How much does a voice AI agent cost?
Published prices run from about 5¢ to about 31¢ a minute, because platforms count different things: some bundle speech recognition, the language model and the voice into one price, others charge a base fee and bill each of those separately.
A minute is only comparable once you know what it includes.
A voice agent call costs money in up to five places: speech recognition turns the caller’s words into text; the language model decides what to say and is billed per token; the voice turns the reply into speech; the platform ties them together and handles interruptions and turn-taking; and a phone line carries the call if it is on the telephone. A price per minute can cover all of these, or only one.
Read from each company’s own pricing page on 5 October 2026, published prices run from about 5¢ a minute to 31¢. Lokutor’s is about 5.2¢ a minute at a typical prompt with all of that included except the phone line.
- Platform4.2¢ a minute, billed per second. It includes speech recognition, the voice, turn-taking, noise removal and orchestration.
- Language modelBy the token: $0.44 per million input and $0.94 per million output. At a typical prompt (about 20,700 input and 1,300 output tokens a minute) that is about 1¢.
- All in, typical minuteAbout 5.2¢ a minute. With faster replies switched off it is about 4.9¢.
- Phone lineExtra, by country, per started minute: for example 3.5¢ for a call received in Spain. Numbers are $5 a month.
- Free to try$5 of credit, no card, about 95 minutes of conversation.
Last updated 10 October 2026.
Voice agent prices, side by side.
| Platform | Published price per minute | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Lokutor | about 5.2¢ | 4.2¢ a minute for the platform plus the language model by the token, about 1¢ at a typical prompt; prepaid, billed per second. |
| ElevenLabs | 8¢ (16¢ at burst) | Agents, on every listed plan. Check whether the language model is billed on top. |
| Cartesia | 6¢ (+1.4¢ with its phone number) | Billed as call duration. Language-model use is free for agents built in its UI "for a limited time". |
| Deepgram | 7.5¢ (6.8¢ on Growth) | Voice Agent Standard, with recognition, language model and voice. Cheaper tiers if you bring your own model or voice. |
| Vapi | 8.2–12.9¢ (its own example) | 5¢ platform fee, plus recognition, language model and voice at each provider’s rate. |
| Retell AI | 7–31¢ (its own range) | 5.5¢ voice infrastructure, plus voice, language model and telephony billed separately. |
Competitors’ figures are from each company’s own pricing page, read 5 October 2026; prices change, so check the source linked on each comparison. This compares published prices only, not audio quality or latency.
What it comes to on Lokutor.
| Usage | Cost |
|---|---|
| One minute of conversation, typical prompt | 5.2¢ |
| 1,000 minutes a month | $52.33 |
| 10,000 minutes a month | $523.30 |
| 100,000 minutes a month | $5,233 |
| A five-minute call received on a Spanish number | $0.44 |
| A five-minute outbound call to a Spanish mobile | $0.79 |
Web or app minutes, before tax, from the rate card (version 2026-10-09.1). The language model is priced at a typical prompt; a longer prompt costs more.
Common questions.
How much does a voice AI agent cost per minute?
Published prices run from about 5¢ to about 31¢ a minute, depending on what is included. Lokutor’s is about 5.2¢ a minute at a typical prompt, with speech recognition, the language model and the voice included; a phone line adds a per-country charge. Other platforms list ElevenLabs 8¢ (16¢ at burst), Cartesia 6¢ (+1.4¢ with its phone number), Deepgram 7.5¢ (6.8¢ on Growth), Vapi 8.2–12.9¢ (its own example), Retell AI 7–31¢ (its own range) (read 5 October 2026), some of which bill the language model or the voice on top.
What is included in the price per minute?
It varies, which is why totals are not comparable until you check. At Lokutor the platform minute includes speech recognition, the voice, turn-taking, noise removal and orchestration, and the language model is billed by the token on the same balance. Some platforms charge a base fee of around 5¢ and bill recognition, the model and the voice at each provider’s rate on top.
Which voice AI platform is cheapest?
Among the six platforms compared on lokutor.com, Lokutor’s published price at a typical prompt, about 5.2¢ a minute with the language model included, is the lowest we found, against 6¢ to 8¢ and up for the others (read 5 October 2026). Price per minute says nothing about audio quality or latency, which we have not benchmarked for other platforms, so compare what each includes and try the product.
How much does a phone call with a voice agent cost?
On Lokutor a five-minute call received on a Spanish number costs about $0.44: the agent at about 5.2¢ a minute plus the line at 3.5¢ per started minute. A five-minute outbound call to a Spanish mobile is about $0.79. Numbers are $5 a month.
Is voice AI billed per second or per minute?
It depends on the platform. Lokutor bills the agent by the second from a prepaid balance, and the phone line per started minute, as telephone carriers do.
How can I lower the cost of a voice agent?
Keep the prompt short, because the language model is billed per token on every turn and a long prompt is paid for again each time; switch off faster replies if a quarter of a second of reply time does not matter (about 4.9¢ instead of 5.2¢ a minute at a typical prompt); and choose a platform that bundles recognition and the voice rather than billing each separately.
Is there a free tier?
Lokutor gives new accounts $5 of credit with no card, about 95 minutes of conversation, then runs on a prepaid balance from $10. There are no plans or monthly fees.
Work out your own number.
The pricing page has a bill estimator for your volume, and the rate card is public.