Retell AI vs Bland AI
Retell AI charges usage-based and Bland AI charges usage-based. Here's how they compare on price, features and compliance, using each vendor's own published information.
Checked October 15, 2026 (Retell AI) and October 15, 2026 (Bland AI)
| Detail | Retell AI | Bland AI |
|---|---|---|
| Charges by | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Starts at | Free tier | Free tier |
| Includes | $10 in free credits; 20 concurrent calls at no charge | 2 credits and one inbound number (listed as a $15/month value); 10 concurrent calls; 100 calls per day |
| Overage | — | — |
| Per minute | $0.07 | $0.14 |
| Free trial | $10 in free credits on sign-up | Start plan includes 2 credits and an inbound number, no card required |
| How it works | AI only | AI only |
| Answers inbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Places outbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Books appointments | Yes | Yes |
| Warm transfer to a person | Yes | Yes |
| Text follow-up | Yes | Yes |
| Call recording | Yes | Yes |
| Transcripts | Yes | Yes |
| CRM sync | Yes | Yes |
| Keep your number (porting) | Unconfirmed | Unconfirmed |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes |
| Other languages | Yes | Yes |
| Web chat | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Custom voice | Yes | Yes |
| Signs a HIPAA BAA | Yes | Yes |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type II | SOC 2 Type II |
Integrations
Both list: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Calendly, Cal.com, Twilio, Five9, Talkdesk, Amazon Connect, Make, Zapier, Slack.
Only Retell AI: GoHighLevel, Zoho CRM, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Monday.com, Airtable, Keap, Smartsheet, Vonage, Telnyx, NICE, LiveVox, RingCentral, n8n, Zendesk, Freshdesk, Intercom, WhatsApp, Microsoft Teams, Jane App, Dentrix, Open Dental, Epic, ChiroTouch, QuickBooks, Xero, DATEV, Shopify, Stripe, ServiceTitan, Google Workspace, DocuSign, ServiceNow, ClickUp, Asana.
Only Bland AI: Genesys, NICE CXone, Notion, Pipedream.
Pricing notes
Retell AI: Retell lists voice agents at $0.07-$0.31 per minute, built from separate components. Its default calculator setup totals $0.11/min: Retell voice infrastructure $0.055/min, LLM $0.04/min, TTS $0.015/min, telephony $0.00. LLM is billed per minute by model (from $0.0016/min to $0.64/min on the listed models). TTS is $0.015/min for Retell, MiniMax, Fish, Cartesia, OpenAI and Inworld voices, and $0.04-$0.10/min for ElevenLabs voices. Telephony through Retell (Twilio or Telnyx) is $0.015/min; SIP trunking or custom telephony has no Retell telephony charge. Per-call add-ons: knowledge base +$0.005/min, batch call +$0.005/dial, branded call +$0.10 per outbound call, advanced denoising +$0.005/min, safety guardrails +$0.005/min, PII removal +$0.01/min, AI quality assurance $0.10/min after 100 free minutes, SMS $0.01/message. Monthly items: Retell phone numbers $2/month, Retell SMS $20/month, concurrency beyond 20 at $8 per concurrent call per month, knowledge bases beyond 10 at $8 each per month, verified phone number $10/number. Calls are billed to the second; after a transfer the AI fee stops but telephony continues; silence and hold time are billed; failed calls are not billed.
Bland AI: Bland's pricing page says the per-minute rate covers the LLM, speech-to-text and text-to-speech, with no token charges or model pass-throughs. Telephony is billed separately, either on the customer's own carrier or on Bland's at pass-through cost; bring-your-own-telephony customers pay only the AI rate and no transfer fees. Bland's billing docs (rates effective December 5, 2025) also list a $0.015 minimum per outbound call attempt and per failed call on Bland telephony, SMS at $0.02 per message, and two plans not shown on the pricing page: Scale ($499, $0.11/min, transfers $0.03/min) and Agent Phone ($29.99, unlimited voice and US/Canada SMS). The pricing page lists a 99.9% uptime SLA on all plans.