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Use case · AI receptionist

Best voice agents for an AI receptionist or front desk

These platforms run the front desk: greeting callers, answering the routine questions, taking bookings and routing the rest to the right person. Good fit for a clinic, salon, agency or any small team drowning in the phone.

Editorial preview ordering. The order reflects our provisional 1–10 scores, set to get the framework in place, not yet blind test calls. Pricing, voice counts and compliance are sourced and dated on each platform's page. How we test.

What to look for: Look for a warm, on-brand voice, simple booking and routing, and the compliance you need if you handle anything sensitive.

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ElevenLabs Profiled
Best voice quality Free tier

The most natural-sounding AI voice we have heard, whether you are voicing a video or putting it on a live phone line.

$ 0.08–0.25 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
Retell AI Profiled
Free credit

Get a working phone agent live in days, not months, with the call handling built in and the AI brain your choice.

$ 0.07–0.31 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
Cartesia Profiled
FastestBudget pick Free tier

The speed specialist whose fast, natural speech is what keeps a live phone agent feeling real rather than laggy.

$ 0.08–0.15 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
Vapi Profiled
Most flexible Free credit

Build a phone agent exactly the way you want it, choosing each part yourself, if you have a developer to hand.

$ 0.05–0.30 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Synthflow ⚠ caution

The no-code voice-agent builder that went enterprise-only: public pricing is gone and contracts start at $30,000 a year.

Custom quote only
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11

OpenAI's speech-to-speech model and API for building your own voice agent, billed by audio tokens, not by the minute.

$ 0.07–0.48 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Hume AI Profiled
Best voice quality Free tier

A voice that picks up how the caller is feeling and answers in kind, for warmer and more human conversations.

$ 0.05–0.13 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
ServiceAgent Profiled
Free tier

An AI phone answerer for home-services trades that books jobs and updates your dispatch CRM 24/7.

$ 0.30–0.60 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Telnyx Profiled
Most flexible Free credit

Get the voice agent and the phone network it runs on from one provider, useful when you want billing in one place.

$ 0.06–0.20 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Trillet AI Profiled

White-label voice agents for agencies: client workspaces from $99 a month and calls at a flat $0.12 a minute.

$ 0.05–0.12 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-12
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Bland Profiled
Best value Free tier

Run big outbound calling campaigns on one flat per-minute rate, best if you have engineers to set it up.

$ 0.11–0.14 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Rime Profiled
Free tier

Enterprise text-to-speech built for high-stakes phone calls, where a mispronounced name loses the customer.

$ 0.04–0.10 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
Deepgram Profiled
Budget pick Free credit

Fast, accurate speech-to-text to power high-volume voice apps, for teams happy to build on a developer API.

$ 0.08–0.18 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
CloudTalk Profiled
Free trial

Cloud call-centre software with deep calling and CRM features, now adding AI voice agents as a per-minute add-on.

$ 0.15–0.35 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Hermes Profiled
Free trial

The operating layer for AI voice agencies: client workspaces, white-label domains and billing on top of Retell or Vapi.

$ 0.21–0.24 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
PolyAI Profiled

Enterprise voice assistants for big contact centres, with brand-name customers and quote-only pricing.

Custom quote only
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15
Frontdesk Profiled
Free trial

A done-for-you AI receptionist for small trades and clinics, with texting and booking built in, priced by minute.

$ 0.07–0.25 /min all-in
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-07-11
Sierra Profiled

Enterprise AI agents for customer support, voice and chat, billed per resolved conversation rather than per minute.

Custom quote only
Not yet call-tested Prices 2026-06-15

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