Retell AI Review 2025 : Pros, Cons, Pricing and Features

Retell AI reviews come with a mix of satisfaction and dissatisfaction from users around the world. Users praised it for their advanced capabilities in developing voice agents, 30+ language multilingual support, intuitive setup and real time performance tracking. While some users express dissatisfaction with its UK visibility, slow customer support, and GDPR compliance not cleared. Reddit reviews of Retell AI show a mix of positive and negative user feedback.

In this detailed Retell AI Review blog, we’ll explore hands-on insights from 2025 users along with expert professionals from the automation industry.

Retell AI Review Reddit
Retell AI Review Reddit

What is Retell AI ?

Retell AI
Retell AI

Launched on February 8, 2022, Retell AI introduced production-ready voice agents to automate phone, SMS, and chat interactions with natural, human-like performance. It features an intuitive drag-and-drop builder supporting IVR trees, dynamic transfers, real-time webhooks, and CRM integrations. Pricing starts at $0.07+/min for AI Voice Agents and $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents, with adoption across industries like healthcare, logistics, and finance. However, much like Synthflow, Retell relies on older technology and is better suited for smaller-scale use cases.

Key Features :

  • Retell is SOC 2 Type 1 & 2, HIPAA, and GDPR compliant, meeting all industry compliance standards.
  • Natural, smooth, and empathetic AI conversations with only 600ms latency.
  • Support 31+ languages, and can dial to any country's phone numbers.
  • Effortlessly handle millions of calls with scalable concurrent calling.
  • Offer average 99.99% uptime and effortless fallback. Retell AI ensures your agents are always production-ready.
  • Provide native and external connectivity to any CRM, telephony, automation platform, and database.
  • Batch Calling: Launch hundreds of calls at once without hitting concurrency caps.
  • Verified Numbers: Protect your lines from spam flags and build customer trust.
  • Auto-Sync Knowledge Base, AI agents stay current by syncing directly with your company’s knowledge base, no manual updates needed.
  • Warm Call Transfer, enables smooth handoffs with context messages so the next agent is fully prepared.

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The Pros and Cons of Bland AI

Retell AI is a modular, voice-centric automation platform designed for engineering teams and businesses needing scalable, real-time agent interactions, like any platform, it has its own strengths and limitations.

Pros : 

  1. Cost Efficiency : Retell AI pricing starts at $0.07+/min for AI Voice Agents and $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents, with competitive rates for STT, TTS, and LLM.
  2. Ease and Dependability : Intuitive dashboard with native SMS and chat capabilities for multi-channel workflows‍ and quick onboarding.
  3. End-to-Support : Retell AI offers support via email at support@retellai.com and also has an active Discord Community for users.
  4. Human-Like Speech : Retell AI consistently delivers sub-800ms response times, providing fast and reliable performance even during high call volumes.
  5. Multilingual : Retell AI supports 31+ languages and captures cultural nuances, making it ideal for global deployments and diverse audiences.
  6. Flexible Deployment : Retell AI is a cloud-native platform that integrates with any telephony system via SIP trunking, supporting simultaneous calls with flexible, scalable plans.
  7. Testing & Optimization : Developers can test AI agents in a web-based playground, with Retell offering post-call analytics like sentiment, success rates, and containment for optimization.
  8. A/B test call flows : Simulate conversations, experiment with A/B call flow testing, and track live call data using detailed dashboards.
  9. Embedded using Retell web SDKs : Easily track CSAT, latency, sentiment and conversation outcomes in a single dashboard and deploy voice agents through Twilio, SIP, branded caller ID, or by embedding with Retell’s web SDKs.
  10. Compliance & Security : Retell AI offers HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR compliance, it’s well-suited for regulated industries such as healthcare and finance.

Cons :

  1. Open Source : Retell is a proprietary platform, not fully open source, but it does provide several open-source demo repositories, including LLM and Twilio integrations.
  2. LoopTalk : No built-in autonomous testing, relies on manual checks or third-party tools for validation.
  3. UK Visibility : Retell AI isn’t functional in the UK, one user commented, “Not sure why this company is on Trustpilot UK. Their platform is unusable here.”
  4. No Code Limitations : Retell AI is a robust conversational platform for automating voice, SMS, and chat with natural, humanlike interactions, but non-technical users or cross-functional teams may find it challenging to create bots without coding knowledge.
  5. Latency and Voice Quality : Retell AI’s average latency is 500-800 ms, slower than competitors like Dograh, leading to noticeable pauses that can make conversations feel less fluid, particularly in fast-paced interactions.
  6. Layered Pricing : While Retell AI advertises $0.07/min, actual costs often reach $0.25 - $0.33/min due to separate fees for LLMs, STT, TTS, and telephony, making budget management difficult.
  7. Complex for Non-Technical Users : Building bots often requires coding skills, making it hard for cross-functional teams.
  8. Slow Feature Updates : Some features may lag behind competitors in innovation.
  9. Integration Challenges : Connecting with third-party tools or workflows can require technical expertise.
  10. Conversation Quality : Slower responses and occasional instability can make interactions feel less natural.

