Retell AI is a pay-as-you-go voice AI platform for building and running AI phone agents, with voice agent usage from $0.07–$0.31 per minute, $2/month phone numbers, 20 free concurrent calls, and $10 in free credits to start. It earns strong marks for ~600ms latency, compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001), and post-call analytics, but it is a build-it-yourself toolkit — a small business owner still has to design, configure, and maintain the agents. If you'd rather have a done-for-you agent built and operated for you, Agents by AIQ designs, builds, connects, and runs AI receptionists, follow-up, and support agents for small and mid-size businesses on a month-to-month basis.
Bottom line: Retell AI is a capable, well-priced voice AI platform with strong compliance and low latency, but it assumes you (or a developer) will build and operate the agents yourself. For owner-operators who want agents built and run for them, a done-for-you service is the better fit.
TL;DR
- Retell AI prices voice agents at $0.07–$0.31 per minute and chat agents from $0.002 per message, on a pay-as-you-go model with $10 in free credits.
- Phone numbers cost $2/month ($5 for toll-free, $10/month plus a $10 one-time setup for verified numbers) — well below the $15/month some competitors charge.
- Every plan includes 20 free concurrent calls (more at $8/month per slot), webhooks/API access, call analytics and transcripts, and simulation testing.
- Compliance is included by default: HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001, with automatic PII redaction of names, addresses, DOBs, passwords, and PINs.
- Retell cites ~600ms end-to-end latency and >99.9% uptime, and supports 55 languages plus warm transfer and native SIP trunking.
- The trade-off: Retell is a build-and-operate-it-yourself platform — small businesses need someone to design workflows, manage integrations, and monitor agents.
- Agents by AIQ offers the done-for-you alternative: AIQ Labs builds and runs AI receptionists, follow-up, and support agents for you, month-to-month, with the client owning everything.
Head-to-head
| Dimension | Retell AI | Agents by AIQ |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Pay-as-you-go: $0.07–$0.31/min voice, $0.002+/msg chat, $2/mo numbers, $10 free credits | Month-to-month service engagement; scoped per business |
| Ease of use | Drag-and-drop builder and templates, but you build and maintain the agents | Done-for-you — AIQ Labs builds and runs everythingwinner |
| Features | Knowledge base, branded calls, warm transfer, batch calling, 55 languages, post-call analytics, simulation testing | AI receptionist on a real phone number, voice agents, SDR/follow-up, support, email, marketing agents, appointment setters, workflow automation |
| Compliance & security | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001 on every plan; automatic PII redactionwinner | Operated by AIQ Labs; compliance handled as part of the managed service |
| Integrations | Webhooks, full API, native SIP trunking, bring-your-own telephony, CRM/help desk outcome integrations | Agents connected to the tools the business already uses |
| Setup | Self-serve signup with $10 free credits; a working inbound agent can go live in under an hour with technical know-how | Book a call to scope the agent; AIQ Labs handles the build |
| Support | Community and email support on pay-as-you-go | Ongoing operation by the AIQ Labs teamwinner |
| Best fit | Technical teams building production voice agents at scale | Owner-operators wanting agents built and run for them |
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 (including the latest OpenAI and Anthropic models), and text-to-speech engines, and cites roughly 600ms end-to-end latency with a proprietary turn-taking model that handles interruptions mid-sentence. Businesses can build agents with a drag-and-drop workflow builder or the API, choose from multiple voice engines (including ElevenLabs and OpenAI), and connect their own telephony via native SIP trunking. The platform ships with pre-built agent templates, a knowledge base for multi-turn accuracy, branded calls, real-time variable extraction, warm transfer, batch calling, and post-call analytics with transcripts, sentiment scoring, and extracted fields. Compliance is on every plan: HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001, plus automatic PII redaction. Retell positions itself for production deployments in healthcare, financial services, logistics, and contact centers, with published case studies such as Pine Park Health reporting a 38% increase in scheduling NPS.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go (voice agents) | $0.07/mo | $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on voice engine and LLM; $10 free credits; 20 free concurrent calls; full platform access |
| Pay as you go (chat agents) | $0.002/mo | From $0.002 per message |
| Phone number | $2/mo | $2.00/month per local number; $5.00/month toll-free; verified number $10/month + $10 one-time setup |
| Concurrency add-on | $8/mo | 20 free concurrent calls, then $8/month per additional slot |
| Extra knowledge base slots | $8/mo | 10 free, then $8/month each |
| Branded calls | $0.1/mo | $0.10 per outbound call; batch calls $0.005 per dial |
| Enterprise | — | Custom pricing for high-volume users; potentially as low as $0.05 per minute |
Pros
- Transparent pay-as-you-go pricing from $0.07/min with no platform fees and $10 in free credits to start
- $2/month phone numbers and 20 free concurrent calls keep the entry cost low
- Enterprise-grade compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001) and automatic PII redaction on every plan, not gated behind top tiers
- ~600ms latency and >99.9% uptime, with a turn-taking model that handles interruptions naturally
- Both a no-code builder and a full API, plus custom LLM support and bring-your-own telephony
- Deep post-call analytics with transcripts, sentiment, and extracted fields
Cons
- It is a DIY platform — setup, configuration, prompt design, and ongoing operation fall on your team
- Usage-based costs stack across voice engine, LLM choice, phone numbers, and add-ons, so the per-minute headline rate understates total spend
- Community and email support on the pay-as-you-go tier; hands-on help effectively requires higher tiers
- Advanced capabilities such as custom LLM integration are enterprise-only on some competitor comparisons, and high-volume discounts require an enterprise plan
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs, and it takes a fundamentally different approach from DIY voice AI platforms: instead of handing you a toolkit, the team designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses. The offering covers 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 — all integrated with the tools the business already uses. It is positioned explicitly as not another AI wrapper or DIY toolkit: the agents are operated by AIQ Labs, the team behind the AI Business Sites platform. Engagements are month-to-month with no long-term lock-in, and the client owns everything that is built. The target buyer is the owner-operator or small team in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, or professional services who is losing missed calls, suffering slow lead follow-up, or drowning in manual busywork. The process starts by booking a call to scope the agent for the specific business.
