The short answer
If you want to own your voice agent with no per-minute platform fee, the best Vapi alternative is a custom build on an open-source framework like Pipecat or LiveKit Agents. HeyDev builds and runs these for you, with a fixed-price quote within 48 hours. Bland AI is the closest managed platform alternative.
The 4 best Vapi alternatives, plus Vapi itself
1. HeyDev
A founder-led AI studio that builds custom voice AI phone agents on open-source stacks you own, wired into your telephony, CRM and calendar. We built and run Sargam, a 249,000-line voice AI calling platform.
- Pricing: Senior AI engineer from $6,000/month, first week risk-free. Project work gets a fixed-price quote within 48 hours of a call. Vibe-coded app audit: $999 in 5 business days.
- Best for: Companies that want a production voice agent they own, without hiring a voice team.
2. Pipecat (build it yourself)
An open-source Python framework for real-time voice and multimodal agents. You choose and pay the speech, model and telephony providers directly.
- Pricing: Free and open source. You pay your providers and hosting.
- Best for: Teams with engineers who want full control and can run real-time infrastructure.
Source: Pipecat on GitHub
3. LiveKit Agents (build it yourself)
An open-source framework for building real-time voice agents on LiveKit's WebRTC infrastructure.
- Pricing: Free and open source. You pay providers and hosting, self-hosted or on LiveKit Cloud.
- Best for: Teams already using LiveKit or building voice into an app as well as on the phone.
Source: LiveKit Agents on GitHub
4. Bland AI
A managed voice AI platform for phone calls, with forward-deployed engineers on its enterprise plan.
- Pricing: Start plan $0.14 per minute; Build plan $0.12 per minute plus $299 per month; Enterprise custom.
- Best for: Teams that want a managed phone-call platform rather than owning the stack.
Source: Bland AI: Pricing
5. Vapi
A developer platform for voice agents. You bring model providers and build the agent on Vapi.
- Pricing: $0.05 per minute platform fee plus model providers at cost and $0.0055 to $0.014 per minute transport. Plans from $29 per month; Pro has a $999 per month minimum; HIPAA add-on $2,000 per month.
- Best for: Developers who want to self-serve and launch this week.
Source: Vapi: Pricing
HeyDev vs Vapi, side by side
| HeyDev | Vapi | |
|---|---|---|
| Who builds it | We do, end to end | Your developers, on Vapi |
| Platform fee per minute | None: you own the stack | $0.05/min plus providers and transport |
| Compliance add-on | Built into your own infrastructure | HIPAA $2,000/month |
| Plan minimums | None | Pro: $999/month minimum |
| Price to start | Fixed-price quote within 48 hours | Self-serve from $29/month |
| Proof | Sargam: 249k-line voice calling platform we built and run | Developer platform used by many teams |
Why teams switch to HeyDev
Your margins, not a platform's. At scale, a per-minute platform fee compounds. On a stack you own, you pay only the speech, model and telephony providers.
Built by people who run voice in production. We built and operate Sargam, a 249,000-line voice AI calling platform, including interruptions, silence handling and post-call analysis.
No voice team to hire. You get the control of an open-source build without hiring real-time audio engineers.
When Vapi is the right call
- You have developers who want a self-serve platform and need to launch this week.
- Your call volume is low enough that a per-minute fee costs less than a build.
How to switch
- Book a 30-minute call. Bring your current Vapi assistant config, call volumes and integrations.
- Get a fixed-price quote within 48 hours for the rebuild on a stack you own.
- Plan the cutover together on that call, including how your phone numbers and call flows move.
Questions
What does Vapi cost?
Vapi's pricing page lists a $0.05 per minute platform fee, plus model providers at cost and $0.0055 to $0.014 per minute for transport. Plans start at $29 a month; Pro has a $999 a month minimum; HIPAA is a $2,000 a month add-on.
Is there an open-source alternative to Vapi?
Yes. Pipecat and LiveKit Agents are open-source frameworks for real-time voice agents. You pay your speech, model and telephony providers directly, with no platform fee per minute.
Who can build a custom Vapi alternative for us?
HeyDev builds and runs custom voice agents on open-source stacks you own. We built and operate Sargam, a 249,000-line voice AI calling platform, and quote a fixed price within 48 hours.
When is Vapi the better choice?
When your own developers want a self-serve platform and need to launch quickly, or call volume is low enough that per-minute fees cost less than a build.
Sources
Competitor prices and terms are taken from their own public pages on the date above and can change. Spotted something out of date? Email mahima@heydev.us and we will correct it.
Own your voice agent. Book a 30-minute call with the founders or email mahima@heydev.us.
Related: HeyDev voice AI agents · Post-call intelligence · all comparisons.