Retell AI vs Ultravox (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Retell AI grades higher than Ultravox: 2.4 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Retell AI grades higher on the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Retell AI
Pay-per-minute platform for AI phone and chat agents
Ultravox
Speech-native voice AI platform and API for building voice agents
Which one is for you
Pick Retell AI if
- Fits if you want to pay per minute with no monthly commitment
- Works for developers wiring phone agents into Twilio or HubSpot
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you add it up, as model, voice and telephony sit on top of the $0.055 base
- Watch out: HIPAA and BAA, SSO, role-based access and custom retention are Enterprise only
- Watch out: AI quality assurance and PII removal are charged per minute on top
- Not for you if you want a fixed bill, because cost moves with minutes
Pick Ultravox if
- Fits if you are a developer who wants one model that listens and speaks
- Makes sense if you will pay by the minute and build your own call flow
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a no-code builder: it is APIs and SDKs
- Watch out: the site says Ultravox has been acquired by Inworld, and plans and pricing may change
- Tight if you scale on Pay as You Go: it is capped at 5 concurrent calls
- Watch out: the pricing page marks prices as an annual rate and shows no monthly-billed price
How we grade them
| 2.4GPARetell AIFair | 1.6GPAUltravoxWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStarts at $0 and bills $0.07 to $0.31 a minute, so the price can't be set against the category's monthly plans. Voice infrastructure alone is $0.055 a minute. | CPay as You Go is $0.05 a minute and Pro is $100 a month billed yearly, between the category's $50 dearer-quarter and $150 dearest-tenth lines. |
| Free plan and trial | C$10 in free credits with full platform access. There is no free plan, and the page does not say whether a card is needed. | DThe first 30 minutes of calls are free. That is a short taste, not a plan. |
| Features | BInbound and outbound calls, batch calls, testing and monitoring, model and voice choice, and chat agents. The core job of a phone agent is covered. | CA speech-native model, APIs and SDKs, telephony, an outbound scheduler and retrieval corpora. It is a building block, so you build the product around it. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record, and you set up prompts, a number, models and voices, often with the API. | DYou need to write code against REST APIs and SDKs, and no store rating exists. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with Make, Twilio, Vonage, HubSpot, n8n and Go High Level listed, plus API access. | CWeb, with APIs and SDKs. No integrations are listed. |
| Best for | developers building phone agents that bill by the minute | developers building voice agents on one speech model |
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: Retell AI and Ultravox. How we grade
Where they differ
- Retell AI also covers chatbots.
- Ultravox also covers voice cloning.
At a glance
| Retell AI | Ultravox | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Free trial |
| Starts at | $0 to start, then $0.07 to $0.31 per minute for voice agents | $100 per month, billed yearly |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | $10 in free credits with full platform access. | First 30 minutes of calls free, then $0.05 per minute on Pay as You Go |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Retell AI | Fixie.ai |
| Price read from | retellai.com | ultravox.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 13, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Retell AI
- The rate is a sum of parts: voice infrastructure is $0.055 per minute, with model, voice and telephony on top, hence $0.07 to $0.31.
- The comparison table lists HIPAA and BAA, SSO, role-based access and custom data retention for Enterprise only.
- Dedicated implementation support and a dedicated stable server are Enterprise add-ons.
- Add-ons such as AI quality assurance and PII removal are charged per minute on top of the base rate.
Ultravox
- The site announces that Ultravox has been acquired by Inworld; future plans and pricing may change.
- The pricing page marks prices as an annual rate; a monthly-billed price is not shown.
- Pay as You Go is capped at 5 concurrent calls.
- Threads pricing is $2.00 per 1M uncached input tokens and $15.00 per 1M output tokens.
Key features
Retell AI
- Inbound and outbound phone agents
- Agents answer or place calls, transfer to a human, book appointments, use a knowledge base and navigate keypad menus.
- Batch calls and caller ID
- The deploy menu lists batch calling for high-volume campaigns, branded caller ID and verified phone numbers.
- Testing and monitoring
- Simulation testing, call transcripts and analytics, post-call analysis and AI quality assurance are listed for monitoring agents.
- Model and voice choice
- The cost estimator offers language models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google and voices from Retell, ElevenLabs, Cartesia, Minimax, Fish and OpenAI.
- Chat agents
- The same platform runs chat agents, priced from $0.002 per message.
Ultravox
- Speech-native model
- Processes audio directly so tone and cadence are not lost in transcription, and the vendor runs its own inference stack.
- REST APIs and SDKs
- Developer APIs plus kits for web and mobile platforms.
- Telephony
- Built-in telephony support, with SIP calls priced from about half a cent per minute.
- Outbound call scheduler
- Schedules outbound calls; available on Pro and Enterprise.
- RAG corpora
- Attach knowledge corpora to an agent: 2 on Pay as You Go and 20 on Pro.
Plans
Retell AI
Pay as you go$0
to start, then $0.07-$0.31 per minute
Voice agents at $0.07-$0.31 per minute, chat agents from $0.002 per message, 20 free concurrent calls, API access and email support.
EnterpriseCustom
Custom voice and chat pricing, role-based access, custom SSO, MSA, DPA and BAA terms, and 24/7 support with a dedicated portal.
Ultravox
Pay as You Go$0
per month, plus $0.05 per minute
30 free minutes, then 5 cents a minute; up to 5 concurrent calls and 2 RAG corpora.
Pro$100
per month, billed yearly
No hard cap on concurrency, outbound call scheduler, 5 custom voices and 20 RAG corpora.
EnterpriseCustom
Priority SLA, org support and customizable limits.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Retell AI or Ultravox?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Retell AI starts at $0 to start, then $0.07 to $0.31 per minute for voice agents, and Ultravox starts at $100 per month, billed yearly.
Which has a free plan, Retell AI or Ultravox?
As of Nov 13, 2026, neither Retell AI nor Ultravox 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.