Best Retell AI alternatives for voice agents
Retell lists pay-as-you-go pricing of $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on the voice and LLM you choose. These alternatives publish their own per-minute rates or monthly plans.
How this list works: Grouped by pricing model: per-minute platforms first (lowest published rate first), then monthly plans (lowest listed price first), then contract-only. Pricing verified against vendor pages (latest check ). No placement here is paid. Methodology.
| Tool | What it is | Price (vendor-published) | Free plan | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cartesia | Low-latency text-to-speech (Sonic) and speech-to-text models plus a platform for building voice agents. | Free $0 (20K credits/mo, $1 of prepaid agent usage); Pro $5/mo (100K credits); Startup $49/mo (1.25M credits); Scale $299/mo (8M credits); Enterprise custom; voice agent calls $0.03/min plus $0.014/min telephony with a Cartesia-provided number; LLM usage during calls billed separately | Yes | phone |
| Ultravox | Speech-native voice AI model and platform for real-time voice agents, priced per minute. | Pay as you go: $0/mo with the first 30 minutes free, then $0.05/min, up to 5 concurrent calls; Pro $100/mo (no hard concurrency caps) at $0.05/min; SIP $0.0048/min; Enterprise custom | — | phone |
| Telnyx Voice AI | Carrier-owned voice AI agent platform with telephony, speech and LLM inference on one invoice. | Voice engine $0.05/min (orchestration, speech-to-text and text-to-speech); LLM tokens billed separately (about $0.006/min on Telnyx-hosted models per its estimate) and telephony at carrier cost from $0.0032/min; Telnyx estimates a production agent at about $0.06/min; volume rates via sales; free sign-up | — | phone, sms |
| Smallest.ai Atoms | Voice AI agent platform with its own speech models, priced per minute by model stack. | Pay as you go with $10 in free credits: voice agents from $0.05/min, typically $0.09 to $0.21/min depending on the models chosen (hosting $0.01/min flat, speech-to-text about $0.009/min, LLM at cost, text-to-speech about $0.09/min, or speech-to-speech); phone numbers $10/mo; HIPAA zero data retention add-on $1,000/mo; enterprise custom | — | phone, sms |
| Tabbly | No-code AI voice agent builder billed per second at a flat per-minute rate. | Pay as you go $0.05/min worldwide, billed by the second, no monthly minimum; enterprise committed volume $0.04/min; free account, no card | — | phone |
| Bolna | Voice AI agent platform for building outbound and inbound calling agents, priced per minute. | Pay as you go from $0.06/min, with speech-to-text, LLM and text-to-speech included when using the bundled models (telephony and platform fee added per minute); credit top-ups from $10 to $5,000, larger top-ups bring the rate to about 4.5¢/min; one-time Pilot packs $300 for 6,500 min or $500 for 12,000 min; $5 free credits for new accounts | — | phone |
| Twilio Voice (ConversationRelay) | Cloud communications API; ConversationRelay connects your own LLM to live calls with speech handled by Twilio. | Pay as you go (US, as of Aug 2026): ConversationRelay voice AI orchestration $0.07/min on top of call minutes (local outbound $0.0140/min, inbound $0.0085/min; browser/app $0.0040/min); local numbers $1.15/mo, toll-free $2.15/mo; volume and committed-use discounts; free trial with $15 credit, no card | — | phone, sms |
| Deepgram Voice Agent API | Speech-to-text, text-to-speech and an all-in-one Voice Agent API for building AI phone agents. | Voice Agent API, pay as you go: Standard $0.075/min ($0.068 on Growth), Standard with your own TTS $0.065/min ($0.051), your own LLM $0.059/min, your own LLM and TTS $0.050/min ($0.041), Advanced $0.163/min ($0.146); $200 free credit; Growth plans from $4K/year; Enterprise via sales | — | phone |
| AssemblyAI Voice Agent API | Speech-to-text API provider with an all-inclusive Voice Agent API for building AI phone agents. | Voice Agent API $4.50/hr (about $0.075/min) all-in: real-time speech-to-text, turn detection, its Voice Agent LLM, text-to-speech and hosting, billed per second; speech-to-text from $0.15/hr; free tier (no card) includes up to 185 hours of pre-recorded and 333 hours of streaming transcription; volume pricing via sales | Yes | phone |
| Dasha | Voice AI agent platform for high-volume outbound and inbound calls, billed per second. | Growth from $0.08/min, all-inclusive except VoIP and LLM tokens, billed per second with no charge for unconnected call attempts; volume and committed-usage discounts via sales; 1,000 free minutes, no card | — | phone |
| Bland AI | Voice AI agents priced per minute. | $0.14/min with $0 platform fee; $0.12/min with $299/mo platform fee | — | phone |
| Vapi | Developer platform for building voice AI agents. | Usage-based per minute, with transcriber, model and voice costs listed separately; $5 free credits; optional support packages: Core $29/mo, Pro $999/mo minimum | — | phone |
