Retell AI vs Simple Phones
Simple Phones publishes its pricing; Retell AI does not.
Both pages checked by August 19, 2026
- Retell AIAI only
- Pricing not published
- no published plan
- Developer-oriented platform to build, test, deploy and monitor AI voice and chat agents, billed a la carte per minute: a Retell voice-infrastructure rate plus a separately priced text-to-speech voice, a separately priced LLM and separately priced telephony.
- Simple PhonesAI only
- $97/mo
- Basic plan
- Turnkey AI phone answering service for small businesses: Simple Phones generates a starter agent from your business details, assigns a number you forward missed calls to, and their team makes ongoing agent customizations on request rather than you building the agent yourself.
The differences that matter
- Simple Phones publishes prices. Retell AI makes you ask.
Feature by feature
| Capability | Retell AI | Simple Phones |
|---|---|---|
| Live transfer | Yes | Yes |
| Books appointments | Yes | Yes |
| Text follow-up | Yes | Yes |
| Outbound calls | Yes | Yes |
| Spanish | Yes | Yes |
| Human backup | No | No |
| Call recordings | Yes | unstated |
| Transcripts | Yes | Yes |
| Spam screening | unstated | unstated |
| Custom voice | Yes | unstated |
| API | Yes | Yes |
"unstated" means the vendor doesn't claim it in their own documentation. It is not the same as no — it means nobody will put it in writing.
Retell AI plans
| Plan | Published price | Includes | Over that |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pay-as-you-go | $0.07-$0.31/min for AI Voice Agents | — | — |
| Enterprise | Custom Pricing for AI Voice Agents | — | — |
Simple Phones plans
| Plan | Published price | Includes | Over that |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | Simple Phones starts at $97/mo for 100 calls/mo. | 100 calls | If you cancel your plan, or you exceed the number of calls per month for your tier, your phone numbers will be released. |
| Advanced | not published | 500 calls | If you cancel your plan, or you exceed the number of calls per month for your tier, your phone numbers will be released. |
| Premium | not published | 2500 calls | If you cancel your plan, or you exceed the number of calls per month for your tier, your phone numbers will be released. |
| Pay As You Go | $0.19/min | — | — |
Retell AI sources
- Pricing page (voice infra, TTS, LLM standard/fast tiers, speech-to-speech, telephony, add-ons, monthly subscription items, billing mechanics FAQ)retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Docs: Build your first phone agent in 15 minutes ($10 free trial credits, no payment method required; build-from-scratch vs template; free web-call testing)docs.retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Docs: Introduction (platform description, agent types, CRM/Cal.com tools, SDKs and MCP server)docs.retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Docs: Billing (credit-based vs legacy monthly billing, $10 free trial credits, which items are metered vs subscription)docs.retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Docs: Supported languages by provider (TTS and ASR coverage tables)docs.retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Docs index (transfer call cold/warm/agentic warm, Cal.com check-availability and booking, SMS node, batch calls, custom voices and voice clones, call recordings and transcripts, data retention, Twilio/Telnyx/Vonage SIP import, international calling)docs.retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Homepage (positioning, target industries, "Try For Free" with $10 of free usage)retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
- Terms of Service (entity and address: Retell AI Inc., 540 Price Avenue, Redwood City, CA 94063; Delaware jurisdiction)retellai.com · read August 19, 2026
Simple Phones sources
- Pricing / features / FAQ page (renders the site's pricing and FAQ sections: $97 for 100 calls, 14-day free trial, no commitment, overage = numbers released, country list, language list, forwarding, CRM/Zapier, transfer to a team member)simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Homepage (inbound, outbound, logging, customization, routing, voices, crawling)simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- In-app billing screen (tier names "Basic Subscription - 100 calls/month", "Advanced Subscription - 500 calls/month", "Premium Subscription - 2,500 calls/month"; Pay As You Go $0.19/min and its 250 minutes/month minimum; >2,500 calls or >20 agents triggers Pay As You Go; whitelabel answer)app.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre: Creating an agent (one agent on the Basic plan)help.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre: Inbound Callshelp.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre: Outbound Calls (1 call per number per 24h, callback-only unless BYO Twilio)help.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre: Routing (transfer to any number, time-of-day rules, email/text/webhook alerts)help.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre: Crawling (website/FAQ knowledge base)help.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre / API: Call Details & Transcript (response fields: minutesUsed, start/end time, transcript; no recording URL)help.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026
- Help centre documentation indexhelp.simplephones.ai · read August 19, 2026