All comparisons

Vapi logoCVapi · Cartesia · Compare · Checked Oct 27, 2026

Vapi vs Cartesia Managed Agents pricing: which is cheaper?

At 1,000 minutes a month, Vapi costs $110.80–$157.90 and Cartesia Managed Agents costs $44.00 on our stack, a difference of at least $66.80 in favor of Cartesia Managed Agents, before Cartesia's LLM usage. Checked Oct 27, 2026 (Vapi) and Oct 30, 2026 (Cartesia).

Vapi logoVapi$110.80–$157.90$0.1108–$0.1579/min at 1,000 minPricing vapi.ai
CCartesia$44.00$0.044/min at 1,000 min · cheaperPricing cartesia.ai

Monthly cost at four volumes

Vapi and Cartesia Managed Agents monthly cost by volume on our stated stack, USD
VolumeVapiCartesia
500 min/mo$69.90–$93.45$22.00
1,000 min/mo$110.80–$157.90$44.00
5,000 min/mo$438.00–$673.50$220.00
10,000 min/mo$847.00–$1,318.00$440.00

Our calculation from list prices: 3-minute inbound calls, 10 at once, one US number. A green dot marks the cheaper side; Vapi is a range from its own calculator. Change the scenario.

What each one bills for

Vapi and Cartesia Managed Agents pricing facts, with sources
ItemVapiCartesia
How it billsPick your providersBundled rate
Headline rate$0.05/min hosting$0.03/min call time
All-in per minute at 1,000$0.1108–$0.1579/min$0.044/min
Concurrency4 / 10 / 308 to 60 calls by plan
Free to start$5 creditsFree plan with $1 of agent minutes
TelephonyNo Vapi fee; your carrier bills youCartesia number, or bring Twilio or SIP
LLM$0.0077–$0.0452/minBilled separately

Where the money goes at 1,000 minutes

Platform & linesBundled AI rateLLMTranscriberVoicePhone

$110.80–$157.90 /mo at 1,000 min

  • Hosting$50.00
  • STT (Deepgram)$9.50
  • LLM (OpenAI, Vapi calculator range)$7.70
  • TTS (ElevenLabs, Vapi calculator range)$14.60
  • Telephony (Vapi fee $0; carrier not included)$0.00
  • Concurrency for 10 calls: Core plan $29 (10 concurrent)$29.00

Full Vapi pricing

$44.00 /mo at 1,000 min

  • Managed Agents call time (voices and transcription included)$30.00
  • Telephony: Cartesia-provided phone number$14.00
  • Concurrency for 10 calls (Pro includes 12)$0.00

LLM usage during calls is billed separately and is not in this total, so the real cost is higher. Voices and transcription are included in the agents rate. Assumption: one Cartesia-provided phone number at Cartesia's per-minute rate. Plan fees and prepaid agent dollars are not subtracted.

Full Cartesia pricing

FAQ

Is Vapi cheaper than Cartesia?

At 1,000 minutes a month, Vapi costs $110.80–$157.90 and Cartesia Managed Agents costs $44.00 on our stack, a difference of at least $66.80 in favor of Cartesia Managed Agents, before Cartesia's LLM usage. Checked Oct 27, 2026 (Vapi) and Oct 30, 2026 (Cartesia).

How much does Vapi cost per minute?

Vapi lists $0.05/min (hosting). All-in on our stack it works out to $0.1108–$0.1579 a minute at 1,000 minutes a month, or $110.80–$157.90.

How much does Cartesia cost per minute?

Cartesia Managed Agents lists $0.03/min (call time). All-in on our stack it works out to $0.044 a minute at 1,000 minutes a month, or $44.00.

More comparisons

Vapi logoRetell AI logoVapi vs Retell AIVapi logoElevenLabs logoVapi vs ElevenLabsVapi logoGoHighLevel logoVapi vs GoHighLevelVapi logoBland AI logoVapi vs Bland AIVapi logoDeepgram logoVapi vs DeepgramVapi logoGrok Voice logoVapi vs Grok VoiceVapi logoVapi vs Mistral VoxtralVapi logoOVapi vs GPT-LiveVapi logoPVapi vs PolyAI

All comparisons · Rankings at your volume · How prices are checked

Sources

  1. vapi.ai ·
  2. cartesia.ai ·