Genpio vs iLive, a platform you run or a team that runs it for you

iLive runs AI livestreams for Vietnamese sellers as a managed service with a 2.5M VND pilot. Genpio is a platform you run. Where each one is the better buy.

iLive by SHOPNOW is a Ho Chi Minh City company selling AI livestream as a managed service, with a 2,500,000 VND pilot, Zalo Video on its channel list and a team that sets the stream up for you. Genpio, which also has a Ho Chi Minh City office, is a platform you or its agent run yourself, across 32 destinations and 85+ languages. For a Vietnamese seller that difference matters more than any feature row.

Third-party claims last checked: 2026-09-26

The short answer

Choose iLive if you want a local team to do it and a cheap first step. iLive describes itself as a partner that "đồng hành từ tư vấn, xây dựng kịch bản, AI Host, thiết lập phiên live đến vận hành và tối ưu hiệu quả" (from consulting and script-writing through the AI host, setup, operation and optimisation). It publishes a 7-day, 10-hour pilot at 2,500,000 VND, streams to Zalo Video, and is based in Ho Chi Minh City.

Choose Genpio if you want to run it yourself, on more channels, in more languages. A viewer comment becomes a reply generated from your product catalogue in under 200ms, one session goes out to 32 destinations at once, and the avatar and voice models are Genpio's own. You can operate it by hand, or hand it to the agent.

Side by side

Sources: Genpio · iLive home · iLive AI Livestream · iLive pricing · iLive pilot · iLive about. Read on 26 September 2026. iLive publishes in Vietnamese; its words are quoted as written with an English gloss. "Not publicly stated" means the vendor does not publish it. It is never a "no".

A service or a platform, and why that decides it

Everything else on the table is a row you can argue about. This one is a difference in shape.

iLive sells you people as well as software. Its pages describe consulting on your goals, writing the script, building the host, setting up the stream, training your team and optimising after each session, and its pilot ends with iLive reviewing the results with you and recommending the next package. For a shop with no one who wants to learn a new tool, that is the product, and it is a good one.

Genpio sells you the tool. You set up the stream, or you give the agent one instruction and it builds the stage, writes the script, picks the products and runs the session. Nobody from Genpio is in the loop by default. That is cheaper to scale and faster to change, and it also means the work iLive's team does is work you, or the agent, now do.

Neither is strictly better. What you are choosing between is being served and being in control, and you should choose that deliberately rather than by feature count.

Where iLive is the better buy

It does the work for you. A Ho Chi Minh City team (Công ty Cổ phần Công nghệ Shop Now, 81 Cách Mạng Tháng Tám) that writes Vietnamese scripts, sets up your stream and supports the first live is worth a lot to a seller who does not want another tool to learn. Genpio also has an office in Ho Chi Minh City, but what it sells is a platform: its published plans are software, with a dedicated account manager on Enterprise, and none of them is described as Genpio staff operating your streams for you.

Zalo Video. iLive names Zalo Video as a destination. Genpio does not stream to Zalo. If Zalo is where your customers are, that alone may decide it.

A low-risk first step. 2,500,000 VND buys a 7-day, 10-hour pilot with a stated full-refund promise. Genpio has no trial of any kind; the first step is a booked demo, and the smallest plan is $900 a month.

Vietnamese references and press. iLive publishes a Viettel Store project through its partner Enalyn and an Ahamove case study, and lists coverage in VOH, BNEWS and SGGP around its NEXT-GEN AI LIVE COMMERCE 2026 event. Genpio has no Vietnamese customer case study on the record.

Help with platform approval. iLive's price list includes guidance on registering for AI livestream whitelisting on Shopee and TikTok at no charge. Shopee approves AI livestreams on application, so that help is real.

More than livestream. AI Video for ads, and AI CEO for a founder who wants a digital version of themselves on stream. Genpio does neither.

