Vapi vs Retell AI — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Vapi and Retell AI both start at Free on their entry tier.
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.
- Vapi (Per Usage) — Vapi bills purely on usage — PAYG. 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 agent platform for developers building conversational voice apps. Base orchestration at $0.05/minute PAYG (STT/LLM/TTS/telephony billed separately, ~$0.07–0.25/min all-in). 10 concurrent lines included; extra lines $10/mo each. HIPAA add-on $2K/mo, ZDR $1K/mo. Enterprise starts $40K–70K/year. Backed by Bessemer and Y Combinator. Direct competitor to Retell AI and Bland AI.
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 | Vapi monthly | Vapi annual | Retell AI monthly | Retell AI annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | PAYG | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Enterprise | Enterprise | $3333 | $3333 | 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
Vapi is worth it if… developers who want maximum control over the voice stack — swap any STT, LLM, TTS, or telephony provider without vendor lock-in. 05/min is the lowest orchestration fee in the category, but the real cost is what you stack on top.
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 Vapi over Retell AI if…
Choose Vapi if…
- You want a fully open voice stack — swap STT, LLM, TTS, or telephony providers freely.
- You're a developer prioritising maximum control over opinionated defaults.
- You need HIPAA or zero-data-retention compliance without switching platforms.
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.
Feature comparison
| AI Voice Agents | Vapi | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Bring-your-own LLM | ||
| Bring-your-own voice | ||
| Multilingual (5+ languages) | ||
| Inbound + outbound | ||
| Human transfer | ||
| HIPAA | ||
| SOC 2 | ||
| Self-serve signup |
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
| Vapi | Retell AI | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Entry price | Free | Free |
| Enterprise available | Yes | Yes |
| Pricing model | Per Usage | Per Usage |
| Last verified | September 10, 2026 | September 10, 2026 |
| Full pricing | View full pricing | View full pricing |
Pricing last verified September 10, 2026. Tracked daily.