Retell AI is a DIY voice AI platform where you build and run your own phone agents on pay-as-you-go usage pricing from $0.07–$0.31 per minute, with $10 in free credits to start, 20 free concurrent calls, and phone numbers at $2/month. Agents by AIQ takes the opposite approach: a done-for-you service where AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and operates AI agents — receptionists, follow-up, support, and workflow automation — for your business, so you book a scoping call instead of configuring a platform. Choose Retell if you have technical capacity and want usage-based control; choose Agents by AIQ if you want the agent built and run for you.
Bottom line: These aren't direct substitutes: Retell AI is a self-serve voice AI platform priced per minute of usage, while Agents by AIQ is a done-for-you agency service that builds and operates agents for you. The right pick depends on whether you want to build it yourself or have it built and run for you.
TL;DR
- Retell AI charges pay-as-you-go usage: $0.07–$0.31 per minute for AI voice agents and $0.002+ per message for chat agents, with $10 in free credits to start.
- Retell phone numbers cost $2/month (toll numbers $5/month), and every plan includes 20 free concurrent calls.
- Retell includes HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, and ISO 27001 compliance on every plan, plus automatic PII redaction.
- Retell supports 55 languages, warm transfer, branded calls, knowledge bases, batch calls, and post-call analytics with sentiment scoring.
- Agents by AIQ is a done-for-you service: AIQ Labs designs, builds, connects, and operates AI agents — receptionists, follow-up, support, email, marketing, appointment setting — integrated with your existing tools.
- Agents by AIQ works month-to-month and the client owns everything that's built.
- Retell suits teams with technical capacity who want usage-based control; Agents by AIQ suits owner-operators who want the agent built and run for them.
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/month phone numbers, $10 free credits | Month-to-month engagement scoped per business via a scoping call |
| Ease of use | Drag-and-drop builder plus API — but you do the building | Done-for-you: AIQ Labs designs, builds, and runs the agentwinner |
| Features | Voice agents with knowledge base, warm transfer, branded calls, 55 languages, batch calls, post-call analytics | AI receptionist on a real phone number, sales follow-up/SDR, support, email, marketing agents, appointment setters, workflow automation |
| Support | Community and email support on the self-serve tier | Operated by the AIQ Labs team on an ongoing basiswinner |
| Integrations | Webhooks, API access, native SIP trunking, bring-your-own telephony | Agents integrated with the tools the business already uses, set up for you |
| Setup | Go live in minutes with $10 free credits; a working inbound agent can be live in under an hourwinner | Starts with a scoping call to design the agent for your business |
| Compliance | HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001 on every plan; automatic PII redactionwinner | Not positioned around formal certifications |
| Ownership | You own and operate everything you build on the platform | Month-to-month; the client owns everything built |
Scores
Retell AI
retellai.com ↗Retell AI is a self-serve platform for building, testing, and deploying AI voice agents that handle real inbound and outbound phone calls at production scale. It combines speech recognition, frontier LLMs (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google), and text-to-speech engines with a drag-and-drop builder and full API access, so the same agent can be prototyped visually and wired into your systems via webhooks. The platform cites roughly 600ms end-to-end latency with a proprietary turn-taking model that handles interruptions and barge-in mid-sentence. Every call produces structured transcripts with sentiment scoring, custom extracted fields, and resolution tracking. Retell ships with pre-built agent templates, simulation testing, native SIP trunking, warm transfer, branded calls, knowledge bases, and support for 55 languages. Compliance is included 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's used in healthcare, financial services, logistics, and contact centers; Pine Park Health reports a 38% increase in scheduling NPS after deploying Retell. Pricing is usage-based, so your total cost tracks your call volume.
