Voice AI pricing, compared - all-in, no asterisk.
Packaged platforms advertise a low platform fee, then bill the model, the voice, and telephony on top. Here's the real all-in per minute, side by side - and where PyAI's one flat rate lands.
All-in price per minute (USD)
Lower is better. PyAI in teal. The bar spans each platform’s typical all-in range.
All-in, billed per second, speech + brain + telephony in one rate. $0.05/min Omni API, $0.08/min for the no-code Agents feature.
Advertised from ~$0.09/min self-serve → all-in $0.11-$0.14/min once LLM, voice, and telephony are added.
Advertised agent minutes + LLM → all-in $0.10-$0.15/min once LLM, voice, and telephony are added.
Advertised no-code plans → all-in $0.11-$0.16/min once LLM, voice, and telephony are added.
Advertised ~$0.05/min platform fee → all-in $0.10-$0.31/min once LLM, voice, and telephony are added.
Advertised ~$0.07/min platform → all-in $0.13-$0.31/min once LLM, voice, and telephony are added.
PyAI is one flat all-in rate, billed per second. Competitor figures are advertised pricing plus STT/LLM/TTS/telephony passthrough estimates as of June 2026 - composite and config-dependent, so verify before relying on them.
All-in lower than any packaged platform
- $0.05/min Omni, all-in - speech, brain, telephony
- Billed per second, no platform fee, no minimum
- No four-way bill to reconcile each month
- $50 in free credit at signup, no card
Published PyAI pricing
List rates, not a quote. Per minute, billed per second. Omni is all-in - speech, brain, and telephony in one rate.
Trace (+$0.03/min) and Recap (+$0.02/min) are per-call add-ons. Committed volume goes lower than the rate card.
What about the raw model APIs?
They undercut everyone on token price - but a raw model isn't a product. No managed telephony, no orchestration, no agent. You build the rest yourself, so it isn't an all-in comparison.
| Raw model API | Token price | What you still build |
|---|---|---|
| Amazon Nova Sonic | ~1.2-1.5¢/min | Raw S2S model, no telephony, no orchestration. |
| Gemini Live | ~1.4-3¢/min | Raw S2S model, you still build the agent. |
| OpenAI Realtime (cached) | ~5-10¢/min | Token/audio billed; production calls run higher. Not telephony-managed. |
Token prices are public estimates as of June 2026. We list them for honesty, not to claim a price crown - they price the model, not a telephony-managed agent.
FAQ
How much does a voice AI agent really cost per minute?
All-in, PyAI Omni is $0.05/min - speech, brain, and telephony in one rate, billed per second. Packaged platforms advertise a lower platform fee (Vapi ~$0.05, Retell ~$0.07), but once you add the LLM, the voice, and telephony the all-in lands roughly $0.10-$0.31/min. Figures are advertised pricing plus passthrough estimates as of June 2026; verify against current vendor pricing.
Why is the advertised price lower than the all-in price?
On the packaged platforms the advertised number is just the orchestration layer - the 'platform fee.' The speech-to-text, the LLM, the text-to-speech, and telephony each bill separately on top. PyAI runs all of that on one engine, so the price you see is the price you pay: one all-in minute, no asterisk.
Aren't the raw model APIs cheaper?
Per token, yes - Gemini Live, Amazon Nova Sonic, and OpenAI Realtime price the model lower. But a raw model isn't a product: no managed telephony, no orchestration, no agent. You're back to building the integration yourself, so it isn't an all-in comparison. We list them for honesty, not to claim a price crown.
Is PyAI billed per second or per minute?
AI products bill per second, so a 12-second interaction costs 12 seconds, not a rounded-up minute. Managed telephony bills on a 1-minute pulse. There are no seats, no platform fee, and no monthly minimum before the listed rate applies.
One all-in minute. No asterisk.
Start with $50 in free credit. No card.
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