Compare Vapi and Retell for 2025 to find which voice AI fits your needs, whether you’re just starting or already automating workflows. You can weigh features, pricing, setup complexity, and real call performance to make a confident choice.
You’ll walk through Voice AI Bootcamp highlights, call analytics and UI, supported languages, knowledge-base capabilities, costs, voicemail options, and a live sound test. By the end, you’ll have a clear, practical view to pick the platform that best matches your projects and budget.
Overview of Vapi and Retell in 2025
Brief definitions and core purpose of each platform
In 2025, Vapi and Retell are both platforms that let you build, deploy, and analyze voice AI agents, but they target slightly different needs. Vapi focuses on enterprise-grade telephony automation and deep integrations with contact center stacks, while Retell aims to make voice agent creation accessible to creators and SMBs with a strong emphasis on rapid prototyping and conversational design.
Evolution and major milestones up to 2025
Both platforms matured quickly from 2021–2023 prototypes into production-ready systems by 2024. By 2025, Vapi added robust PSTN routing, advanced analytics, and enterprise security certifications. Retell expanded its template library, introduced low-code visual builders, and improved multimodal support for text + audio workflows. You’ll see both platforms continuing feature-driven roadmaps and community-driven templates.
Key differences in approach and product philosophy
Vapi is engineered for reliability, scale, and integration depth; if you prioritize SLA-backed telephony, compliance, and complex routing, Vapi’s philosophy aligns with you. Retell prioritizes usability, speed, and experimentation—if you want to iterate fast, prototype conversational experiences, or reuse creative assets, Retell is oriented toward your workflow.
Typical deployment models and target environments
Vapi is commonly deployed in cloud-hosted, private-cloud, or hybrid models integrated with enterprise PBX and contact center infrastructure. Retell is primarily cloud-first with simple provisioning for public cloud and developer sandboxes, making it ideal for cloud-native apps, startups, and creator projects. You’ll pick Vapi for contact center modernization and Retell for experimentation and customer-facing voice experiences.
Market positioning and target users
Primary customer segments for Vapi and for Retell
Vapi’s core customers are enterprises, contact centers, and regulated industries that need voice automation at scale. Retell’s primary users include startups, SMBs, voice designers, and creators building branded experiences or proof-of-concept voice agents. You’ll find Vapi in telco and customer support stacks, and Retell in marketing, product demos, and small business automation.
Strengths for beginners versus enterprise customers
If you’re a beginner, Retell is friendlier: the learning curve is lower and you can launch simple agents quickly. If you’re an enterprise, Vapi’s strengths—security controls, compliance, and advanced routing—make it the practical choice. You’ll still be able to onboard on both platforms, but the amount of governance and architecture work differs.
Ecosystem partners, marketplaces, and community support
Vapi partners with telephony carriers, contact center vendors, and enterprise system integrators; it often appears in partner marketplaces for contact center solutions. Retell’s ecosystem includes creator marketplaces, template shares, and community channels where you can get premade conversational flows and voice assets. You’ll rely on Vapi partners for integrations and on Retell’s community for creative reuse.
Resources and learning paths including Bootcamp, Figma files, and creator channels
Both platforms offer learning resources: Vapi provides enterprise onboarding docs and professional services, while Retell supports Bootcamp-style courses, public Figma files for UX/voice flow design, and active creator channels. You can use the Bootcamp materials and Figma assets to accelerate design, and follow creator channels for practical tips and reusable components.
Core features comparison
Voice agent creation workflows and UI paradigms
Vapi emphasizes structured workflows, policy-driven configuration, and a UI tuned for operations and routing. Retell offers a drag-and-drop visual builder focused on conversation design and iteration. You’ll find Vapi’s UI suited for admins and integrators, and Retell’s interface ideal for designers and product teams.
Available templates, prebuilt agents, and customization depth
Retell ships with more creative templates and prebuilt agent blueprints for marketing, FAQs, and simple workflows. Vapi provides enterprise-focused templates—IVRs, contact center queues, and compliance-aware scripts—with deeper customization options for routing and integrations. You’ll use Retell templates to prototype quickly and Vapi templates to standardize deployments.
Multimodal features and support for non-voice inputs
Retell pushes multimodal features: chat + voice sessions, screen sharing prompts, and embedded visual cards in agent handoffs. Vapi supports multimodal in enterprise contexts, primarily as integrations to CRM portals or agent desktops. You’ll get faster multimodal experimentation in Retell and stronger operational multimodality in Vapi.
Agent orchestration, branching logic, and fallback handling
Vapi offers sophisticated orchestration with stateful session handling, complex branching, and policy-based fallbacks that escalate to human agents or external systems. Retell focuses on intuitive branching and graceful fallbacks that keep the user engaged and provide easy-to-edit transitions. You’ll configure Vapi for predictable, rule-driven flows and Retell for flexible conversational experiences.
Call analytics and user interface
Types of call analytics offered and standard metrics tracked
Both platforms track standard metrics—call volume, average call duration, hold time, completion rate, and deflection—but Vapi includes enterprise KPIs like SLA compliance, transfer rates, and agent handoff quality. Retell emphasizes conversation-centric metrics such as intent recognition rate, successful resolution, and engagement patterns. You’ll choose based on whether operational or conversational analytics matter more.
