# Dial review (2026): What it is and why agent owners choose Bland By Samuel Oram-Jones Before an agent owner can price Dial, they have to guess how long their agent will talk. Dial's numbers cost $3, $35, or $300 a month as of November 2026, and Dial bills calls by the minute by default, at $0.13 or $0.22 a minute. Agent owners who want one known monthly bill choose Bland's Agent Phone Plan. More plans are compared in [AI agent phone plans compared](/compare/agent-phone-plan). ## What is Dial and how does it work? Dial is a developer service that gives an AI agent a phone number for calls, SMS, WhatsApp, and iMessage through one API, a command-line tool, and an MCP server, while Bland's Agent Phone Plan gives one agent a dedicated US number for calls and texts at one flat monthly price. Dial describes itself as "Calls, SMS, WhatsApp and iMessage for AI agents. One API, one CLI, one MCP server." Each number belongs to one agent, which Dial calls "a real phone number an AI agent controls." Dial provisions US, Canadian, and international numbers. A number comes in one of three types: Virtual is a VoIP or toll-free number, Local is a carrier number, and All channels is a Local number with iMessage and WhatsApp included. ### What features does Dial offer? Dial's agents place and take voice calls with real-time transcription, and send and receive SMS on the same number. A Local number can add iMessage, with an automatic fallback to RCS or SMS, and WhatsApp, which Dial keeps allowlist-only in beta. Neither add-on is available on a Virtual number. A call runs one of two ways, self-hosted, where the owner's own language model writes the replies, or managed, on Dial's hosted model. Inbound calls go to the agent by default, and the owner can forward them to a person's phone or switch calling off to run a number for messaging only. ### Which AI agents work with Dial? Dial connects through a remote MCP server with browser sign-in for Claude, Cursor, and ChatGPT. MCP, short for Model Context Protocol, is the standard way an AI assistant plugs into an outside service. Dial's command-line tool installs a Dial skill into Claude Code, Cursor, Codex, OpenCode, Pi, OpenClaw, NanoClaw, and Hermes, and developers can call the REST API directly or use Dial's SDKs for Node, Python, and LangChain. ## How much does Dial cost? Dial charges $3.00, $35.00, or $300.00 a month per number, plus, on metered billing, $0.13 a minute for self-hosted calls or $0.22 a minute for managed calls, while Bland's Agent Phone Plan costs $9.99 for the first month (once per account owner), then $19.99 a month with calls and texts included. Dial's published price list: - Virtual number: $3.00 a month, with US texts at $0.02 a message - Local number: $35.00 a month, with SMS included - iMessage on a Local number: +$215 a month - WhatsApp on a Local number: +$100 a month - All channels number: $300.00 a month, with iMessage and WhatsApp included, which Dial says saves $50 - Enterprise: custom pricing on an annual agreement International texts fall into seven tiers, from $0.02 a message in the US and Canada to $1.00 in the highest tier. Dial says an agent "can call and text anyone on Earth." A Virtual number needs 10DLC registration before it can text, which takes up to 3 days and carries a one-time fee. 10DLC is the US carrier registration for business texts. A Local number texts from its first day with no registration. Worked from Dial's published prices, an agent that spends 100 minutes a month on managed calls costs $57 a month on a Local number ($35 plus $22). On a Virtual number, the same calls and 100 US texts come to $27 a month ($3 plus $22 plus $2), before the one-time registration fee. Dial also offers an optional flat monthly or yearly subscription per number with unmetered usage, and shows its prices only inside the dashboard. iMessage numbers stay on metered billing. ## Is Dial easy to set up, and is it safe? Dial takes a command-line signup or a remote MCP sign-in plus an owner's email code and personal phone number, and Dial leaves AI and recording notices to the customer, while Bland's Agent Phone Plan lets an agent start its own signup for the owner to approve. ### How setup works on Dial An agent installs Dial's command-line tool and signs up with an owner's email address, the owner passes along the one-time code Dial emails, and a new account also needs a personal phone number that can receive SMS. Dial refuses one of its own numbers here. Dial says new signups can be paused, in which case the agent asks whether the owner has a coupon code. ### Privacy and safety on Dial Dial's terms put the duty on the customer to give people "all legally required notices and disclosures, including regarding automated or AI-driven communications and any call or message recording." Dial handles call recordings, message content, and transcripts as a processor for its customer under a data processing addendum. Dial keeps personal data "for as long as your account is active and thereafter for as long as necessary," and says "We do not apply fixed deletion timelines to account records and communications data, and may retain them on this basis." Dial says "We do not train AI models on your content." Dial claims SOC 2, GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliance. ## What are Dial's pros and cons? Dial's weak point for an agent owner is the cost of texting, since a number that texts from its first day costs $35 a month and a $3 Virtual number waits up to 3 days for 10DLC registration, while Bland's Agent Phone Plan includes texts to US and Canada numbers in its monthly price.

