Retell AI alternatives
Retell AI Alternatives: 6 Options Compared on Price and Setup (2026)
Competitor prices verified on October 25, 2026. Page updated October 25, 2026.
What are the best Retell AI alternatives?
The closest Retell AI alternatives are Vapi and Bland AI, which also host the voice agent and bill per minute. ElevenLabs Agents sells plan minutes with its own voices and includes telephony. LiveKit and Pipecat are open-source frameworks for teams who would rather host the agent themselves. AgentLine is the choice when the agent already exists in Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes or Codex and only needs a phone number: $3.00 a month per additional US or Canada number and $0.12 a minute all-in, with nothing to configure in a dashboard.
Retell publishes one of the clearest rate cards in the category. Its voice infrastructure is $0.055 a minute, telephony on a Retell number is $0.015 a minute, a number is $2.00 a month, and every language model and voice has a listed per-minute price. Retell's example stack is $0.11 a minute, and the page quotes a $0.07 to $0.31 a minute range depending on the model. Billing is per second with no rounding up, and new accounts get $10 of credit.
People look for alternatives when the model add-ons push the rate toward the top of that range, when they want a plan rather than a meter, or when they already have an agent and do not want to rebuild it as a Retell conversation flow. This page lists six alternatives with prices from each vendor's pricing page on the verification date, and works the bill at 300 and 1,000 minutes.
The alternatives
01Vapi
$0.05 a minute hosting plus transcriber, model and voice at cost; about $0.08 to $0.13 a minute; $5 free credit
Vapi and Retell are the two platforms most often compared head to head. Vapi's hosting fee is lower than Retell's voice infrastructure fee and its own telephony is free, but the providers are passed through at cost and the all-in range overlaps Retell's. Vapi has an MCP server and lets assistants call MCP tools. Core is $29 a month with five numbers; Pro starts at a $999 a month minimum.
Best for: Developers who want component-level control and do not mind several meters.
02Bland AI
$0.14 a minute on Start, $0.12 a minute plus $299 a month on Build; telephony at pass-through cost
Bland's talk-time rate includes the model and the voice, so it is simpler to forecast than Retell's model table, though telephony is a separate pass-through line and SMS is Enterprise-only. Bland is built for outbound volume with a visual pathway builder and an MCP server.
Best for: Outbound teams who want one flat rate and high concurrency.
03ElevenLabs Agents
Plans from $6 a month with 75 to 12,375 minutes; $0.08 a minute overage; LLM billed separately
ElevenLabs is the plan-based option: Creator is $22 for 275 minutes, Pro is $99 for 1,238 minutes, Business is $990 for 12,375 minutes, and telephony is included. If Retell's ElevenLabs voice add-on ($0.04 to $0.10 a minute) is a big part of your bill, going direct can be cheaper. External MCP servers can be attached as tools.
Best for: Teams who want ElevenLabs voices and a fixed monthly plan.
04LiveKit Agents
Build plan free with 1,000 agent minutes and one US number; then $0.01 a minute agent session and $0.01 a minute inbound telephony
LiveKit is an open-source framework with a cloud for transport, SIP and numbers. You write and host the agent in Python or Node. LiveKit's calculator estimates about $0.048 a minute all-in, well under Retell, but the engineering time is yours. The framework supports MCP tools.
Best for: Engineering teams who want the lowest per-minute cost and can run a service.
05Pipecat
Open source and free to self-host; Pipecat Cloud from $0.01 a minute hosting plus $0.018 a minute PSTN, plus models
Pipecat is Daily's open-source voice pipeline framework. Self-hosted it costs only your models and carrier; Pipecat Cloud adds managed hosting and dial-in and dial-out. Like LiveKit, it is a build.
Best for: Developers who want an open-source pipeline and no platform fee.
06AgentLine
plans from $20 a month with included numbers, minutes and SMS; beyond the plan $0.12 a minute all-in, $3.00 a month per US or Canada number, $0.02 per SMS
AgentLine is for the agent you already run. Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex or a custom loop installs the skill file or MCP server, buys a number, and places or answers calls. The $0.12 a minute includes the hosted phone agent, speech recognition, the voice and telephony; there is no model table to read. The same number sends and receives SMS through the REST API, and billing is per second after a one-minute minimum.
Best for: Anyone with an existing agent who wants a phone number, not a platform.