| ElevenLabs Agents | Conversational voice agent platform from ElevenLabs, with plan-based call minutes. | Monthly plans with included call minutes: Free (15 min), Starter $6 (75 min), Creator $22 (275 min), Pro $99 (1,238 min), Scale $299 (3,738 min, 3 seats), Business $990 (12,375 min); additional minutes $0.08/min; LLM usage billed separately and your own telephony at cost; promo first-month discounts shown until Nov 1, 2026; Enterprise custom | Yes | phone, chat |
| OpenMic.ai | No-code AI voice agents for inbound and outbound calls, with workflows, calendar booking and an agency white-label plan. | Starter $29/mo (100 minutes); Business $199/mo (1,000 minutes, then $0.15/min); Pro $450/mo (2,500 minutes, then $0.13/min); Agency $1,500/mo (7,000 minutes, then $0.12/min, white-label); Enterprise custom, from as low as $0.08/min; free trial on every plan | — | phone, sms |
| Famulor | AI phone agent platform for inbound and outbound calls, with white-label for agencies. | Pay as you go $0 to start (800 credits included, then $0.16/min, no card); billed yearly: Plus $29/mo (100 minutes included), Pro $111/mo (667 minutes), Agency $233/mo (1,667 minutes); extra minutes $0.11–$0.14 depending on plan; white-label on all plans; Enterprise via sales. The page showed a limited-time autumn offer with lower minute rates on our check | Yes | phone |
| Phonely | AI phone agent that answers calls, qualifies leads, books appointments and transfers to humans. | Free plan (100 minutes); Starter $33/mo and Professional $100/mo billed annually (33% off); Enterprise from 5 cents/min; overage $0.35, $0.30 and $0.25/min | Yes | phone |
| Autocalls | AI voice agents for inbound and outbound call campaigns, with agency and white-label plans. | Starter $34/mo (120 minutes, then $0.20/min, 1 assistant); Pro $129/mo (700 minutes, then $0.16/min); Agency $249/mo (1,700 minutes, then $0.09/min); Agency White Label $419/mo (3,500 minutes, then $0.09/min); AI model, voice and transcription included in every minute; yearly billing gives 2 months free | — | phone |
| LiveKit | Open-source framework and cloud for building, deploying and scaling real-time voice and video AI agents. | Build $0/mo; Ship from $50/mo; Scale from $500/mo; Enterprise custom; usage on top: agent session $0.01/min, US local telephony $0.01/min, and LLM, speech-to-text and text-to-speech inference billed per minute by model (the page's example totals about $0.048/min) | Yes | phone, video |
| Brilo AI | AI phone agents that answer and make business calls, book appointments and run CSV call campaigns. | Free plan (10 minutes/mo, 1 agent); Pro $149/mo (600 minutes, 3 agents); Growth $499/mo (2,500 minutes, unlimited agents); Custom plans above 5,000 minutes; the page lists about 16¢ (Pro) and 14¢ (Growth) per minute; annual billing saves 10% | Yes | phone |
| Synthflow | Enterprise voice AI agents. | Enterprise contracts start at $30,000/year | — | phone |
FAQ
What is cheaper than Retell AI?
On published per-minute rates: Ultravox $0.05/min after 30 free minutes, Telnyx's $0.05/min voice engine (LLM tokens and carrier telephony extra; Telnyx estimates about $0.06/min all-in) and Bolna from $0.06/min with speech and LLM bundled. Cartesia bills voice agent calls at $0.03/min plus telephony, with LLM usage billed separately. Deepgram's Voice Agent API is $0.075/min Standard, or $0.050/min if you bring your own LLM and TTS.
Which Retell alternatives have free minutes?
Dasha gives 1,000 free minutes, Ultravox the first 30 minutes and Deepgram $200 in credit. Vapi and Bolna give $5 in credits; Phonely, Brilo AI, Cartesia, Famulor and LiveKit list free plans.
Compare tools from this list
- Bland AI vs Vapi
- Phonely vs Bland AI
- Phonely vs Synthflow
- Bolna vs Vapi
- Ultravox vs Vapi
- Deepgram Voice Agent API vs Vapi
- Telnyx Voice AI vs Vapi
- Brilo AI vs Phonely
- OpenMic.ai vs Synthflow
- OpenMic.ai vs Autocalls
- Autocalls vs Bland AI
- Famulor vs Autocalls
- Famulor vs Synthflow
- Cartesia vs Deepgram Voice Agent API
- Dasha vs Bland AI
- Dasha vs Vapi
- LiveKit vs Vapi
- Synthflow vs Vapi
- Synthflow vs Bland AI
- ElevenLabs Agents vs Vapi
- ElevenLabs Agents vs Cartesia
- AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Deepgram Voice Agent API
- AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vapi
- Twilio Voice (ConversationRelay) vs Telnyx Voice AI
- Twilio Voice (ConversationRelay) vs Vapi
- Smallest.ai Atoms vs Ultravox
- Tabbly vs Bolna
- Tabbly vs Vapi
Related roundups
- Best AI voice agents & dialers for sales
- Best Vapi alternatives for AI voice agents
- Best Bland AI alternatives for voice agents
- Best ElevenLabs Agents alternatives for AI voice agents
- Best inbound AI SDR & lead conversion tools
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