This article is part of our AI Front Desk hub. Want help applying it? Talk to eSEOspace.
Per-minute billing favors short calls, per-call billing favors long calls and per-customer billing favors repeat callers. The cheapest option depends on your call length and how many different people call.
Vendors also mix these units with bundles and add-ons. All rates below were checked against each vendor's documentation on 9 November 2026 and can change.
This article is part of our AI Front Desk guide.
Key Takeaways
- Retell, Vapi and Bland bill by the minute and add extras.
- Dialzara sells minute bundles with overage.
- Smith.ai and Quo Sona bill by the call.
- Goodcall bills per unique customer each month.
- Fin and Jobber use outcome or conversation units for chat and calls.
Per minute
You pay for connected minutes. Retell's pricing page lists "$0.07-$0.31 / min for AI Voice Agents" on pay-as-you-go. Bland's pricing page lists $0.14 a minute on Start with no platform fee, and $0.12 a minute on Build with a $299 monthly platform fee.
Vapi's pricing page lists $0.05 a minute for hosting, with models passed through at provider cost. Long hold times and silence raise this bill, and transfers can too.
Minute bundles
You pay a monthly fee for a block of minutes, then an overage rate. Dialzara's pricing page lists $29 for 60 minutes up to $349 for 1,000, with overage from $0.48 down to $0.35 a minute.
Bundles are easier to budget. Unused minutes and overage are the two risks to check. Ask whether unused minutes roll over before you pick a bundle size, since the pages we opened don't say.
Per call
You pay for each call the AI answers. Smith.ai's AI pricing page lists $2.00 a call at the Pro tier of 75 calls. At higher tiers, the listed rate falls to $1.60.
Quo's pricing page includes 10 Sona calls on every plan, with extra calls at $1.00. Paid tiers run from $25 for 40 calls to $199 for 600, with extra calls at $0.75 down to $0.45.
Per-call plans make call length someone else's problem. Short calls and spam can raise your effective rate, so check how each vendor treats them.
Per customer
You pay for each distinct person who calls in a month. Goodcall's pricing page says a customer is one phone number, once a month, and that spam and wrong numbers do not count.
A customer who calls five times counts once. A business with many one-time callers won't see that benefit.
Per conversation and per outcome
Some tools count an interaction. Jobber's help article says its add-on includes 30 conversations for $29 a month, then $0.79 per conversation. An older Jobber page says 100, so confirm the allowance.
Fin's pricing page charges $0.99 per outcome for most outcomes and $9.99 per qualification, for website chat and support, not voice. You pay when something is resolved, routed or qualified, and it counts one outcome per conversation.
Worked examples
This is our own arithmetic, not vendor quotes. Each scenario is 200 calls a month. Goodcall assumes no more than 500 different callers.
| Plan | 200 one-minute calls | 200 six-minute calls |
|---|---|---|
| Retell at listed range | $14 to $62 | $84 to $372 |
| Bland Start | $28 | $168 |
| Dialzara | $99 (220-minute plan) | $419 ($349 for 1,000 minutes, plus 200 at $0.35) |
| Smith.ai Pro, 150-call tier | About $385 | About $385 |
| Quo Sona Tier 4 | $99, plus Quo phone plan | $99, plus Quo phone plan |
| Goodcall Growth | $129 | $129 |
Bland's figures exclude transfer minutes and the Smith.ai figure includes 50 overage calls at $2.30. Retell's range excludes extras such as knowledge base fees.
The same call volume produces very different results. That is why call length is the first number to pull.
How to pick a model
- Export one month of call logs.
- Count total calls, total minutes and unique callers.
- Remove spam, then check whether each vendor bills for it.
- Run the math on each model.
- Add the extras in our hidden costs article.
Our AI receptionist pricing guide has fuller vendor tables.
Next step
Do the math for your own call logs and pick the unit that fits your pattern. If you want a custom build priced around your calls, see our AI agent development service.
Frequently asked questions
Is per-minute or per-call pricing cheaper?
It depends on your average call length. Per-minute billing favors shorter calls, and per-call billing favors longer ones. Run both against your own logs.
What does per-customer billing mean?
You pay per unique caller each month. Goodcall counts one phone number once a month, and says repeat calls in that month don't count again.
Do I pay for spam calls?
It depends on the vendor. Goodcall and Jobber each say spam does not count toward usage. Smith.ai filters known spammers and lets you remove up to 10% of calls for selected spam.
Are minutes in a plan better than pay as you go?
A bundle is easier to budget, but you pay for it whether you use it or not. Pay-as-you-go tracks use more closely, though it can vary month to month.
Which billing model is best for a home service business?
It depends on your call length and repeat callers. Pull a month of logs and compare. Jobber and Housecall Pro users should also check their built-in AI's usage terms.
