Best Phone Automation

Retell AI vs Vapi

Both bill by the minute and both suit people who set up their own phone agent. Retell AI does more without code; Vapi gives a developer every choice.

Updated By the Best Phone Automation deskHow we scoreDisclosure

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Short answer

Retell AI wins for most businesses: it scores 7.9 against Vapi's 7.2, books through Cal.com, Calendly and GoHighLevel natively and syncs five CRMs7, and its BAA, the contract HIPAA requires for health data, is free where Vapi's HIPAA add-on costs $2,000 a month113. Vapi can cost less per minute: its calculator puts 1,000 minutes at $82 to $1293, against about $127 on a common Retell AI setup4.

Pick Retell AI if
you want a working phone agent in 15 minutes from a template, native booking and CRM sync, and HIPAA without a monthly add-on. It starts with $10 in free credits and no card111.
Pick Vapi if
a developer is building the agent and wants to choose every model, voice and carrier at provider prices with no markup. It starts with $5 in free credits and a free US number32.
Retell AI and Vapi compared
Retell AIVapi
Our score7.97.2
Free start$10 in credits, no payment method until you buy a phone number1$5 in credits and one free US number, inbound only23
How usage is billed$0.07 to $0.31 a minute for voice agents, no platform fee4$0.05 a minute hosting plus provider costs at list price3
1,000 minutes a month (estimate)About $127: $0.125 a minute on GPT 5.1 with a Retell voice and number, plus $2 for the number4$82 to $129 by Vapi's calculator, on free Vapi telephony3
First phone agentLive in 15 minutes from a template or a plain-English prompt1A call in under 5 minutes from a template; function calling needs your own server56
Booking and CRMsCal.com, Calendly and GoHighLevel; HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, GoHighLevel and Zoho7Google Calendar and GoHighLevel; no native HubSpot or Salesforce8
Transfer to a personCold, warm and agentic warm9Blind and warm; the message and summary modes run on Twilio only10
HIPAABAA self-signed at no fee11$2,000 a month add-on with a BAA3
Support on the entry plan7 days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM PST, 24-hour first response12Discord and email with no SLA; a 2-business-day SLA from $29 a month3

Scores by criterion

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

Vapi

Score breakdown for Vapi
Call quality 25%8.0
Setup 20%5.5
Integrations 15%7.0
Price 20%7.5
Trust 10%7.5
Support 10%7.5

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

Questions people ask

Is Retell AI cheaper than Vapi?

It depends on the stack. Vapi's calculator puts 1,000 minutes at $82 to $1293; Retell AI on GPT 5.1 with a Retell voice and number works out to about $125 plus a $2 number4. A team that needs HIPAA pays $2,000 a month more on Vapi3 and nothing extra on Retell AI11.

Which is easier to set up, Retell AI or Vapi?

Retell AI. Its quick start reaches a live phone agent in 15 minutes from a template or a plain-English description1. Vapi says it focuses on developers, and function calling needs your own server URL5.

Sources

  1. Retell AI documentation. Build your first Retell AI phone agent in 15 minutes. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Vapi documentation. Creating Free Phone Numbers. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Vapi. Pricing aligned to your needs. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Retell AI. AI Phone Agent Pricing | Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Vapi documentation. Frequently Asked Questions. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  6. Vapi documentation. Phone calls. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. Retell AI documentation. Connect your CRM, calendar, helpdesk, and knowledge sources to Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  8. Vapi documentation. Integrations. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. Retell AI documentation. Transfer calls with single and multi-prompt agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  10. Vapi documentation. Transfer Call tool. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  11. Retell AI documentation. Retell AI security and compliance: HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, and data erasure. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  12. Retell AI documentation. Contact Retell AI support and report outages - Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.