ElevenLabs Agents vs Retell AI
An independent, review-free comparison compiled by the SaaSTracker editorial team. Both products are profiled in full, and neither can pay for placement here.
Still shortlisting? Browse the best in AI Voice Agents for every option we track, with award winners called out.
The short answer
Editorial assessmentElevenLabs Agents compared with Retell AI
Retell provides more production tooling around the agent lifecycle, batch calling, testing, evaluation, and a flow builder, with voice as one configurable component. ElevenLabs leads decisively on the voice itself. Choose based on whether the deployment is limited by call operations tooling or by how the agent sounds.
Choose ElevenLabs Agents if
Brands and product teams where voice quality is a differentiator, multilingual deployments, and in-product voice experiences where the agent is part of the customer experience rather than a back-office tool.
Choose Retell AI if
Product teams and technically capable agencies deploying voice agents in production for booking, qualification, support triage, and outbound campaigns, who want flow-based control without building orchestration themselves.
Side by side
13 attributes| Attribute | ElevenLabs Agents | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Voice AI | Voice AI |
| Starting price | From roughly $0.08 per minute of conversation depending on configuration, within plan tiers starting at low monthly subscription levels (free plan available) | From roughly $0.07 per minute combined, with free credits to start (free trial) |
| Pricing model | Usage-based per minute of conversation, with rates depending on the models and features selected, sold within the broader ElevenLabs subscription structure. Enterprise agreements for volume and dedicated capacity. | Usage-based per minute with components broken out, voice, language model, transcription, and telephony, so teams can trade quality against cost. Volume discounts and enterprise arrangements available. |
| Free plan | Limited free usage for testing | No |
| Free trial | Free tier and trial credits within the ElevenLabs platform | Free testing credits on signup |
| Best for | Brands and product teams where voice quality is a differentiator, multilingual deployments, and in-product voice experiences where the agent is part of the customer experience rather than a back-office tool. | Product teams and technically capable agencies deploying voice agents in production for booking, qualification, support triage, and outbound campaigns, who want flow-based control without building orchestration themselves. |
| Setup time | A prototype in hours. Production deployment takes weeks, with most effort in conversation design, knowledge base preparation, and testing rather than integration. | A working agent in a day. Production readiness takes weeks, dominated by flow design, testing against realistic audio, and defining escalation behavior. |
| Learning curve | Moderate. Configuration is approachable, and the genuine difficulty is the same as everywhere in this category: designing conversations that behave sensibly when callers do not follow the expected path. | Moderate. The flow builder is approachable, but designing conversations that hold up when callers say unexpected things requires iteration and listening to failures rather than reading documentation. |
| Platforms | REST API, Web and mobile SDKs, Telephony integration, Web dashboard | REST API and SDKs, Web dashboard with flow builder, Telephony integration, Web calling |
| Compliance | GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, Voice consent verification controls | GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, HIPAA support on qualifying arrangements, TCPA considerations for outbound |
| Founded | 2022 | 2023 |
| Headquarters | New York, United States and London, United Kingdom | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Ownership | Private, venture-backed | Private, venture-backed |
Strengths and limitations
ElevenLabs Agents
Strengths
- The most natural synthetic speech generally available, which is audible on a real call.
- Exceptional multilingual coverage compared with most voice agent platforms.
- Voice cloning for consistent brand identity across channels.
- Strong SDKs for in-product voice, not only telephony.
Limitations
- Premium voice quality carries a premium price per minute.
- Less provider composability than orchestration-focused platforms.
- Not packaged for non-technical small business buyers.
- Realistic voice cloning raises disclosure and misuse questions that deployments must address explicitly.
Retell AI
Strengths
- Flow builder gives structured control without requiring everything to be written in code.
- Strong focus on latency and interruption handling, which determine whether calls feel acceptable.
- Production tooling included: batch calling, voicemail detection, testing, and success evaluation.
- Function calling lets agents complete tasks rather than only gather information.
Limitations
- Still requires technical capability; it is not a no-code product despite the visual builder.
- Agent quality depends heavily on flow and prompt design, which is genuine work.
- Telephony and provider costs stack on top of platform fees, complicating budgeting.
- Automated outbound calling faces varying legal restrictions by jurisdiction.
Pricing compared
ElevenLabs Agents
Usage-based per minute of conversation, with rates depending on the models and features selected, sold within the broader ElevenLabs subscription structure. Enterprise agreements for volume and dedicated capacity.
