Best Phone Automation

Ranked #5 of 8 in AI phone answering for business

Vapi review

A developer platform for AI phone agents, billed at $0.05 a minute in hosting plus speech, model and voice costs at provider rates1.

Updated By the Best Phone Automation deskHow we scoreDisclosure

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Verdict

7.2/10

Pick Vapi if a developer is building your phone agent and wants to choose every model, voice and carrier: hosting is $0.05 a minute with provider costs passed through at no markup, and the trust center lists SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI DSS12.

Best for Developer-built voice agents

Skip it if nobody on your team writes prompts or sets up tools, you want a flat monthly receptionist price, or you need HIPAA on a small budget: the HIPAA add-on costs $2,000 a month13.

Visit Vapi (opens the Vapi website)

Vapi at a glance
HeadquartersSan Francisco, California4
Founders and acceleratorJordan Dearsley (CEO) and Nikhil Gupta (CTO); Y Combinator Winter 2021 batch5
Founded2020 according to Y Combinator, whose page also lists the founders' earlier meeting app, Superpowered; Vapi's LinkedIn page says 20234. The two sources disagree.5
Pricing modelPrepaid usage: $0.05 per minute Vapi hosting, with speech-to-text, model, voice and transport billed at provider list price; optional Success Packages from $29 a month1
Free trial$5 in free credits, plus one free US Vapi number that takes inbound calls only61
Calendar and CRM connectionsGoogle Calendar, Google Sheets, Slack and GoHighLevel integrations; Make and n8n through standard tools such as API Request; Zapier and Composio through MCP78
Compliance listedSOC 2, SOC 3, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, GDPR, CCPA2
Scale (Vapi's figures)1 billion calls supported, 2.5M+ agents launched, 1M+ developers9

How Vapi scores

Score breakdown for Vapi
Call quality 25%8.0Vapi states responses under 500ms on its platform page10 and <500ms average latency on its homepage9, while its docs say sub-600ms3 and "typically around 800 milliseconds" end to end11. Turn-taking and custom pronunciation are built in, and the voice, model and transcriber come from a managed list of 200+ models and integrations10. The changelog for the week of November 2, 2026 adds one retry and then a switch to a fallback voice when ElevenLabs returns no audio12, and Vapi's customers page says Amazon Ring moved every inbound call to Vapi13. These are vendor statements; we have not run test calls. Score: published latency and built-in turn-taking give 8.0; Vapi's own pages disagree on the figure.
Setup 20%5.5The phone quickstart builds an assistant from a template, attaches a free number and takes a call in under 5 minutes14, and Composer (Alpha) builds agents from a plain-language description15. Vapi calls itself the developer platform for voice agents3, function calling needs a server URL11, and the Workflows product was retired on August 18, 2026 in favor of Assistants and Squads16. Score: a developer platform whose tools need your own server gives 5.5.
Integrations 15%7.0Built-in tools cover Google Calendar availability and booking, GoHighLevel contacts and calendars, Google Sheets and Slack, with Make and n8n through standard tools such as API Request8 and Zapier or Composio through MCP7. The transfer tool routes a call to a phone number or SIP URI by blind or warm transfer; the spoken message and summary modes are Twilio-only, and the experimental assistant-based warm transfer also runs on Vapi numbers and SIP trunks17. The integrations page lists no native Calendly, Cal.com, HubSpot or Salesforce connection8. Score: Google Calendar and GoHighLevel natively, with no native HubSpot or Salesforce, give 7.0.
Price 20%7.5Usage only starts at $0 with $5 in credits; hosting is $0.05 a minute and models, voices and transcribers pass through with no markup1. The calculator estimates $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes with free Vapi telephony, and one US number is free6. Add-ons raise the bill: HIPAA costs $2,000 a month, a response SLA starts with Core at $29 a month, and Pro has a $999 monthly minimum1. Credits are prepaid, and new calls cannot start once the balance reaches $0 with auto-reload off18. Score: $5 in free credits and about $25 to $39 at 100 three-minute calls, against a $2,000 monthly HIPAA add-on, give 7.5.
Trust 10%7.5The trust center lists SOC 2, SOC 3, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, GDPR and CCPA, a 2025 penetration test summary and a subprocessor list, and the latest SOC 2 Type II period runs July 1, 2025 to July 31, 20262; Vapi says the attestation covers pay-as-you-go accounts too19. Zero Data Retention, which stops Vapi keeping call content after a call ends20, comes with Core and Pro1. By default Vapi records calls and stores logs and transcripts21, built-in recording consent plans are Enterprise-only22, HIPAA is a $2,000 monthly add-on1, and the EU region requires Premier23. Score: SOC 2 Type II with a stated audit period and HIPAA, with HIPAA at $2,000 a month and consent plans on Enterprise only, give 7.5.
Support 10%7.5Usage only gets docs, the Discord community and email with no response SLA; Core at $29 a month adds a 2-business-day SLA, Pro adds a dedicated Slack channel and a 1-business-day SLA, and Premier adds a named team with a 1-hour P0 SLA124. Vapi runs a public status page25 and a public feature-request board24. Callers reach a person through the transfer tool17. Score: a response SLA from the $29 Core package and a public status page give 7.5.