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## How does Bland compare with Dial? Bland's Agent Phone Plan gives one AI agent a dedicated US number that places and takes calls and sends and receives texts for one flat monthly price, while Dial sells Virtual, Local, and All channels numbers from $3 to $300 a month and charges extra for iMessage and WhatsApp. On Bland, the agent places a call from its number and returns a transcript and summary, takes calls on the same number, and sends texts, and Bland answers replies from the number toward the goal the agent was given. The agent asks and reports back, and the business decides. More is on Bland's [AI phone number](https://www.bland.ai/ai-phone-number) page. | Feature | Bland Agent Phone Plan | Dial | |---|---|---| | Number | One dedicated US local number | Virtual, Local, or All channels, in the US, Canada, and other countries | | Monthly price | $9.99 first month (once per account owner), then $19.99 a month | $3.00, $35.00, or $300.00 per number | | Calls | Included, subject to fair use | $0.13 a minute self-hosted, $0.22 managed, metered by default | | Texts | Included to US and Canada numbers, subject to fair use | $0.02 a US message on Virtual, included on Local | | iMessage and WhatsApp | No, calls and SMS only | +$215 and +$100 a month on Local, included on All channels | | Calls at once | One | Two on a free account | | Destinations | US and Canada, plus $10 of international calling credits with the first plan purchase | Texts in seven price tiers worldwide | ### What does Bland's plan cost and include? Bland's Agent Phone Plan costs $9.99 for the first month (once per account owner), then $19.99 a month. Renews monthly on the card on file until cancelled. The price covers the number and unlimited voice minutes and SMS to US and Canada numbers, subject to fair use, with no per-minute or per-text charges. The first plan purchase also includes an extra $10 of international calling credits, so the agent can make international calls, and the plan includes live call transfer to the owner and voice cloning. Limits are one call at a time across the account, 20 calls an hour, 50 calls a day, 1,000 call minutes a day, 60 minutes per outbound call, 20 texts an hour, and 100 texts a day. There is no trial on the plan, and the card is charged when the owner approves. Bland can be tried for free. That try covers outbound calls only, from a shared Bland number: no dedicated number, no texting, no incoming calls. An owner cancels in Billing and Plans or through the API. More calls at once need Bland's Build plan, on the [pricing page](https://www.bland.ai/pricing). Enterprise pricing is custom, set with Bland's sales team. ### How does Bland connect to an AI agent? Bland's [MCP server for phone calls](https://www.bland.ai/ai-phone-number/phone-call-mcp-server) carries the call and text tools. Claude Code takes one command to add Bland's MCP server, then a sign-in with Bland or an API key. An agent can also start its own signup with no key: it shows the owner a link and a code, the owner signs up and approves in a browser, and the agent receives a key, plus a number if the owner chose the plan. Codes expire in 15 minutes. Every Bland MCP tool carries read-only and destructive annotations, so well-behaved clients ask before they dial, and tool approval should stay on. Bland's privacy policy keeps information "as long as necessary to provide you with the Service," and the agent can read its call transcripts back. Bland isn't partnered with or endorsed by OpenAI or Anthropic.

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### Verdict: Dial or Bland for an AI agent? Bland is the better choice for an agent that calls and texts on one person's behalf in the US and Canada, because Bland's Agent Phone Plan includes the calls that Dial meters by the minute by default.

Use Bland when

Use Dial when

The head-to-head detail is in [Bland Agent Phone Plan vs Dial](/compare/agent-phone-plan-vs-dial), and [AgentPhone vs Dial](/blog/agentphone-vs-dial) sets Dial beside another phone API. ## Frequently asked questions ### Is Dial worth it? Dial suits a developer who wants iMessage or WhatsApp on an agent's number and will pay $215 or $100 a month for them on a $35 Local number, not an agent owner who wants one dedicated US number for calls and texts, which Bland's Agent Phone Plan gives. ### How much does Dial cost per month? Dial charges $3.00 a month for a Virtual number, $35.00 for a Local number, and $300.00 for an All channels number, with call minutes at $0.13 or $0.22. ### Is Dial free to try? Yes, every Dial account starts with $5 of credit and no card. A free account is capped at 5 minutes per call and 2 calls at once until the first top-up or subscription. ### Can an AI agent sign up for Dial by itself? Partly, because Dial's command-line signup needs a person to read back an email code and give a personal phone number that can receive SMS. On Bland, an agent can start its own signup, and the owner finishes it and approves the plan in a browser. ### Does Dial support iMessage and WhatsApp? Yes, Dial adds iMessage for $215 a month and WhatsApp for $100 a month on a Local number, and includes both in its $300 All channels number. Bland's Agent Phone Plan does calls and SMS only. ### What is the best alternative to Dial? For an AI agent that calls and texts in the US and Canada, Bland's Agent Phone Plan is the best alternative to Dial, with a dedicated US number that places and takes calls and sends and receives texts.