AI voice agent platforms place an automated caller or receiver on a phone number, with speech, a language model, and call routing. They are not a human sales dialer and not a meeting transcription tool. This page covers platforms a sales or support team can price for outbound or inbound calls.
Every provider is described with the same fields: published price, what the minute includes, concurrency, telephony, and the main tradeoff. The order is not a quality ranking. Providers are sorted by the public entry price we could verify: a $0 plan or the lowest published list price first, and quote-led plans last.
Compared at a glance
| Provider | Published pricing | Minute structure | Best for | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retell AI | $0 to start with $10 in credits; voice agents $0.07β$0.31/minute; Enterprise custom | Voice infrastructure $0.055/min; phone numbers $2/month; extra concurrency $8 | A pay-as-you-go voice agent with no platform fee | Visit → |
| Vapi | Usage-only success package $0; hosting calculator shows $50 per 1,000 minutes; Core $29/month; Pro is 10% of hosting with a $999/month minimum; Premier custom | Provider model, voice, and telephony are pass-through | Developers who want to pick the model and pay hosting separately | Visit → |
| Bland AI | Start $0.14/minute and $0 platform fee; Build $0.12/minute plus $299/month; Enterprise custom | Start includes 10 concurrent calls and 100 calls/day | A single per-minute rate that includes the model and voice | Visit → |
Pricing checked on October 2, 2026 against each vendor’s public pricing or plan page. Figures are list prices in US dollars unless noted. Free means a standing free plan, not a time-limited trial. Quote means we did not find a public list price.
A bundled minute and a platform-plus-providers minute are not comparable until you add the model and the phone carrier.
Where the minute goes
Sales teams hit this category when they want a first-pass caller, a qualification bot, or an after-hours receptionist. The 2026 price split is bundled versus assembled. Bland publishes one rate that includes the model and voice. Retell and Vapi publish a platform or infrastructure fee and then add the model. Enterprise controls such as a BAA or SSO sit on the quote-led tier at all three.
The 3 providers in detail
1. Retell AI
No platform fee
Best for: a team that wants a live phone agent and a published per-minute range
| Published price | Pay as you go from $0, with $10 in free credits; voice agents $0.07β$0.31/minute; Enterprise custom |
| Components | Voice infrastructure $0.055/minute; platform voices $0.015; ElevenLabs voices $0.040; US call rates $0.015/minute |
| Concurrency | 20 concurrent calls included, then $8 per extra concurrent call each month |
| Numbers | Retell phone numbers $2/month; verified numbers $10 |
| Tradeoff | The headline range is not one rate. The model you pick can move the minute from a few cents to $0.31 |
- Retell’s pricing page lists pay as you go at $0.07β$0.31 per minute and a $10 credit to start.
- The component table lists voice infrastructure at $0.055 per minute, separate from the language model and telephony.
- Failed calls are not billed. Silence on a connected call is billed, because transcription stays active.
2. Vapi
Hosting plus pass-through
Best for: builders who want to bring a model and pay a separate hosting fee
| Published price | No success package is $0. The calculator shows a $50 hosting fee for 1,000 minutes. Core is $29/month. Pro is 10% of the hosting fee with a $999/month minimum. Premier is custom |
| What the minute includes | Hosting is Vapi’s fee. Transcriber, model, and voice are provider costs with no markup |
| Core package | 2 organizations, 5 phone numbers, 10 concurrent calls, 30-day retention, zero data retention included |
| Default without a package | The calculator’s no-package column shows 4 concurrent calls and 14-day raw retention |
| Tradeoff | A low hosting fee is not the whole call. Model and voice sit on top |
- Vapi’s pricing page calculator lists a $50 hosting fee for 1,000 minutes before provider charges.
- Core is a $29 monthly success package on top of usage. Pro has a $999 monthly minimum.
- Premier, including SSO, is direct sales and custom.
3. Bland AI
Bundled per-minute rate
Best for: teams that want one rate covering the model and voice, with telephony separate
| Published price | Start $0.14/minute and $0 platform fee; Build $0.12/minute plus $299/month; Enterprise custom |
| Start limits | 10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day, 10 knowledge bases |
| Build limits | 50 concurrent calls, 2,000 calls a day, $0.04 per transfer minute |
| Included in the minute | Bland says the per-minute rate includes the LLM, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech, with no token pass-through |
| Tradeoff | Warm transfer, BAA, and SSO are on Enterprise, not on the $0.14 Start plan |
- Bland’s pricing page lists Start at $0.14 per minute with no platform fee and no card required.
- Build lowers the minute to $0.12 and adds a $299 monthly platform fee.
- Telephony is separate, on your carrier or Bland’s at pass-through. Enterprise is contracted to volume.
Kurums Match
Open the situation that matches the buyer. This is a fit map, not a score.
We want no platform fee and a credit to test
Retell starts at $0 with $10 in credits. Voice agents are $0.07β$0.31 a minute depending on the stack.
We want to choose the model and see hosting separately
Vapi’s calculator shows $50 hosting for 1,000 minutes, plus provider pass-through. Core is $29 if you want the success package.
We want one number that includes the model and voice
Bland Start is $0.14 a minute with a $0 platform fee. Build is $0.12 plus $299 a month.
We need a BAA or SSO before we dial customers
Those controls are on the enterprise or custom tier at Retell, Vapi, and Bland. Budget a quote, not the Start rate.
Buying tip: Price 1,000 connected minutes, not 1,000 dials. Add telephony, a branded-caller fee if you use one, and the concurrency add-on if you will run more than the included lines.
How this comparison was put together
We compared AI voice-agent platforms a sales or support team would pilot, not human dialers. Prices were read on October 2, 2026 from Retell, Vapi, and Bland pricing pages. We did not convert Bland’s comparison claims about rivals into our prices; each vendor’s own page is the source. Order follows the lowest published platform entry, with custom enterprise noted on each card. No badge or affiliate term set the sequence.
FAQ
Is this the same as a sales dialer?
No. A dialer places calls for a person. These platforms run the conversation. See the sales-dialer comparison if a human is still on the line.
Are failed calls billed?
Retell says failed calls are not billed, and voicemail is billed only while the agent is active. Confirm the same rule in Bland and Vapi before you model a low connect rate.
Does the $0.07 Retell rate include the model?
No. The page’s range is $0.07β$0.31. Voice infrastructure alone is $0.055. The model is extra.
Why only three platforms?
We included vendors with a public per-minute or hosting price on October 2, 2026. Quote-only voice vendors would sort last, and we did not add one without a page we could cite.
Related comparisons
- Best sales dialer software in 2026
- Best cold email software in 2026
- Best sales engagement software in 2026
Last updated October 2, 2026. Links to vendor sites use rel="sponsored nofollow". Kurums does not award Recommends, Top Pick, or Verified badges on this page, and affiliate availability did not set the order.
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