Vapi alternatives
Vapi Alternatives: 7 Options Compared on Price and Setup (2026)
Competitor prices verified on October 25, 2026. Page updated October 25, 2026.
What are the best Vapi alternatives?
The closest Vapi alternatives are Retell AI and Bland AI, which also host the voice agent for you and charge per minute. ElevenLabs Agents bundles plan minutes with its own voices. LiveKit and Pipecat are open-source frameworks you host yourself. Twilio ConversationRelay gives you the phone side and leaves the agent to you. AgentLine is the option for people who already run an agent in Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes or Codex and only need a phone number: $3.00 a month per additional US or Canada number and $0.12 a minute, with nothing to host.
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute to host a voice agent, then passes through the transcriber, language model and voice provider at cost. Vapi's own calculator puts a typical production stack at $0.08 to $0.13 a minute, and the free package includes $5 of credit and one phone number. That is a fair deal if the voice agent is the product you are building. People leave for three reasons: the all-in cost is hard to predict because four meters run at once, the assistant has to be configured inside Vapi rather than in the agent they already have, and tool calls back into their own systems take extra plumbing.
This page lists seven real alternatives, each with its price as it appears on the vendor's pricing page on the verification date, and works out the monthly bill at 300 and 1,000 minutes. It also draws the line AgentLine sits on: Vapi, Retell and Bland are for building a hosted voice agent, and AgentLine is for an agent you already run.
The alternatives
01Retell AI
$0.07 to $0.31 a minute all-in, $3.00 a month per additional number, $10 free credit
Retell is the most direct Vapi substitute. It hosts the agent, bills per second with no rounding up, and publishes a full price list for every language model and voice it supports. Its example stack lands at $0.11 a minute before telephony. Retell also has an MCP server and an MCP node inside agents, so an external assistant can create and test agents.
Best for: Teams who want Vapi's model with clearer per-minute pricing and a flow builder.
02Bland AI
$0.14 a minute on Start, $0.12 a minute plus $299 a month on Build, telephony at pass-through cost
Bland sells a single talk-time rate that already includes the model and voice, which makes the bill easier to forecast than Vapi's four meters. The trade-off is that telephony is billed separately on your own carrier or Bland's, and SMS is only available on Enterprise. Bland's own site says its production stacks cost less than Vapi's once provider fees are added, which is marketing, so check the arithmetic below.
Best for: Outbound teams who want one flat per-minute rate and a visual pathway builder.
03ElevenLabs Agents
Plans from $6 a month, 75 to 12,375 minutes included, $0.08 a minute overage, LLM billed separately
ElevenLabs bundles its own voices with conversation minutes on monthly plans and says telephony is included on every plan. The free plan has 15 minutes. If you already pay ElevenLabs for voices, the Creator or Pro plan can be cheaper than Vapi plus ElevenLabs at cost. External MCP servers can be attached as agent tools after a workspace opt-in.
Best for: Builders who care most about voice quality and want plan-based billing.
04LiveKit Agents
Build plan free with 1,000 agent minutes, then $0.01 a minute; US local numbers $1.00 a month after the first
LiveKit is an open-source agents framework plus a cloud for transport and telephony. You write the agent in Python or Node and host it, and LiveKit meters session minutes, SIP and inbound numbers. The pricing calculator estimates about $0.048 a minute with models included. The engineering cost is the real price: a team has to own the deployment.
Best for: Engineering teams who want full control of the pipeline and can run a service.
05Pipecat
Open source and free to self-host; Pipecat Cloud from $0.01 a minute agent hosting plus $0.018 a minute PSTN
Pipecat is Daily's open-source framework for voice pipelines. Self-hosting costs only your models and carrier. Pipecat Cloud adds managed hosting with per-minute dial-in and dial-out. Like LiveKit, it is a build, not a product.
Best for: Developers who want an open-source pipeline with no platform fee.
06Twilio ConversationRelay
$0.07 a minute plus $0.0085 a minute inbound or $0.014 a minute outbound, numbers $1.15 a month
ConversationRelay handles speech recognition and text to speech on a Twilio call and streams text to a WebSocket server you run. You bring the language model and the conversation logic. It is the right answer when you already have Twilio numbers and a backend, and the wrong answer when you wanted to avoid running a server.
Best for: Teams already on Twilio who want to plug their own LLM into calls.
07AgentLine
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 starts from a different question: the agent already exists. Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex or a custom loop installs one skill file or the MCP server, buys a number, and places or answers calls. The hosted phone agent follows the system prompt your agent writes, saves the transcript, and reads inbound texts on the same number. There is no transcriber, model or voice meter; $0.12 a minute is the whole price.
Best for: Anyone who already runs an agent and needs it to make and take calls.
