Answers · updated Jun 10, 2026
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.
As of Jun 10, 2026 · figures linked to their source in the table below
The data behind this answer
| Vendor | Published voice rate | Detail |
|---|---|---|
| Vapi | $0.05/min vapi.ai verified Jun 10, 2026 | $0 base, Build (Pay As You Go) |
| Retell AI | $0.07/min retellai.com verified Jun 10, 2026 | $0 base, Pay As You Go |
| Synthflow | $0.09/min synthflow.ai verified Jun 10, 2026 | $0 base, Pay As You Go |
| Bland | $0.11/min bland.ai verified Jun 10, 2026 | $499/mo base + Scale |
| PATLive | $2.00/min patlive.com verified Jun 10, 2026 | $1170/mo base + Pro |
Figures normalized and sourced as of Jun 10, 2026. See the methodology for how each number is captured, dated and normalized, or the full comparison matrix for every vendor.
Frequently asked
- 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.