Vapi
Vapi is a developer platform for building voice AI agents that handle phone and web calls, combining speech recognition, an LLM and speech synthesis.
About this tool
Vapi provides the infrastructure for voice agents: software that answers or places calls and holds a natural spoken conversation. Each assistant combines three parts that Vapi orchestrates in real time: a transcriber that turns speech into text, a language model that decides what to say, and a voice that speaks the reply. Developers can pick providers for each part, including OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Deepgram and ElevenLabs.
Beyond the core loop, Vapi handles telephony, integrations with existing systems and APIs, and workflows such as appointment booking or support triage. Presets bundle a tuned combination of transcriber, model and voice for common cases. Monitoring shows how calls perform. Pricing is per minute, so costs scale with call volume rather than seats.
What you can do
Provider choice
Swap transcription, language model and voice providers independently to balance quality, latency and cost.
Telephony built in
Agents can take inbound calls and place outbound ones, with extra concurrent lines available as add-ons.
Tools and integrations
Agents call your APIs to check availability, update records or route calls during the conversation.
Monitoring
Call-level observability helps teams see what is working and refine prompts and flows.
Who is it for?
- A clinic lets a voice agent book and reschedule appointments by phone.
- A consumer brand routes first-line support calls to an agent before escalating to staff.
- A developer prototypes a voice interface for an existing web app.
Before you choose
Total per-minute cost includes the transcriber, model and voice providers on top of Vapi’s hosting fee; estimate the full stack before launch.
Phone automation is subject to consent and disclosure rules in many countries; check the regulations that apply to your calls.
Frequently asked questions
How much does Vapi cost?
Vapi starts with $5 in free credits, then charges per minute. Its hosting fee is listed at $0.05 per minute, with model and voice costs on top.
Which AI models can Vapi use?
Vapi supports many providers, including OpenAI, Anthropic and Google for language, and Deepgram and ElevenLabs for speech.
Is Vapi a no-code tool?
It is primarily a developer platform with an API, though a dashboard lets you build and test a first voice agent quickly.
Check the official website for current features, pricing, and terms.
Similar tools
Retell AI
AutomationRetell AI is a platform for building, testing and deploying AI voice agents that handle phone calls, with pay-as-you-go pricing and low-latency conversation.
Synthflow
AutomationSynthflow is an enterprise voice AI platform for automated phone calls, with a visual Flow Designer, automated testing and its own telephony network.
Bland AI
AutomationBland AI is a voice AI platform for automating phone calls, especially complex and regulated ones, with agents on phone, SMS and web and decision-level transparency.
Echo Win
AutomationEcho Win is an AI‑driven call handling platform that automatically answers inbound calls, provides live transcription, and builds custom call‑flow scenarios while delivering analytics to improve service quality.
Deepgram
AudioDeepgram provides speech-to-text and text-to-speech APIs for developers, including Nova transcription models and Flux models built for voice agents.
LLM Gateway
OtherLLM Gateway provides developers with a central hub to route, manage, and monitor large language model requests across multiple providers, while tracking usage costs and performance metrics.