Best Phone Automation

Ranked #3 of 8 in AI phone answering for business

Bland AI review

An enterprise voice AI platform that runs AI phone agents on its own speech and language models1; the Start plan has no platform fee and charges $0.14 a minute2.

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Verdict

7.4/10

Pick Bland AI for high-volume calling in regulated industries: it runs its own speech and language models, is FedRAMP 20x Class A certified and reports SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022134.

Best for Regulated, high-volume call teams

Skip it if you run a small business and want warm transfers, a built-in scheduling step and a signed BAA on a self-serve plan: Bland's pricing table keeps all three on Enterprise2.

Visit Bland AI (opens the Bland AI website)

Bland AI at a glance
CompanyBland, founded in 2023, headquartered in San Francisco5
AI modelsIts own speech-to-text, language model and text-to-speech1
Languages40+, with real-time translation in 236
Start plan limits10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day, 1 voice, 10 knowledge bases2
FedRAMP20x Class A (Pilot), FedRAMP Certified as of 8/25/2026; 0 ATO or ATU letters listed3
Security reportsSOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022, HIPAA with BAA; PCI DSS v4.0.1 self-attested (Bland's own account)4
Calls handled780M+ to date (Bland's count)1
Latest changelog entryAugust 3, 20267

How Bland AI scores

Score breakdown for Bland AI
Call quality 25%8.0Bland runs its own speech-to-text, language model and text-to-speech1. It states responses in about 200 milliseconds on its receptionist page8 and sub-400ms latency in its AI summary file9. Since July 21, 2026, interruptibility has five levels and a separate resumption-speed setting7. Every quality figure here is Bland's own; we have not run calls. Score: an in-house stack with published latency and interruption settings gives 8.0.
Setup 20%6.0The dashboard opens on a four-step checklist, and a new agent can talk in the browser with no phone number, plan or purchase10. Norm builds and edits agents from a plain-English description11. Bland says most teams deploy a first agent within a day on self-serve plans2, while its homepage puts production agents at two to six weeks with its own engineers building the first one6. The Start plan is labeled for developers2. Score: a self-serve builder on a plan labeled for developers, with production agents in weeks by Bland's own account, gives 6.0.
Integrations 15%7.5Bland lists 28 integrations, including Cal.com, Calendly, Salesforce, HubSpot, Zapier, Make, RingCentral and Microsoft Teams12. Since July 6, 2026, contact memory syncs to HubSpot and Salesforce after every call and message7. The docs show prompt and pathway agents transferring to a phone number13, but the pricing table marks Warm Transfers, Live Transfers, the Appointment Scheduling Node and SMS & Web Chat as Enterprise only2. Calendar booking runs through a Cal.com tool built in the agent builder14, and the docs limit warm transfer, a briefed handoff to a person, to Enterprise and the Agent Phone Plan15. Score: native booking and two CRMs, with warm transfer and the scheduling node on Enterprise only, give 7.5.
Price 20%7.5Start has no platform fee and charges $0.14 a minute; Build adds a $299 monthly fee for $0.12 a minute2. At 1,000 talk minutes a month, Start costs $140 before transfer time ($0.05/min), extra numbers ($15/month each) and a $0.015 minimum charge on each outbound attempt, failed calls included21617. The Start rate rose from $0.09 to $0.14 a minute on December 5, 202517. Score: about $42 at 100 three-minute calls and $126 at 300 on Start, with transfer time and extra numbers billed on top, give 7.5.
Trust 10%9.0FedRAMP's marketplace lists Bland as FedRAMP Certified, 20x Class A (Pilot), as of 8/25/20263. Bland reports SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022 and HIPAA compliance with a BAA, and self-attests to PCI DSS v4.0.14. The docs make built-in guard rails for AI disclosure, recording disclosure, self-introduction and opt-out available on every plan18, while the pricing table marks a Guardrails (Protected Calls) row Enterprise only2. The Send Call API records a call only when record is set to true19. Its subprocessor list names no AI model provider20. The BAA, SSO and data residency sit on Enterprise2. Score: FedRAMP, SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and a BAA, with disclosure guard rails, give 9.0.
Support 10%7.0The docs cover the API, the MCP server and the dashboard, and the post-call webhooks guide points to a Discord community and [email protected]21. A public status page sends incident alerts by email, SMS, Slack and webhook22. The pricing table lists a 99.9% uptime SLA on every plan and keeps the Slack channel with the Bland team and forward deployed engineers on Enterprise2. The Enterprise Support Portal, with a one-hour first response for Critical tickets, is turned on per organization23. Score: docs, Discord, email and a status page, with Slack and fast responses on Enterprise, give 7.0.