- Starter tiersFrom about $5 to $22
- ScaleUsage-based
- EnterpriseQuoted
If the voice is part of the customer experience rather than a cost line, the quality difference is worth paying for and is the clearest reason to choose this platform over cheaper alternatives. Where the agent is an internal or back-office tool, the premium buys little that matters. The multilingual strength is a second genuine differentiator for businesses serving many markets, where the alternative is either no coverage or noticeably worse synthesis.
Retell AI
Usage-based per minute with components broken out, voice, language model, transcription, and telephony, so teams can trade quality against cost. Volume discounts and enterprise arrangements available.
- Pay as you goFrom about $0.07
- VolumeReduced per-minute rates
- EnterpriseQuoted
Per-minute economics make the arithmetic against staffed calling straightforward, particularly for out-of-hours coverage where the alternative is missing the call entirely. Retell's specific value is reducing the engineering required to reach production: flow building, testing, batch calling, and post-call analysis are all present rather than being things you build around an API. The real cost remains conversation design and testing, which no platform removes.
Editorial verdict on each
ElevenLabs Agents
ElevenLabs entered conversational AI from the strongest possible position: it already made the voices everyone else was licensing. That advantage is real and audible, and for any deployment where the agent speaks to customers as the brand, it is the most persuasive reason to choose one platform over another. Multilingual coverage compounds the case for international businesses, and the SDKs make in-product voice a first-class use rather than an afterthought. What it does not yet match is the operational tooling of platforms built specifically around calling campaigns, and the premium is visible in per-minute cost. Choose it when how the agent sounds is part of the product, and remember that a superb voice saying the wrong thing is still a bad call.
Read the full ElevenLabs Agents profileRetell AI
Retell AI has aimed at the gap that matters commercially: between a voice API that requires you to build everything around it and a no-code product that cannot be customized. The flow builder gives structure without demanding that every branch be written in code, and the surrounding tooling, batch calling, voicemail detection, simulated testing, success evaluation, is what separates a demo from something you can put in front of customers. Cost is legible and low enough that the arithmetic against staffed calling is easy. What remains hard is the part no vendor solves: designing conversations that survive real callers, deciding when to escalate, and navigating a legal environment around automated calling that is still moving. Approached with that discipline, it is one of the strongest choices in the category.
Read the full Retell AI profileElevenLabs Agents profile last reviewed 2026-08-22; Retell AI last reviewed 2026-08-22. Pricing is compiled from public sources and can change without notice. See our methodology.
The best in AI Voice Agents
16 trackedAI voice agents hold real phone conversations using speech recognition, a language model, and synthetic speech, answering inbound calls or placing outbound ones to qualify, book, and route without a human on the line.
Setup in minutes, text summaries after every call, and built in appointment booking make Rosie an answering service an owner can run with no training.
Frequently asked questions
6 questionsWhat is the difference between ElevenLabs Agents and Retell AI?
Retell provides more production tooling around the agent lifecycle, batch calling, testing, evaluation, and a flow builder, with voice as one configurable component. ElevenLabs leads decisively on the voice itself. Choose based on whether the deployment is limited by call operations tooling or by how the agent sounds.
Is ElevenLabs Agents or Retell AI cheaper?
ElevenLabs Agents starts at From roughly $0.08 per minute of conversation depending on configuration, within plan tiers starting at low monthly subscription levels (free plan available). Retell AI starts at From roughly $0.07 per minute combined, with free credits to start (free trial). The billing models differ, so the entry price is rarely the whole cost. ElevenLabs Agents pricing model: Usage-based per minute of conversation, with rates depending on the models and features selected, sold within the broader ElevenLabs subscription structure. Enterprise agreements for volume and dedicated capacity. Retell AI pricing model: Usage-based per minute with components broken out, voice, language model, transcription, and telephony, so teams can trade quality against cost. Volume discounts and enterprise arrangements available.
Does ElevenLabs Agents or Retell AI have a free plan?
ElevenLabs Agents has a free plan. Limited free usage for testing. Trial terms: Free tier and trial credits within the ElevenLabs platform. Retell AI has no free plan. Trial terms: Free testing credits on signup.
Who should choose ElevenLabs Agents?
Brands and product teams where voice quality is a differentiator, multilingual deployments, and in-product voice experiences where the agent is part of the customer experience rather than a back-office tool.
Who should choose Retell AI?
Product teams and technically capable agencies deploying voice agents in production for booking, qualification, support triage, and outbound campaigns, who want flow-based control without building orchestration themselves.
What are the best alternatives to ElevenLabs Agents and Retell AI?
SaaSTracker profiles 16 products in AI Voice Agents. The Summer 2026 awards in the category went to Rosie (Ease of Use). Every profile is compiled from primary sources, so a shortlist can be built from pricing, limitations, and fit rather than from star ratings.