Retell AI alternatives compared
Prices as shown on each vendor's pricing page on October 25, 2026. AgentLine prices are current.
| Tool | Per-minute price | Number price | Setup time | Hosted agent or bring your own | SMS | MCP / skill support | Free tier | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retell AI | $0.07 to $0.31/min all-in (voice infra $0.055 plus LLM, TTS and $0.015 telephony) | $2.00/month for a Retell number | Hours to build an agent and a conversation flow | Hosted agent | $0.01/message with a $20/month SMS add-on | Retell MCP server; MCP node for agent tools | $10 free credits | None; enterprise is custom |
| Vapi | $0.05/min hosting, plus transcriber, model and voice at provider cost (Vapi's own estimate: $0.08 to $0.13/min) | 1 Vapi number on the free package, 5 on Core ($29/month) | Hours to configure an assistant, tools and telephony | Hosted agent | Not listed on the pricing page | Vapi MCP server; MCP tools inside assistants | $5 free credits | None on the free package; Pro has a $999/month minimum |
| Bland AI | $0.14/min on Start, $0.12/min on Build, plus telephony at pass-through cost | One inbound number included on Start (listed as a $15/month value) | Hours to days to build a conversational pathway | Hosted agent | Enterprise plan only | Bland MCP server | 2 credits, no card required | None on Start; Build is $299/month; Enterprise is contracted |
| ElevenLabs Agents | Plan minutes, then $0.08/min overage. LLM billed separately | Telephony included on every plan; bring Twilio or SIP at cost | Under an hour for a basic agent | Hosted agent | $0.003/message | External MCP servers as agent tools | Free plan with 15 minutes | Monthly plans from $6 to $990 |
| LiveKit Cloud | $0.01/min agent session after plan minutes, plus $0.01/min US inbound telephony, plus models (LiveKit's calculator: about $0.048/min) | 1 free US local number, then $1.00/month | Days: you write and host the agent in Python or Node | Bring your own agent (open-source framework) | Not offered | MCP tools in the Agents framework | Build plan: 1,000 agent minutes a month | None; Ship from $50/month, Scale from $500/month |
| Pipecat Cloud (Daily) | $0.01 to $0.03/min agent hosting, plus $0.018/min PSTN, plus models | Not listed on the pricing page | Days: you write the pipeline in Python | Bring your own agent (open-source framework) | Not offered | MCP tools in the Pipecat framework | Open-source Pipecat is free to self-host | None |
| AgentLine | $0.12/min beyond the plan allowance, all-in, per second after a one-minute minimum | $3.00/month beyond the plan, US or Canada | About 2 minutes from one skill file or the MCP server | Bring your own agent | SMS $0.02/message in either direction on the same number | MCP server, skill file, REST | Plans from $20 a month with numbers, minutes and SMS included. | None |
What a month costs
300 minutes a month
One number, 300 connected minutes. Retell's line uses its own example stack plus Retell telephony; a larger language model raises it.
| Tool | Arithmetic | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Retell AI | Retell's example stack is $0.11/min (LLM $0.04, voice infra $0.055, TTS $0.015). Add $0.015/min telephony on a Retell number: 300 × $0.125 = $37.50, plus a $2.00 number | $39.50 |
| Vapi | 300 × $0.05 hosting = $15.00, plus 300 × $0.03 to $0.08 for transcriber, model and voice = $9.00 to $24.00. Free package, one number included | $24.00 to $39.00 |
| Bland AI (Start) | 300 × $0.14 = $42.00, plus telephony at pass-through cost | $42.00 plus telephony |
| ElevenLabs Agents | Creator plan $22 includes 275 minutes. 25 extra × $0.08 = $2.00. LLM usage is billed on top | $24.00 plus LLM |
| LiveKit Cloud (Build plan) | Agent minutes are inside the free 1,000. Inbound telephony: 50 minutes included, the rest on a paid plan at $0.01/min. Models and your own hosting are extra | About $0 to $15 plus models and hosting |
| AgentLine | Individual plan $20 includes one US/CA number and 100 minutes. 200 extra × $0.12 = $24.00 | $44.00 |
1,000 minutes a month
Retell, Vapi and AgentLine are within about $25 of each other at 1,000 minutes. The difference is what you have to build and where the agent lives.
| Tool | Arithmetic | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Retell AI | 1,000 × $0.125 = $125.00, plus a $2.00 number | $127.00 |
| Vapi | Vapi's own estimate: $50 hosting, $10 transcriber, $8 to $45 model, $15 to $24 voice | $83.00 to $129.00 |
| Bland AI (Start or Build) | Start: 1,000 × $0.14 = $140.00. Build: $299 platform fee plus 1,000 × $0.12 = $419.00. Telephony is extra on both | $140.00 or $419.00 plus telephony |
| ElevenLabs Agents | Pro plan $99 includes 1,238 minutes. LLM usage is billed on top | $99.00 plus LLM |
| LiveKit Cloud (Ship plan) | LiveKit's calculator estimates $0.0479/min with telephony, models and observability: 1,000 × $0.0479 = $47.90, inside the $50 Ship plan | About $50.00 plus hosting your agent |
| Pipecat Cloud | 1,000 × $0.01 agent-1x = $10.00, plus 1,000 × $0.018 PSTN = $18.00, plus models | $28.00 plus models |
| AgentLine | Individual plan $20 includes one number and 100 minutes. 900 extra × $0.12 = $108.00 (Startup at $200 includes all 1,000 minutes and 12 numbers) | $128.00 |
Verdict
Pick Retell AI if
- You are building a voice product and want a hosted agent with a published rate for every model and voice.
