Deepgram vs Retell AI — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Retell AI starts at Free. Deepgram uses custom pricing — request a quote to compare.
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.
- Deepgram (Per Usage) — Deepgram bills purely on usage. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
- 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.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
Voice AI infrastructure company — best-known for its speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs used by voice agents and transcription tools. Usage-based pricing: STT starts at $0.0043/min (Nova-2), TTS starts at $0.015/1K characters. Pay-as-you-go with $200 free credit for new accounts. Enterprise custom for volume + private deployment. Powers voice agents at scale for customers like Vapi, Retell, and enterprise contact centers.
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.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | Deepgram monthly | Deepgram annual | Retell AI monthly | Retell AI annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | Pay-as-you-go / PAYG | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| 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
Deepgram is worth it if… developers building voice-first products that need low-latency speech APIs at scale. Nova-2 STT is the workhorse — best price/performance for real-time transcription.
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.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose Deepgram over Retell AI if…
Choose Deepgram if…
- You want to pay only for actual usage (per usage, custom pricing).
- You match the profile Deepgram is built for: developers building voice-first products that need low-latency speech APIs at scale.
- You're building for contact centers.
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.
At a glance
| Deepgram | Retell AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | Custom | Free |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Per Usage |
| Last verified | — | September 10, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 10, 2026. Tracked daily.