Bland AI pricing

Bland AI pricing, checked 8 November 2026
PlanPriceNotes
Start$0 platform fee + $0.14/min2Labeled for developers. No card required; includes 2 credits and an inbound number ($15/mo value). Transfer time $0.05/min. 10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day, 10 knowledge bases.
Build$299/month + $0.12/min2Labeled for teams. Transfer time $0.04/min. 50 concurrent calls, 2,000 calls a day, 50 knowledge bases. Bland's billing docs also list a Scale plan at $499 with $0.11/min17; the pricing page does not show it.
EnterpriseCustom2Contracted to your volume. Adds on-prem or VPC deployment, forward deployed engineers, BAA, SSO and data residency.
Extra phone number$15/month16US or Canadian numbers bought through the API; other countries through support.
Usage extras$0.015 minimum per outbound attempt17Applies to outbound and failed calls on Bland's telephony. Transfers on your own Twilio numbers are free. Norm, the build assistant, is billed by tokens.
Agent Phone Plan$9.99 first month, then $19.99/month24Gives a personal AI assistant such as ChatGPT or Claude its own US number. One concurrent call, 50 calls a day, US and Canada only, fair use applies. Yearly billing costs $15025.

Strengths and weak spots

Strengths

  • One per-minute rate covers the language model, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, with no token charges2.
  • The Start plan has no platform fee and needs no card2.
  • FedRAMP 20x Class A certified as of Aug 25, 2026 on FedRAMP's own marketplace3, and Bland reports SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:20224.
  • Built-in guard rails for AI disclosure, recording disclosure, self-introduction and opt-out on every plan18.
  • 28 listed integrations, including Cal.com, Calendly, Salesforce, HubSpot and Zapier12.

Weak spots

  • Bland's pricing table marks Warm Transfers, Live Transfers, the Appointment Scheduling Node, BAA, SSO and data residency as Enterprise only2; the docs open warm transfer to Enterprise and the single-line Agent Phone Plan15.
  • The Start rate rose from $0.09 to $0.14 a minute on December 5, 202517.
  • Charges sit outside the minute rate: transfer time, $15 a month per extra number, a $0.015 minimum charge on each outbound attempt on Bland's telephony, and token billing for the Norm assistant21617.
  • Bland's own pages disagree. The homepage and Bland's llms.txt say the minute rate covers telephony, and the pricing FAQ says telephony is billed separately692. The pricing table charges transfer time on Start and Build and also marks Live Transfers as Enterprise only2.
  • Built for enterprise rollouts: the homepage puts production agents at two to six weeks with Bland's engineers, and Start caps you at 10 concurrent calls and 100 calls a day62.

Alternatives to Bland AI

Head to head

Bland AI: common questions

How much does Bland AI cost?

The Start plan has no platform fee and charges $0.14 a minute of talk time plus $0.05 a minute of transfer time. Build costs $299 a month plus $0.12 and $0.04 a minute. Enterprise is contracted to your volume2. Extra phone numbers cost $15 a month each16.

Can Bland AI transfer a call to a person?

Yes. A prompt-based agent transfers to a transfer phone number, and a pathway agent uses a Transfer Call node13. Transfer time costs $0.05 a minute on Start and $0.04 on Build, and BYOT customers pay no transfer fees2. The same pricing table marks Warm Transfers and Live Transfers as Enterprise only2. The docs offer warm transfer, where the AI briefs the person before connecting the caller, on Enterprise and the Agent Phone Plan15.

Is Bland AI HIPAA compliant?

Bland says it is HIPAA compliant, signs a BAA before launch, and lists real-time PII redaction on call recordings and transcripts among its HIPAA controls4. The pricing page places the BAA on the Enterprise plan2.

Sources

  1. Bland. About Bland. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Bland. Pricing | Bland AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. FedRAMP, U.S. General Services Administration. Bland | FedRAMP Marketplace (package FR2628647242). Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Bland. Trust and security. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Bland. AI information. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  6. Bland. Bland AI homepage. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. Bland. Changelog: What we shipped. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  8. Bland. AI receptionist. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  9. Bland. Bland AI llms.txt (last updated 2026-10-23). Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  10. Bland documentation. Build your first agent. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  11. Bland documentation. Norm. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  12. Bland. Bland integrations. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  13. Bland documentation. Call recipes for agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  14. Bland documentation. Integration Tools. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  15. Bland documentation. Warm Transfer. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  16. Bland documentation. Purchase Phone Number. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  17. Bland documentation. Billing & Plans. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  18. Bland documentation. Guard Rails. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  19. Bland documentation. Send Call (POST /v1/calls). Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  20. Bland. Subprocessor List. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  21. Bland documentation. Post Call Webhooks. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  22. Bland. Bland AI Status. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  23. Bland documentation. Enterprise Support Portal. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  24. Bland. AI phone number (Agent Phone Plan). Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  25. Bland documentation. Agent Phone Plan. Checked 8 Nov 2026.