Vapi pricing · October 2026
Vapi pricing, explained line by line
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting and passes your models through at cost, so the rate on its pricing page is never the rate on the invoice. Here is every line that can appear on a Vapi bill, what the packages add, a worked example for a receptionist line, and the costs that are easy to miss. Every figure comes from Vapi's own pages.
Checked on vapi.ai and docs.vapi.ai on 21 October 2026 · prices in US dollars
Calculator defaults: Deepgram, OpenAI and ElevenLabs, passed through at cost. Carrier charges come on top when you bring your own number.
The short answer
What a Vapi minute really costs
On pay-as-you-go, every minute carries Vapi's $0.05 hosting fee plus whatever your transcriber, language model and voice provider charge. Vapi passes those through at cost, and its own calculator puts the default stack at $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes a month: roughly 8 to 13 cents a minute before any carrier charges.
The packages (Core at $29 a month, Pro with a $999 monthly minimum, Premier on request) buy support, data retention, concurrency and SLAs. They do not replace usage: Vapi's documentation says usage-based billing stays active on every package. So the number to compare is the total per connected call, which is what working out a voice agent's cost per minute is about. The same exercise for Retell AI and Bland AI is on their own pages.
Every line on the bill
What Vapi charges for, and what it passes through
Vapi bills its own hosting fee and passes provider costs through without markup. The provider rates below are the ranges Vapi's calculator shows for its default providers; other providers have their own prices.
| Line item | Published price (USD) | How it is billed |
|---|---|---|
| Vapi hosting | $0.05 per minute | From prepaid credit. On Pro, the page lists 10% of the hosting fee with a $999 monthly minimum but does not define the base; ask Vapi for a quote. |
| Transcriber (speech-to-text) | $0.0095 to $0.0099 per minute in the calculator (Deepgram) | Passed through at cost |
| Language model | $0.0077 to $0.0452 per minute in the calculator (OpenAI) | Passed through at cost; the figure moves with the model and the tokens a call uses |
| Voice (text-to-speech) | $0.0146 to $0.0238 per minute in the calculator (ElevenLabs) | Passed through at cost |
| Vapi Telephony and SIP, WebSockets, WebRTC | Free | No transport charge |
| Twilio | $0.008 per minute inbound, $0.014 outbound | Charged by the provider, not by Vapi, as are any number fees the carrier charges |
| Telnyx, Vonage | $0.0055 and $0.00814 per minute | Charged by the provider, not by Vapi |
| Extra concurrent call lines | $10 per line per month | Beyond the lines your package includes |
| Extra organisations | $20 per organisation per month | Beyond the two or ten your package includes |
| HIPAA compliance | $2,000 per month | Includes a standard data processing agreement and business associate agreement |
| Free credit | $5 | For new accounts |
Packages
What the Vapi packages add
A package is a subscription on top of usage. It buys support, data retention, concurrency and SLAs; the minutes are still billed.
| Package | Price | Concurrent calls | Vapi numbers | Data retention | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No package | $0, pay per minute | 4 | 1 | 14 days | Discord and email, without SLA |
| Core | $29 per month | 10 | 5 | 30 days | Email, 2 business day response SLA |
| Pro | 10% of the hosting fee, $999 monthly minimum | 30 | 10 | 180 days | Email and dedicated Slack, 1 business day response SLA, 99% uptime SLA |
| Premier | Custom, direct sales only | Custom | Custom | Custom | 1 hour P0 response SLA, 99.9% uptime SLA; the EU region is only available here |
Worked example
A receptionist line taking 1,000 calls a month
Take an inbound AI receptionist answering 1,000 calls a month at three minutes each: 3,000 minutes. Pay-as-you-go, Vapi's default calculator stack, callers in the US on a free Vapi number. What you charge your own client for that line is a different question, worked out in AI receptionist pricing.
| Line | Calculation | Per month (USD) |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting | 3,000 × $0.05 | $150.00 |
| Transcriber | 3,000 × $0.0095 to $0.0099 | $28.50 to $29.70 |
| Language model | 3,000 × $0.0077 to $0.0452 | $23.10 to $135.60 |
| Voice | 3,000 × $0.0146 to $0.0238 | $43.80 to $71.40 |
| Transport, free Vapi number | free | $0.00 |
| Package | none | $0.00 |
| Total | about $0.082 to $0.129 per minute | $245.40 to $386.70 |
What moves the total
- Callers outside the US. The free number is a US number for inbound calls only, so you import a carrier number. With Twilio that adds 3,000 × $0.008 = $24 a month, billed by Twilio, plus any number fee Twilio charges.
- A response time you can hold someone to. Core adds $29 a month for a 2 business day email SLA. An uptime SLA starts at Pro, with a $999 monthly minimum.
- Health data in the US. The HIPAA add-on is $2,000 a month, five to eight times the usage in this example.
- A busy hour. 1,000 calls a month is about 45 per working day. In our estimate four lines cover most hours at that volume, but at the limit Vapi does not accept the next inbound call. An extra line is $10 a month; Core includes ten.
Easy to miss
The costs that are not in the per-minute rate
None of these are hidden by Vapi: they are on its pricing page and in its docs. They are just not in the number people quote.
A package does not replace usage
Vapi's docs say usage-based billing stays active when you add Core, Pro or Premier. Pro also carries a $999 monthly minimum, so it only makes sense at a volume where its SLAs and limits are worth that floor.
Four calls at once on pay-as-you-go
Without a package you get four concurrent calls. At the cap, Vapi will not start an outbound call or accept an inbound one. Each extra line is $10 a month.
