Best Vapi alternatives (Nov 2026)
Short answer: Retell AI is the closest swap: the same pay-as-you-go model, a published per-minute price for every LLM and 20 free concurrent calls, at $0.117 a minute on our standard setup. For one bundled rate, look at Deepgram's Voice Agent API ($0.075) or Bland ($0.14). ElevenLabs Agents suits plan buyers, and LiveKit Agents or Pipecat let you own the whole stack.
Which Vapi alternatives compare best? (as of 14 Nov 2026)
| Alternative | Best for | Price | Free to start | Watch out |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vapi (for reference) | Picking every provider | $0.05/min + providers; $0.082 to $0.129 all-in | $5 credit | HIPAA is $2,000/month |
| Retell AI | Closest like-for-like | $0.117/min on our setup | $10 credit | Long prompts bill extra time |
| Bland AI | One bill for LLM, voice and transcription | $0.14/min + telephony | 2 credits + inbound number | 100 calls a day on Start |
| ElevenLabs Agents | Plan minutes | $0.08/min + LLM + telephony | 15 free minutes | LLM not priced per minute |
| Deepgram Voice Agent API | Bundled API rate | $0.075/min | $200 credit | No telephony on the pricing page |
| PolyAI | Bundled platform or raw model | $0.095/min platform; $0.02/min model | $100 credit (limited time) | Token prices not published |
| LiveKit Agents | Open source, self-host or cloud | Cloud from $0 (1,000 min) | Free Build plan | You write the code |
| Pipecat | Open source, any provider | Framework free; cloud from $0.01/min | Framework is free | Most engineering work |
Prices change often, so check each vendor's page before you switch.
Why look for a Vapi alternative?
- 4 line items per minute: hosting at $0.05/min plus separate transcription, LLM and voice charges (Vapi).
- Low starting concurrency: 4 calls at once without a package, then $10 per line per month.
- HIPAA cost: a $2,000/month add-on.
- Inbound-only free number: outbound calls need a number imported from another provider (Vapi docs).
- No visual builder: Vapi retired Workflows on 18 Aug 2026 (Vapi docs).
Which Vapi alternatives are worth a look?
1. Retell AI: the closest like-for-like swap
Why switch: Retell prices every LLM, voice and phone line per minute on one page, includes 20 concurrent calls free and, per its docs, offers a self-signed BAA with "no additional fee" (Retell docs). It also has native HubSpot, Salesforce and Cal.com links (Retell).
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): $0.055/min Voice Infra, plus an LLM ($0.0016 to $0.64/min), a voice ($0.015 standard) and US telephony ($0.015). That's $0.117/min on Kall's standard setup, plus $2/month per number and $10 in free credit.
Watch out: Average prompts over 4,000 tokens bill proportionally more time, and silence is billed. The pricing page also has HIPAA/BAA rows in its plan table, so confirm what your plan covers. Full head-to-head: Retell AI vs Vapi: pricing, compliance and fit compared.
2. Bland AI: one rate for LLM, transcription and voice
Why switch: "One flat rate covers the LLM, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech," so you get 1 line item instead of 4. The Start plan has no platform fee and needs no card.
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): $0.14/min on Start; $0.12/min on Build at $299/month. Transfers cost $0.05/min on Start.
Watch out: Telephony is billed "at pass-through cost" with no published rate. Start caps you at 100 calls a day and 10 at once, and the plan table lists the BAA under Enterprise only. More options: Best Bland AI alternatives.
3. ElevenLabs Agents: plan minutes with ElevenLabs voices
Why switch: ElevenLabs (which now brands the product ElevenAgents) bundles voice and speech-to-text into plan minutes and passes LLM costs through "at the provider's published rate, with no markup" (ElevenLabs docs).
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): Free (15 minutes), Starter $6/month (75), Creator $22 (275), Pro $99 (1,238), Scale $299 (3,738), Business $990 (12,375). Extra minutes cost $0.08, and burst calls $0.16/min.
Watch out: LLM and telephony ("at cost") have no per-minute figure, so you can't see the all-in price up front. BAAs are Enterprise-only.
4. Deepgram Voice Agent API: a bundled API rate
Why switch: It's "one rate covering speech-to-text, a managed language model, and text-to-speech," and that rate is below Bland's. Bring your own LLM or voice and it drops further. New accounts get a $200 credit that doesn't expire.
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): $0.075/min standard on pay-as-you-go ($0.068 on Growth), $0.050 if you bring your own LLM and voice, $0.163 for the Advanced tier. Billing is per minute of WebSocket connection.
Watch out: The pricing page doesn't mention telephony, so you wire up phone lines yourself. BAAs are for Enterprise customers.
5. PolyAI: a self-serve platform or a raw model API
Why switch: PolyAI's Platform bundles 5¢ platform, 3¢ for its Dialog-RSN-1 model and 1.5¢ standard voice, with 10 concurrent calls. Its Model API is "for developers running their own voice stack." Every plan runs on "SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified infrastructure."
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): Platform from 9.5¢/min; Model API 2¢/min "plus text tokens"; agent plans from $49/month. New accounts get $100 in free credit "for a limited time" (the Platform card itself mentions "$20 of free credit to get started").
