Bland AI vs Retell AI: Pricing, Features and Which to Pick
One bundled rate on proprietary models versus an itemized stack you assemble yourself.
By , research by the BestBots team · Updated Oct 18, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Retell AI is the better choice for most buyers: its budget stack costs about $0.095 per minute against Bland's $0.12 to $0.14, it includes 20 concurrent calls, and it has no daily call cap on the free tier. Bland AI wins for enterprises that want one bundled rate, proprietary models with self hosting, and PCI DSS.
Side by side
| Spec | Bland AI | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| BestBots Score | 4.0 | 4.6 |
| Starting price | $0.14 per minute | $0.055 per minute |
| Pricing model | per connected minute plus optional platform fee | per minute, pay as you go |
| Free trial | None listed | $10 in free credits |
| Per minute cost | $0.14 Start, $0.12 Build, $0.11 Scale per connected minute; models and telephony included | $0.055 voice infra plus LLM ($0.0016 to $0.32), voice ($0.015 to $0.10) and telephony ($0.015 US Twilio or Telnyx) |
| Telephony | Bland numbers included in the minute rate, or bring your own Twilio | Retell numbers via Twilio, Vonage, or your own SIP trunk at no Retell charge |
| Concurrency | 10 Start, 50 Build, sized to volume on Enterprise | 20 concurrent calls free, then $8 per line per month |
| Languages | 40+ languages, real time translation in 23 | Multilingual agents supported; the dashboard lists current languages |
| HIPAA | Yes, BAAs available | Yes, listed as HIPAA ready |
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type I and Type II; site also lists FedRAMP, PCI DSS, GDPR and ISO 27001 | SOC 2 Type II |
The short answer
These two platforms take opposite approaches to pricing and infrastructure.
Bland AI runs its own speech recognition, LLM and voice models and charges one connected minute rate. You do not pick an LLM or count tokens. Its sales motion is enterprise: forward deployed engineers build the first agents, and Bland says most production agents go live in two to six weeks.
Retell AI orchestrates third party models. You pick the LLM and voice from a price list, and the bill is the sum of the parts. It is self serve first, with a visual builder, $10 in credits and a 15 minute quick start, and it scales to enterprise with SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA.
Pricing
| Line item | Bland AI | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Plan fee | $0 Start, $299 per month Build, Enterprise custom | $0 pay as you go, Enterprise custom |
| Per minute | $0.14 Start, $0.12 Build, models included | $0.055 infra plus LLM, voice and telephony |
| Budget all in | $0.12 to $0.14 | $0.0946 |
| Transfer minutes | $0.05 Start, $0.04 Build | Not listed as a separate fee |
| Outbound minimum | $0.015 per call, per billing docs | $0.005 per dial on batch calls |
| Concurrency | 10 Start, 50 Build | 20 included, $8 per extra line |
| Daily call cap | 100 Start, 2,000 Build | None published |
| Voice clones | 1 Start, 5 Build | Not listed |
| SMS | $0.02 per message, per billing docs | Not listed on voice pricing |
Bland's billing docs also list a Scale tier at $499 with $0.11 per minute and 100 concurrent calls. That tier does not appear on the public pricing page as of October 2026, so ask sales whether it is still offered.
Worked example at 5,000 minutes. Bland Start: 5,000 x $0.14 = $700. Bland Build: $299 + 5,000 x $0.12 = $899. So Start is cheaper at this volume, as long as you stay under 100 calls a day (about 3,000 calls a month). Retell budget stack: 5,000 x $0.0946 = $473.
At 20,000 minutes. Bland Start: $2,800, but at an average 3 minute call that is about 6,700 calls a month, above the 100 per day cap, so you need Build: $299 + $2,400 = $2,699. Retell budget: $1,892. Retell premium (Claude 5 Sonnet and ElevenLabs Flash at $0.174): $3,480. Bland sits between Retell's budget and premium stacks.
Bland's break even against its own Start plan is 14,950 minutes a month: below that, Start is cheaper than Build, if the daily cap allows it. For your own numbers use the calculator.
Features
| Feature | Bland AI | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Models | Proprietary STT, LLM and TTS | Choice of GPT, Claude, Gemini and others |
| Builder | Agent builder plus forward deployed engineers | Drag and drop canvas, prompt agents |
| Languages | 40+, real time translation in 23 | Multilingual, list in dashboard |
| Latency claim | Not published | About 600 ms |
| Channels | Phone, SMS and web | Voice and chat |
| Compliance | SOC 2 Type I and II, HIPAA, PCI DSS, BAAs, DPAs | SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, GDPR, ISO 27001 |
| Deployment | Cloud, self hosted, on premises | Cloud, enterprise on premises |
| Integrations | Twilio, API, webhooks | Twilio, Vonage, SIP, HubSpot, Cal.com, Make, n8n, GoHighLevel |
Bland's strength is control: models and data on one vendor's stack, and a published 40+ language count. Retell's strength is breadth of choice and ready integrations for small and mid sized teams.
Who wins for which buyer
A small business answering its own line. Retell. Lower per minute cost, no daily cap, and calendar and CRM connectors ready to go.
A large outbound program with compliance review. Bland. One vendor for every model, PCI DSS, self hosting and enterprise concurrency make procurement simpler, and the bundled rate makes forecasting easy.
A team that wants to tune cost by model. Retell. Dropping from Claude 5 Sonnet to Gemini 3.5 Flash Lite cuts about $0.054 per minute. Bland has no such lever.
Payments over the phone. Bland, because it lists PCI DSS. Retell's pages list SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR and ISO 27001 but not PCI.
Reviews and trust
Retell has a 4.9 Trustpilot score from 810 reviews. Bland's Trustpilot profile is unclaimed with only 2 reviews, too few to rate. Bland's homepage case studies cite up to 92% cost reduction versus human calls and a 13 point CSAT gain; those are vendor reported.
Verdict
Choose Retell AI if you want the lower bill, a self serve builder and room to choose models. Choose Bland if you are an enterprise that values a single bundled rate, proprietary models with self hosting and PCI DSS more than the last few cents per minute. For the full field, see the best AI voice agents.
Frequently asked questions
Is Bland AI cheaper than Retell AI?
Usually not. Bland's lowest rate is $0.12 per minute on a $299 per month plan, or $0.14 with no plan fee. Retell's budget stack is about $0.0946 per minute all in. Bland can come out ahead only if you would otherwise pick Retell's most expensive model and voice options, which can exceed $0.17 per minute.
What does Bland AI's per minute rate include?
Bland runs its own speech to text, LLM and text to speech models, and its homepage says one per minute rate covers all features with no per token charges. Transfer minutes are billed separately at $0.05 or $0.04, and its billing docs list a $0.015 minimum per outbound call, including failed calls on Bland telephony.
Does Bland AI have a free plan?
Yes. The Start plan has no platform fee and charges $0.14 per connected minute, with 10 concurrent calls, 100 calls per day and 1 voice clone.
Which is better for outbound calling?
At small volume, Retell, because Bland Start stops at 100 calls a day. At large volume with an enterprise contract, Bland is built for it, with concurrency sized to your volume, unlimited daily calls and in call SMS on Enterprise.
Which is more secure?
Both list SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA. Bland also lists PCI DSS, runs its own models so data does not go to third party model vendors, and offers self hosted and on premises deployments. Retell lists GDPR and ISO 27001 and an enterprise on premises option.
Can I use my own Twilio account?
Yes on both. Bland customers who bring their own Twilio pay no transfer fee. Retell does not charge for SIP trunking or custom telephony.