Best Phone Automation

Ranked #1 of 8 in AI phone answering for business

Retell AI review

A pay-per-minute platform for building AI phone agents that answer and place calls, listed at $0.07 to $0.31 a minute with no platform fee1.

Updated By the Best Phone Automation deskHow we scoreDisclosure

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Verdict

7.9/10

Pick Retell AI if you want an AI phone agent billed by the minute with booking, CRM sync and warm transfer built in: Retell lists voice agents at $0.07 to $0.31 a minute with no platform fee and no contract123.

Best for Pay-per-minute AI call agents

Skip it if you want a finished receptionist at a flat monthly price with no prompt, model or voice to manage, or you need a local number outside the US and Canada without bringing your own carrier4.

Visit Retell AI (opens the Retell AI website)

Retell AI at a glance
HeadquartersRedwood City, California (540 Price Ave)5
Founded2023; Y Combinator Winter 2024 batch6
Pricing modelPay as you go at $0.07 to $0.31 per minute for voice agents; Enterprise on custom pricing1
Free trial$10 in credits, no payment method required4
Phone numbersRetell-managed US and Canada numbers at $2 a month ($5 toll-free); other countries through your own carrier4
Calendars and CRMsCalendly, Cal.com and GoHighLevel for booking; HubSpot, Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics 365, GoHighLevel and Zoho CRM2
Compliance listedSOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001:2022, CCPA7
Support hours7 days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM PST, with a 24-hour first-response SLA8

How Retell AI scores

Score breakdown for Retell AI
Call quality 25%8.5Retell's homepage states ~600ms latency and a proprietary turn-taking model, and cites a Cekura benchmark, which it calls independent, of 414 calls in which Retell scored 95.7% workflow accuracy, the highest of six platforms tested9. GPT-Live-1, a full-duplex voice model, arrived on November 2, 2026, for single-prompt agents on paid accounts10. Retell's docs say agents that cross language families are less accurate per language11. These are vendor statements; we have not placed test calls. Score: published latency, a turn-taking model and a cited third-party benchmark give 8.5.
Setup 20%6.5Retell's quick start goes from sign-up to a live phone agent in 15 minutes, starting from a template such as Receptionist or from Generate from prompt, which drafts the agent from a plain-English description4. Browser test calls are free, and a card is needed only to buy a phone number4. The owner still reviews the prompt and picks the model and voice, which set the per-minute price9, and connecting Calendly takes a personal access token2. Businesses that want the build done for them are referred to certified solution partners12. Score: self-serve with templates, a prompt generator and free browser tests, with the prompt, model and voice left to you, gives 6.5.
Integrations 15%8.5Built-in connections cover Calendly, Cal.com and GoHighLevel calendars, five CRMs (HubSpot, Salesforce, Dynamics 365, GoHighLevel, Zoho), Zendesk, and Google Drive, OneDrive and Notion for knowledge bases2. Transfers to a person run cold, warm or agentic warm3, and a supervisor can listen in and take over a live call13. SIP trunking connects an existing phone number9. The list has no direct Google Calendar or Outlook connection2, and Calendly booking needs a paid Calendly plan14. Score: native booking, five CRMs, three transfer types and SIP give 8.5.
Price 20%8.0There is no platform fee or minimum: Retell lists voice agents at $0.07 to $0.31 a minute, billed to the second, and a Retell number costs $2 a month1. By Retell's published rates, an agent on GPT 5.1 with a Retell voice on a US Retell number comes to $0.125 a minute ($0.055 voice infrastructure, $0.04 LLM, $0.015 voice, $0.015 telephony), so 500 minutes a month cost $62.50 plus the $2 number (our arithmetic)115. The listed range does not cap the bill: GPT 6 Astra alone costs $0.32 a minute at the standard tier, before the $0.055 voice infrastructure fee1. Silence and hold time are billed1, calls under 10 seconds with a dynamic opening message bill as 10 seconds, and prompts over 4,000 tokens scale the billed minutes16. Score: $10 in free credits, no contract, about $40 at 100 three-minute calls and $115 at 300 give 8.0.
Trust 10%8.0The trust center lists SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001:2022 and CCPA, with a penetration test report and a TCPA compliance framework released on request7. The BAA and the DPA with EU Standard Contractual Clauses are self-signed at no fee, and retention can be set per agent from 1 day to 2 years17. Against that, call data is kept forever by default18, there is no built-in recording announcement19, Retell does not operate services inside the EU, and the no-training commitment covers enterprise customers with an MSA17. Score: SOC 2, ISO 27001 and a free self-signed BAA, against data kept forever by default and no recording notice, give 8.0.
Support 10%7.5Support runs 7 days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM PST, through a ticket portal and email with a 24-hour first-response SLA, plus a community forum and an outage form8. 24/7 support with a dedicated portal is an Enterprise feature1. A public status page sends incident alerts by email, text message and Slack20, and Retell refers businesses that want help building to certified solution partners12. Score: a 24-hour first-response SLA on pay as you go and a public status page give 7.5.

