ai voice agents · comparison

Best AI voice agents (2026)

AI voice agents handle phone calls — inbound support, outbound sales, scheduling. They are almost all billed per minute, and the real cost stacks: platform per-minute + the underlying LLM + telephony + transcription. Below, each platform's per-minute economics are decoded and dated.

best voice qualityElevenLabstop voices + conversational AI, free then ~$5/mo
developer platformVapiflexible, pay per minute from $0.05/min
fastest to shipRetell AIlow-latency, self-host option
  1. ElevenLabs · $6/mo · Production-grade AI voice and voice agents
  2. Vapi · $0.05/min (platform fee; +model & telephony pass-through) · voice agents
  3. Retell AI · $0.07/min (usage-based; realistic all-in $0.13–$0.31/min) · voice agents
  4. Deepgram · Free $200 credit, then usage-based ~$0.0048/min (Nova-3 STT) · voice AI APIs
  5. Bland AI · Free, then $299/mo + $0.12/min · voice agents
  6. Cartesia · $5/mo · Low-latency real-time voice apps

Pricing decoded and verified 2026-05-30 against each vendor's live page; volatile figures flagged "verify live".

Dirr is reader-supported. If you sign up through a link here we may earn a commission. It never changes the data or the order. Numbers come from each vendor's live pricing page; volatile ones are marked verify live.

