All voice AI prices
Every row links to the vendor page it came from. Click a column header to sort. Per-minute figures for LLM and TTS depend on the assumptions below.
Conversion assumptions
| Assumption | Default | Why |
|---|---|---|
turns_per_min | 4 | LLM calls per call-minute (one per caller utterance). Adjustable in the calculator. |
input_tokens_per_turn | 2000 | System prompt + tools + running conversation history re-sent on every turn. 2,000 is a short prompt; long prompts and late-call history push this well above 5,000. |
output_tokens_per_turn | 60 | ~60 tokens is roughly 45 spoken words, one or two sentences. |
cached_input_share | 0 | Share of input tokens billed at the vendor's cached-input rate. Default 0 (conservative). Only applied where the vendor publishes a cached rate. |
agent_talk_share | 0.5 | Share of the call during which the agent is speaking. TTS is billed only on generated speech; STT, telephony and platform fees are billed on the whole call. |
chars_per_audio_min | 1000 | Characters of text per minute of generated speech. Rime and ElevenLabs both state ~1,000 characters is about one minute of audio; Cartesia states 750-800. We use 1,000. |
Speech-to-text
Streaming transcription, billed on the whole call.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soniox | stt-rt-v5 (real-time) | $0.0020 | $2.00 | $0.12/hr (token-billed: $2.00/1M input audio tokens) Diarization, language ID and formatting included per vendor. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| AssemblyAI | Universal-Streaming (English) | $0.0025 | $2.50 | $0.15/hr Billed on session duration. Streaming diarization +$0.12/hr. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| AssemblyAI | Universal-Streaming (Multilingual) | $0.0025 | $2.50 | $0.15/hr Billed on session duration. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Inworld | STT 1 (On-Demand) | $0.0025 | $2.50 | $0.15/hr on-demand; $0.10/hr on paid plans | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-4o-mini-transcribe (file/batch) | $0.0030 | $3.00 | $0.003/min Batch/file transcription; not a streaming model, so excluded from realtime 'cheapest' picks. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| xAI | Speech to Text (streaming) | $0.0033 | $3.33 | $0.20/hr streaming; $0.10/hr REST | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Nova-3 Monolingual, streaming | $0.0048 | $4.80 | $0.0048/min Promotional rate; regular $0.0077/min | verifiedpromo | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Nova-3 Multilingual, streaming | $0.0058 | $5.80 | $0.0058/min Promotional rate; regular $0.0092/min | verifiedpromo | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Flux (English), streaming | $0.0065 | $6.50 | $0.0065/min (Pay As You Go) Billed per second. Growth plan rates are lower. Promotional rate; regular $0.0077/min | verifiedpromo | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Scribe v2 Realtime | $0.0065 | $6.50 | $0.39/hr Keyterms +$0.08/hr. Batch Scribe v2 is $0.22/hr. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Cartesia | Ink (streaming STT), Scale plan | $0.0065 | $6.50 | 3 credits/sec; ~$0.39/hr on Scale plan (vendor figure) Credit-based; effective rate depends on plan ($299/mo Scale). Lower plans cost more per credit. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| AssemblyAI | Universal-3.6 Pro Realtime | $0.0075 | $7.50 | $0.45/hr Streaming billed on session duration, not speech duration. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Flux Multilingual, streaming | $0.0078 | $7.80 | $0.0078/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.5-transcribe-live | $0.0090 | $9.00 | ~$0.009/min (vendor's blended estimate) Token-billed; Google's page gives the per-minute estimate. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Cloud | Speech-to-Text V2 Standard (0-500K min/mo) | $0.0160 | $16.00 | $0.016/min Tiered: $0.01 (500K-1M), $0.008 (1-2M), $0.004 (>2M min/mo). | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-realtime-whisper (streaming) | $0.0170 | $17.00 | $0.017/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-live-transcribe (streaming) | $0.0170 | $17.00 | $0.017/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
LLM
Per-token prices converted to a per-call-minute estimate using the assumptions below.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| OpenAI | gpt-5-nano | $0.0005 | $0.50 | $0.05 / $0.005 / $0.40 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-2.5-flash-lite | $0.0009 | $0.90 | $0.10 / $0.40 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-6-luna | $0.0009 | $0.92 | $0.10 in / $0.01 cached / $0.50 out per 1M tokens | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-4o-mini | $0.0013 | $1.34 | $0.15 / $0.075 / $0.60 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.6-luna | $0.0019 | $1.89 | $0.20 / $0.02 / $1.20 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.4-nano | $0.0019 | $1.90 | $0.20 / $0.02 / $1.25 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.1-flash-lite | $0.0024 | $2.36 | $0.25 / $1.50 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-5-mini | $0.0025 | $2.48 | $0.25 / $0.025 / $2.00 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.5-flash-lite | $0.0030 | $3.00 | $0.30 / $2.50 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-2.5-flash | $0.0030 | $3.00 | $0.30 / $2.50 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-4.1-mini | $0.0036 | $3.58 | $0.40 / $0.10 / $1.60 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.8-flash | $0.0069 | $6.90 | $0.75 in / $3.75 out per 