Dashboard design, filtering, and usability for nontechnical users
Retell’s dashboards are visually focused and simplified for nontechnical users and creators, with easy filters and sample views. Vapi provides detailed, customizable dashboards with advanced filters and role-based access suitable for analysts and ops teams. You’ll find Retell clearer for quick insights and Vapi more powerful for deep investigations.
Transcription accuracy, speaker separation, and tagging capabilities
By 2025 both systems offer high-quality transcription, but Vapi emphasizes enterprise-grade diarization and speaker separation for multi-party calls, plus compliance-friendly redaction. Retell offers fast transcription tuned for single-speaker interactions and tagging for conversational highlights. You’ll rely on Vapi where speaker-level accuracy is crucial and Retell when speed and ease are priorities.
Exporting, reporting, and integration with BI tools
Vapi integrates deeply with BI tools and supports scheduled exports, streaming exports, and secure data pipelines. Retell provides export options and simple connectors for popular analytics tools and CSV/JSON downloads for creators. You’ll leverage Vapi for enterprise reporting and Retell for ad hoc analysis and experimentation.
Languages and multilingual capabilities
Supported languages, dialects, and accents for both platforms
In 2025 both platforms support many major languages and common dialects, including robust European and Asian language coverage. Vapi often prioritizes enterprise language packs with accent tuning and localized compliance, while Retell focuses on breadth and quick model updates. You’ll get broader, production-ready locale support from Vapi and faster inclusion of niche languages from Retell.
Real-time language detection and automatic routing features
Vapi includes real-time language detection for routing to language-specific queues or region-specific compliance flows. Retell offers lightweight language detection suitable for routing to different agent personas or localized scripts. You’ll use Vapi when automatic routing must adhere to legal or operational constraints and Retell when you need flexible UX-level adjustments.
Quality of localized voice prompts and synthesized speech
Both platforms offer high-quality TTS voices and localized prompts, but Vapi emphasizes consistent, studio-grade voices for brand and compliance use. Retell provides a variety of expressive voices optimized for engagement and quick iteration. You’ll pick Vapi for polished, brand-consistent prompts and Retell for expressive, experimental voice experiences.
Translation, captioning, and downstream support for multilingual KBs
Retell supports automated captioning and inline translation flows for creator content, making multilingual KB building easier. Vapi supports robust translation pipelines, bilingual routing, and downstream KB lookup in multiple languages with enterprise-grade controls. You’ll use Retell to prototype multilingual experiences and Vapi to maintain multilingual knowledge at scale.
Knowledge base features and integrations
KB types supported: structured FAQs, documents, embeddings, and memory
Both platforms support structured FAQs and document-based KBs; by 2025 both also support embeddings for semantic retrieval and session memory features. Vapi emphasizes controlled access and versioned KBs tailored to compliance; Retell emphasizes flexible embedding updates and lightweight memory for conversational context. You’ll leverage Vapi for authoritative KBs and Retell to experiment with semantic search.
Syncing and connectors for CRMs, ticketing systems, and cloud storage
Vapi provides enterprise-grade connectors to major CRMs, ticketing systems, and secure cloud storage, often via certified integrations. Retell offers simpler connectors and Zapier-like integrations that let you sync content quickly. You’ll prefer Vapi when you need deep two-way CRM sync and Retell when you want fast, modular connectors.
Versioning, refresh cadence, and developer tools for KB management
Vapi offers formal versioning, audit trails, and scheduled refreshes suitable for regulated content. Retell supports frequent refreshes, import/export workflows, and developer-friendly tooling for quick KB updates. You’ll choose Vapi for governance and Retell for quick iteration.
Retrieval customization, context windows, and hallucination mitigation strategies
Vapi provides strict retrieval controls, context window tuning, and fallback to verified content to reduce hallucinations. Retell supports retrieval augmentation and relevance tuning but encourages lightweight mitigations like answer citations and confidence thresholds. You’ll rely on Vapi’s stricter guardrails for high-stakes interactions and Retell’s agile strategies for lower-risk experiences.
Costs and pricing models
Core pricing tiers: free tiers, pay-as-you-go, and enterprise plans
Retell typically offers a generous free tier and pay-as-you-go pricing for creators, while Vapi uses tiered enterprise plans with dedicated onboarding and contractual SLAs. You’ll often start on Retell’s free tier for prototyping and move to Vapi’s paid tiers for production deployments.
Typical cost drivers: minutes, transcription, number provisioning, and storage
Minutes of voice usage, transcription volume, phone number provisioning, and storage for recordings are main cost drivers on both platforms. Vapi’s enterprise rates may include reserved minutes and premium support, while Retell lets you scale incrementally. You’ll need to forecast minutes and transcription usage closely to estimate costs.
Hidden or operational costs: integrations, data egress, and model usage
Integration setup, data egress, advanced analytics, and large model inference can add operational costs. Vapi’s enterprise integrations or on-prem connectors may carry professional services fees. Retell’s heavy model usage for real-time features may increase compute costs. You’ll want to audit integration and model usage costs during pilots.
