision logic. If you're looking for a ready-made bot that just works, this isn't it. Pricing is usage-based at $0.50/hr on the Pay As You Go plan, with the first 5 hours free. For a serious product, you'll likely move to Launch or Enterprise custom pricing, which is where you get SSO, uptime guarantees, and HIPAA BAA. That's a jump from a per-hour fee to a sales conversation, so budget accordingly. The Zoom RTMS partnership is a meaningful differentiator. It gives you real-time meeting data access on Zoom, which is the most common video conferencing platform in enterprise. If your target customers live on Zoom, that integration alone could tip the scale. Compared to building on individual platform SDKs, Output Media is faster to develop against, but you trade away some control—you're depending on Recall.ai's bot infrastructure and their uptime. In practice, the recording pipeline is solid: free 7-day storage, then $0.05/hr for 30 days. Transcription at $0.15/hr is a fair add-on,
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Real-world workflow fit
Concrete scenarios for the personas Output Media API by Recall.ai actually fits — and what changes day-one when you adopt it.
You want to build a sales coaching bot that joins sales calls, listens, and provides real-time tips.
Outcome: Use Output Media to stream a web-based AI avatar into the meeting. The bot receives audio, you process it with your AI model, and the response is rendered as speech and displayed in the meeting. First output delivered in under an hour.
You're creating a notetaker that summarizes meetings and sends follow-ups.
Outcome: The bot joins via the API, records audio/video, extracts participant metadata, and sends chat messages. Transcription at $0.15/hr. Minimal coding, deploy to production in a week.
You need a compliant meeting bot that works with Zoom for internal training and compliance recording.
Outcome: Use the Zoom RTMS partnership to access real-time meeting data reliably. Choose EU data residency to meet GDPR. The API handles the integration, so you focus on internal compliance workflows.
Use Cases
- Build an AI avatar that joins daily stand-ups and displays visual status updates.
- Create a virtual moderator that enforces meeting etiquette and interjects via chat or audio.
- Develop a real-time language interpreter that outputs translated speech in meetings.
- Automate customer support with an AI agent that joins meetings and answers questions.
- Enable an AI-powered note-taker that can ask clarifying questions when needed.
- Build AI sales agents that join calls and provide real-time coaching.
Models Under the Hood
as of 2026-08-27
Limitations
- Output Media requires you to implement the AI behavior—it only handles the transport.
- It typically supports Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, Webex, GoTo Meeting, and Slack Huddles.
- Pricing is usage-based: $0.50/hr of recording, with built-in transcription at $0.15/hr and storage fees after 7 days.
- There's no on-prem deployment; data residency is limited to US, EU, or JP.
- Enterprise features like SSO, uptime guarantees, and BAA for HIPAA are only on Launch or Enterprise plans.
as of 2026-08-21
Verification history
We have re-verified Output Media API by Recall.ai 8 times since . Each pass re-reads the vendor's own pages and re-checks every listed field against that evidence; passes where nothing had changed are marked as such.
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
- — re-verified summary, description, our verdict, our analysis, pricing model, pricing tiers, features, integrations, who it suits, who should skip it
Showing the 6 most recent of 8 verification passes.
Free to cite with attribution — this page re-verifies continuously.
12-month cost
Project the real annual outlay, including the implied monthly cost when only an annual tier is published.
Vendor list price only. Add-on usage, seat overages, and contract minimums are surfaced under Hidden costs & gotchas.
Plans compared
For each published Output Media API by Recall.ai tier: who it actually fits, and what it adds vs. the previous tier. Cross-reference the cost calculator above for projected annual outlay.
Pay As You Go
$0.50/hr of recording
Ideal for
Early-stage startups and developers building a proof of concept; ideal for prototyping meeting bots with low volume (first 5 hours free).
What this tier adds
Starting tier with per-hour recording pricing; includes all core Meeting Bot API features and Desktop Recording SDK access, but no SSO or premium support.
Launch
Custom Pricing
Ideal for
Companies launching a product to customers and needing white-glove support over Slack plus SSO for internal tooling.
