# Tavus

> Real-time conversational AI video agents with lifelike faces, voice and memory, built via API

- Category: [Video AI](https://finderatlas.com/categories/video-ai)
- Pricing: Freemium
- Website: https://www.tavus.io
- Platforms: Web, API
- API: available
- Made by: Tavus, founded 2020, San Francisco, CA
- Last updated: 2026-10-19
- FinderAtlas page: https://finderatlas.com/tools/tavus

## Overview

Tavus is a San Francisco AI research lab that builds real-time, face-to-face AI agents it calls PALs. A PAL can see, hear and respond in a live video conversation, with a configurable persona, rules and persistent memory across sessions. Developers can build these experiences through the Conversational Video Interface (CVI) API, while non-developers can create a PAL with the no-code PAL Maker. Tavus says its platform is used by more than 150,000 developers.

## Key features

- Conversational Video Interface (CVI)
- PAL Maker
- Phoenix Rendering
- Sparrow Turn-Taking
- Raven Perception
- Knowledge Base and Memory
- Presentation and Magic Canvas
- Meeting Joins and Browser Use
- Bring Your Own LLM

## Pricing

- **Free** ($0): Developer tier for testing CVI
- **Starter** ($22/month): Entry paid developer plan
- **Builder** ($59/month): Small teams scaling usage
- **Growth** ($397/month): Production workloads
- **Business** ($975/month): High-volume deployments
- **Enterprise** (Custom): Managed, white-labeled deployments

## Best for

- Embedding live, human-like video agents in products for sales, coaching, interviews and training

## Who uses it

- Developers
- Product Teams
- Sales Teams
- L&D Teams
- Enterprises

## Strengths

- Full real-time video agent stack (rendering, turn-taking, perception) from one vendor.
- Both a developer API and a no-code PAL Maker are available.
- Free tier with 20 CVI minutes per month for prototyping.
- Joins Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams calls.
- Published enterprise case studies, including Salesforce and Orum.

## Limitations

- Free and Starter plans cap conversations at 5 and 10 minutes, and Starter has no pay-as-you-go overage.
- Conversation recordings cost $0.03/min and are unavailable on lower tiers.
- Pricing page showed conflicting plan tables, which makes costs hard to verify.
- No publicly released iOS or Android app was found.

## Not recommended for

- Users who only need pre-recorded avatar videos, or teams needing an on-premise, fully offline deployment

## Integrations

- Zoom
- Google Meet
- Microsoft Teams

## FinderAtlas editorial scores (out of 10)

- Ease of Use: 7.8/10
- Feature Depth: 8.6/10
- Value for Money: 7.2/10
- Performance & Speed: 8.5/10
- Documentation & Support: 8/10

## Alternatives

- [Luma Dream Machine](https://finderatlas.com/tools/luma-dream-machine): Generate and edit video and images from text or images with Luma's Ray models ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/luma-dream-machine-vs-tavus))
- [Vidmoat](https://finderatlas.com/tools/vidmoat): Describe the edit in plain English and an AI agent builds it on an editable timeline ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/tavus-vs-vidmoat))
- [Captions](https://finderatlas.com/tools/captions): AI video editor that turns raw footage and prompts into finished, captioned videos ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/captions-vs-tavus))
- [Runway](https://finderatlas.com/tools/runway): AI video, image and audio creation suite with Gen-4.5, agents and an API ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/runway-vs-tavus))
- [Kling AI](https://finderatlas.com/tools/kling-ai): Generate AI video and images from text, photos and references in one studio ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/kling-ai-vs-tavus))
- [Synthesia](https://finderatlas.com/tools/synthesia): Create narrated business videos from text with AI avatars in 140+ languages ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/synthesia-vs-tavus))
- [HeyGen](https://finderatlas.com/tools/heygen): Create avatar videos from text and translate them into 175+ languages ([compare](https://finderatlas.com/compare/heygen-vs-tavus))

## FAQ

**What is a PAL?**

A PAL is Tavus's term for a real-time AI agent that appears as a video persona, can see and hear the user, and keeps memory across conversations.

**How does Tavus charge for usage?**

Plans include a monthly allotment of CVI minutes. Most paid plans allow pay-as-you-go overage, billed per minute rounded to 6 seconds with a 30-second minimum per conversation.

**Can I use my own LLM?**

Yes. Tavus supports its built-in LLM or a bring-your-own LLM setup.

**Can a Tavus agent join video meetings?**

Yes. Tavus lists Zoom, Google Meet and Microsoft Teams as supported call platforms.

**Is there a free plan?**

Yes. The developer Free plan includes 20 CVI minutes per month with one concurrent session and a 5-minute conversation limit.