Overview
Self-host LiveKit servers for full control over your infrastructure, data, and configuration. Self-hosting enables you to deploy LiveKit on your own infrastructure, whether for local development, production deployments on virtual machines or Kubernetes, or distributed multi-region setups.
Self-hosting gives you complete control over your deployment, allowing you to customize configuration, manage your own data, and scale according to your specific needs. You can deploy LiveKit servers on a variety of platforms, from local development environments to production-grade infrastructure. You can also deploy LiveKit Agents to your own infrastructure, connecting them to your self-hosted LiveKit server.
Comparing self-hosted to LiveKit Cloud
When building with LiveKit, you can either self-host the open-source server or use the managed LiveKit Cloud service.
AI agents
| Self-hosted | LiveKit Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Agents framework | Full support | Full support |
| Managed agent hosting | N/A, you run and scale agent servers yourself. | Included: deploy agents to LiveKit Cloud with automatic scaling, managed builds, and instant rollback. |
| Agent Builder | N/A | Included |
| Built-in inference | N/A, bring your own model provider API keys. | Included, with custom voice clones on paid plans. |
| Agent observability | Custom / external, using OpenTelemetry data hooks. | Included: built-in observability stack with transcripts, traces, session recordings, and log drains. |
| Noise cancellation | Client-side WebRTC cancellation; ai-coustics supported with your own license key. | Client-side WebRTC cancellation, plus enhanced models (Krisp, ai-coustics). |
Telephony
| Self-hosted | LiveKit Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| SIP & telephony | Full support, SIP service deployed as a separate service. | Full support |
| Phone numbers | Bring your own SIP trunking provider. | Native LiveKit Phone Numbers, plus support for external SIP trunks. |
| Noise cancellation | N/A | Krisp noise cancellation applied at the SIP trunk for inbound and outbound calls. |
Media and transport
| Self-hosted | LiveKit Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Realtime media (audio, video, data) | Full support | Full support |
| Egress (recording, streaming) | Full support, deployed as a separate service. | Full support, included with every project. |
| Ingress (RTMP, WHIP, SRT ingest) | Full support, deployed as a separate service. | Full support, included with every project. |
| End-to-end encryption | Full support | Full support |
| Webhooks | Full support | Full support |
Platform and operations
| Self-hosted | LiveKit Cloud | |
|---|---|---|
| Who manages it | You | LiveKit |
| Architecture | Single-home SFU | Global mesh SFU |
| Connection model | Single server per room | Each user connects to the nearest edge. |
| Max users per room | Up to ~3,000 | No limit |
| Regions & data residency | Regions you deploy to | Global edge network, with region pinning for data residency requirements. |
| Analytics & telemetry | Custom / external | LiveKit Cloud dashboard, plus Analytics API on Scale plans. |
| Access token revocation | N/A | Included |
| Uptime guarantees | N/A | 99.99% |
Self-hosting topics
When self-hosting LiveKit, you can deploy agents to your own infrastructure alongside your LiveKit server. Agents connect to your self-hosted server and run on your own resources. See Custom agent deployments for details on deploying agents to Kubernetes, Render, or other container orchestration systems.
Manage your self-hosted LiveKit deployment with these topics.
| Topic | Description | Use cases |
|---|---|---|
| Running locally | Get LiveKit running locally for development and testing with minimal setup. | Local development, testing, and prototyping. |
| Deployment | Deploy LiveKit servers to production with SSL, load balancing, and TURN configuration. | Production deployments, secure configurations, and network setup. |
| Virtual machines | Deploy LiveKit servers on virtual machines for production use. | VM-based deployments, cloud infrastructure, and traditional server setups. |
| Kubernetes | Deploy LiveKit servers on Kubernetes clusters for scalable, containerized deployments. | Container orchestration, scalable deployments, and cloud-native infrastructure. |
| Distributed multi-region | Deploy LiveKit servers across multiple regions for global distribution. | Global deployments, low-latency access, and multi-region redundancy. |
| Firewall configuration | Configure firewalls and network settings for your LiveKit deployment. | Network security, port management, and access control. |
| Benchmarks | Measure and optimize performance of your self-hosted LiveKit deployment. | Performance testing, capacity planning, and optimization. |
| Egress | Set up egress services for recording and streaming from your self-hosted deployment. | Recording rooms, streaming to platforms, and media export. |
| Ingress | Set up ingress services to bring external media sources into your LiveKit rooms. | RTMP ingest, WHIP streams, and external media integration. |
| SIP server | Deploy and configure SIP servers for telephony integration with your self-hosted LiveKit. | Phone call integration, SIP trunking, and telephony features. |
In this section
Learn how to self-host LiveKit servers:
Running locally
Get LiveKit running locally for development and testing.
Deployment
Deploy LiveKit servers to production with SSL, load balancing, and TURN configuration.
Virtual machines
Deploy LiveKit servers on virtual machines for production use.
Kubernetes
Deploy LiveKit servers on Kubernetes clusters for scalable, containerized deployments.
Distributed multi-region
Deploy LiveKit servers across multiple regions for global distribution.
Firewall configuration
Configure firewalls and network settings for your LiveKit deployment.
Benchmarks
Measure and optimize performance of your self-hosted LiveKit deployment.
Egress
Set up egress services for recording and streaming from your self-hosted deployment.
Ingress
Set up ingress services to bring external media sources into your LiveKit rooms.
SIP server
Deploy and configure SIP servers for telephony integration with your self-hosted LiveKit.