Where Genpio is the better buy

Replies that are generated, not scripted. iLive's own description is that its host answers "theo rule/kịch bản đã thiết lập", by the rules and scripts that have been set up. Genpio reads the comment, looks up the product in your catalogue and generates the answer, including to the question nobody wrote a rule for. Ask iLive in a demo what happens when a viewer asks something the script does not cover, and time Genpio's answer to the same question.

More destinations, and outside Vietnam. One Genpio session reaches 32 destinations at once, each with its own live chat, including Lazada, YouTube, Instagram and marketplaces across Asia, Europe and the Americas. iLive's published figure is "6+" platforms. If you sell across borders, or plan to, that difference compounds.

Languages. Genpio sells in 85+ output languages. iLive publishes no language count. For a Vietnamese brand selling into Thailand, Indonesia or Taiwan, ask both vendors to run your product in that language before comparing anything else.

A price you can see before a sales call. Genpio publishes every plan and its hourly rate on the pricing page. iLive publishes its pilot and quotes the rest. Note also that its pilot page says the 2,500,000 VND includes VAT while the pricing page says prices exclude VAT; ask which.

The plan price is the whole bill. Genpio charges the published plan price and nothing on top: no setup fee, no add-ons, every stock avatar and voice on every plan, and an AI Agent that writes your scripts and checks them against each platform's AI-livestream rules, free on every plan for good. There is no GPU to buy either: the avatar renders on Genpio's own GPUs, any device with a browser will do, and once the session starts you can switch that device off (TikTok and OBS destinations excepted, since those apps must keep running). iLive's price list names extras beside its packages, including the text-to-speech voice for a custom host, a 20% charge for revisions beyond three, and add-on services. Ask iLive for the total at the volume you need, and compare that figure, not the package price.

Models Genpio owns. Genpio trains its avatar and voice models in house, owns the weights and serves them on its own inference stack. The model card names every training corpus. iLive states that it builds on BytePlus and Topview technology, which means a third party's pricing and terms sit underneath your cost per hour.

Your own hands, or none. Genpio can be run entirely by its agent, or entirely by you through the console, or by another AI system through a public API with no key. iLive's self-operated SEMI model exists, but its public pages describe no API.

Which one do I actually need?

• You sell in Vietnam, want someone local to set it up and run it, and want to test cheaply first → iLive.
• Your customers are on Zalo → iLive.
• You want the stream to answer what nobody scripted, on many channels at once, in more than one language, and to run it yourself → Genpio.
• Shopee is your main channel → whichever you choose, read Shopee's own AI livestream rules first. Shopee approves AI livestreams on application, and that rule constrains both of us.

Questions

Is iLive a software platform or a service?

Mostly a service. iLive's pages describe consulting, script-writing, building the AI host, setting up the session, training the team and optimising after each live, with a self-operated "SEMI" model for businesses that want to run more of it in house. Genpio is a platform the seller or its agent operates directly. The difference is who does the work, not only what the software can do.

Which is cheaper to start with?

iLive. Its pilot is 2,500,000 VND for 10 service hours over 7 days, with a stated full refund if you are not satisfied after the first 7 days. Genpio has no trial; its smallest published plan is $900 a month for 60 stream hours. iLive does not publish its longer-term package prices, so compare cost per hour only after both vendors have quoted the volume you actually need.

Does Genpio stream to Zalo Video?

No. Zalo is not among Genpio's 32 destinations. iLive names Zalo Video on its product page. If Zalo is a main channel for your customers, iLive covers it and Genpio does not.

How do the two answer live comments?

iLive says its digital human reads and replies to comments according to the rules and scripts that have been set up. Genpio generates each reply from the comment and your product catalogue, in under 200ms from comment to reply. Scripted answers are predictable; generated ones cover questions nobody wrote down. Test both with a question your script does not cover.

Full comparison including Syntopia, BocaLive, AnyLive, Virbo Live and HeyGen: alternatives. The other Southeast Asia head-to-head: Genpio vs BocaLive. In Vietnamese: So sánh Genpio và iLive.