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Retell AI vs Vapi
Retell AI and Vapi are AI voice agent platforms, which answer and make phone calls with an AI agent that talks to the caller. Our editors read both companies' own sites, then read what contact center and developer teams say about the two tools in public reviews, community boards and chat forums. The table below compares price, limits and features.
| What buyers compare | Retell AI | Vapi |
|---|---|---|
| Price per monthSources 3, 4 | Pay as you go: $0.07 to $0.31 per minute for voice agents, from $0.002 per chat message. Enterprise: quote | Pay per minute. Core $29. Pro $999 minimum or 10% of hosting fees. Premier: quote |
| Free plan or trialSources 3, 4 | $10 in free credits | $5 in free credits |
| How usage is countedSources 3, 4 | Billed per minute or message, depending on model and voice | Per-minute costs for the transcriber, model and voice provider, plus telephony. Concurrent calls: 4 free, 10 Core, 30 Pro |
| Integrations and featuresSources 3, 4 | Agent templates, call analytics, transcripts, simulation testing, webhooks and API. 20 concurrent calls free | Choice of transcriber, model and voice providers. Vapi telephony and SIP free; Twilio, Vonage and Telnyx at their rates |
| Security and deploymentSources 3, 4 | Enterprise: custom SSO, role-based access, custom MSA and DPA terms | Pro: role-based access and zero data retention. Premier: SSO and 99.9% uptime SLA |
| Best forSources 1, 2 | Product teams that want to build, test and run their own inbound or outbound phone agents and pay by the minute | Developer teams that want to pick each part of a voice agent themselves, including the transcriber, model, voice and phone carrier |
List prices in US dollars per month before tax, as published on each vendor's site on October 16, 2026, billed monthly unless the cell says otherwise. "Quote" means the vendor sets the price through its sales team. A green check marks a row where the published data shows a clear edge.
Which one fits
Both charge by the minute, so the choice comes down to how much of the voice stack you want to pick yourself.
Choose Retell AI if
- You want to build voice agents yourself and pay only for the minutes they run, without an annual contract.
- You want to test before you launch. Retell includes simulation testing and call analytics.
- You need room to grow. Pay as you go includes 20 concurrent calls.
Choose Vapi if
- You want to pick each part of the voice stack: the transcriber, the language model and the voice.
- You are a developer team that wants to start small. Core costs $29 per month with 10 concurrent calls.
- You use your own phone carrier. Vapi connects to Twilio, Vonage, Telnyx or SIP.
What buyers say
“I was using VAPI for voice agents with a Twilio number and call quality was amazing, after Telnyx integration issues I switched to Retell, but quality was way worse on Telnyx and still much worse even when I tried Twilio there.”
kasamandr · r/AI_Agents · · source
“Vapi randomly charged me $30 for three ~30-second test calls, and support wouldn't refund or explain, Retell AI on the other hand has been great.”
Exact-Tip5722 · r/AI_Agents · · source
“Retell's templates, simulation testing, and call analytics were built in, and pay as you go includes 20 concurrent calls. Vapi lets you pick each part yourself, which we liked less because it meant more assembly.”
Senior developer, voice automation agency
Representative buyer view
Verdict
Retell AI (8.3 out of 10, Recommend) is for developers who want agent templates, simulation testing and call analytics built in, with 20 concurrent calls on pay as you go. Vapi (7.7 out of 10, Recommend) suits developers who want to choose each part themselves, from the transcriber, language model and voice to the phone carrier, and start small on the $29 Core plan.
Methodology
We read the Retell AI and Vapi pricing pages and product sites on October 16, 2026 and recorded every published price, limit and plan feature. A cell reads "Not published" when the vendor does not state that detail on its site, and rows where neither vendor publishes anything were left out.
Scores, best-fit notes and buyer quotes come from the AIR reviews of each product, which weight practitioner reviews at 40%, hands-on product checks at 35%, pricing at 15% and docs at 10%. Paid reviews and pay-for-play sites are excluded. Quotes marked Representative buyer view are written by AIR to reflect buyer feedback and carry no source link.