ElevenLabsProduction-grade AI…
Vapivoice agents
Retell AIvoice agents
Deepgramvoice AI APIs
Bland AIvoice agents
CartesiaLow-latency real-time…
SynthflowNo-code voice phone…
Cognigyenterprise CX automation
RegalEnterprise contact…
Avoca AIAI front office for…
PhonelyAI phone answering
Goodcalllocal service phone…
JustCallsales and support call…
CloudTalksales and support…
11xoutbound AI SDR +…
Lindymost hands-off
WonderfulMultilingual enterprise…
LorikeetComplex…
Decagonenterprise customer…
Sierraenterprise customer…
entry price
$6/mo
$0.05/mincheapestverify live
$0.07/minverify live
Free $200 credit, then usage-based ~$0.0048/minverify live
Free, then $299/moverify live
$5/mo
Enterprise $30,000/yr
Customverify live
Customverify live
Customverify live
Free, then ~$33/seat/moverify live
~$79/agent/moverify live
~$29/user/moverify live
~€19/user/moverify live
$3,750/moverify live
$49.99/moverify live
Customverify live
$1,500/moverify live
Customverify live
Customverify live
pricing model
Monthly subscription with…
per-minute usage…
per-minute usage (voice)…
Usage-based (per-minute…
plan-based per-minute…
Credit-based…
per-minute usage
Custom annual enterprise…
Custom quote
Sales-led custom quote
plan (monthly minute…
flat plan per AI agent…
per-seat + usage (AI…
per-seat + per-minute (AI…
per-worker annual contract
per-credit
Consumption-based…
outcome-based per…
usage-based
Outcome-based
free tier
Yes. Free plan: $0/mo…most
No ongoing free tier,…
Yes. Free account with…
$200 free credit on Pay…
Start plan, $0/mo, no…
Free plan: $0/mo with…
Free to build/test, pay…
No public free plan or…
No free tier or…
None. No free trial and…
Free plan: 100…
No free plan
No free plan, 14-day…
No free plan
None. No free plan or…
400 credits/mo
None
None, demo-led
None. No free plan or…
None, no self-serve…
self-host
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
No
mcp
Both
Both
Both
Server
Both
None
Server
Both
None
None
None
None
None
None
None
Both
None
Client
Both
Server
Visit → ElevenLabs details →
Visit → Vapi details →
Visit → Retell AI details →
Visit → Deepgram details →
Visit → Bland AI details →
Visit → Cartesia details →
Visit → Synthflow details →
Visit → Cognigy details →
Visit → Regal details →
Visit → Avoca AI details →
Visit → Phonely details →
Visit → Goodcall details →
Visit → JustCall details →
Visit → CloudTalk details →
Visit → 11x details →
Visit → Lindy details →
Visit → Wonderful details →
Visit → Lorikeet details →
Visit → Decagon details →
Visit → Sierra details →
ElevenLabs Production-grade AI voice and voice agents
entry price $6/mo
pricing model Monthly subscription with a monthly credit (character) allowance for TTS, plus separate per-minute usage billing for Conversational AI / Agents. API is billed per 1,000 characters.
free tier Yes. Free plan: $0/mo with 10,000 credits/month (text-to-speech, speech-to-text, sound effects, voice design, dubbing, 3 projects). Agents free tier includes 15 conversation minutes/month with up to 4 concurrent calls.most
self-host No
mcp Both
Visit ElevenLabs → details →
Vapi voice agents
entry price $0.05/min (platform fee; +model & telephony pass-through)cheapestverify live
pricing model per-minute usage (platform fee + model & telephony pass-through)
free tier No ongoing free tier, ~60 free minutes at signup
self-host No
mcp Both
Visit Vapi → details →
Retell AI voice agents
entry price $0.07/min (usage-based; realistic all-in $0.13–$0.31/min)verify live
pricing model per-minute usage (voice) + per-message (chat)
free tier Yes. Free account with $10 in credits, 20 free concurrent calls, full platform access, pre-built agent templates and simulation testing, plus community and email support.
self-host Yes
mcp Both
Visit Retell AI → details →
Deepgram voice AI APIs
entry price Free $200 credit, then usage-based ~$0.0048/min (Nova-3 STT)verify live
pricing model Usage-based (per-minute STT / per-1k-char TTS / per-minute Voice Agent), with $200 free credit and an optional prepaid annual Growth tier
free tier $200 free credit on Pay As You Go, no credit card required, no expiration
self-host Yes
mcp Server
Visit Deepgram → details →
Cartesia Low-latency real-time voice apps
entry price $5/mo
pricing model Credit-based subscriptions (TTS/STT billed in credits, ~1 credit per character) layered with usage-based per-minute rates for voice agent calls and telephony; tiers add included credits, concurrency, and features.
free tier Free plan: $0/mo with 20K credits/month (~27 min TTS, ~1h 51m STT) plus $1 prepaid voice-agent usage, 1 agent slot, and 2/8 concurrent TTS/STT requests.
self-host No
mcp None
Visit Cartesia → details →
Cognigy enterprise CX automation
entry price Custom (contact sales)verify live
pricing model Custom annual enterprise contract; usage-based units (billable conversations + concurrent voice lines + knowledge queries/chunks)
free tier No public free plan or self-serve paid tier; free trial environment at trial.cognigy.ai (no card). All production use is custom-quoted via sales/demo.
self-host Yes
mcp Both
Visit Cognigy → details →
Regal Enterprise contact centers
entry price Custom (contact sales)verify live
pricing model Custom quote, usage-based (per-minute for voice plus contact volume and committed spend); volume and contract-length discounts
free tier No free tier or self-serve trial; sales-led with a demo required. Targets teams with at least ~75 agents or ~150,000 calls/month.
self-host No
mcp None
Visit Regal → details →
Phonely AI phone answering
entry price Free, then ~$33/seat/mo (Starter, billed annually) or $50/mo monthlyverify live
pricing model plan (monthly minute allotment) + per-minute overage; Enterprise is custom per-minute
free tier Free plan: 100 minutes/mo (~50 calls), 1 phone number, no card required (no overage; must upgrade to add minutes)
self-host Yes
mcp None
Visit Phonely → details →
Sierra enterprise customer service
entry price Custom (enterprise only); third-party estimates ~$150k+/yr plus $50k-$200k setupverify live
pricing model Outcome-based, you pay per successfully resolved conversation, plus a base platform fee
free tier None, no self-serve trial, enterprise sales only
self-host No
mcp Server
Visit Sierra → details →

// scraped weekly · every cell carries source + date · volatile cells flagged verify live

FAQ

What is the best AI voice agent platform?

ElevenLabs leads on voice quality and bundles conversational AI agents. For developer flexibility and low latency, Vapi and Retell AI lead, billed per minute. Bland AI is strong for high-volume outbound calling, and Synthflow has no flat fee (pure pay-as-you-go).

How much do AI voice agents cost per minute?

Platform fees typically run ~$0.05–$0.15/minute, but the real bill adds the LLM, telephony and transcription on top — often $0.10–$0.30/min all-in. Always model expected call minutes; verify live as rates change often.

Can AI voice agents make outbound calls?

Yes — Vapi, Retell and Bland all support outbound calling with telephony integration (e.g. Twilio). Telephony-native tools like JustCall and CloudTalk add AI voice agents on top of a business phone system.

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