Pros
- Done-for-you: agents are designed, built, connected, and operated by the AIQ Labs team, not handed over as a toolkit
- Covers the full range of small-business agent needs — receptionist, follow-up, support, email, marketing, scheduling, and workflow automation
- Month-to-month with no lock-in, and the client owns everything
- Agents are integrated with the tools the business already uses
- Aimed squarely at owner-operators and small teams losing missed calls and lead follow-up
Cons
- It is a service, not a self-serve platform — you cannot build or tweak agents yourself the way a DIY toolkit allows
- Scoping starts with a booked call rather than instant self-serve signup
- Less suitable for technical teams that want direct API-level control over models, telephony, and prompts
Pricing compared
Features and capability
Who should build vs. who should buy done-for-you
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Retell AI cost in 2026?
Retell AI uses pay-as-you-go pricing: AI voice agents cost $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on the voice engine and LLM, and AI chat agents start at $0.002 per message. You get $10 in free credits and 20 free concurrent calls to start, with no commitments. Add-ons include $2.00/month phone numbers ($5.00 toll-free, $10/month plus $10 one-time setup for verified numbers), $0.10 per branded outbound call, $0.005 per batch dial, and $8/month per extra concurrency or knowledge base slot beyond the free allowances. Enterprise plans for high-volume users are custom-priced and can potentially reduce costs to around $0.05 per minute.
Is Retell AI good for small businesses?
Retell AI is well-suited to small businesses that have some technical capability, because the entry cost is low and the pricing is transparent: $10 in free credits, 20 free concurrent calls, $2/month numbers, and no platform fees or commitments. It also includes enterprise-grade compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001) and automatic PII redaction on every plan, which is unusual at the entry tier. The main consideration is that it is a build-and-operate platform — a drag-and-drop builder and templates make it accessible, but someone on your team needs to design workflows, connect integrations, and monitor agents in production.
Does Retell AI have a free trial?
Retell AI gives new users $10 in free credits with full platform access and no commitments, so you can build, test, and run agents before paying. The pay-as-you-go tier also includes 20 free concurrent calls, pre-built agent templates, call analytics and transcripts, simulation testing, and webhooks/API access. That makes it possible to prototype and validate an agent at essentially no cost before usage-based billing kicks in at $0.07–$0.31 per minute for voice agents.
Is Retell AI HIPAA compliant?
Yes. Retell AI includes HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001 on every plan rather than gating compliance behind enterprise tiers, along with automatic PII redaction for names, addresses, dates of birth, passwords, and PINs. The platform also cites >99.9% uptime, role-based access control, and no rate limits, and it is positioned for regulated industries including healthcare and financial services. Note that compliance in practice also depends on configuration, including data handling policies and legal agreements such as BAAs.
What is the difference between Retell AI and a done-for-you agent service?
Retell AI is a platform: you build, configure, and operate the AI phone agents yourself, paying per minute of usage ($0.07–$0.31/min) plus telephony and add-on costs. A done-for-you service like Agents by AIQ is a managed alternative — the AIQ Labs team designs, builds, connects, and runs the agents for you, covering AI receptionists on a real phone number, sales follow-up and SDR agents, support, email, marketing agents, appointment setters, and workflow automation, integrated with your existing tools. Engagements are month-to-month with no lock-in, and the client owns everything built. Choose the platform if you want control and have technical capacity; choose the service if you want the outcome without the build.
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)
- Bland AI Review (2026): Real Costs, Latency & a Better Option | Retell AI
- AI Voice Agent Platform for Phone Call Automation | Retell AI
- Retell Market Competitor Overview
- AI Voice Agent Pricing in 2026: What It Actually Costs | Retell AI
- Agents by AIQ