What this tier adds
Adds whiteglove support over Slack and SSO to Pay As You Go features; moves to custom pricing.
Enterprise
Custom Pricing
Ideal for
Large enterprises requiring uptime guarantees, HIPAA compliance via BAA, and custom contract terms.
What this tier adds
Builds on Launch with uptime guarantees, custom contract redlining, and BAA for HIPAA compliance.
Where the pricing makes sense
The company stage and team size where Output Media API by Recall.ai's pricing actually pencils out — and where peers do it cheaper.
For early-stage startups prototyping, the Pay As You Go plan ($0.50/hr with first 5 hours free) is extremely cheap compared to building multi-platform bot infrastructure yourself, and the startup program ($0.25/hr for first 10,000 hours) undercuts most competitors. For scale, custom pricing with volume discounts is comparable to other meeting API providers, but the unified platform saves engineering time.
Setup time & first value
How long it actually takes to get something useful out of Output Media API by Recall.ai — broken out by persona, not the marketing-page minute.
For a developer, the first bot can be up and running in under 30 minutes using the sample repositories (e.g., Real-Time Voice Agent). A polished production bot with custom AI logic typically takes 1-2 weeks. Non-technical users won't get far—coding is required.
Switching to or from Output Media API by Recall.ai
How to bring data in from common predecessors and how to get it back out — written for the switcher, not the buyer.
- →From custom-built bots using individual platform SDKs: Replace per-platform code with the unified Recall.ai API, cutting your integration workload by over 80%.
- →From other meeting bot APIs (e.g., Meeting BaaS): Compare features and pricing; Recall.ai's simpler per-hour pricing and unified platform often reduce costs and complexity.
- ↗To a custom solution using platform SDKs: Export your recordings and data via Recall.ai's API, then build your own bots on each platform—expect significant engineering effort.
- ↗To another meeting bot API (e.g., Nylas Notetaker or Attendee): Your recordings and metadata can be exported through Recall.ai's API and imported into a competitor's system, but you'll need to rebuild the bot logic.
Integrations
Resources & Guides
Tutorials & Learning
Official links
Tools that pair well with Output Media API by Recall.ai
Common stack mates teams adopt alongside Output Media API by Recall.ai, with the specific reason each pairing earns its keep.
Tana
Agentic meeting platform that turns live video calls into completed work — decisions, issues, drafts, and CRM updates handled while you talk.
Read.ai
AI meeting agent that turns meetings, emails, and messages into summaries, action items, and instant answers.
Demodesk
AI sales agents that record every call, score coaching, and auto-update your CRM
Featured Head-to-Head Comparisons
Output Media Api By Recall Ai vs Spider Cloud
If you need to feed your AI agent up-to-date web content for RAG or LLM context, Spider Cloud offers a cost-effective, high‑performance scraping API with a Rust engine and structured output—especially compelling with its AI Studio and Browser AI commands. If instead you want your AI agent to actively participate in video meetings (showing an avatar, speaking, chatting), Output Media API by Recall.ai is the only choice, with live audio/video output across major platforms. Pick the tool that matches your domain: web data or real‑time meetings.
Output Media Api By Recall Ai vs Temporal Ai
Temporal AI and Output Media API solve entirely different problems: Temporal is for building reliable, durable workflows behind any AI agent or microservice, while Output Media API is for giving an AI agent a real-time presence in video meetings. Choose Temporal if you need crash-proof orchestration; choose Output Media if your agent must see, hear, and speak in live calls. Most teams may eventually need both, but pick based on your primary bottleneck.
Output Media Api By Recall Ai vs Presto Voice
Presto Voice is a specialized drive-thru solution for QSR chains aiming to boost revenue via upselling and operational efficiency, while Output Media API by Recall.ai is a developer tool for building AI agents that participate in video meetings. Choose Presto if you run a multi-location QSR; choose Recall.ai if you need a meeting bot that can see, hear, and speak in real time.
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