Pricing
Retell AI Pricing Breakdown: True Cost Per Call in 2026
What a Retell AI call really costs once you stack LLM, voice synthesis, and telephony. Real per-minute math for receptionist, support, and outbound use cases.
The cost stack (per minute)
Retell AI's published rate is just the platform layer. Real per-call cost is the sum of platform + LLM + voice + telephony + recording. Here's what you actually pay:
| Component | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Retell platform fee | $0.07/min | Production tier, billed per second |
| LLM (GPT-4o-mini default) | $0.01–0.04/min | Depends on prompt length + tools |
| Voice (ElevenLabs) | $0.07/min | Cheaper voices ~$0.02/min available |
| Telephony (Twilio) | $0.014/min | US local DID inbound + outbound |
| Recording + transcription | $0.005/min | Optional but recommended |
| All-in | ~$0.16/min | Median production agent |
Range is $0.10–0.25/min depending on voice quality, LLM choice, and tool call density.
Real-world scenarios
Solo dental practice receptionist
180 calls/month × 2.5 min avg = 450 min
≈ $72/mo in usage
Replaces a $300–600/mo answering service.
Mid-market SaaS tier-1 support
1,200 calls/month × 4 min avg = 4,800 min
≈ $770/mo in usage
Replaces 1 FTE at $4–6k/mo loaded cost.
Outbound SDR dialer
8,000 dials/month × 1.5 min avg = 12,000 min
≈ $1,920/mo in usage
Versus a $7k/mo offshore SDR. Run cost-per-meeting, not cost-per-minute.
How to cut Retell AI cost
- Use GPT-4o-mini or Claude Haiku for most flows — only escalate to 4o on hard branches.
- Drop ElevenLabs for OpenAI/PlayHT voices when call quality permits — saves ~$0.05/min.
- Trim system prompts. Every 1k tokens you carry costs you on every turn.
- Hang up faster. Median call duration is the #1 cost lever.
- Cache tool responses where business logic allows.
For a deeper breakdown by use case, see Retell AI pricing explained. For platform comparisons, see Retell AI alternatives.
Need a per-call cost model for your numbers? A Retell AI consultant will run the math live on a call — or hire the Retell AI agency to ship the lowest-cost agent that still sounds great.
Get a cost model for your use case
30-min call. We'll model your minutes, voice choice, and LLM tier — and tell you the break-even vs your current cost.