The free number is US-only and inbound-only
Free Vapi numbers use US area codes, accept inbound calls only, cannot run outbound campaigns and cannot be ported out. Anywhere else you import a carrier number, and the carrier bills you separately.
The EU region sits in the top package
Vapi's EU region is available only with the Premier package, which is priced on request. For European callers that is a cost line before the first minute. Why the location matters for voice is on our sovereignty page.
HIPAA is a $2,000 monthly add-on
It includes a standard DPA and BAA, applies to the whole organisation, cannot be switched on through the API and cannot be combined with zero data retention.
The model line moves with your prompt
At-cost billing is fair, and it also means the model line grows with every token. Vapi's own calculator range for the language model spans almost six times from low to high. Long prompts push you up the range; cutting the rules a model never follows pulls you down.
Next to VoiceDock
How Vapi's pricing compares with ours
Vapi and VoiceDock price the same way at the core: a platform fee per minute, with the models passed through at cost. The differences are in the fee, the currency and what comes with it.
| Vapi | VoiceDock | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform fee | $0.05 per minute hosting | € 0,07 per minute orchestration, for inbound, outbound and web calls alike |
| Models | Passed through at cost; with your own provider keys, that provider bills you | Passed through at cost on our keys, or billed by your provider on your own keys, at the same fee |
| Telephony | Free transport on Vapi numbers (US, inbound); other carriers bill you directly | Billed per leg at the carrier's rate; your own number over your own SIP trunk, managed numbers on request |
| Monthly fee | None on pay-as-you-go; $29 for Core, $999 minimum for Pro, Premier on request | None; prepaid credit, invoicing by arrangement |
| Concurrency | 4 calls on pay-as-you-go, 10 on Core, 30 on Pro; $10 per extra line per month | Concurrent calls under fair use, more by arrangement |
| EU hosting | EU region on Premier only | Orchestration, dashboard, API and storage on EU infrastructure |
| Data processing agreement | A standard DPA is part of the $2,000 HIPAA add-on; Vapi's trust center also refers to a DPA | Standard DPA under GDPR Article 28, at no additional cost |
| Selling to your own clients | Extra organisations at $20 each per month | White-label and reseller setup by arrangement: a parent organisation covers its customer organisations, at your own price per customer, as agencies use it |
| Currency | US dollars | Euros, invoiced by Flireo B.V. in Deventer |
For the same 3,000 minutes, our orchestration comes to € 210, against $150 of hosting at Vapi: on the platform fee, Vapi is lower. Models are at cost on both, so the rest of the bill depends on the providers you pick, not on either platform's margin. What the difference buys at VoiceDock is an EU-hosted platform layer without an enterprise package, a DPA at no extra cost, engineers who build the line with you and read the SIP logs when a call fails, and the failover described on our reliability page. The full side-by-side is on our Vapi alternative page.
Fair is fair
When Vapi is the cheaper choice
A pricing guide that only finds reasons to pick the author is worth nothing. Three cases where Vapi comes out ahead.
You only need the platform
$0.05 a minute is less than our € 0,07, and pay-as-you-go has no monthly fee. If you are comfortable choosing, tuning and debugging providers yourself, that difference is real money at volume.
Your callers are in the US
A free Vapi number with free transport and $5 of credit lets you test a US line without opening a carrier account.
You want to start tonight, alone
Sign up, take the credit and build. If you never want to talk to a vendor, a self-serve platform fits better than our done-with-you model, and you will not pay for help you do not use.
Questions
What people ask about Vapi pricing
How much does Vapi cost per minute?
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting, plus your transcriber, model and voice at cost. Its calculator puts the default stack at $82 to $129 per 1,000 minutes, roughly $0.08 to $0.13 a minute, before carrier charges. Figures from vapi.ai/pricing, checked 21 October 2026.
Does Vapi have a monthly fee?
Not on pay-as-you-go. Packages cost $29 a month (Core), 10% of the hosting fee with a $999 monthly minimum (Pro), or a custom price (Premier). Usage stays billed on every package.
Does Vapi mark up model costs?
No. Vapi's pricing page says models pass through at cost and lists provider costs with no markup. Your own provider keys are supported too; Vapi's docs say you are then not charged for that provider through Vapi.
Are phone numbers included in Vapi's price?
One free Vapi number without a package, five on Core and ten on Pro. Free numbers are US numbers for inbound calls only. Numbers from Twilio, Telnyx or another carrier are billed by that carrier.
How many calls can run at once on Vapi?
Four on pay-as-you-go, ten on Core, thirty on Pro and a custom number on Premier. Extra lines are $10 each per month.
How does VoiceDock's pricing compare?
€ 0,07 per minute for orchestration, models at cost on our keys or billed directly on yours, telephony per leg at the carrier's rate, no package and no per-seat licence. Everything is on our pricing page.
Sources, checked 21 October 2026
- Vapi pricing
- Vapi: pricing and success packages
- Vapi: packages and add-ons
- Vapi: billing and credits
- Vapi: call concurrency
- Vapi: free telephony
- Vapi: importing a Twilio number
- Vapi: provider keys
- Vapi: HIPAA
- Vapi: EU region
- Vapi trust center
Vapi documents two billing models; this page follows the current one with packages and add-ons. Prices change, so check Vapi's own pages before you rely on any figure here, including ours.
Want the same sum for your own line?
Send us your call volume, average call length and the countries your callers are in. We work out the cost per connected conversation with you, line by line, and tell you plainly where Vapi comes out cheaper.