# What is the cheapest per-minute AI voice platform?

5 of 24 tracked platforms bill per talk-minute. The lowest published voice rate is $0.05/min (Vapi). These developer-style platforms publish a base voice rate; for several, the LLM, speech and telephony are billed on top, so the all-in per-minute cost is higher than the headline figure unless the vendor states it is all-inclusive.

## The data behind this answer

| Vendor | Published voice rate | Source | Verified |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Vapi | $0.05/min ($0 base, Build (Pay As You Go)) | vapi.ai | 2026-06-27 |
| Retell AI | $0.07/min ($0 base, Pay As You Go) | retellai.com | 2026-06-27 |
| Synthflow | $0.09/min ($0 base, Pay As You Go) | synthflow.ai | 2026-06-27 |
| Bland | $0.11/min ($499/mo base + Scale) | bland.ai | 2026-06-10 |
| PATLive | $2.00/min ($1170/mo base + Pro) | patlive.com | 2026-06-10 |

## Related questions

### Is the cheapest per-minute rate the cheapest in practice?

The lowest published rate is $0.05/min (Vapi), but on several platforms that figure is the voice-infrastructure fee only — the language model, speech-to-text and telephony are passed through at extra cost. An all-in rate (where the vendor states one) is the honest comparison.

### Who should use a per-minute platform?

Per-minute developer platforms suit teams building a custom agent and comfortable wiring up models and telephony. They are cheap at low volume and flexible, but they are infrastructure, not a turnkey receptionist — a flat managed plan is simpler for a non-technical business.

### Does per-minute get expensive at high volume?

Yes. Per-minute billing scales linearly with talk time, so at 200+ calls a month a flat plan can undercut a low per-minute rate once the minutes add up. Fix your expected volume and compare effective monthly cost, not the headline rate.

Canonical: https://frontdeskreview.com/ai-receptionists/answers/cheapest-per-minute-ai-voice-platform/
Cite: Per The Front Desk Review, "Cheapest per-minute rate" — https://frontdeskreview.com/ai-receptionists/answers/cheapest-per-minute-ai-voice-platform/
License: CC BY 4.0. Price history: https://frontdeskreview.com/data/price-history.jsonl