Bland AI vs Vapi: per-minute voice agent pricing
Updated 2026-11-06 · listed A to Z, not ranked
Bland AI and Vapi both help you run AI phone/voice agents. The billing models differ: Bland publishes an all-in talk-time rate that includes the model and speech stack; Vapi charges its own hosting fee and passes transcriber, model and voice provider costs through at cost.
Listed A to Z. Figures from bland.ai/pricing and vapi.ai/pricing, checked Nov 6, 2026. Neither page lists crypto payment for these plans.
- Billing model
- All-in talk time (LLM + STT + TTS)
- Headline rate
- Start $0.14/min; Build $0.12/min
- Platform / package
- Start $0 platform fee; Build $299/mo
- Notes
- Transfer $0.05/min (Start) or $0.04/min (Build); daily call caps
- Billing model
- Hosting fee + provider pass-through
- Headline rate
- $0.05/min Vapi hosting; providers at cost
- Platform / package
- Usage-only; Core $29/mo; Pro 10% of hosting fee with $999/mo minimum
- Notes
- $5 free credits; carrier telephony extra (e.g. Twilio inbound $0.008/min)
How we checked: Quoted from each provider’s official pricing page on Nov 6, 2026. Totals for Vapi depend on the providers you pick; Bland’s talk-time rate is described as covering LLM, STT and TTS together. Confirm in each dashboard before you buy.
How to read the two models
- Bland AI: one talk-time number on the pricing page covers the LLM, speech-to-text and text-to-speech. You still pay transfer time and, on Build, a monthly platform fee.
- Vapi: $0.05 per minute hosting, then whatever Deepgram/OpenAI/ElevenLabs (or your choices) charge, passed through at cost, plus carrier minutes if you use an outside telephony provider.
- Not a “cheaper” claim: which bill is lower depends on providers, concurrency and package. Compare a real traffic mix on each vendor’s calculator or dashboard.
FAQ
Is Bland AI cheaper than Vapi?
We do not declare a winner. Bland’s Start talk-time rate is $0.14/min all-in for LLM+STT+TTS; Vapi’s hosting alone is $0.05/min before provider and carrier costs. Your total depends on the stack you pick—confirm on each pricing page (checked Nov 6, 2026).
Where are full plan tables?
See Bland AI pricing and Vapi pricing on YourAITools for the full quoted tables, or the multi-vendor AI voice agent platforms comparison.
Sources (official pages, read 2026-11-06)
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