Bland vs Speko vs Vapi vs Retell AI: which agent phone plan should you use?

Bland, Speko, Vapi, and Retell AI can connect AI assistants to phone calls, but they sell different services. Bland's Agent Phone Plan gives an assistant you already use a number for calls and texts. The other three provide tools for building or deploying voice assistants, with separate usage charges.

Bland sells the first option in each table. Our plan costs more than the lowest published calling components for a light month, but includes texting within its limits. Setup requirements, incoming calls, and texting can change the choice as much as the per-minute rate.

What does your agent need from a phone?#

A dedicated number gives people a place to call or text your assistant back. Decide whether you need incoming calls and two-way texting as well as calls your assistant starts. Also check whether you need a ready-made service or have a developer to build and maintain it.

How do the four compare?#

Each service needs an account connection. The difference is how much you must configure after that. Grok Bot compatibility remains unconfirmed for your version; confirm the supported Bland connection before buying. ChatGPT must allow a custom connector with write actions to place calls. Whether ChatGPT can text through that connector remains unconfirmed here, even though the Bland number supports texting.

• Made for: Bland: The AI you already use, including ChatGPT, Claude, Codex, OpenClaw, Poke, Meta Muse and Grok Bot; Speko: Developers connecting coding assistants to outgoing calls; Vapi: Developers who build a Vapi voice assistant first; Retell AI: Businesses building voice agents, with in-chat calls meant for testing
• Callbacks: Bland: Your agent can take calls on its number; Speko: Yes on a configured number with an answering agent, though the coding-assistant tool only calls out; Vapi: Yes, once an assistant is assigned to the number; Retell AI: Yes, once an inbound agent is assigned to the number
• Getting set up: Bland: Your agent starts the signup and you approve it in your browser; Speko: You approve a device login and complete a short business declaration; Vapi: You create an account credential and build a Vapi assistant; Retell AI: A human sign-in, a card for the number and an identity check before outbound calls can take place

A light month here means one number and 60 minutes of US calls at each vendor's lowest published components. These are component estimates, not guaranteed configured quotes or comparisons of equal voice quality. Figures that exclude texting are labelled, because they do not buy the same service as Bland's flat plan.

• A light month: Bland: $9.99 for the first month (once per account owner), then $19.99 flat; Speko: About $9.30 for the first month, then $8.30, for one number and 60 minutes, before texting; Vapi: About $6.90 for one Twilio number and 60 minutes, before texting; Retell AI: About $7.20 for one number and 60 minutes, or about $27.70 with texting
• Texting: Bland: Included in our plan, up to 100 sent texts a day, including automatic replies; Speko: Receiving is free, while sending requires US business-text registration; Vapi: Requires a registered Twilio number added to Vapi, and your agent cannot text first; Retell AI: A $20 a month add-on after a two to three week business application
• Limits: Bland: One call at a time, 20 calls an hour and 50 a day, US and Canada; Speko: 3 calls an hour and 8 a day to the same number by default; Vapi: 4 calls at once on the usage-only tier; Retell AI: 20 calls at once on pay as you go, and 20 outbound calls an hour from the Claude connector

Retell AI's calling figure is a $2.00 number plus about $0.087 a minute for its platform fee, voice, model and US telephony. That rate sits above the $0.07 floor on its pricing page. Its texting figure adds the $20 a month add-on and 50 texts at $0.01 each. Speko and Vapi don't publish a per-text price, so their figures cover calls and a number only.

Twilio supplies the phone number and telephony used in the Vapi example. Vapi's lower components are $0.05 for hosting, $0.0095 for transcription, $0.0077 for the model, $0.0146 for the voice and $0.014 for outgoing telephony per minute. Together they are $0.0958 a minute, so 60 minutes plus a $1.15 Twilio number rounds to $6.90.

Where does the Agent Phone Plan differ?#

Bland combines a number, voice AI and texting in one plan. The other services price their components separately.

A service sold in components can involve a number, a per-minute voice rate, and a texting add-on once you've finished a registration form. Bland's Agent Phone Plan gives your existing assistant one dedicated US local number to call and text from. Your agent can take calls on its number. Calls and texts to US and Canada numbers are included within our plan's limits.

When you ask your assistant to call, Bland's voice AI handles the spoken conversation and returns a summary. Your existing assistant sends the task rather than becoming the voice on the phone.

Getting it is the easy part. An agent that can make web requests can start the signup itself and send you a link, and our plan only begins when you approve it in your own browser. Agents are told never to handle your payment details.

For developers: which Speko route does the table describe?#

Speko's mcp-calls tool lets coding assistants request outgoing calls. Answering incoming calls needs a configured number and a deployed voice agent.

Bland's docs require an additional compatibility check for Grok Bot. Setup differs by app. ChatGPT and Claude offer account sign-in routes, while coding tools may need an API key, a credential that lets the app use your Bland account. Check your ChatGPT plan can add a custom connector with write actions before you subscribe. Write actions let ChatGPT ask an outside service to do something, such as place a call. Follow the Bland setup instructions for your app.

Which connection does each app use?#

MCP is a standard that lets AI apps use outside tools, such as Bland's phone tools.

• ChatGPT, Claude and Codex connect through Bland's MCP server.
• OpenClaw and Poke connect through Bland's remote MCP endpoint.
• Meta Muse uses Bland's REST API, a programming interface for making web requests, rather than MCP.
• Grok Bot adds the Phone with Bland template. Bland's docs cover two more routes that end with a custom MCP connection.

The setup for agents page has each app's instructions. Codex uses an API key rather than sign-in.

US business-text registration is called 10DLC. Texting is where the gap is widest. At each of the other three, two-way texting from your agent's own number runs through a US 10DLC registration first, and at Retell AI, that's a business application that takes two to three weeks. On the Agent Phone Plan, texting is part of the plan, and when someone replies, Bland answers from the same number, working toward whatever goal you gave it. There's more on exactly how that works on the AI phone number to text page.

At the lowest published calling rates used above, Bland's ongoing $19.99 price crosses the other totals at roughly three to three and a half hours a month. That calculation excludes texting from the Speko and Vapi totals, so it does not establish a texting crossover for those services. Our plan also allows one call at a time across the account, up to 20 calls an hour and 50 a day, and it reaches US and Canada numbers only, which suits errands and not call centers. Everything else about our plan is on the AI phone number page.

What would a phone errand look like?#

This is a made-up example, not a test result. You could ask your assistant to call a plumber and ask about availability. Bland's voice AI would make that request from your number and return a summary. You could then ask your assistant to text an address you have agreed to share. Bland answers text replies toward the goal you give it. Whether the plumber has an appointment available is the plumber's decision.

You can try it for free. That try covers outbound calls only, from a shared Bland number: no dedicated number, no texting, no incoming calls. Choose your app on the setup for agents page to see its connection steps.