Skip to content
effecthub

Phonely AI vs Retell AI

Two fact sheets from our own research, side by side — pricing, platforms, API access and status re-checked by us rather than quoted from the vendors.

The short answer

Free plan
Retell AI has one; Phonely AI prices on request
Public API
Both have one
Higher Trust score
Retell AI — 92 vs 70 for Phonely AI
Best fit
Phonely AI: Teams replacing overflow call-center capacity · Retell AI: Teams replacing an outbound qualification or booking script
Status
Both up at our last check (Oct 15, 2026)

From our own records as of each tool's last check. Anything we have not confirmed is left out rather than guessed. How we verify

Phonely AIVoice AI agents that answer and route business phone calls around the clock.Retell AIBuild and run AI phone agents that book, qualify and transfer calls, billed by the minute.

Side by side

FactPhonely AIRetell AI
CategoryVoice Agents & Phone AIVoice Agents & Phone AI
Pricing modelContactFreemium
Starts at—$0.07/min
Public APIYesYes
Trust score70 / 10092 / 100
PlatformsWeb, APIWeb, API
CompanyPhonely Ltd.Retell AI Inc.
Launched—2023
Last verifiedOct 15, 2026Oct 15, 2026

What our research says

Phonely AI

Phonely gives support and sales teams a voice agent that can staff a phone line without a script rewrite for every call. The trial is generous enough to judge call quality, but pricing sits behind a demo call rather than a plan page.

Pros

  • 100 free call minutes to test quality before paying
  • Prebuilt integrations with HubSpot, Salesforce, Zapier, and Google Calendar
  • Compliance claims covering HIPAA, PCI, SOC 2, and GDPR
  • One agent deployable across phone, chat, SMS, and API

Cons

  • No published pricing; a demo call is required for a quote
  • Company country and founding year are not stated on the site

Retell AI

One of the more honest voice-agent stacks: the pricing page breaks out infrastructure, TTS and LLM cost per minute so you can predict a call's cost instead of guessing. Telephony choice is wide and the concurrency allowance is generous. The catch is that per-minute billing plus add-ons makes a busy contact centre expensive fast, and the cheap end of the range only holds if you pick the cheap models.

Pros

  • Per-minute cost broken down by voice infrastructure, TTS provider and LLM on the public pricing page
  • Telephony via SIP trunking, Twilio and Vonage plus n8n, HubSpot, Make and Go High Level integrations
  • 20 concurrent calls included before any concurrency charge
  • Voice, chat and SMS agents share one platform and API
  • HIPAA path exists via a signed BAA covered in the terms of service

Cons

  • Cost per minute more than quadruples between the cheapest and most capable model combinations
  • Knowledge base, denoising, PII removal and branded caller ID are all metered extras
  • No flat-rate plan, so a spike in call volume lands straight on the invoice

Which one fits

Choose Phonely AI if you need

  • Teams replacing overflow call-center capacity
  • Businesses wanting one agent across phone, chat, and SMS
  • Companies already running HubSpot or Salesforce for follow-up

Choose Retell AI if you need

  • Teams replacing an outbound qualification or booking script
  • Contact centres that already have Twilio, Vonage or SIP trunking
  • Developers who want per-minute cost visibility before launch

Phonely AI vs Retell AI: the questions people ask

Is Phonely AI cheaper than Retell AI?

Retell AI starts at $0.07/min; Phonely AI prices on request, so a quote is the only way to compare.

Does Phonely AI or Retell AI have a free tier?

Retell AI has a free tier; Phonely AI prices on request.

Which has a public API, Phonely AI or Retell AI?

Both ship a public API, so either can be built on; the fact table above shows the platforms each one runs on.

More comparisons

All Phonely AI alternatives →Browse all Voice Agents & Phone AI →