Scenario-based TCO examples for startups, SMBs, and enterprises
For a startup, Retell’s free tier plus incremental usage often yields the lowest TCO to validate an idea. For an SMB, pay-as-you-go Retell or lower-tier Vapi can be cost-effective when combined with one or two phone numbers. For an enterprise, Vapi’s predictable plans, support, and integration costs typically justify higher TCO through reduced manual labor and risk. You’ll model costs against expected minutes, agent handoffs, and compliance needs.
Voicemail and telephony features
Voicemail capture, transcription, and searchable storage
Both platforms capture voicemail, provide automated transcription, and index messages for search. Vapi adds enterprise retention policies and secure searchable storage with role-based access. Retell offers user-friendly voicemail playback and tagging for quick triage. You’ll prefer Vapi for governed storage and Retell for fast triage.
PSTN/SIP support, phone number provisioning, and outbound call features
Vapi excels in PSTN/SIP integration, number provisioning across regions, and managed outbound call capabilities with per-number routing rules. Retell supports virtual numbers and outbound dialing for campaigns, but with simpler telephony controls. You’ll pick Vapi when you need carrier-grade telephony features and Retell when you want basic voice reach and easy setup.
Call recording policies, retention controls, and playback UX
Vapi enables granular recording policies, legal hold, and fine-grained retention controls with secure playback interfaces designed for compliance reviews. Retell provides straightforward recording controls, tagging, and an intuitive playback UI geared toward team collaboration. You’ll rely on Vapi when legal controls are mandatory and Retell for collaborative review cycles.
Interactive voicemail flows and callback automation
Retell typically lets you build interactive voicemail flows—automated callbacks, quick surveys, and action triggers from messages—using intuitive builders. Vapi supports enterprise-grade callback automation tied into workforce management and ticketing systems. You’ll use Retell to prototype callback flows and Vapi to orchestrate callbacks at scale.
Setup and developer experience
Onboarding steps and time-to-first-agent for each platform
You can get a first agent running quickly on Retell—often in minutes—thanks to templates and low-code builders. Vapi usually requires more setup: provisioning numbers, security configurations, and integrations, so time-to-first-agent can range from hours to days depending on complexity. You’ll choose based on whether speed or operational readiness matters most.
APIs, SDKs, CLI tools, and sample projects availability
Both platforms provide APIs, SDKs, and CLI tools, but Vapi’s offerings skew toward enterprise SDKs and integration examples. Retell offers approachable SDKs, more community sample projects, and quick-start templates for web and mobile. You’ll benefit from Retell’s sample projects for prototypes and Vapi’s SDKs for production integrations.
Quality of documentation, code samples, and community examples (Figma, Bootcamp)
Retell emphasizes accessible docs, Bootcamp materials, and public Figma examples for designers and creators. Vapi provides comprehensive technical docs, compliance guides, and integration playbooks. You’ll likely find Retell’s learning materials a better fit for nontechnical teams and Vapi’s documentation better for developers and ops.
Testing tools, local emulators, and CI/CD support for voice agents
Vapi offers enterprise testing tools, call replay, and CI/CD integrations for deployment pipelines. Retell provides local emulators, test harnesses, and sandbox environments that are easy to integrate into developer workflows. You’ll set up automated tests and CI pipelines with both platforms, but Vapi’s tooling is designed for more formal release cycles.
Conclusion
Concise comparative summary of Vapi versus Retell in 2025
In 2025, Vapi is the enterprise-ready platform that prioritizes scale, compliance, and deep telephony integrations. Retell is the fast, creator-friendly platform that prioritizes usability, rapid prototyping, and multimodal experimentation. You’ll pick Vapi for regulated, large-scale deployments and Retell for speed, creativity, and lower initial cost.
Final recommendation patterns based on user needs and constraints
If your constraints are compliance, telephony complexity, and deep CRM integrations, choose Vapi. If your priorities are rapid iteration, designer-friendly tooling, and low-friction prototyping, choose Retell. If you’re unsure, start with Retell to validate your concept and migrate to or integrate with Vapi as scale and governance needs grow.
Next steps: trial suggestions, pilot test checklist, and learning resources
Start with a short pilot: define goals (resolution rate, minutes, integration points), create a simple agent, measure costs and analytics, and test voicemail and routing. Use trial accounts to test transcription quality, speaker separation, and KB retrieval. Compare time-to-first-agent and total cost of ownership for projected volumes before committing.
Where to find additional materials: video by Henryk Brzozowski, Bootcamp assets, and LinkedIn profile
You can find additional walkthroughs and a step-by-step comparison in the video by Henryk Brzozowski, plus Bootcamp assets that include Figma files and tech essentials to accelerate your learning. Check Henryk’s creator channels and LinkedIn profile for updates, case studies, and community resources that support both platforms.
If you want to implement Chat and Voice Agents into your business to reduce missed calls, book more appointments, save time, and make more revenue, book a discovery call here: https://brand.eliteaienterprises.com/widget/bookings/elite-ai-30-min-demo-call