Thoughtly vs Vapi (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Vapi grades higher than Thoughtly: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
Thoughtly grades higher on ease of use. Vapi grades higher on the free plan and features. They get the same grade on value for money 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
Free trial · from $29/mo
Which one is for you
Pick Thoughtly if
- Fits if you want inbound leads answered by voice, text and email
- Works for teams on HubSpot or Salesforce that want two-way sync
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want a price list, as Flex and Scale are quoted
- Tight if you need volume, since Flex is 10 concurrent calls and 100+ starts at Scale
- Watch out: HIPAA with a BAA, SSO, SCIM and data residency are Enterprise only
- Watch out: usage above a plan's allowance is billed in arrears each cycle
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
| 1.8GPAThoughtlyWeak | 2.2GPAVapiFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is shown: Flex is sold through sales, Scale by quote and Enterprise for 1M+ minutes a month. | 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 | FNothing free is offered: there is no free plan and no trial. | C$5 in free credits to start. The page does not say whether a card is needed. |
| Features | CVoice, SMS and email, CRM sync, a knowledge base and auto-QA. Flex allows 10 concurrent calls, and Auto-QA with 100+ concurrent calls starts at Scale. | 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, and you connect a CRM, numbers and a knowledge base. | DNo store rating, and the platform is built around API calls and provider settings. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zoho, Twilio, Telnyx and ElevenLabs listed. | BWeb, with Twilio, Vonage, Telnyx, Deepgram, OpenAI, ElevenLabs and Daily listed. |
| Best for | turning inbound leads with voice, text and email agents | 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: Thoughtly and Vapi. How we grade
Where they differ
- Thoughtly also covers workflow automation and voice cloning.
In commonWebPublic APIAI featuresAI agents
At a glance
| Thoughtly | Vapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free trial |
| Starts at | Not published | $29 per month (Core); usage-only starts at $0.05 per minute hosting |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | $5 in free credits to start; usage-only accounts then pre-pay for minutes. |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Thoughtlead, Inc. | Vapi, Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | vapi.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Thoughtly
- No prices are shown: Flex is sold through sales, Scale by quote and Enterprise for 1M+ minutes a month or regulated verticals.
- Flex allows 10 concurrent calls; 100+ concurrent calls, Auto-QA and a 99.9% uptime SLA start at Scale.
- HIPAA with a BAA, PCI scope review, SSO and SCIM and data residency are Enterprise only.
- Usage above a plan's monthly allowances is billed in arrears at the end of each cycle.
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
Thoughtly
- Voice, SMS and email together
- Inbound and outbound voice agents, SMS or iMessage and email follow-up are part of every plan, with multi-step workflows.
- Two-way CRM sync
- The plan table lists write-back to CRMs including HubSpot, Salesforce and Zoho, plus a REST API, webhooks and 200+ native integrations.
- Voices and languages
- 34+ languages, stock Cartesia and ElevenLabs voices, and custom voice cloning from a 20-second sample are listed on every plan.
- Knowledge base
- Genius ingests text, PDF, audio, CSV and URL sources into an agent's context, and agents can use GPT, Claude or Gemini models.
- Auto-QA and evals
- Automated quality checks and evaluations on every conversation are listed from the Scale plan up.
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
Thoughtly
Pricing could not be confirmed. See thoughtly.com.
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, Thoughtly or Vapi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Thoughtly has no price we could confirm, and Vapi starts at $29 per month (Core); usage-only starts at $0.05 per minute hosting.
Which has a free plan, Thoughtly or Vapi?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Thoughtly nor Vapi has a free plan. Vapi has 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.