Vapi vs Retell vs Bland: Pricing, Build Style and When to Pick Each
Updated 2026-10-17. Prices come from vendor pages; see each vendor profile for sources.
Vapi, Retell AI and Bland AI are the three developer voice-agent platforms buyers compare most often. All three let you build phone agents through APIs. They differ mainly in how they charge and how much of the stack you choose yourself. Every figure below comes from the vendors' pricing pages, checked 2026-10-17.
Pricing at a glance
| Vapi | Retell AI | Bland AI | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Model | $0.05/min hosting plus models and telephony at cost | $0.07–$0.31/min, depending on LLM and voice | $0.14/min (Start) or $0.12/min plus $299/mo (Build) |
| Free to start | $5 credits | $10 credits | 2 credits plus an inbound number |
| Paid packages | Core $29/mo; Pro 10% of hosting fee ($999/mo minimum) | Enterprise: custom | Enterprise: custom |
| Telephony | Twilio $0.008/min in, $0.014/min out; Vapi SIP free | Shown separately in the pricing breakdown | Talk-time rate; transfers $0.04–0.05/min |
Cost at 1,000 minutes a month
- Vapi: Vapi's own estimator shows $82–$129: $50 hosting plus about $10 Deepgram, $8–45 OpenAI and $15–24 ElevenLabs.
- Retell: $70–$310 across its published range. Its own example configuration works out to $0.11/min, or about $110.
- Bland: $140 on Start. Build ($120 usage plus $299) only pays off above about 15,000 minutes a month: the $299 fee divided by the $0.02/min saving is roughly 14,950 minutes.
Try your own volume in the calculator for these three.
Build style
Vapi is the most modular. You choose the transcriber, model and voice separately and pay each at cost, which suits teams that want to tune latency and quality per component. Retell publishes one per-minute range with the voice and LLM options priced in, plus built-in QA, PII removal and 20 concurrent calls on pay-as-you-go. Bland is phone-first, with one talk-time rate. That makes billing simple at high volume, and the Build tier lowers the rate in exchange for a platform fee.
When to pick each
- Vapi: you want control over every component, or you already have model contracts. It also offers a HIPAA/BAA add-on ($2,000/month).
- Retell: you want a predictable all-in rate and a visual builder, without assembling the stack yourself.
- Bland: you run high-volume phone automation and want one rate. Bland's own page states 50 concurrent calls on Build.
What to test
Use the same script, voice and LLM on all three. Measure response latency, interruption handling, transfer reliability and your real cost per minute from the billing dashboard after 100 test calls.
See the side-by-side pages: Vapi vs Retell, Retell vs Bland, Vapi vs Bland, or compare all three.