telli vs Vapi — Pricing, Plans, and Verified Costs (2026)
Vapi starts at Free. telli 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.
- telli (Per Usage) — telli bills purely on usage — Custom. There is no fixed per-seat fee, so the monthly cost depends entirely on how much you consume.
- 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.
Per-minute, per-credit and per-token rates exclude any downstream model, speech or telephony costs unless the vendor states otherwise.
AI voice call operations platform built for outbound sales agents. Serves solar, HVAC, healthcare, real estate, insurance, and financial services with human-like voice AI and auto-dialers. Three tiers (Starter, Scale, Enterprise) with usage-based per-minute billing — quote-only. Raised $3.6M seed 2025. Berlin-founded.
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.
All plans compared
| Tier role | Plan | telli monthly | telli annual | Vapi monthly | Vapi annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free / starter | — / PAYG | — | — | Free | Free |
| Enterprise | — / Enterprise | — | — | $3333 | $3333 |
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
telli is worth it if… outbound sales teams in appointment-heavy verticals (solar, home services, insurance) who want AI voice agents that dial and qualify at scale without hiring more SDRs. Pricing is opaque and quote-driven — expect setup support that varies by tier and per-minute rates that need negotiation.
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.
Bottom line: Similar positioning, closer to a preference call than a strategic one.
Choose telli over Vapi if…
Choose telli if…
- You want an outbound calling agent that ships with the playbook already built.
- You're a revenue team, not an engineering team, and want speed over stack control.
- You're calling leads in solar, HVAC, insurance, or other high-intent home-services verticals.
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.
Feature comparison
| AI Voice Agents | telli | Vapi |
|---|---|---|
| Bring-your-own LLM | — | |
| Bring-your-own voice | Partial | |
| 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
| telli | Vapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan | — | Yes |
| Entry price | Custom | Free |
| Enterprise available | — | 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.