Retell AI uses pay-as-you-go pricing: AI voice agents run $0.07–$0.31 per minute, AI chat agents start at $0.002 per message, and new accounts get $10 in free credits with 20 free concurrent calls and full platform access. Phone numbers cost $2/month (local) or $5/month (toll-free), with extra concurrency slots at $8/month each. If you'd rather have a done-for-you agent built and run for you instead of building on a usage-metered platform, Agents by AIQ designs and operates AI receptionists and phone agents for small businesses on a month-to-month basis.
Bottom line: Retell AI's transparent pay-as-you-go model, starting at $0.07/min with $10 in free credits, makes it one of the most cost-predictable voice AI platforms for small businesses willing to build and manage their own agents. Costs scale with usage, so heavy call volumes need active monitoring.
TL;DR
- Retell AI prices AI voice agents at $0.07–$0.31 per minute on a pay-as-you-go model with $10 in free credits to start.
- AI chat agents start at $0.002 per message.
- Local phone numbers cost $2/month and toll-free numbers $5/month; verified numbers are $10/month plus a $10 one-time setup.
- The pay-as-you-go plan includes 20 free concurrent calls, full platform access, pre-built templates, call analytics, and webhooks/API access.
- Extra concurrency slots cost $8/month each, and knowledge base slots beyond the 10 free ones are $8/month each.
- Every plan includes HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001 compliance plus automatic PII redaction.
- Retell is a build-it-yourself platform; small businesses without technical resources may prefer a done-for-you service like Agents by AIQ.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Retell AI | Agents by AIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Pay-as-you-go: $0.07–$0.31/min for voice agents, $0.002+/msg for chat agents | Month-to-month done-for-you engagement, scoped per business |
| Entry cost | $10 in free credits, then per-minute usage; phone numbers from $2/monthwinner | Scoped on a call — no self-serve entry tier |
| Ease of getting started | Go live in minutes with templates, but you build and configure the agent yourself | The AIQ Labs team designs, builds, and runs the agent for youwinner |
| Features | Knowledge base, branded calls, warm transfer, 55 languages, batch calling, post-call analytics, custom LLMs | AI receptionist on a real phone number, sales/SDR, support, email, marketing agents, appointment setters, workflow automation |
| Support | Community and email support on the pay-as-you-go plan | The AIQ Labs team operates the agents on the client's behalfwinner |
| Integrations | Webhooks, full API, native SIP trunking, bring-your-own telephony, CRM/help desk integrations | Integrated with the tools the business already uses, configured by AIQ Labs |
| Setup | Self-serve: build with drag-and-drop or API; a working inbound agent can go live in under an hour | Book a scoping call; AIQ Labs builds and deploys |
| Compliance | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001 on every plan; automatic PII redactionwinner | Built for owner-operators in regulated niches like legal and healthcare |
Scores
Retell AI
retellai.com ↗Retell AI is a voice AI agent platform for building, testing, and deploying AI phone agents that handle real inbound and outbound call volume. It combines speech recognition, large language models, and text-to-speech engines with telephony integration, citing roughly 600ms end-to-end latency — the threshold where callers typically stop noticing they're talking to AI. The platform offers a drag-and-drop builder alongside full API access, supports custom LLMs from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, and integrates voice engines like ElevenLabs, OpenAI, and Cartesia. Post-call tooling includes structured transcripts, sentiment scoring, custom extracted fields, and resolution tracking. Retell ships production-grade compliance on every plan — HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001 — with automatic PII redaction for names, addresses, DOBs, passwords, and PINs. It supports 55 languages, native SIP trunking, branded calls, warm transfer, IVR with DTMF tone recognition, and batch calling, and is used in healthcare, financial services, logistics, and contact centers running thousands of calls a day.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go — AI Voice Agents | $0.07/mo | $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on voice engine; $10 free credits; 20 free concurrent calls; full platform access |
| Pay as you go — AI Chat Agents | $0.002/mo | From $0.002 per message |
| Local phone number | $2/mo | Per number, monthly |
| Toll-free phone number | $5/mo | Per number, monthly |
| Verified phone number | $10/mo | $10/month plus $10 one-time setup |
| Extra concurrency slot | $8/mo | 20 free concurrent calls included; $8/month per additional slot |
| Extra knowledge base slot | $8/mo | 10 free slots; $8/month each beyond that |
| Branded calls | $0.1/mo | $0.10 per outbound call |
| Batch calls | $0.005/mo | $0.005 per dial |
| Enterprise | $0.05/mo | Customized pricing for high-volume users, potentially reducing costs to as low as $0.05 per minute |
Pros
- Transparent pay-as-you-go pricing with no platform fees and $10 in free credits to test the platform
- Low ~600ms latency with turn-taking that recovers from interruptions mid-sentence
- Enterprise compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001) included on every plan, not gated behind tiers
- Both no-code builder and full API in one platform, with bring-your-own telephony and custom LLMs
- Deep post-call analysis tooling with sentiment scoring and structured transcripts
- 20 free concurrent calls, no rate limit, and greater than 99.9% uptime
Cons
- It's a build-and-manage platform — small businesses without technical resources must configure agents, prompts, and integrations themselves
- Per-minute costs stack across voice engine, LLM choice, and add-ons, so total cost requires monitoring as call volume grows
- Add-on costs accumulate: $8/month per extra concurrency slot, $8/month per extra knowledge base slot, $10/month plus setup for verified numbers
- Community and email support on the entry plan rather than dedicated managed support
- Enterprise-grade capabilities like role-based access control and high-volume scale are oriented toward contact centers, not owner-operators
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs, offering done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses. Rather than handing over a DIY toolkit, the team designs, builds, connects, and runs agents on the business's behalf: AI receptionists and phone answering on a real phone number, voice agents, sales follow-up and SDR agents, customer support agents, email agents, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation — integrated with the tools the business already uses. The engagement is month-to-month, the client owns everything, and there are no guaranteed-results promises: the team scopes the agent to the business's actual call handling, lead follow-up, and busywork problems. Target buyers are owner-operators and small teams in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, and professional services who are losing missed calls, suffering slow lead follow-up, or drowning in manual tasks. The site presents an engineer's notebook of agents being sketched and designed for the visitor's business, with the primary next step being a scoping call.
