How Much Does an AI Voice Agent Cost? A Transparent Breakdown (2025)
AI voice agent pricing is confusing — per-minute fees, platform subscriptions, API costs. Here's a transparent, honest breakdown of what you'll actually pay at different call volumes.
If you've tried to price out an AI voice agent, you've probably noticed that the numbers vary wildly across platforms. Some charge per minute, some charge flat monthly fees, some do both. Here's an honest breakdown of all the cost components involved.
The Three Cost Layers
1. Platform / Software Cost
This is what the voice agent platform charges for its software — the dashboard, the agent configuration tools, the phone number management, the call routing, the analytics. Pricing typically ranges from $50/month for basic plans to $500+/month for high-volume business plans.
2. Telephony Cost
Phone numbers and call minutes cost money. A Twilio or Telnyx number costs roughly $1–2/month, and inbound call minutes are typically $0.007–$0.015/minute. This is usually billed as part of your platform fee or as a direct pass-through.
3. AI Infrastructure Cost
The actual intelligence in your voice agent runs on AI APIs. Here are the current public rates (March 2025):
- Deepgram STT (Nova-2): $0.0043/minute
- OpenAI GPT-4o-mini: ~$0.0002/1K input tokens, $0.0008/1K output tokens
- ElevenLabs TTS (standard voice): ~$0.30/1K characters
For a typical 3-minute conversation, the total AI infrastructure cost is approximately $0.03–$0.06.
Real Cost Examples at Different Volumes
100 calls/month (small business, ~5 min avg call)
- Platform: $50–$100/month
- AI inference (BYOK): ~$3–$5
- Telephony: ~$4
- Total: ~$57–$109/month
1,000 calls/month (growing SMB, ~4 min avg call)
- Platform: $100–$200/month
- AI inference (BYOK): ~$25–$45
- Telephony: ~$30
- Total: ~$155–$275/month
5,000 calls/month (established business, ~4 min avg call)
- Platform: $200–$400/month
- AI inference (BYOK): ~$120–$200
- Telephony: ~$150
- Total: ~$470–$750/month
What These Numbers Don't Include
Setup time (typically 1–4 hours for the first agent), ongoing knowledge base maintenance (roughly 30 min/month to update FAQs), and any human escalation costs for calls the agent can't handle.
How to Evaluate Total Cost of Ownership
Compare the all-in monthly cost against what you're currently spending on the same function: receptionist salary, answering service fees, missed call revenue. For most businesses, the economics become compelling above 200 calls/month.
OpenVoice Agents uses a BYOK model so you pay AI providers directly — no markup on inference costs. Start a free trial and see your actual cost before committing.