Vapi 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Twilio ConversationRelay | $0.07/min ConversationRelay plus $0.0085/min inbound or $0.014/min outbound, plus your LLM | $1.15/month local, $2.15/month toll-free | Days: a WebSocket server, LLM loop and call state are yours | Carrier API (bring your own agent and server) | $0.0083/segment plus carrier fees, in and out | Twilio Alpha MCP server for the API; the call loop is your code | Trial credit on signup | 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 in a month. Vendor plan fees are included where a plan is required to reach that volume. Your own servers and language-model bills are noted where they apply.
| Tool | Arithmetic | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| Twilio ConversationRelay (inbound) | 300 × $0.07 = $21.00, plus 300 × $0.0085 = $2.55, plus a $1.15 number. Your LLM and your server are extra | $24.70 plus LLM 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
At 1,000 minutes the spread is wide. The hosted platforms are close to each other once model costs are added. The frameworks are cheapest on paper and most expensive in engineering time.
| Tool | Arithmetic | Monthly total |
|---|---|---|
| Vapi | Vapi's own estimate: $50 hosting, $10 transcriber, $8 to $45 model, $15 to $24 voice | $83.00 to $129.00 |
| Retell AI | 1,000 × $0.125 = $125.00, plus a $2.00 number | $127.00 |
| 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 |
| Twilio ConversationRelay (inbound) | 1,000 × $0.07 = $70.00, plus 1,000 × $0.0085 = $8.50, plus a $1.15 number. Your LLM and your server are extra | $79.65 plus LLM and hosting |
| 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 Vapi if
- You are building a voice product and want to choose each transcriber, model and voice yourself.
- You need Vapi-specific features such as squads, custom transports or the Pro concurrency and SLA tiers.
- Your team is comfortable with four separate meters and will watch the per-minute total.
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 price you can put in a budget: $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, SMS over REST on the same number, and nothing to host.
How Vapi's bill is built
Vapi's pricing page separates the platform fee from the providers. The platform fee is $0.05 a minute on the free package and on Core ($29 a month). On top of that, Vapi's page estimates the transcriber at about $0.01 a minute, the intelligence model at $0.008 to $0.045 a minute and the voice at $0.015 to $0.024 a minute. Telephony through Vapi's own numbers is free; imported Twilio numbers add Twilio's $0.008 inbound or $0.014 outbound rate.
That gives a realistic range of $0.08 to $0.13 a minute, which is what Vapi's own 1,000-minute example shows: $82 to $129 a month. Add-ons change the picture quickly. HIPAA is $2,000 a month, extra concurrency is $10 a line and extra organizations are $20 each.
Hosted agent or bring your own agent
Vapi, Retell, Bland and ElevenLabs are hosted agent platforms. You describe the agent inside their product, they run the model and the voice, and your systems are reached through tool calls. That is the right shape when the voice agent is the thing you are shipping.
LiveKit and Pipecat are bring-your-own-agent frameworks. You write and host the agent, which means you also own uptime, scaling and the model bill.
AgentLine is bring-your-own-agent without the hosting. Your existing agent manages the phone agent through MCP, a skill file or REST. For a plain call, the hosted phone agent follows the prompt and your agent reads the transcript afterward. When the conversation needs live tools or context from your runtime, the persistent relay or a public webhook streams each turn to your agent. Either way, nothing about audio reaches your code.
What the switch looks like
Moving from Vapi to another hosted platform means rebuilding the assistant, its tools and its telephony in the new product. Budget a day for a simple agent and a week for one with transfers, knowledge bases and analytics.
Moving to AgentLine is shorter because the agent does not move at all. Install the skill from agentline.cloud/skill.md or add the MCP server, set the API key, buy a number, and the agent you already run places a test call. The setup guides for Claude Code, OpenClaw, Hermes and Codex are linked below.
FAQ
What are the best Vapi alternatives?
The closest Vapi alternatives are Retell AI and Bland AI, which also host the voice agent for you and charge per minute. ElevenLabs Agents bundles plan minutes with its own voices. LiveKit and Pipecat are open-source frameworks you host yourself. Twilio ConversationRelay gives you the phone side and leaves the agent to you. AgentLine is the option for people who already run an agent in Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes or Codex and only need a phone number: $3.00 a month per additional US or Canada number and $0.12 a minute, with nothing to host.
How much does Vapi really cost per minute?
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting and passes the transcriber, language model and voice through at provider cost. Vapi's pricing page estimates the all-in total at $0.08 to $0.13 a minute, or $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes. Twilio-imported numbers add Twilio's per-minute rate.
Is Retell cheaper than Vapi?
Often, slightly. Retell's example stack is $0.11 a minute with $0.015 a minute telephony on a Retell number, so about $0.125 all-in. Vapi's equivalent range is $0.08 to $0.13 plus any Twilio charges. The difference is usually smaller than the choice of language model.
Which Vapi alternative is free?
LiveKit's Build plan includes 1,000 agent minutes a month at no charge, and Pipecat is open source, so both are free apart from the models and the server you run. Vapi gives $5 of credit, Retell $10, and ElevenLabs 15 minutes. AgentLine starts at $20 a month with a number and minutes included, then bills only the numbers and minutes beyond the plan used.
Can I keep my own agent instead of rebuilding it in a platform?
Yes. That is the AgentLine model. Claude Code, Cursor, OpenClaw, Hermes, Codex or a custom loop installs the AgentLine skill or MCP server and gets a US or Canada number ($3.00 a month beyond your plan) and calls at $0.12 a minute. The hosted phone agent follows your agent's prompt, and the persistent relay or a webhook streams live turns to your runtime when the call needs tools.
Does AgentLine support SMS?
Yes, in both directions. Texts sent to the number, including verification codes, arrive as sms.received events or through GET /v1/messages, and the agent sends texts with POST /v1/messages. Plans include an SMS allowance; beyond it each message is $0.02.
Why did searches for Vapi alternatives rise in late 2026?
We do not know. Vapi's base price was unchanged at $0.05 a minute when this page was written. The most common complaint in public reviews is that the all-in cost is hard to predict, which is why this page shows the arithmetic rather than headline rates.
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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.