AI automation
AI voice agent cost: per-minute fees, setup and the legal bill for a small business
Assembled on Vapi, Retell or Bland, an AI voice agent costs about $0.09–$0.15 a minute once model, voice and phone line are added: roughly $135–$225 a month for 500 three-minute calls, plus setup. Disclosure and consent rules apply. A one-job VITON13 agent starts from $73.
How much does an AI voice agent cost per minute?
A voice agent is four paid services inside one call: a platform that runs the conversation, speech-to-text to hear, a language model to decide and text-to-speech to answer, over a phone line. Each vendor advertises its own slice, so the headline is rarely the bill.
| Platform | Headline on the page | Billed on top | All-in per minute, my arithmetic |
|---|---|---|---|
| Vapi | $0.05 hosting | Speech $0.0095–$0.0099, model $0.0077–$0.0452 and voice $0.0146–$0.0238 at provider cost; a Twilio line $0.008 inbound, $0.014 outbound | $0.09–$0.14 |
| Retell | $0.07–$0.31, by voice and model | Its default estimate: platform $0.055, voice $0.015, model $0.04; its own Twilio line $0.015 | about $0.11–$0.13 |
| Bland | $0.14 on Start; $0.12 on Build ($299 a month) | Model, speech and voice included; the carrier is billed separately | about $0.15 on Start |
| ElevenLabs Agents | $0.08 | Model at cost; your carrier bills the phone line | $0.08 plus model and line |
Bland’s page puts Vapi stacks at $0.13–$0.30 a minute and Retell stacks at $0.11–$0.25; those ranges include costlier models and voices than the defaults in my table. The model is the widest swing: Retell lists models from $0.0016 to $0.32 a minute on its standard tier, so a premium model can cost more than the platform. Choose by testing your own calls.
What else lands on the invoice besides minutes?
- Numbers and lines. Retell charges $2 a month for a number it provides; extra concurrent calls cost $8 (Retell) or $10 (Vapi) a line a month.
- Transfers. A call handed to a person keeps billing: Bland lists $0.05 a minute for transfer time on Start.
- Quality and privacy add-ons. Retell lists AI quality review at $0.10 a minute (first 100 minutes free), personal-data removal at $0.01 and guardrails at $0.005. It also sells advanced denoising at $0.005, a sign that noisy lines are a known problem.
- Outbound extras. Retell adds $0.005 per dial for batch campaigns and $0.10 per call for a branded caller ID.
- Compliance tiers. Vapi lists HIPAA handling at $2,000 a month; Bland lists BAA, SSO and data residency under Enterprise.
- Build and integration. This is a one-off project that no price list prints. Ask for it as a fixed price, with the calendar or CRM connection named.
- People. Someone must read the failed calls weekly. Nobody quotes that time.
What do 500 calls of three minutes cost each month?
Take 1,500 minutes of talk time: 500 calls of 3 minutes. The table sets four ways to answer them side by side.
| Option | How it bills | About per month |
|---|---|---|
| Build on Vapi, Retell or Bland | Per minute: platform, model, voice and line | $135–$225 in usage, plus a one-off build |
| ElevenLabs Agents, Pro plan | $99 a month with 1,238 minutes included, $0.08 for each extra | $120, plus model and phone line |
| Ready-made AI receptionist (Aira) | Per call: Scale plan, $299 for up to 600 calls | $299 |
| Half-day human receptionist | $18.27 an hour (BLS median, 2025) for about 87 hours | $1,580 in wages, before payroll costs |
The comparison to hold on to is the price of a paid minute. A receptionist at $18.27 an hour costs $0.30 for every minute they are paid, busy or not. An agent costs about $0.09–$0.15 for every minute someone talks and nothing while the line is quiet. Your 1,500 talk minutes are 25 hours, so a person would cost about $457 if every paid minute were a call. Agents win when calls are thin and spread across the day; people win when calls need judgement.