- You want a visual conversation flow builder, knowledge bases, batch calling and QA tooling in one product.
- Per-second billing with no rounding matters at your call lengths.
Pick AgentLine if
- You already have an agent in Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex or your own loop and want it to make and answer calls.
- You want one all-in rate with no model table: $0.12 a minute and $3.00 a month per additional number.
- You want the number, calls and transcripts behind the MCP server or skill file your agent already uses, with SMS over REST on the same number.
How Retell's bill is built
Retell's pricing page splits the per-minute price into voice infrastructure ($0.055), the language model (from $0.0016 a minute for the smallest models to $0.32 a minute for the largest, and $0.345 to $0.38 a minute for speech-to-speech models), text to speech ($0.015 a minute on most voices, $0.04 to $0.10 on ElevenLabs voices) and telephony ($0.015 a minute on Retell numbers, free on your own SIP). A Retell number is $2.00 a month, and SMS is $0.01 a message with a $20 a month add-on.
Add-ons stack per minute: knowledge base, denoising and guardrails at $0.005 each, PII removal at $0.01, and AI quality assurance at $0.10 after the first 100 minutes. Concurrency above 20 is $8 a line a month. The arithmetic is honest, but it takes a spreadsheet.
Hosted agent or bring your own agent
Retell, Vapi, Bland and ElevenLabs host the agent. You build it in their product and reach your systems through tools. That is the right fit when the voice agent is the product you are shipping.
LiveKit and Pipecat hand you the pipeline and you host it. AgentLine is bring-your-own-agent without hosting: the agent you already run manages the phone agent through MCP, a skill file or REST, the hosted phone agent follows its prompt, and the persistent relay or a webhook streams live turns back when the call needs tools. Your code never handles audio.
Moving off Retell
A Retell conversation flow maps to a Vapi assistant or a Bland pathway in about a day for a simple agent. Retell numbers are Twilio or Telnyx numbers under the hood and will need re-provisioning on the new platform.
Moving to AgentLine means the agent stays where it is. Install the skill from agentline.cloud/skill.md or add the MCP server, buy a number ($3.00 a month beyond your plan), and the agent places a test call. The guides for Claude Code, Cursor and Codex are linked below.
FAQ
What are the best Retell AI alternatives?
The closest Retell AI alternatives are Vapi and Bland AI, which also host the voice agent and bill per minute. ElevenLabs Agents sells plan minutes with its own voices and includes telephony. LiveKit and Pipecat are open-source frameworks for teams who would rather host the agent themselves. AgentLine is the choice when the agent already exists in Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes or Codex and only needs a phone number: $3.00 a month per additional US or Canada number and $0.12 a minute all-in, with nothing to configure in a dashboard.
How much does Retell AI cost per minute?
Retell's pricing page quotes $0.07 to $0.31 a minute all-in. The parts are $0.055 a minute voice infrastructure, a per-minute language model fee, $0.015 a minute text to speech on most voices, and $0.015 a minute telephony on a Retell number. Retell's own example stack is $0.11 a minute. Numbers are $2.00 a month.
Is Vapi cheaper than Retell?
The ranges overlap. Vapi is $0.05 a minute hosting plus providers at cost, about $0.08 to $0.13 a minute by its own estimate. Retell's example stack is about $0.125 a minute with a Retell number. The model you choose moves the price more than the platform does.
Which Retell alternative has a free tier?
LiveKit's Build plan gives 1,000 agent minutes a month free, and Pipecat is open source. ElevenLabs has a free plan with 15 minutes. Vapi gives $5 of credit and Retell $10. AgentLine starts at $20 a month with a number and minutes included, then bills $3.00 a number and $0.12 a minute beyond the plan of calls.
Does Retell support MCP?
Yes. Retell has an MCP server at mcp.retellai.com for managing agents, calls and numbers from Claude Code, Cursor or Claude Desktop, and an MCP node that lets an agent call external MCP tools during a conversation. AgentLine's MCP server covers the same management jobs for its phone agents: create agents, buy numbers, place calls, read transcripts and messages.
Can I use my existing agent instead of building one in Retell?
Yes, with AgentLine. Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex or a custom loop installs the skill or MCP server and gets a US or Canada number ($3.00 a month beyond your plan) with calls at $0.12 a minute. The hosted phone agent runs the call from your agent's prompt, and live turns can stream to your runtime through the persistent relay or a webhook.
Set it up on your agent
More comparisons
AgentLine is not affiliated with any company named on this page. Competitor prices were read from each company's public pricing page on the date shown and can change without notice. Found a price that has changed? Email support@agentline.cloud.