Watch out: The page prices neither text tokens nor telephony, so the Model API's all-in cost can't be worked out. HIPAA with a BAA is Enterprise-only.
6. LiveKit Agents: open source, self-host or cloud
Why switch: The Agents framework is Apache-2.0 and "fully open-source", so you can "run the entire stack on your own servers" (GitHub). LiveKit Cloud hosts it if you'd rather not.
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): Cloud Build is free (1,000 agent session minutes, 5 at once). Ship starts at $50/month (5,000 minutes, then $0.01/min) and Scale at $500/month. One US number is free, then $1/month. Models cost extra, for example Deepgram Nova-3 transcription at $0.0048/min on Build and Ship.
Watch out: You write and run the code. SOC 2 Type II reports come only with Scale and Enterprise, and the pricing page lists HIPAA compliance with a "Signed BAA" but we couldn't confirm which plans include it, so ask LiveKit.
7. Pipecat: open source with 150+ service integrations
Why switch: Pipecat is a BSD-2-Clause "Open Source framework for voice agents", maintained by Daily and the community (GitHub), with serializers for Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo and Vonage. Pipecat Cloud hosts it if you want.
Pricing (as of 14 Nov 2026): The framework is free. Pipecat Cloud starts at $0.01/min per active agent, Daily phone calls cost $0.018/min, and LLM, transcription and voice, from 150+ listed service integrations (Pipecat docs), are billed by each provider.
Watch out: It's the most engineering work on this list, and the Pipecat Cloud pricing page doesn't mention HIPAA or SOC 2.
How we picked
- Self-serve: you can sign up and start without a sales call.
- Published per-minute pricing on official pages, re-checked on 14 Nov 2026.
- A free credit, plan or tier to start.
- Each fixes a different Vapi pain point: billing, bundling, compliance or owning the stack.
- Research only: we haven't test-called these yet. Method: How Kall tests and ranks AI voice agents.
For the all-in math behind these numbers, see AI voice agent pricing per minute: the real all-in cost. For more developer tools, see Best voice AI platforms for developers.
Sources
- Pricing, Vapi, 14 Nov 2026
- Creating free phone numbers, Vapi docs, 14 Nov 2026
- Workflows migration guide, Vapi docs, 14 Nov 2026
- Pricing, Retell AI, 14 Nov 2026
- Compliance, Retell AI docs, 14 Nov 2026
- Integrations, Retell AI, 14 Nov 2026
- Pricing, Bland AI, 14 Nov 2026
- ElevenAgents pricing, ElevenLabs, 14 Nov 2026
- Supported LLMs, ElevenLabs docs, 14 Nov 2026
- Pricing, Deepgram, 14 Nov 2026
- Pricing, PolyAI, 14 Nov 2026
- livekit/agents, GitHub, 14 Nov 2026
- Pricing, LiveKit, 14 Nov 2026
- pipecat-ai/pipecat, GitHub, 14 Nov 2026
- Pipecat Cloud pricing, Daily, 14 Nov 2026
- Pipecat overview, Pipecat docs, 14 Nov 2026
FAQ
What is the best alternative to Vapi?
Retell AI is the closest swap: the same pay-as-you-go model, a published per-minute price for every LLM and 20 free concurrent calls. On our standard setup it costs $0.117 a minute including US telephony, as of 14 Nov 2026.
Is there an open-source alternative to Vapi?
Yes. LiveKit Agents (Apache-2.0) and Pipecat (BSD-2-Clause) are open-source frameworks you can run yourself. Both also sell hosting: LiveKit Cloud has a free Build plan and Pipecat Cloud starts at $0.01 per active minute, as of 14 Nov 2026.
Which Vapi alternative has one bundled per-minute rate?
Deepgram's Voice Agent API charges $0.075 a minute for speech-to-text, a managed LLM and text-to-speech. Bland charges $0.14 a minute for the same three and bills telephony separately, as of 14 Nov 2026.
What does Vapi charge on top of its $0.05 per minute?
Vapi passes transcription, LLM and voice through at cost, which its own estimate puts at $82 to $129 per 1,000 minutes all-in. Extra concurrent lines cost $10 a month and HIPAA $2,000 a month, as of 14 Nov 2026.
Related
- Retell AI vs Vapi: pricing, compliance and fit comparedRetell AI vs Vapi on per-minute cost, free credits, HIPAA and SOC 2, integrations, no-code fit and languages, from official pages as of 14 Nov 2026.
- Best Bland AI alternatives7 Bland AI alternatives with pricing as of 14 Nov 2026, why you might switch from Bland's $0.14/min rate, and what to watch out for with each.
- AI voice agent pricing per minute: the real all-in costWhat AI voice agents and receptionists really cost per minute once platform, LLM, voice, transcription and phone line are added. 15 platforms.
- Best voice AI platforms for developersVapi, Retell, LiveKit, Pipecat, ElevenLabs, OpenAI Realtime, Twilio and Bland compared on open source, pricing, telephony, models and self-hosting.
Ranks are never for sale. This page has no affiliate links and no paid placements. Prices change often: check the vendor's pricing page before you buy.