Where does an AI voice agent work, and where does it fail?
- It works on narrow, repeated jobs: opening hours, booking and rescheduling, taking a message, routing to the right person.
- It works out of hours, where the alternative is voicemail.
- It fails on voices it was not tested on. A 2020 study of five commercial speech engines found an average word error rate of 0.35 for Black speakers against 0.19 for white speakers. Engines have improved, but test on recordings from your own line.
- It fails on noise and crosstalk: a shop floor, a car, two people talking.
- It fails on urgent or emotional calls: a burst pipe, a medical worry, a complaint. Route those to a person at once.
- It fails at hand-off when nobody answers. A transferred call that rings out is worse than voicemail.
Do you have to say it is an AI, and can you record the call?
This summarises official texts and is not legal advice; ask a lawyer in your country before launch.
| Question | What the official text says | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Say it is an AI? | EU AI Act, Article 50(1): systems meant to talk directly to people must be designed so the person is told it is an AI, unless obvious; Article 50(5): clearly, at the latest at the first interaction. The Commission says the Act has applied since 2 August 2026, with exceptions. | Open each call with one plain sentence naming the AI. |
| Outbound calls in the US? | The FCC found in 2024 that AI voices fall within the TCPA, and its rules already require prior express consent for artificial-voice calls (Federal Register, 10 September 2024). That notice also proposed AI disclosure at the start of calls; I did not check whether it was adopted. | Call only people who consented; keep the record. |
| Record the call? | California Penal Code 632 requires the consent of all parties to a confidential communication; penalties include a fine of up to $2,500 per violation. Rules differ by state. | Say the call is recorded before the first question. |
| Personal data? | GDPR Article 13: when you collect data, say who you are, why, on what legal basis, who receives it and any transfer outside the EU. | Opening line plus a privacy notice; a processing agreement; a retention period. |
Vendors sell compliance as a tier, so regulated sectors should price the tier before the minutes.
When should you not buy an AI voice agent?
- Calls are few. A clear voicemail greeting, a booking link and a text-back message cost less than any option above.
- Most calls are emergencies, medical triage or complaints, where an error costs more than the saving.
- Nobody can take a hand-off within a minute, so escalations end in missed calls.
- Your calendar or CRM is out of date. The agent will book into the mess faster than a person would.
- Your own test shows it failing on your callers’ accents or languages.
- The plan is to cold-call a purchased list in the US. That is a consent problem, not a price problem.
- Most calls ask opening hours or prices. A text answer on a page or a chat channel is cheaper, and the related guides below compare them.
What would a one-job agent cost with VITON13?
The closest fit is an agent with one job, not a general phone system. Tick what you need; the totals add the live starting prices in both production modes. Model, hosting and telephony usage are paid to your providers, and that is where the per-minute figures above apply.
Cost calculator
Plan your agent
Tick what you need; the totals update as you choose.
Your estimate
- AI-assisted
- from $73
- Human-led
- from $93
- Timeline
- 5–8 working days
stages can overlap; the written estimate fixes the dates
Get a written estimate in 1 working dayStarting prices of VITON13 packages; the written estimate confirms scope and price after the brief.
How VITON13 builds an agent for one job
We start with the job, not the voice: a written job description, the data the agent may read and the decisions it must never take alone. We give it up to 3 actions in tools you approve, each with a permission and a limit, then run 30 test cases, the awkward ones included, until it passes or hands over to a person correctly. If the job is your phone line, say so in the brief: the written estimate confirms the channel, and usage fees are yours to pay. AI-assisted: AI does the first pass and a person checks every result. Human-led: a person leads and AI assists. A CRM integration, onboarding and launch support are a separate Production Pilot.
AI agents for business
- Price
- $73 AI-assisted or $93 human-led
- Timeline
- 5–8 working days
AI chatbot with human handoff
- Price
- $73 AI-assisted or $93 human-led
- Timeline
- 5–8 working days
The final price is fixed in writing after a short scope review.