1M Rises to $1.50 / $7.50 per 1M on 2027-01-01 (per Google's page) | verifiedchanging | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.4-mini | $0.0071 | $7.08 | $0.75 / $0.075 / $4.50 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Anthropic | Claude Haiku 4.5 (legacy) | $0.0092 | $9.20 | $1 in / $0.10 cache read / $5 out per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| xAI | grok-4.3 (<200k prompt) | $0.0106 | $10.60 | $1.25 / $0.20 / $2.50 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| xAI | grok-4.7 (<200k prompt) | $0.0174 | $17.44 | $2 / $0.50 / $6 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-6-sol | $0.0184 | $18.40 | $2 / $0.20 / $10 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5 (legacy) | $0.0184 | $18.40 | $2 in / $0.20 cache read / $10 out per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-5.6-terra | $0.0189 | $18.88 | $2 / $0.20 / $12 per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 4.6 (legacy) | $0.0276 | $27.60 | $3 in / $0.30 cache read / $15 out per 1M | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Anthropic | Claude Haiku 5.5 | n/a | n/a | Page showed $0.50 and $2.50 per MTok without input/output captions Unverified: labels missing in fetched page; Retell lists Claude 5.5 Haiku at $0.0032/min, which does not obviously reconcile. Re-check by hand. | unverified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Anthropic | Claude Sonnet 5.5 | n/a | n/a | Page showed $2 and $10 per MTok without input/output captions Unverified: labels missing in fetched page. | unverified | 2026-10-17 · source |
Text-to-speech
Billed on generated speech only, so scaled by agent talk share.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.8-flash-lite-tts | $0.0045 | $4.50 | $6 per 1M audio output tokens (~$0.0015 per 10s of audio) Google's page says prices double on 2027-01-01. Derived: $0.0015 per 10s x 6 = $0.009 per minute of generated audio. | verifiedchangingderived | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Soniox | Text-to-Speech (real-time) | $0.0058 | $5.83 | ~$0.70 per hour of generated speech (vendor figure); $4/1M text tokens + $21.50/1M audio tokens Derived: $0.70 / 60 = $0.0117 per minute of generated audio. | verifiedderived | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.8-flash-tts | $0.0067 | $6.75 | $9 per 1M audio output tokens (~$0.00225 per 10s of audio) Google's page says prices double on 2027-01-01. Derived: $0.00225 per 10s x 6 = $0.0135 per minute of generated audio (25 audio tokens/sec). | verifiedchangingderived | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | tts-1 | $0.0075 | $7.50 | $15 per 1M characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Aura-1 | $0.0075 | $7.50 | $0.015 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Inworld | Realtime TTS-2 Flash (On-Demand) | $0.0075 | $7.50 | $15 per 1M characters on-demand ($7-10 on paid plans) | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| xAI | Text to Speech | $0.0075 | $7.50 | $15 per 1M characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Inworld | Realtime TTS-2 (On-Demand) | $0.0125 | $12.50 | $25 per 1M characters on-demand (as low as $12.50 on Growth) | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | tts-1-hd | $0.0150 | $15.00 | $30 per 1M characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Aura-2 | $0.0150 | $15.00 | $0.030 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Rime | Mist v3 | $0.0150 | $15.00 | $0.03 per 1K characters (~$0.03/min per vendor) | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Cartesia | Sonic (Startup plan credits) | $0.0196 | $19.60 | 1 credit = 1 character; Startup $49/mo for 1.25M credits Plan-based; you pay the subscription whether or not you use the credits. Derived: $49 / 1,250,000 credits = $0.0392 per 1K characters. Overage is $45/1M on Startup, $38/1M on Scale, $65/1M on Pro. | verifiedderived | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Flash / Turbo | $0.0200 | $20.00 | $0.04 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Eleven v4 Turbo | $0.0200 | $20.00 | $0.04 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Eleven v3 Conversational | $0.0200 | $20.00 | $0.04 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Flux TTS | $0.0225 | $22.50 | $0.045 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Rime | Coda | $0.0250 | $25.00 | $0.05 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Eleven v4 | $0.0400 | $40.00 | $0.08 per 1K characters (page: ~$0.08/min) | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Multilingual v2 | $0.0400 | $40.00 | $0.08 per 1K characters | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-4o-mini-tts | n/a | n/a | $0.60/1M text input + $12/1M audio output tokens Token price verified, but OpenAI's page does not state audio tokens per minute, so we do not publish a per-minute figure. | unverified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| PlayHT | PlayHT API | n/a | n/a | Pricing page unreachable on 2026-10-17 Could not fetch; status of the product unknown. | unverified | 2026-10-17 · source |
Speech-to-speech / realtime
