WebRTC vs WebSockets for AI Voice: Why Gabber Offers Both

When you're building with AI voice, choosing the right real-time protocol matters — a lot.

Two major players dominate:

• WebRTC: Designed for real-time peer-to-peer media.
• WebSockets: Built for real-time messaging and data streams.

At Gabber, we support both — because different apps need different approaches:

• Our real-time AI conversation engine runs on WebRTC.
• Our TTS-only plug-in API uses WebSockets for easy integration.

Here’s how it breaks down — and how to pick the right tool for your AI app.

Quick Comparison: WebRTC vs WebSockets

Why Gabber Uses WebRTC for Full Real-Time AI Conversations

When you’re building a dynamic voice-first AI, you need:

• 📞 Two-way voice communication
• ⚡ Instant interruption support (mid-sentence)
• 🔄 Live tool-calling, memory updates, and persona switching
• 🎙️ Extremely low jitter, low latency media exchange

WebRTC was designed for this.
It optimizes voice streams using:

• UDP transmission (faster packet delivery)
• Adaptive bitrate adjustments
• Echo cancellation and NAT traversal

That’s why Gabber’s core real-time engine — powering AI companions, voice coaching, phone AI bots, and more — is built on WebRTC.

Why Gabber Offers WebSocket TTS for Plug-and-Play Simplicity

Sometimes you don’t need full conversation handling — you just want affordable, high-quality TTS.

If you already have:

• 🛠️ A WebSocket-driven app
• 🎮 A game that streams data over WebSockets
• 📱 A mobile app with a persistent WebSocket layer

…then switching to WebRTC just for voice doesn't make sense.

That’s why Gabber’s TTS-only API is available over WebSockets:

• 🔌 Simple integration (no STUN/TURN config)
• 📡 Stream synthesized voice in real time
• 🧩 Drop-in compatibility with WebSocket-based apps

You get all the benefits of Gabber's high-quality voices (like Orphoeus and Cartesia models) without restructuring your app’s network stack.

Which Should You Use?

Choose WebRTC if:

• You want interactive, live AI conversations
• You need interruptable speech and dynamic flow control
• You’re building full apps, companions, bots, or coaching tools

Choose WebSocket TTS if:

• You want to embed AI speech into an existing WebSocket-based app
• You only need one-way audio (TTS output)
• You prioritize simplicity over conversation complexity

Gabber Gives You Both

Unlike most platforms that force you into one protocol, Gabber adapts to your build:

• 🎙️ Full conversational AI over WebRTC (voice + tool calling + memory)
• 🗣️ Simple TTS output over WebSockets (voice only)

Same quality. Same speed. Different flexibility — based on your app’s needs.

TL;DR: One Stack, Two Paths

In 2025 and beyond, great AI apps will be:

• Real-time
• Voice-powered
• Latency-optimized

Gabber gives you the flexibility to build it your way — whether you need full conversational pipelines or lightweight speech streaming.

🚀 Ready to build? Try Gabber's AI Voice Platform