Bland AI vs Vapi (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Bland AI and Vapi share a 2.2 GPA, neither has a free plan and their prices can't be set side by side, so the choice depends on whether you care more about ease of use, where Bland AI grades higher, or features, where Vapi does.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Vapi
Developer platform for building and running voice AI agents
Which one is for you
Pick Bland AI if
- Fits if you want to build voice agents and pay by the minute
- Works for a team that wants its own telephony carrier
Look elsewhere if
- Tight if you grow: Start is capped at 100 calls a day and Build at 2,000
- Watch out: telephony is billed separately, plus $0.05 or $0.04 a transfer minute
- Not for you if you need BAA, SSO or data residency, which are Enterprise
- Watch out: its comparisons with Vapi and Retell are the vendor's own marketing
Pick Vapi if
- Fits if you are a developer who wants to choose each voice and model provider
- Makes sense if you want to pay for minutes as you use them
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you want one price, as model, voice and call charges sit on top of the $0.05 hosting
- Watch out: HIPAA-eligible handling is a $2,000 a month add-on
- Pricey if you grow, since Pro has a $999 a month minimum
- Watch out: extra lines cost $10 each and extra organisations $20 each a month
How we grade them
| 2.2GPABland AIFair | 2.2GPAVapiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStart has no platform fee and $0.14 a minute, which has no monthly figure to compare, so it sits in the middle. | CCore is $29 a month and hosting is $0.05 a minute, but the page's own 1,000-minute estimate is $82 to $129 a month, and Pro starts at $999. |
| Free plan and trial | CSign-up includes 2 credits and an inbound number valued at $15 a month, and no card is needed. It is a trial, not a free plan. | C$5 in free credits to start. The page does not say whether a card is needed. |
| Features | CConversational pathways, knowledge bases, voices, messaging and telephony, but telephony is billed separately and limits scale by plan. | BOrchestration, a choice of providers, testing and simulation, and telephony options. The core job of a voice agent is covered. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. Pathways, voices and phone numbers all need setting up. | DNo store rating, and the platform is built around API calls and provider settings. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb only, with eight named integrations and your own carrier option. | BWeb, with Twilio, Vonage, Telnyx, Deepgram, OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Daily listed. |
| Best for | AI phone agents billed by the minute | developers building voice agents on their own stack |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Bland AI and Vapi. How we grade
Where they differ
- Bland AI also covers chatbots.
At a glance
| Bland AI | Vapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $0 platform fee at $0.14 per minute; Build is $299 per month at $0.12 per minute | $29 per month (Core); usage-only starts at $0.05 per minute hosting |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | Sign-up includes 2 credits and an inbound number valued at $15 a month; no card. | $5 in free credits to start; usage-only accounts then pre-pay for minutes. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Bland | Vapi, Inc. |
| Price read from | bland.ai | vapi.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Bland AI
- Telephony is billed separately, on your own carrier or at Bland's pass-through cost, and transfer minutes carry their own rate.
- Start is capped at 100 calls a day and Build at 2,000; unlimited calls are Enterprise only.
- BAA, SSO, data residency and on-prem or VPC deployment are listed for Enterprise.
- The per-minute rates are the vendor's own comparison basis; its FAQ comparisons with Vapi and Retell are its marketing claims.
Vapi
- Without a success package, hosting is $0.05 per minute, pre-paid, and Deepgram, model and voice costs are added on top; the page's 1,000-minute estimate is $82 to $129 a month.
- HIPAA-eligible data handling is a $2,000 per month add-on.
- Extra concurrent lines cost $10 per line per month and extra organizations $20 per organization per month.
- Twilio, Vonage and Telnyx call charges are billed by those providers, such as $0.008 per minute for Twilio inbound.
Key features
Bland AI
- All-in per-minute rate
- The talk-time rate includes the language model, real-time transcription and premium voices, with no token charges. Telephony is billed separately.
- Conversational pathways
- Call flows are built as pathways, with knowledge bases, automations and integrations available on every plan.
- Telephony choices
- Connect an existing Twilio account or a SIP trunk, or use Bland's built-in Twilio at pass-through cost.
- Messaging
- SMS and web chat, in-call text nodes and iMessage appear in the plan table with dashes under Start and Build, so they look Enterprise-only.
- Compliance claims
- The FAQ says Bland holds SOC 2 Type I and II and ISO 27001, signs a HIPAA BAA and is GDPR compliant. Documentation is under NDA.
Vapi
- Voice agent orchestration
- Configure voice, conversation flow, telephony and integrations for an agent, then deploy it behind a phone number or an API.
- Choice of providers
- The pricing calculator lets you pick the transcriber, language model and voice, for example Deepgram, OpenAI and ElevenLabs. Models are passed through at cost.
- Testing and simulation
- Calls can be simulated before they reach customers, and monitoring flags issues in live calls.
- Telephony options
- Vapi telephony and SIP, WebSockets and Daily WebRTC are listed as free transport; Twilio, Vonage and Telnyx are charged by those providers.
- Enterprise controls
- The site lists SSO, OAuth, RBAC and AI guardrails, and says SOC 2, HIPAA and PCI compliance are supported.
Plans
Bland AI
Start$0
platform fee, then $0.14 per minute
Transfer minutes $0.05, 10 concurrent calls, 100 calls a day, 10 knowledge bases and 1 voice.
Build$299
per month platform fee, plus $0.12 per minute
Transfer minutes $0.04, 50 concurrent calls, 2,000 calls a day, 50 knowledge bases and 5 voices.
EnterpriseCustom
Rates contracted to volume, with on-prem or VPC deployment, BAA, SSO, data residency and forward-deployed engineers.
Vapi
Core$29
per month, pre-paid, auto-renew
2 organizations, 5 included phone numbers, 10 concurrent calls, 30 days of raw data retention and email support.
Pro$999
per month minimum, 10% of the hosting fee
10 organizations, 30 concurrent calls, 180 days retention, RBAC, a dedicated Slack channel and a 99% uptime SLA.
PremierCustom
Direct sales only: higher limits, named support team, 99.9% uptime SLA, SSO and dedicated SIP.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Bland AI or Vapi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Bland AI starts at $0 platform fee at $0.14 per minute; Build is $299 per month at $0.12 per minute, and Vapi starts at $29 per month (Core); usage-only starts at $0.05 per minute hosting.
Which has a free plan, Bland AI or Vapi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Bland AI nor Vapi has a free plan. Both have a free trial.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.