AI automation audit
- Price
- $73 AI-assisted or $93 human-led
- Timeline
- 5–8 working days
AI-assisted: AI drafts inside defined steps, a person directs and checks every result. Human-led: a specialist does the work and AI assists.
What is included
- An agent responsibility contract: the one job, the data it may read, what it must never decide alone
- A tool and permission layer: up to 3 actions in approved tools, each with a permission and a limit
- An evaluation and escalation suite: 30 test cases and rules that hand anything uncertain to a person
- Delivery: 5–8 working days after the brief is approved
Not included
- Model, hosting and telephony usage fees, paid to your providers
- A CRM integration, team onboarding and launch support, which are the Production Pilot
- An open-ended chatbot for any question
- Promises of savings or accuracy beyond the tested cases
- Legal advice on call recording, AI disclosure or data protection
Revisions: 2 revision rounds on the deliverables
Get an estimate in 1 working dayWritten estimate within 1 working day
Example
PILOTPilot in progress
No published voice-agent case yet
VITON13 has not yet published a case for an agent on a client’s phone line, so this guide holds no invented call volumes, savings or accuracy rates. The first one will be shown only with the client’s consent.
What this does not prove
- Without a case, nothing here proves how a voice agent performs on your callers. The prices are the vendors’ own lists on the dates shown, and the 500-call example is arithmetic, not a measured result.
Questions and answers
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month?
Ready-made products publish flat plans: Aira lists $24.95 for 30 calls up to $299 for 600 calls, with $0.70–$1.50 for each extra call. Building on a platform bills per minute instead: about $135–$225 for 1,500 minutes plus setup. Read the cap on each flat plan, because the overage rate is what a busy month costs.
Is Vapi or Retell cheaper?
Vapi’s headline is lower, $0.05 a minute against Retell’s $0.07 and up, but both leave parts out. My all-in arithmetic gives $0.09–$0.14 for Vapi and about $0.11–$0.13 for Retell with its default model. The result depends on the model and voice you pick, so price your own call length on both.
Is there a free AI voice agent?
There are free tiers for testing: Vapi gives $5 in credits, Retell $10, ElevenLabs Agents 15 minutes of calls, and Bland’s Start plan has no platform fee. A real line adds a phone number and per-minute usage, so budget for usage once real calls arrive. Use the free tier to run your 50-call test.
Do I have to tell callers they are talking to an AI?
In the EU, Article 50 of the AI Act requires that people are told they are interacting with an AI, unless it is obvious, at the latest at the first interaction. The US FCC proposed a similar start-of-call disclosure in 2024, which I read only as a proposal. Say it anyway: it costs one sentence.
Can an AI voice agent make outbound sales calls?
In the US only to people who consented, because the FCC treats AI voices as artificial voices under the TCPA and its rules require prior consent for such calls. Retell adds $0.005 per dial on batch campaigns. Dialling a bought list is the case to avoid; calling your own customers who agreed is the safer start.
How long does setup take?
Bland says most teams deploy a first agent within a day on self-serve plans and runs a 28-day framework for enterprise deployments. A one-job VITON13 agent takes 5–8 working days after the brief. A day-one agent is a demo; the real time goes into test calls, the calendar or CRM connection and hand-off rules.
Sources
- Vapi, Pricing —
- Retell AI, Pricing —
- Bland, Pricing —
- ElevenLabs, ElevenAgents pricing —
- Aira, AI receptionist pricing —
- US Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Receptionists —
- Koenecke et al., Racial disparities in automated speech recognition, PNAS —
- European Commission, AI Act: application timeline —
- AI Act Service Desk, Article 50: transparency obligations —
- Federal Register, FCC: Implications of Artificial Intelligence Technologies on Protecting Consumers From Unwanted Robocalls and Robotexts —
- California Legislative Information, Penal Code section 632 —
- EU Publications Office, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (GDPR), Article 13 —