Vapi pricing

Vapi pricing, checked 8 November 2026
PlanPriceNotes
Usage only (no Success Package)$0 to start; $0.05 per minute Vapi hosting1Prepaid. Models, voices and transcribers pass through at cost. Includes $5 in free credits, 1 Vapi phone number, 4 concurrent calls, 14 days of raw data retention, Discord community help and email support without an SLA.
Core$29 per month1Prepaid, auto-renew, with usage billed on top26. 5 Vapi phone numbers, 10 concurrent calls, 30 days of raw data retention, Zero Data Retention, email support with a 2-business-day response SLA.
Pro10% of Vapi hosting fees, $999 per month minimum110 Vapi phone numbers, 30 concurrent calls, 180 days of raw data retention, RBAC and Zero Data Retention, a dedicated Slack channel, a 1-business-day response SLA and a 99% uptime SLA.
PremierCustom (direct sales only)1Named support team, 1-hour P0 response SLA, 99.9% uptime SLA, custom RBAC, ZDR and SSO. The EU region is available only on Premier23.
HIPAA add-on$2,000 per month1Per organization, with a standard DPA and BAA. Available on Usage only or any Success Package21.
Extra concurrent call line$10 per line per month1Extra organizations (workspaces) cost $20 each per month.
Telephony (transport)Vapi Telephony / SIP free; Twilio $0.008 per minute inbound, $0.014 outbound; Telnyx $0.0055; Vonage $0.008141Transport is charged by the provider, not Vapi.

Strengths and weak spots

Strengths

  • $0 to start: hosting is $0.05 a minute, and model, voice and transcriber costs pass through with no markup1.
  • Pick from 200+ models and integrations, or bring your own API keys and self-hosted models10.
  • SOC 2, SOC 3, HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, GDPR and CCPA listed in the trust center2, with Zero Data Retention included from the $29 Core package1.
  • Blind and warm transfer to a phone number or SIP address, and warm modes can brief the person picking up with a call summary17.
  • A response SLA starts at $29 a month on Core1, and a public status page reports incidents and maintenance25.

Weak spots

  • Built for developers: Vapi calls itself the developer platform for voice agents3, and function calling needs your own server URL11.
  • The Workflows product was retired on August 18, 2026; new builds use Assistants or Squads, which are prompt-and-tool setups163.
  • The free Vapi number is US-only, inbound-only and cannot be ported out; outbound calls need a number imported from another provider, such as Twilio, Telnyx or DIDWW614.
  • HIPAA costs $2,000 a month per organization1, and the EU region is available only on the custom Premier package23.
  • Built-in recording consent plans are Enterprise-only22; other accounts build their own consent step with Squads27.

Alternatives to Vapi

Head to head

Vapi: common questions

How much does Vapi cost per minute?

Vapi charges a $0.05 per minute hosting fee, and speech-to-text, the language model, text-to-speech and transport are billed at each provider's listed price with no markup1. With Deepgram, OpenAI and ElevenLabs on Vapi telephony, Vapi's calculator estimates $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes a month. New accounts get $5 in free credits1.

Can a Vapi agent transfer a caller to a real person?

Yes. The transfer call tool routes an active phone call to a phone number or SIP URI. Blind transfer is the default; warm modes that speak a message or summary to the person before connecting work on Twilio only, and the experimental warm transfer also works on Vapi numbers and bring-your-own SIP trunks17.

Is Vapi HIPAA compliant?

Vapi lists HIPAA in its trust center2. HIPAA is a paid add-on at $2,000 a month per organization and comes with a standard DPA and BAA1. HIPAA mode applies to the whole organization, limits it to compatible providers and cannot run together with Zero Data Retention21.

Sources

  1. Vapi. Pricing aligned to your needs. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  2. Vapi (SafeBase). Vapi Trust Center. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  3. Vapi documentation. Introduction. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  4. LinkedIn. Vapi | LinkedIn. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  5. Y Combinator. Vapi: Voice AI for developers.. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  6. Vapi documentation. Creating Free Phone Numbers. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  7. Vapi documentation. MCP providers. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  8. Vapi documentation. Integrations. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  9. Vapi. Vapi - Build Advanced Voice AI Agents. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  10. Vapi. Build voice agents that scale. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  11. Vapi documentation. Frequently Asked Questions. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  12. Vapi documentation. What's New: Week of November 2, 2026. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  13. Vapi. Vapi Customers. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  14. Vapi documentation. Phone calls. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  15. Vapi documentation. Composer. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  16. Vapi documentation. Workflows migration guide. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  17. Vapi documentation. Transfer Call tool. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  18. Vapi documentation. Manage billing and credits. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  19. Vapi documentation. SOC 2 Type II Compliance. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  20. Vapi documentation. Zero Data Retention (ZDR). Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  21. Vapi documentation. HIPAA Compliance. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  22. Vapi documentation. Recording consent plan. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  23. Vapi documentation. EU region and data residency. Checked 9 Nov 2026.
  24. Vapi documentation. Support. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  25. Vapi (Better Stack status page). Vapi status. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  26. Vapi documentation. Pricing and Success Packages. Checked 8 Nov 2026.
  27. Vapi documentation. Call recording, logging and transcribing. Checked 8 Nov 2026.