Retell AI pricing

Retell AI pricing, checked 8 November 2026
PlanPriceNotes
Pay as you go$0.07 to $0.31 per minute (voice agents)1Retell's listed range; premium models cost more (GPT 6 Astra alone is $0.32 a minute). Starts at $0 with $10 in free credits, no platform fee, no minimum and no contract. Includes 20 concurrent calls and community and email support. Usage draws on prepaid credits that never expire and are non-refundable21.
EnterpriseCustom pricing1Adds custom MSA and DPA terms, custom SSO, role-based access control and 24/7 support with a dedicated portal; concurrency starts at 50+ calls. Implementation support and a dedicated stable server are add-ons.
Retell phone number$2.00 per month1US toll-free numbers cost $5 a month22. Numbers you bring through your own carrier carry no Retell charge.
US call minutes on a Retell Twilio number$0.015 per minute15Inbound calls to a toll-free number cost $0.06 a minute22. SIP trunking and custom telephony carry no Retell charge1.
Call add-onsFrom $0.005 per minute1Knowledge base, advanced denoising and safety guardrails add $0.005 a minute each; PII removal adds $0.01. AI quality assurance is free for the first 100 minutes, then $0.10 a minute.
Extra concurrent calls$8.00 per concurrent call per month1The first 20 concurrent calls are free.

Strengths and weak spots

Strengths

  • No platform fee, no minimums and no contract; Retell lists voice agents at $0.07 to $0.31 a minute, billed to the second1.
  • $10 in free credits with no card, and browser test calls cost nothing4.
  • Three ways to hand a call to a person (cold, warm and agentic warm)3, plus live listen-in and takeover13.
  • Native booking through Cal.com, Calendly and GoHighLevel, and contact sync with call logging for five CRMs2.
  • SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR and ISO 27001:2022 listed in the trust center7, with a self-signed BAA and DPA at no extra fee17.

Weak spots

  • The prompt, model and voice are yours to manage, and each choice moves the per-minute price9.
  • Silence and hold are billed, and prompts over 4,000 tokens scale the billed minutes116.
  • Retell-managed numbers are US and Canada only; other countries need your own carrier4.
  • No direct Google Calendar or Outlook connection, and Calendly booking needs a paid Calendly plan214.
  • Call data is kept forever unless you set a retention period18, and Retell has no recording-notice setting, so the agent's first line has to carry it19.

Alternatives to Retell AI

Head to head

Retell AI: common questions

How much does Retell AI cost per minute?

Retell AI lists $0.07 to $0.31 per minute for voice agents, depending on the model, voice and add-ons, with no annual contract9. Premium models cost more: GPT 6 Astra alone is $0.32 a minute at the standard tier1. A Retell phone number adds $2 a month, or $5 for toll-free22, and US calls on a Retell Twilio number add $0.015 a minute15. New accounts start with $10 in free credits4.

Can Retell AI transfer a caller to a real person?

Yes. The Transfer Call tool supports cold, warm and agentic warm transfers, and it works on phone calls only, not web calls3. Once the call is transferred, the AI agent fee stops and only the telephony fee continues1.

Is Retell AI HIPAA compliant?

Retell states it is HIPAA and GDPR compliant and SOC 2 Type 1 and Type 2 certified. A signed BAA is required before sending health data, and the BAA and DPA are self-signed at no extra fee. Retell meets GDPR through AWS and does not operate services inside the European Union17.

Sources

  1. Retell AI. AI Phone Agent Pricing | Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Retell AI documentation. Connect your CRM, calendar, helpdesk, and knowledge sources to Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Retell AI documentation. Transfer calls with single and multi-prompt agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. Retell AI documentation. Build your first Retell AI phone agent in 15 minutes. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  5. Retell AI. Retell | Privacy Policy. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  6. Y Combinator (company directory). Retell AI | Y Combinator company directory. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  7. Retell AI (Vanta-hosted trust center). Retell AI Trust Center. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  8. Retell AI documentation. Contact Retell AI support and report outages - Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. Retell AI. AI Voice Agents That Automate Phone Calls | Retell AI. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  10. Retell AI. Platform Changelogs | Retell AI. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  11. Retell AI documentation. Configure a multilingual agent - Retell AI. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  12. Retell AI. Solution Partners Program | Retell AI. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  13. Retell AI documentation. Monitor live Retell calls: listen in, take over, or end a call. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  14. Retell AI documentation. Calendly booking tools for Retell agents. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  15. Retell AI documentation. International calling rates for Retell numbers. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  16. Retell AI documentation. Exceptions to Our Per-Minute Pricing. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  17. Retell AI documentation. Retell AI security and compliance: HIPAA, GDPR, SOC 2, and data erasure. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  18. Retell AI documentation. Data Retention Policy. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  19. Retell AI documentation. Data Storage Settings. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  20. Retell AI. Retell AI Status. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  21. Retell AI documentation. Retell billing: credits, auto recharge, and the 09/30/2026 switch. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  22. Retell AI documentation. Purchase a Retell-managed US or Canada phone number. Checked 8 Nov 2026.