Vapi Pricing (2026): Per Minute Costs, Packages and Real Bills
What Vapi charges per minute, what the pass through models add, what the Core, Pro and HIPAA packages cost, and the monthly bill at five volumes, as of October 2026.
By , research by the BestBots team · Updated Oct 19, 2026
Fact checked against each company's published pricing, documentation and verified user ratings. How we score
Vapi costs $0.05 a minute for hosting in October 2026, plus speech to text, LLM and voice passed through at cost, so a real call runs about $0.082 to $0.129 a minute on default providers. Packages add concurrency: Core is $29 a month for 10 lines, Pro starts at $999 a month for 30, and HIPAA is a $2,000 a month add on.
- Starting price
- $0.05 per minute
- Pricing model
- per minute, pay as you go plus optional monthly packages
- Free plan
- No
- Free trial
- $5 in free credits
- Per minute cost
- $0.05 hosting plus STT ($0.0095 to $0.0099), LLM ($0.0077 to $0.0452) and voice ($0.0146 to $0.0238)
- Latency
- Under 500 ms average, per Vapi's homepage
- Telephony
- Free Vapi numbers, SIP and WebRTC, or Twilio ($0.008 inbound, $0.014 outbound), Vonage ($0.00814) or Telnyx ($0.0055) per minute
- Concurrency
- 4 free, 10 on Core, 30 on Pro, extra lines $10 per month
- Languages
- Depends on providers: Deepgram 100+, Google STT 125+, Azure TTS 140+ languages
- HIPAA
- Add on at $2,000 per month with a signed BAA; cannot be combined with zero data retention
- SOC 2
- Listed as SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI compliant for enterprise
The price list
Per minute components
| Component | Provider shown | Price per minute |
|---|---|---|
| Vapi hosting | Vapi | $0.05 |
| Transcription | Deepgram | $0.0095 to $0.0099 |
| LLM | OpenAI | $0.0077 to $0.0452 |
| Voice | ElevenLabs | $0.0146 to $0.0238 |
| Telephony | Vapi numbers, SIP, WebSockets, WebRTC | Free |
| Telephony | Twilio | $0.008 inbound, $0.014 outbound |
| Telephony | Vonage | $0.00814 |
| Telephony | Telnyx | $0.0055 |
Models are pass through: you can switch providers or bring your own keys, and the cost follows that provider's rate.
Packages and add ons
| Item | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Pay as you go | $0, prepaid usage | $5 free credits, 4 concurrent calls |
| Core | $29 a month | 10 concurrent calls |
| Pro | $999 a month minimum (10% of Vapi hosting fee) | 30 concurrent calls, 99% uptime SLA |
| Premier | Custom | Higher concurrency, data retention options, 99.9% uptime SLA |
| HIPAA | $2,000 a month | Signed BAA; not combinable with zero data retention |
| Extra concurrency | $10 per line per month | One more simultaneous call |
| Additional organizations | $20 per organization per month | Separate workspaces |
What each line means in practice
Hosting is the Vapi platform fee for every minute a call is connected. Pass through models are billed at the provider's cost, so cheaper models lower your bill directly. Concurrency is the number of simultaneous calls; with 4 free lines, a fifth caller waits or fails unless you buy lines or Core.
Pro's minimum is 10% of your hosting fee or $999, whichever is higher. At $0.05 a minute, 10% of hosting reaches $999 only at about 200,000 minutes a month, so below that you pay the $999 floor.
Worked examples
All examples use Vapi's lowest published component rates ($0.0818 a minute) on free Vapi telephony, then show the high end ($0.1289).
| Use case | Minutes a month | Concurrency needed | Package | Low end | High end |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prototype | 500 | 2 | Pay as you go | $40.90 | $64.45 |
| Small business line | 3,000 | 4 | Pay as you go | $245.40 | $386.70 |
| Busy inbound line | 10,000 | 10 | Core $29 | $847 | $1,318 |
| Multi line support | 30,000 | 20 | Core + 10 lines ($129) | $2,583 | $3,996 |
| Healthcare line with HIPAA | 30,000 | 20 | Core + 10 lines + HIPAA ($2,129) | $4,583 | $5,996 |
The HIPAA row shows why compliance changes the comparison: the $2,000 add on is $0.067 a minute at 30,000 minutes, more than Vapi's hosting fee. Retell and Telnyx include HIPAA with no surcharge.
