Explainer· 1 min
What voice AI actually costs per thousand minutes
Example rates from Vapi's pricing page, checked November 2026.
AI Tools Hub Editorial · published · updated
Five components
| Component | Role | Example rate |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | Call control and state | $0.05/min |
| Transcription | Audio to text | $0.0043–$0.0099/min |
| Model | Deciding the reply | $0.0077–$0.0452/min |
| Synthesis | Text to speech | $0.0146–$0.0238/min |
| Telephony | The call itself | Carrier dependent |
A thousand minutes
Vapi's calculator estimates $82–$129. Bland's bundled Start rate gives $140. Bland's Build tier at $0.12 plus $299 a month only beats Start past roughly 15,000 minutes.
Why bundling wins internally
A single number survives a budget meeting. A five-row table generates questions and gets deferred. That is not a technical argument but it decides adoption more often than feature comparisons do.
What gets left out of estimates
- Telephony, usually a separate contract
- Transfer time, which some providers still bill
- Minutes spent testing and tuning
- Recording storage
FAQ
How do I reduce it?
Shorten calls. Trimming the opening announcement and asking questions that avoid repetition cuts average duration more reliably than switching to a cheaper model.