Best Vapi alternatives in 2026

Why teams look for a Vapi alternative

• No engineers: Vapi expects you to write and host code. Business teams want to describe the job and go live.
• Unpredictable cost: the per-minute hosting fee is only part of the bill — model, speech and telephony are charged on top.
• Phone-only: sales and support also happen on WhatsApp, email and chat, and customers expect one conversation across them.
• Everything around the call: campaigns, contact lists, CRM updates and reporting are yours to build on a voice API.

1. Jelliu — best no-code Vapi alternative (voice + WhatsApp)

Jelliu is a no-code platform of autonomous AI agents, called Bop, that handle sales, support, appointments, collections and outbound campaigns over voice calls, WhatsApp (the main channel), email and web chat, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. You describe what the agent does, add your knowledge and connect your CRM; developers can still go deeper with the API, webhooks and the MCP server.

Pricing is published and flat: a permanent Free plan with 15 voice minutes each month, then Starter $99, Growth $249 and Business $549 per month with voice minutes included (see pricing). On the Enterprise plan Jelliu can also run on your own servers or private cloud — see private AI voice agents. Full head-to-head: Jelliu vs Vapi.

2. Retell AI — closest developer alternative

Retell is a voice-agent platform with pre-built templates, simulation testing, webhooks and an API, billed pay-as-you-go at $0.07–$0.31 per minute with 20 concurrent calls included; Enterprise adds custom terms, SSO and dedicated support. It suits teams that like Vapi’s model but want more out of the box. See Jelliu vs Retell.

3. Bland AI — programmatic calling at volume

Bland is API-first and prices calls at $0.14 per minute with no platform fee, or $0.12 per minute on a $299/month plan, with the language model, transcription and voices included in that rate and telephony billed separately. SMS, web chat and on-prem/VPC deployment are listed on Enterprise. See Jelliu vs Bland.

4. Synthflow — enterprise contract with launch support

Synthflow now sells only annual enterprise agreements scoped to your call volume, telephony and integrations, with no free plan, trial or per-minute rate; its team can implement and launch the agents with you. A fit for mid-market and enterprise deployments with a procurement process. See Jelliu vs Synthflow.

5. Thoughtly — inbound lead follow-up

Thoughtly focuses on responding to new leads in seconds over voice, SMS and email and booking the meeting; plans are sized with its team and most start with a 30–60 day pilot (per its pricing page, October 28, 2026). See Jelliu vs Thoughtly.

6. PolyAI — enterprise contact centers

PolyAI builds managed voice assistants for large contact centers, sold on enterprise contracts through sales. Strong when you have the budget and timeline of a large CX program; not a self-serve tool. See Jelliu vs PolyAI.

7. Lindy — general no-code agents

Lindy is a no-code builder for general business agents (email, meetings, calendar and voice), with a Team plan from $29.99 per user per month and $50 in free credits (per lindy.ai/pricing, October 20, 2026). Broad rather than focused on customer phone and WhatsApp operations. See Jelliu vs Lindy.

How to choose

• Choose Jelliu if a non-technical team needs AI agents on phone calls and WhatsApp, with flat monthly pricing and a Free plan to start today.
• Choose Retell or Bland if you have developers and want per-minute pricing and API control like Vapi, with more included.
• Choose Synthflow or PolyAI if you are an enterprise that prefers a scoped contract and a vendor-led deployment.
• Choose Thoughtly for a sales-led inbound lead program over phone and SMS, or Lindy for general no-code automation.

How we compared

Disclosure first: Jelliu is our product. Every competitor cell above comes from that vendor’s public pricing page, checked on November 1, 2026 (Thoughtly on October 28 and Lindy on October 20, 2026). We give no scores or star ratings and invent no benchmarks. Prices change often — confirm on the vendor page before you buy.

Sources: vapi.ai/pricing, retellai.com/pricing, bland.ai/pricing, synthflow.ai/pricing, thoughtly.com/pricing, lindy.ai/pricing, poly.ai, jelliu.co/pricing. More rankings: best AI voice agent platforms and best AI autonomous agent platforms; or start with the AI voice agents guide.