Hidden costs to plan for
- Premium voices and frontier LLMs. The high end of Vapi's own ranges is 58% above the low end.
- Carrier fees. Free Vapi numbers have no per minute charge; Twilio adds $0.008 to $0.014.
- Concurrency. Only 4 lines are free; plan $10 a line or the $29 Core package early.
- HIPAA. $2,000 a month flat.
- Pro floor. $999 a month until you pass about 200,000 minutes.
- Prepaid credits. Usage draws from a prepaid balance; set auto reload so calls do not fail.
How Vapi compares per minute
| Platform | Headline rate | Budget all in | Free concurrency | HIPAA |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Telnyx Voice AI | $0.05 incl. STT and TTS | About $0.06 | 500 | Included |
| Vapi | $0.05 hosting | About $0.0818 | 4 | $2,000 a month |
| ElevenLabs Agents | $0.08 after plan minutes | $0.08 plus LLM and carrier | 4 to 40 by plan | Enterprise BAA |
| Retell AI | $0.055 infra | About $0.0946 | 20 | Included |
| Bland AI | $0.14 Start | $0.14 | 10 | Included |
See every tracked rate on the AI Price Index and the full method in the voice agent cost per minute guide.
How to keep the bill down
- Pick the cheapest model that passes your tests; the LLM is the widest range.
- Use free Vapi telephony or SIP where your carrier allows.
- Buy Core at $29 before buying individual lines; it is cheaper than 6 lines at $10.
- If you need HIPAA and fewer than about 30,000 minutes, price Retell or Telnyx first.
Is Vapi worth the price?
For developers building custom voice agents in code, yes: $0.05 hosting with models at cost is among the lowest platform fees, and free transport lowers the bill further. It stops being cheap when you need HIPAA, many concurrent lines or an SLA. Read the full Vapi review, compare Retell AI vs Vapi or see Vapi alternatives.
Vapi plans and pricing
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| No package | $0 to start | $5 free credits, 4 concurrent calls, 1 phone number, 14 day data retention, Discord community support |
| Core | $29 per month | 10 concurrent calls, 5 phone numbers, 30 day retention, email support with 2 business day SLA |
| Pro | $999 per month minimum plus 10% of hosting fees | 30 concurrent calls, 10 phone numbers, 180 day retention, 99% uptime SLA, email plus dedicated Slack support |
| Premier | Custom | Elevated concurrency, 99.9% uptime SLA and named support team with 1 hour P0 SLA |
Frequently asked questions
How much does Vapi cost per minute?
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting, plus transcription ($0.0095 to $0.0099 with Deepgram), the LLM ($0.0077 to $0.0452 with OpenAI) and voice ($0.0146 to $0.0238 with ElevenLabs) at cost. That is about $0.082 to $0.129 a minute on default providers, which matches Vapi's own estimate of $82 to $129 per 1,000 minutes.
Is Vapi free?
Vapi gives $5 in free credits and 4 concurrent calls to start. After that, usage is prepaid pay as you go.
How much is Vapi HIPAA?
HIPAA is a $2,000 a month add on with a signed BAA. Vapi's docs say it cannot be combined with zero data retention.
What are Vapi's Core and Pro packages?
Core is $29 a month and raises concurrency to 10 calls. Pro has a $999 a month minimum calculated as 10% of your Vapi hosting fee, with 30 concurrent calls and a 99% uptime SLA. Premier is custom, with a 99.9% SLA.
Does Vapi charge for phone numbers?
Vapi telephony, SIP, WebSockets and WebRTC transport are free. If you bring Twilio, Vonage or Telnyx, they bill you their own per minute rates, for example Twilio inbound $0.008 and outbound $0.014 a minute.
Is Vapi cheaper than Retell AI?
Per minute on budget components, yes: about $0.0818 against Retell's $0.0946. Retell includes 20 concurrent calls and HIPAA at no extra cost, so Vapi gets more expensive once you need more than 4 lines or HIPAA.