Pros
- Fully managed: AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and runs the agents, so no technical work falls on the business
- Covers the full agent stack — phone answering, sales follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointments, and workflow automation
- Integrates with the tools the business already uses rather than requiring a new platform
- Month-to-month with full client ownership, no long-term lock-in
- Built for owner-operators in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, and professional services
Cons
- Not a self-serve platform — you can't spin up and test agents yourself the way you can on a usage-metered builder
- Engagement is scoped per business via a call, so it isn't an instant sign-up-and-go option
- Focused on small and mid-size businesses rather than enterprise contact-center scale
Retell AI pricing in 2026: the full breakdown
What a small business actually pays
Managed service vs. DIY platform: which model fits your business
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Retell AI cost per minute in 2026?
AI voice agents on Retell AI cost $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on the voice engine used, and AI chat agents start at $0.002 per message. The LLM layer adds $0.006–$0.06 per minute depending on the model. Retell's own comparison material puts realistic all-in costs at roughly $0.08–$0.15 per minute, and customized enterprise pricing for high-volume users can reduce costs to as low as $0.05 per minute.
Does Retell AI have a free trial or free plan?
Retell AI offers $10 in free credits when you sign up, with full platform access, no commitments, and pay-as-you-go billing after that. The pay-as-you-go plan also includes 20 free concurrent calls, pre-built agent templates, call analytics and transcripts, simulation testing, and webhooks and API access, so you can build and test before spending beyond the credit.
What extra costs should I budget for beyond the per-minute rate on Retell AI?
Beyond the $0.07–$0.31 per-minute voice rate, budget for phone numbers ($2/month local, $5/month toll-free, or $10/month plus a $10 one-time setup for verified numbers), LLM usage ($0.006–$0.06/min), extra concurrency slots at $8/month each beyond the 20 free ones, extra knowledge base slots at $8/month each beyond 10 free, branded outbound calls at $0.10 each, and batch dialing at $0.005 per dial.
Is Retell AI a good fit for small businesses without developers?
Retell AI offers a drag-and-drop builder alongside its API, and pre-built templates make it possible to get a basic agent live quickly. However, it remains a build-and-operate platform: you configure prompts, telephony, and integrations, and entry-plan support is community and email. Owner-operators who want an AI receptionist answering on a real phone number without doing any of that work may prefer a done-for-you service like Agents by AIQ, where the AIQ Labs team builds and runs the agents.
How does Retell AI's pricing compare to alternatives like Bland AI?
Per Retell's own published comparison (data as of 05/2026), Retell calls start at $0.07/min versus Bland AI's $0.09/min — a 22% difference — and Retell phone numbers cost $2/month versus Bland's $15/month, an 87% difference. Bland also charges $0.015 per unconnected outbound attempt and gates features like knowledge base, branded calls, and PII redaction behind enterprise tiers, while Retell includes compliance and those capabilities on every plan.
Sources
- AI Phone Agent Pricing | Retell AI
- Retell AI vs Bland AI: Pricing, Features & Value Compared
- How Much Should You Spend on AI Voice Agents? | Retell AI
- 8 Best Voice AI Platforms for 2026 (Tested and Ranked) | Retell AI
- Top 7 Voice AI Agents Fully Compliant with Global AI Regulations (2026 Guide) | Retell AI
- Bland AI Review (2026): Real Costs, Latency & a Better Option | Retell AI
- AI Voice Agent Pricing in 2026: What It Actually Costs | Retell AI
- AI Voice Agent Platform for Phone Call Automation | Retell AI
- Agents by AIQ