Pricing research
AI voice agent pricing compared
A voice agent's per-minute price is often only one part of the bill. A call uses a language model, a speech engine, a voice and a phone line, and platforms differ on which of these the headline rate includes. Comparing two headline numbers without checking that can be off by several times.
The estimator below multiplies each published rate by your monthly minutes and says what each rate leaves out. Phone numbers, concurrency add-ons and plan fees are not included.
5 products. Prices read from each vendor’s pricing page, most recently on 16 October 2026.
How much does an AI voice agent cost per minute?
AI voice agent platforms usually charge per minute of call time. Retell AI publishes $0.07 to $0.31 a minute including all components. Bland AI charges $0.14 a minute for talk time with telephony billed separately. Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting and passes model, voice and telephony costs through on top. Enterprise platforms such as Synthflow and PolyAI price by contract.
Prices side by side
“Starts at” is the cheapest published paid option in the vendor’s own unit. Rows billed per seat, per minute or per resolution cannot be compared on the number alone.
| Product | Free plan | Starts at | Billing model | Usage charges | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retell AIOfficial pricing | Not verified | From $0.07 per minute, all components | per minute + usage-based + per call + usage credits | Retell Voice Infra: $0.055 per minuteVoice: Retell Platform Voices: $0.015 per minute | 16 October 2026 |
| VapiOfficial pricing | Not verified | $0.05 per minute hosting, plus model, voice and telephony | subscription + per minute + usage-based | Vapi hosting: $0.05 per minuteHIPAA compliance add-on: $2,000 per month | 16 October 2026 |
| Bland AIOfficial pricing | Not verified | From $0.14 per minute talk time, telephony extra | subscription + per minute | Talk time (Start): $0.14 per minuteTransfer time (Start): $0.05 per minute | 16 October 2026 |
| SynthflowOfficial pricing | Not verified | From $30,000/year | subscription | None published | 16 October 2026 |
| PolyAIOfficial pricing | Not verified | Contact sales | Custom quote | None published | 16 October 2026 |
Estimate the usage charge
Change the volume to see what the published metered rates add up to. This is arithmetic on public rates, not a quotation.
900 minutes a month. Estimate of the metered charge only, from each vendor’s published rate. Plans, seats, phone numbers, add-ons and tax are not included. Not a quote.
| Product | Published rate | Estimated metered cost |
|---|---|---|
| VapiModel, voice, transcription and telephony billed on top at cost | $0.05 per minute hosting | $45/month |
| Retell AIRange $0.07 to $0.31 depending on model and voice | $0.07 per minute (lowest published all-in rate) | $63/month |
| Bland AIPlus the $299 a month Build plan; telephony separate | $0.12 per minute talk time (Build) | $108/month |
| Bland AIIncludes model and voices; telephony billed separately | $0.14 per minute talk time (Start) | $126/month |
Every published plan
Retell AIper minute + usage-based + per call + usage credits
Pay as you go
$0.07-$0.31 / min for AI Voice Agents · $0.002+/ msg for AI Chat Agents · First 20 concurrent calls free
No public price
Enterprise
Custom concurrency starting at 50+ calls
Contact sales
Usage charges
- Retell Voice Infra: $0.055 per minute
- Voice: Retell Platform Voices: $0.015 per minute
- Voice: ElevenLabs Flash: $0.04 per minute
- LLM: Claude 5.5 Sonnet: $0.064 per minute
- LLM: GPT 5.4 mini (standard): $0.024 per minute
- Speech-to-speech: GPT Realtime: $0.345 per minute
- Telephony (Twilio/Telnyx, listed countries): $0.015 per minute
- Retell phone number: $2 per number per month
- Extra concurrency (beyond 20): $8 per concurrent call per month
- Knowledge base usage: $0.005 per minute
- Extra knowledge base (beyond 10): $8 per knowledge base per month
- Batch call: $0.005 per dial
- Branded call: $0.10 per outbound call
- SMS: $0.01 per message
Vapisubscription + per minute + usage-based
No Success Package
Pre-paid, $0.05/min Vapi hosting · Models pass-through at cost · 4 concurrent calls · 1 phone number · 14 days data retention
Free
Core
Pre-paid, auto-renew · 10 concurrent calls · 5 phone numbers · 30 days retention · Email support
$29/month per account
Pro
10% of Vapi hosting fee · $999/mo minimum · 30 concurrent calls · 10 phone numbers · 180 days retention · 99% uptime SLA
$999/month per account
Premier
Custom concurrency and retention · 99.9% uptime SLA · SSO · Dedicated SIP
Contact sales
Usage charges
- Vapi hosting: $0.05 per minute
- HIPAA compliance add-on: $2,000 per month
- Additional concurrency: $10 per line per month
- Additional organization: $20 per organization per month
Bland AIsubscription + per minute
Start
$0.14/min talk time · $0.05/min transfer time · 100 calls/day, 100 calls/hour · 10 concurrent calls · 1 voice · 10 knowledge bases
Free
Build
$0.12/min talk time · $0.04/min transfer time · 2,000 calls/day, 1,000 calls/hour · 50 concurrent calls · 5 voices · 50 knowledge bases
$299/month per account
Enterprise
Custom talk and transfer rates · Unlimited daily and hourly caps · Unlimited voices and knowledge bases
Contact sales
Usage charges
- Talk time (Start): $0.14 per minute
- Transfer time (Start): $0.05 per minute
- Talk time (Build): $0.12 per minute
- Transfer time (Build): $0.04 per minute
Synthflowsubscription
Enterprise
Contracts start at $30,000 annually · Custom concurrency planning · Synthflow Native Telephony, SIP trunking, or approved enterprise telephony
$30,000/year
PolyAICustom quote
No public prices. Pricing is by quote from the vendor's sales team.
Questions
Why do per-minute voice prices vary so much?
Platforms bundle different components. Some include the language model, speech recognition and voice in one rate; others charge hosting only and pass the rest through at cost. The model and voice you choose can also change the rate several times over.
Are telephony costs included?
Often not. Bland AI bills telephony separately, and Vapi passes phone carrier costs through. Retell AI lists its telephony rate as one of the components in its published range. Check each vendor's page for the phone line and number fees.
Sources
- Retell AI, checked 16 October 2026: pricing page, product page, docs
- Vapi, checked 16 October 2026: pricing page, product page, docs, docs
- Bland AI, checked 16 October 2026: pricing page, product page, docs, docs (llms.txt)
- Synthflow, checked 16 October 2026: pricing page, product page, docs (sales-led pricing), docs (pricing scoped with sales)
- PolyAI, checked 16 October 2026: pricing page, product page, product page, docs
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