Best Phone Automation

Bland AI vs Retell AI

Both bill by the minute with no platform fee on the entry plan. Bland runs its own models and holds FedRAMP; Retell AI puts warm transfer on every account.

Updated By the Best Phone Automation deskHow we scoreDisclosure

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Short answer

Retell AI wins for most teams: it scores 7.9 against Bland's 7.4, and warm transfer, booking and a free BAA come on pay as you go578, where Bland keeps warm transfers and the BAA on Enterprise1. Bland fits regulated, high-volume teams: FedRAMP's marketplace lists it as 20x Class A (Pilot)9.

Pick Bland AI if
you run high call volumes in a regulated industry and want FedRAMP, SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 from a vendor that runs its own speech and language models91012.
Pick Retell AI if
you want warm transfer, native booking and a BAA without an Enterprise contract, starting from $10 in free credits583.
Bland AI and Retell AI compared
Bland AIRetell AI
Our score7.47.9
Entry planStart: $0 platform fee, $0.14 a minute1Pay as you go: $0 platform fee, $0.07 to $0.31 a minute2
Free startNo card; 2 credits and an inbound number1$10 in credits, no payment method until you buy a phone number3
Entry plan limits10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day120 concurrent calls2
Transfer to a personTo a phone number4, at $0.05 a transfer minute on Start; warm and live transfers marked Enterprise only1Cold, warm and agentic warm5
BookingCal.com booking tool in the agent builder6; the Appointment Scheduling Node is Enterprise only1Cal.com, Calendly and GoHighLevel7
HIPAA BAAEnterprise plan1Self-signed at no fee8
SecurityFedRAMP 20x Class A (Pilot)9; SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001:2022 by Bland's own account10SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001:2022, CCPA11
AI modelsIts own speech-to-text, language model and text-to-speech12A choice of models and voices, each priced per minute13

Scores by criterion

Bland AI

Score breakdown for Bland AI
Call quality 25%8.0
Setup 20%6.0
Integrations 15%7.5
Price 20%7.5
Trust 10%9.0
Support 10%7.0

Retell AI

Score breakdown for Retell AI
Call quality 25%8.5
Setup 20%6.5
Integrations 15%8.5
Price 20%8.0
Trust 10%8.0
Support 10%7.5

Visit Bland AI (opens the Bland AI website)Visit Retell AI (opens the Retell AI website)

Questions people ask

Is Bland AI cheaper than Retell AI?

At the entry rate, close. Bland charges $0.14 a minute on Start1; Retell AI lists $0.07 to $0.31, and GPT 5.1 with a Retell voice and number comes to $0.1252. Bland adds $0.05 a minute of transfer time on Start1.

Which is better for regulated industries, Bland AI or Retell AI?

Bland AI on the evidence: FedRAMP's marketplace lists it as 20x Class A (Pilot)9, and it reports SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001:2022 and HIPAA10. Retell AI lists SOC 2, HIPAA and ISO 27001:2022 and signs a BAA at no fee118.

Sources

  1. Bland. Pricing | Bland AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Retell AI. AI Phone Agent Pricing | Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Retell AI documentation. Build your first Retell AI phone agent in 15 minutes. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Bland documentation. Call recipes for agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Retell AI documentation. Transfer calls with single and multi-prompt agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  6. Bland documentation. Integration Tools. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. Retell AI documentation. Connect your CRM, calendar, helpdesk, and knowledge sources to Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  8. Retell AI documentation. Retell AI security and compliance: HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, and data erasure. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. FedRAMP, U.S. General Services Administration. Bland | FedRAMP Marketplace (package FR2628647242). Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  10. Bland. Trust and security. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  11. Retell AI (Vanta-hosted trust center). Retell AI Trust Center. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  12. Bland. About Bland. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  13. Retell AI. AI Voice Agents That Automate Phone Calls | Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.