Vapi
Developer platform for building, testing and running AI voice agents that handle phone calls.
Updated · AppBreakup editorial · Web
Is Vapi free?
Free plan, plus paid plans
- Starting price:
- $29 per month (Core package)
Checked on Vapi's site Nov 8, 2026
Full Vapi pricing and plansSwitch from Vapi to
All 5
Retell AIVoice agent price: $0.07–$0.31 per minute
ElevenLabsStarting price: $6 per month (Starter)
TwilioSMS price: From $0.0083 per message
- Verified facts
- 7 of 7
- Alternatives ranked
- 5
- Approved reviews
- 0
- Visits sent from here
- 0
About Vapi
Vapi is a hosted platform for developers who want to build AI agents that talk on the phone or in a browser. You configure the speech-to-text engine, the language model and the voice separately, wire in tools and telephony, and Vapi runs the real-time orchestration, call monitoring and test simulations. It is API-first, so most teams drive it from code, though there is also a dashboard for building and reviewing calls. The appeal is control: you can pick providers such as Deepgram, OpenAI or ElevenLabs and pay their rates at cost, while Vapi charges its own per-minute hosting fee on top. That makes the real per-minute cost depend on the stack you choose, which takes some working out. New accounts get free credits and can run on usage alone; paid support packages add concurrency, longer data retention, SLAs and compliance options such as a HIPAA add-on. It suits engineering teams building support lines, appointment booking or lead qualification agents who want to swap components rather than accept a single vendor's models.
Best for: Developer teams that want to mix their own speech, LLM and voice providers in phone agents.
Vapi pricing (checked Nov 8, 2026)
Each line is quoted from Vapi's own site, with the page it came from.
| Plan or term | What it says | Checked | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Free credits | $5 to start | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
| Hosting fee | $0.05 per minute, models passed through at cost | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
| Core package | $29 per month | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
| Model pricing | Passed through at cost | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
| Starting price | $29 per month (Core package) | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
| Pro plan | $999 per month minimum | Nov 8, 2026 | vapi.ai |
Pros and cons
What works
- Choose your own transcriber, model and voice providers
- Model costs passed through without markup
- Built-in call testing, simulation and monitoring
- Usage-only start with free credits and no minimum minutes
Why people leave
- Total per-minute cost depends on several providers and is hard to predict
- HIPAA support is a separate monthly add-on
- Low-tier plans include only a few concurrent calls
Vapi vs Retell AI, ElevenLabs and Twilio
From each app's listing and the prices verified on its own site. A dash means we haven't verified it yet.
| Attribute | Vapi | Retell AI | ElevenLabs | Twilio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Free plan + paid | Paid |
| Verified price | $29 per month (Core package) | $0.07–$0.31 per minute | $6 per month (Starter) | From $0.0083 per message |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes, 10,000 credits/month | No |
| Open source | No | No | No | No |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | No |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web, iOS, Android | Web |
Top Vapi alternatives
See all 5- 1Retell AI68.8
Similar pay-as-you-go voice agent platform with a more visual agent builder and 20 concurrent calls included.
- 2ElevenLabs52.6
Its agents platform pairs phone agents with ElevenLabs' own voices if voice quality matters most.
- 3Twilio51.2
Lower-level voice APIs for teams that would rather build the agent orchestration themselves.
- 4DaDaily50.0
WebRTC voice and video APIs long paired with Pipecat, for teams that want to run their own agent code instead of Vapi's hosted setup.
- 5
Synthflow42.3Managed enterprise voice agents with phone-system integrations and compliance, without building it yourself.
Why people left Vapi
In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.
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Reviews
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Vapi: common questions
What is Vapi?
Vapi: Developer platform for building, testing and running AI voice agents that handle phone calls. Best for developer teams that want to mix their own speech, LLM and voice providers in phone agents. Available for Web.
Is Vapi free?
Vapi has a free plan and paid plans.
How much does Vapi cost?
Vapi is free with paid plans. Free credits: $5 to start; Hosting fee: $0.05 per minute, models passed through at cost; Core package: $29 per month; Model pricing: Passed through at cost. Checked on Vapi's own site, November 2026.
Is Vapi open source?
No, Vapi is not open source.
What platforms does Vapi run on?
Vapi is available for Web.
What are the best alternatives to Vapi?
The highest-ranked Vapi alternatives right now are Retell AI, ElevenLabs and Twilio. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.
Vapi vs Retell AI: what's the difference?
Both Vapi and Retell AI are free with paid plans. Verified prices: Vapi $29 per month (Core package), Retell AI $0.07–$0.31 per minute. Both run on Web.