Single models that hear and speak directly.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Gemini API | gemini-3.8-live | $0.0140 | $14.00 | Audio input $0.005/min, audio output $0.018/min; text $0.75 in / $4.50 out per 1M Check Google's page: Gemini prices scheduled to change 2027-01-01. Per call-minute = $0.005 x 1 (caller audio, whole call) + $0.018 x agent talk share. Context/text tokens not included. | verifiedchangingderived | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-live-1 | $0.0500 | $50.00 | $0.05/min Backend model and tools are billed separately (per OpenAI's page). | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| xAI | grok-voice-3.0 | $0.0800 | $80.00 | $0.08/min ($4.80/hr), $0.004 per text input | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-realtime-2.1 | n/a | n/a | Audio: $32 in / $0.40 cached / $64 out per 1M tokens OpenAI does not publish audio tokens per minute, so no per-minute figure. For reference Retell resells it at $0.38/min. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| OpenAI | gpt-realtime-2.1-mini / gpt-realtime-mini | n/a | n/a | Audio: $10 in / $0.30 cached / $20 out per 1M tokens No published per-minute figure. Retell resells GPT Realtime mini at $0.07/min. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
All-in platforms & orchestrators
Hosting or bundled per-minute fees. Read what each includes.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vapi | Hosting | $0.0500 | $50.00 | $0.05/min hosting, prepaid STT/LLM/TTS providers passed through at cost (no markup per Vapi). Telephony transport billed by your telephony provider. Free tier: $5 credit, 4 concurrent calls, 1 number. Pro: 10% of hosting fee with $999/mo minimum. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Retell AI | Voice Infra | $0.0550 | $55.00 | $0.055/min voice infra + Retell-priced LLM, TTS, telephony Retell prices components itself (see breakdown). Speech-to-text is not listed as a separate charge; we infer it is inside the $0.055 voice infra because Retell's published floor of $0.07/min equals $0.055 infra + $0.015 voice + the cheapest LLM. Knowledge base +$0.005/min, PII removal +$0.01/min. Numbers $2/mo; first 20 concurrent calls free, then $8 per concurrency/mo. Retell's own page range: $0.07-$0.31/min. Billed per second. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Cartesia | Managed Agents | $0.0600 | $60.00 | $0.06/min (+$0.014/min if using a Cartesia phone number) Check Cartesia's page for what LLM usage is included. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Twilio | ConversationRelay | $0.0700 | $70.00 | $0.07/min You bring the LLM via websocket. Voice minutes billed on top. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Deepgram | Voice Agent API (Standard) | $0.0750 | $75.00 | $0.075/min; BYO LLM or BYO TTS $0.065; BYO LLM+TTS $0.050; Advanced $0.163 Telephony separate. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| AssemblyAI | Voice Agent API | $0.0750 | $75.00 | $0.075/min, all-inclusive Telephony separate. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | ElevenLabs Agents | $0.0800 | $80.00 | $0.08 per additional call minute (burst $0.16/min) LLM billed separately; telephony billed by your own provider. Plans include minutes: Free 15, Starter $6/75, Creator $22/275, Pro $99/1,238, Scale $299/3,738, Business $990/12,375. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| ElevenLabs | Speech Engine (STT+TTS for your agent) | $0.0800 | $80.00 | $0.08/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Bland | Bland Build plan | $0.1200 | $120.00 | $0.12/min + $299/mo, 50 concurrent calls Transfer time $0.04/min. Telephony separate. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Bland | Bland Start plan | $0.1400 | $140.00 | $0.14/min, $0 platform fee, 10 concurrent calls Telephony separate (BYO or Bland's at pass-through). Transfer time $0.05/min. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Synthflow | Synthflow Enterprise | n/a | n/a | Contracts from $30,000/year; no public per-minute rate | unverified | 2026-10-17 · source |
Telephony (US)
Carrier minutes. Inbound and outbound differ.
| Vendor | Product | $/call-min | $/1,000 min | Vendor's price | Status | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telnyx | Elastic SIP, local inbound | $0.0032 | $3.20 | from $0.0032/min; numbers $1.00/mo 'Starting at' rate. Voice API adds $0.002/min if you use it instead of raw SIP. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Plivo | Browser SDK / SIP calls | $0.0033 | $3.30 | $0.0033/min each way | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Twilio | SIP interface / BYOC | $0.0040 | $4.00 | $0.0040/min each way | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Telnyx | Elastic SIP, local outbound | $0.0050 | $5.00 | from $0.005/min 'Starting at' rate; varies by destination. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Plivo | Local, inbound | $0.0055 | $5.50 | $0.0055/min; numbers $0.50/mo | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Twilio | Local number, inbound | $0.0085 | $8.50 | $0.0085/min + $1.15/mo number | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Plivo | Local, outbound (US) | $0.0115 | $11.50 | $0.0115/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Twilio | US/Canada, outbound | $0.0140 | $14.00 | $0.0140/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Cartesia | Cartesia phone number | $0.0140 | $14.00 | $0.014/min Only with Cartesia Managed Agents. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Telnyx | Toll-free, inbound | $0.0150 | $15.00 | from $0.015/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Retell AI | Retell-provided Twilio number (US) | $0.0150 | $15.00 | $0.015/min Only when using Retell. | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Plivo | Toll-free, inbound | $0.0180 | $18.00 | $0.0180/min | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |
| Twilio | Toll-free, inbound | $0.0220 | $22.00 | $0.0220/min + $2.15/mo number | verified | 2026-10-17 · source |