Vapi or Retell
Good first shortlist when you want phone-agent APIs, dashboards, and less media infrastructure to operate.
Compare voice AI platforms by the bill you will actually pay.
A practical comparison of hosted platforms and open frameworks, with public pricing normalized across the same phone-call workload.
start here
The short answer
There is no honest single winner. The useful split is how much of the stack you want the platform to own.
Bland AI
Worth testing when one AI minute and predictable model pass-throughs matter more than mixing providers.
ElevenAgents
A natural shortlist when ElevenLabs voices are the product. Confirm the plan, LLM treatment, and telephony before budgeting.
LiveKit or Pipecat
Best fit for engineering teams that want agent code, transport, and model choice to remain portable.
normalized cost
One workload, six public pricing models
Change the connected minutes below. Every row uses the same model and US carrier assumptions, so the comparison tests pricing shape instead of a provider's favorite demo.
Baseline: Nova-3, GPT-5 mini, a $0.015/min voice, US outbound Twilio, and no recording. Published rates checked before enterprise discounts.
Normalized workload10,000 minutes
PlatformPublished price shapeAI modelsModeled monthlyModeled per minute
Vapi ↗lowest in this model$0.05/min platform fee, plus model and carrier costs.Billed separately$958$0.0958
Retell AI ↗lowest in this model$0.055/min voice infrastructure, plus TTS, LLM, and telephony.Billed separately$1,008$0.1008
Bland Start ↗lowest in this model$0.14/min including STT, LLM, and TTS; carrier cost is separate.Included in the listed engine rate$1,540$0.1540
ElevenAgents ↗lowest in this model$0.08/min Speech Engine rate, with telephony billed separately.Included in the listed engine rate$940$0.0940
Workforce Wave ↗lowest in this modelStarter plan is $99/mo with 100 included minutes, then $0.12/min overage.Included in the listed engine rate$1,427$0.1427
Pipecat Cloud ↗lowest in this model$0.01/min active agent-1x hosting; 1:1 WebRTC voice is included.Billed separately$558$0.0558
LiveKit Cloud ↗lowest in this modelShip starts at $50/mo with 5,000 agent minutes, then $0.01/min.Billed separately$558$0.0558
Self-hosting is excluded from the ranking because it has no universal list price. Build a bill of materials for compute, networking, observability, capacity headroom, and on-call ownership. Start with the open-source framework directory.
cost anatomy
What the total includes
A $0.05 platform fee is not a $0.05 phone call. The invoice is assembled across several meters.
Platform and media
The platform runs orchestration, agent sessions, transport, or call control. Vapi lists a $0.05/min hosting fee. Retell lists $0.055/min for voice infrastructure.
Speech and reasoning
Cascaded agents pay for transcription, language-model work, and generated speech. The baseline uses Nova-3, GPT-5 mini, and a $0.015/min voice.
Telephony
The US outbound baseline adds Twilio at $0.014/min. Inbound, toll-free, SIP, India, and other country routes need their own carrier rate.
Production extras
Recording, transfers, phone numbers, denoising, knowledge bases, observability, and extra concurrency can move the total after the first pilot.
selection guide
Pick the operating model first
The cheapest row can still be the wrong system if your team cannot support its ownership model.
| If your constraint is | Start with | Pressure-test before buying |
|---|---|---|
| Fast managed launch | Vapi, Retell | Model freedom, concurrency, support, call logs |
| Predictable AI rate | Bland | Carrier pass-through, transfers, daily caps |
| Voice is the product | ElevenAgents | LLM billing, phone routes, plan commitment |
| Open agent code | Pipecat | Hosting profile, transport, on-call ownership |
| WebRTC and media rooms | LiveKit | Plan minimum, inference, observability |
| Infrastructure control | Self-hosted | Capacity, upgrades, monitoring, incident response |
native audio
Realtime voice changes the model bill
A native speech-to-speech model does not have separate STT and TTS meters. Input audio and output audio are priced differently.
That difference matters because the caller and agent rarely speak for equal time. A sales qualification agent may listen more. A reminder agent may speak more.
Voice OSS models both sides instead of multiplying one advertised token rate by call length. Use the realtime voice cost calculator for OpenAI and Gemini native-audio scenarios.
method
How this comparison was built
Public pricing was checked against provider-owned pages on 2026-07-20. No affiliate ranking or paid placement changes the order.
We normalize connected minutes, model choices, carrier direction, and recording policy. The result is a list-price model, not a benchmark or negotiated quote.
We did not invent latency scores. Latency changes with the model, region, carrier path, endpointing, tools, and prompt. Run the same scripted calls from the countries you serve before committing.
Every platform name in the table links to its primary pricing page. The formulas and assumptions are documented in the methodology.
head-to-head
Read the closer match
These pages unpack the pricing and ownership boundary between common shortlist pairs.
01
Vapi vs Retell AI
Compare platform fees, model flexibility, concurrency, and estimated call cost.
02LiveKit vs Pipecat
Compare two open voice-agent foundations across cloud pricing and ownership.
03Bland AI vs Vapi
Compare a bundled minute rate with an unbundled, provider-flexible stack.
04Retell AI vs Bland AI
Compare component pricing, included features, and predictable bundled costs.
05ElevenAgents vs Retell AI
Compare voice-first bundled pricing with a configurable voice-agent platform.
FAQ
Voice AI comparison questions
The practical answers we use before a paid pilot.
What is the best voice AI platform in 2026?
For a managed phone-agent product, start with Vapi or Retell. Choose Bland when a bundled AI minute matters more than provider choice. Choose LiveKit or Pipecat when your team wants to own the agent code and media path.
Why is the modeled cost higher than the advertised platform price?
Most platform prices cover orchestration or agent hosting. A working phone call can also incur STT, LLM, TTS, carrier, number, recording, transfer, and concurrency charges.
Does this comparison include realtime speech-to-speech models?
The main table uses a cascaded STT, LLM, and TTS stack so every platform can share one baseline. The realtime calculator separately prices caller audio and agent audio for native speech-to-speech models.
Are these prices quotes?
No. They are public list-price estimates checked on the date shown. Contracts, country routes, model usage, silence billing, failed calls, and negotiated volume discounts can change the invoice.