Audio
Voice agents
Phone and voice assistants that listen, think and answer out loud in real time.
Cheapest right now
As of October 2026, the cheapest API for voice agents is LiveKit Agents (Cloud) from LiveKit at $0.01 per minute of conversation, then Vapi voice agents from Vapi at $0.05 and Telnyx Voice AI agents from Telnyx at $0.05. Prices verified Oct 18, 2026 against each provider's pricing page; confirm there before you buy.
What it is
A voice-agent platform runs a live conversation: it turns the caller's speech into text, sends it to a language model, speaks the answer back with a synthetic voice, and handles interruptions, phone numbers and call transfers. You describe the agent's job; the platform runs the calls.
How pricing works
Billed per minute of conversation. Some platforms charge one all-in rate; others charge a platform fee per minute and pass through the speech-to-text, model, voice and phone costs on top. We list the price per minute the provider publishes and say in each description what it includes.
We compare everything in one unit: USD per minute of conversation.
Typical uses
- Answering inbound support and booking calls
- Outbound reminders, surveys and lead qualification
- Voice front-ends for apps and websites
- After-hours receptionists
- Testing call flows before hiring staff
What to compare
- What the per-minute price includes (speech recognition, model, voice, phone line)
- Response latency and how well it handles interruptions
- Languages and voices
- Phone numbers, transfers and integrations
- Bring-your-own model or voice options
Watch out for
- A low platform fee can hide model, voice and telephony charges that triple the real cost per minute.
- Minimum billing increments (per started minute) add up on short calls.
- Recording and consent rules for calls differ by country.
All 6 APIs, cheapest first
Free to browse| API | $ / min | All-in price | Phone line included | Bring your own model | Quality | Price data | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LiveKit Agents (Cloud) LiveKit | $0.01 | No | No | Yes | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 | |
| Vapi voice agents Vapi | $0.05 | No | No | Yes | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 | |
| Telnyx Voice AI agents Telnyx | $0.05 | No | No | Yes | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 | |
| Retell AI voice agents Retell AI | $0.07 | No | No | — | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 | |
| ElevenLabs Agents ElevenLabs | $0.08 | No | Yes | — | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 | |
| Bland AI voice calls Bland AI | $0.14 | Yes | No | — | – | Verified Oct 18, 2026 |
Questions
- What is the cheapest API for voice agents?
- LiveKit Agents (Cloud) from LiveKit at $0.01 per minute of conversation, verified Oct 18, 2026. Proxlai ranks 6 verified offerings in this market in the same unit.
- How is API pricing for voice agents compared?
- Billed per minute of conversation. Some platforms charge one all-in rate; others charge a platform fee per minute and pass through the speech-to-text, model, voice and phone costs on top. We list the price per minute the provider publishes and say in each description what it includes. Proxlai converts every offering to one unit, USD per minute of conversation, so prices can be ranked side by side.
- How current are these prices?
- Each price shows the date it was last checked against the provider's own pricing page and links to it. In this market, prices were verified Oct 18, 2026. Sample prices that have not been checked yet are left out of this summary.