Retell AI vs Bland AI — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Retell AI starts at Free. Bland AI starts at $299/mo. Retell AI is $299/mo cheaper on the entry tier than Bland AI.
How pricing works
These two tools don't price the same way, so the headline numbers below aren't directly comparable until you plug in your own volume.
- Retell AI (Per Usage) — Retell AI bills purely on usage — PAYG. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
- Bland AI (Hybrid) — Bland AI is hybrid: a fixed subscription from $299/mo plus metered usage on top (Build). Your real bill moves with volume, not seat count.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
AI voice agent platform. PAYG at $0.07+/min base ($10 free credits, 20 free concurrent calls); real all-in cost $0.13–0.31/min. Enterprise drops to $0.05+/min base rate. Supports GPT-5.x variants and Claude 4.5/4.6 Sonnet; Fast Tier LLM adds 1.5–2× charge for lower latency. Direct competitor to Vapi and Bland AI.
AI voice agent with a hybrid monthly + per-minute pricing model. Free trial (Start), Build $299/mo ($0.09/min connected), Scale $499/mo ($0.11/min), Enterprise custom. SMS fees, integration fees, and transfer fees stack on top. Multilingual voice and voice cloning are add-ons. Shifted from pure PAYG to tiered subscription in early 2026.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Retell AI monthly | Retell AI annual | Bland AI monthly | Bland AI annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | PAYG / Start | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Entry paid | — / Build | — | — | $299 | $299 |
| Pro / power | — / Scale | — | — | $499 | $499 |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | Custom | Custom | Custom | Custom |
Tier names differ across vendors. Rows are aligned by tier role, not name. Full tier structures on each tool's page.
What each is best for
Retell AI is worth it if… developers who want a slightly more opinionated voice stack than Vapi — bundled defaults that ship faster, with paid unlocks for premium voices and Fast Tier LLM latency. Free credits make prototyping frictionless.
Bland AI is worth it if… teams that want a subscription-anchored voice agent (predictable base cost) rather than pure PAYG. The 2026 shift to tiered plans made monthly forecasting easier but added a $299 floor that Vapi and Retell don't impose.
Bottom line: Choose based on how you want to pay — Retell AI is per usage, Bland AI is hybrid.
Choose Retell AI over Bland AI if…
Choose Retell AI if…
- You want bundled defaults that ship faster than assembling components yourself.
- You're building voice agents where developer experience and UI matter more than stack flexibility.
- You want premium voices and low-latency model tiers behind a simple paid unlock.
Choose Bland AI if…
- You want one vendor owning the whole call path, models and telephony included.
- You're running high call volume and can commit to an enterprise contract for a lower per-minute rate.
- You need self-hosted or dedicated infrastructure for compliance-heavy calling.
Feature comparison
| AI Voice Agents | Retell AI | Bland AI |
|---|---|---|
| Bring-your-own LLM | Partial | |
| Bring-your-own voice | ||
| Multilingual (5+ languages) | ||
| Inbound + outbound | ||
| Human transfer | ||
| HIPAA | ||
| SOC 2 | ||
| Self-serve signup | Partial |
Feature parity verified against vendor pricing and docs pages on September 10, 2026. Missing a feature? Tell us — we'll fact-check and update.
At a glance
| Retell AI | Bland AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Entry price | Free | $299/mo |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Hybrid |
| Last verified | September 10, 2026 | September 10, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 10, 2026. Tracked daily.