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go (voice agents) | $0.07/mo | $0.07–$0.31/min per AI voice agent; $10 free credits; 20 free concurrent calls; full platform access |
| AI chat agents | $0.002/mo | $0.002+ per message |
| Phone number | $2/mo | $2/month standard; $5/month toll; verified numbers $10/month + $10 one-time setup |
| Enterprise | — | Customized pricing for high-volume users, potentially as low as $0.05/min |
Pros
- Transparent usage pricing from $0.07/min with no platform fees and $10 in free credits to start
- Enterprise-grade compliance (HIPAA, SOC 2 Type I & II, GDPR, ISO 27001) included on every plan, not gated behind tiers
- Low ~600ms latency with natural turn-taking that handles interruptions
- Both no-code builder and full API/webhooks in one platform, with custom LLM support and bring-your-own telephony
- Deep post-call analytics with sentiment scoring and extracted fields
- 55 languages, warm transfer, branded calls, and verified numbers to lift answer rates
Cons
- You build, configure, and maintain the agents yourself — setup and ongoing tuning fall on your team
- Per-minute costs scale directly with call volume, so high-usage months get expensive
- Self-serve tier includes only community and email support
- Extra knowledge base slots ($8/month each) and concurrency add-ons ($8/month per slot) add to the bill
- No done-for-you option: integrations with your CRM and booking tools are your project
Agents by AIQ
agentsbyaiq.com ↗Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs, and it approaches AI agents from the opposite direction of a DIY platform: instead of handing you a builder, the team designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses. The offer spans 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 positioning is explicitly not another AI wrapper or DIY toolkit: it's an operated service from AIQ Labs, the team behind the AI Business Sites platform. The site presents an engineer's-notebook view of agents being sketched and designed for the visitor's business, and the primary next step is booking a call to scope the agent. 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, and drowning in manual busywork. Engagements are month-to-month, and the client owns everything that's built.
Pros
- Fully done-for-you: design, build, integration, and ongoing operation handled by AIQ Labs
- Covers more than voice — sales follow-up/SDR, support, email, marketing, appointment setting, and workflow automation
- AI receptionist answers calls on a real phone number, not just a browser widget
- Month-to-month terms with full client ownership of what's built
- Backed by the team behind the AI Business Sites platform
- Built specifically for owner-operators in trades, legal, healthcare, insurance, real estate, ecommerce, and professional services
Cons
- You don't build or self-configure agents yourself — less hands-on control than a platform
- Engagement starts with a scoping call rather than instant self-serve signup
- Focused on small and mid-size businesses rather than high-volume enterprise contact centers
Pricing compared: per-minute usage vs a scoped service
Build it yourself vs have it built and run
Capability depth: where each one is strong
Which should you pick?
FAQs
How much does Retell AI cost?
Retell AI uses pay-as-you-go usage pricing: AI voice agents cost $0.07–$0.31 per minute depending on the voice engine and LLM, AI chat agents start at $0.002+ per message, and phone numbers cost $2/month ($5 for toll numbers, $10/month plus a $10 one-time setup for verified numbers). Every plan includes 20 free concurrent calls, 10 free knowledge base slots, and $10 in free credits to start. Enterprise pricing for high-volume users can go as low as $0.05 per minute.
Is Retell AI hard to set up for a small business?
Retell offers a drag-and-drop builder with pre-built agent templates, and its own material says a working inbound support agent can be live on a Twilio SIP trunk in under an hour. However, you (or someone on your team) handle the configuration, integration wiring via webhooks and API, and ongoing tuning. Small businesses without technical staff often find that ongoing operating burden is the real cost, not the per-minute rate.
What does Agents by AIQ actually do?
Agents by AIQ is the agent-focused arm of AIQ Labs. It designs, builds, connects, and runs done-for-you AI agents for small and mid-size businesses: 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. It's an operated service, not a DIY toolkit, and engagements run month-to-month with the client owning everything built.
Do I own what Agents by AIQ builds for me?
Yes. Agents by AIQ engagements are month-to-month, and the client owns everything that's built. There's no long-term lock-in described in the offer; the ongoing relationship is about AIQ Labs operating and maintaining the agents, not about retaining ownership of the work product.
Which is cheaper for a low-call-volume small business?
It depends on how you value your time. Retell's per-minute pricing is inexpensive at low volume — at $0.07–$0.31 per minute, a handful of short calls per day costs very little in usage, plus $2/month per phone number. But that assumes you build and maintain the agent yourself. Agents by AIQ prices a scoped month-to-month service that includes the build, integrations, and operation, so you're comparing a small usage bill plus your own labor against a single operated engagement. Businesses without technical staff generally find the operated model easier to budget.
Can either option answer calls on a real business phone number?
Yes, both can. Retell AI provides phone numbers at $2/month (with toll and verified number options) and supports native SIP trunking and bring-your-own telephony, so agents answer and place real calls. Agents by AIQ's AI receptionist answers calls on a real phone number as its core capability — distinct from a browser-based site voice agent, which is a separate, simpler offering.
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
- AI Voice Agent Pricing in 2026 | Retell AI
- Top 7 Voice AI Agents Fully Compliant with Global AI Regulations (2026 Guide)
- AI Voice Agent Platform for Phone Call Automation | Retell AI
- Retell Market Competitor Overview
- Agents by AIQ