Migrate from Retell AI: Save upto 90% time with Dograh Voice AI.

Dograh offer an open-source, no-code Voice AI builder that lets you control and deploy voice agents in minutes with reliable multi-agent conversational flows.

Book a Demo

Pros

Cons

Retell AI pricing starts at $0.07+/min for voice and $0.002+/msg for chat, with separate competitive fees for STT, TTS, and LLM.

Retell is proprietary but offers open-source demos, including LLM and Twilio integrations.

Intuitive, reliable dashboard with native SMS and chat for multi-channel workflows and fast onboarding. 99.9 % uptime

No built-in autonomous testing, relies on manual checks or third-party tools for validation.

Retell AI offers support via email at support@retellai.com and also has an active Discord Community for users.

Retell AI isn’t functional in the UK

Retell AI delivers fast, reliable sub-800ms responses, even under high call volumes.

Retell AI automates voice, SMS, and chat with human-like interactions but can be challenging for non-technical users.

Retell AI supports 31+ languages with cultural nuance, ideal for global audiences.

Retell AI’s 500–800 ms latency is slower than competitors, causing noticeable pauses in fast-paced conversations.

Retell AI is cloud-native, SIP-compatible, and supports scalable, simultaneous calls.

Retell AI advertises $0.07/min, but true costs often reach $0.25–$0.33/min due to extra LLM, STT, TTS, and telephony fees.

Developers can test AI agents in a web playground, with post-call analytics for optimization.

Some features may lag behind competitors in innovation.

Simulate conversations, run A/B tests, and monitor live calls via detailed dashboards.

Connecting with third-party tools or workflows can require technical expertise.

Track CSAT, latency, sentiment, and outcomes in one dashboard; deploy voice agents via Twilio, SIP, branded ID, or web SDK.

Slower responses and occasional instability can make interactions feel less natural.

Retell AI is HIPAA, SOC 2, and GDPR compliant, ideal for regulated industries like healthcare and finance.

Building bots often requires coding skills, making it hard for cross-functional teams.

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Retell AI Pricing

Retell AI Pricing
Retell AI Pricing

Retell AI offers no platform fees, claims pay only for what you use. pricing starts at $0.07+/min for AI Voice Agents and $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents, with competitive rates for STT, TTS, and LLM. Two plans are provided by Retell AI, Pay as you go and Enterprise Plan.

Core Pricing Structure

  • Pay as you go - Retell AI offers pay-as-you-go pricing with $0 to start, $0.07+/minute for AI Voice Agents, and $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents, including $10 free credits, 20 free concurrent calls, 10 free knowledge bases, pre-built functions, simulation testing, analytics and support via Discord and email.
  • Enterprise Plan - Retell AI’s Enterprise Plan, for companies spending $3k+/month, offers as low as $0.05/min, scaling from 50+ calls, with discounted pricing, managed setup, higher concurrency, expanded limits, early beta access, optional white-glove service, and premium Slack support.
  • Large Language Model (LLM) : LLM usage is billed separately by provider: GPT-5 at $0.04/min (Fast Tier $0.08/min), Claude 3.7 Sonnet at $0.06/min, and Gemini 2.0 Flash at $0.006/min.
  • Telephony : Telephony costs include Retell via Twilio at $0.015/min, with no charges for SIP trunking or custom telephony, plus varying international call rates.
  • Call Agent-ons : Call Agent add-ons include Knowledge Base at +$0.005/min (first 10 free), Batch Call at +$0.005/dial (first 20 concurrency free), and Branded Call at +$0.10/outbound call (custom phone numbers free).

Cost Estimate : 

Retell AI core cost
Retell AI core cost

Cost breakdown for 4,500 monthly Retell AI calls using GPT-5 LLM agents, ElevenLabs/Cartesia voices, and custom telephony.

Layer 

Price Range

Cost Per Minute

$0.110 / min

Large Language Model (LLM) (GPT - 5)

$0.040/ 1 M Tokens

Text-to-Speech (TTS) (ElevenLabs)

$0.070 / Min

Speech-to-Text (STT) (Custom Telephony)

$0.00 / Min

Total Monthly Cost 

$495.00

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Retell AI Usability and Interface

Retell AI Usability and Interface
Retell AI Usability and Interface

Retell AI is designed for developers with advanced usability, rapid production deployment, cloud native voice agent platform aimed at scalability with two pricing models Pay as you go and Enterprise model.

What You’ll Build with Bland AI:

  • Call flow control
  • Multilingual and compliance features
  • Omnichannel capabilities support for Voice, SMS and Chat
  • Automated call agents for answering FAQ’s and booking appointment
  • Testing and analytics for simulate calls and monitor performance
  • Custom conversational flows and integrating with CRM

Limitations :

  • UK Visibility : Retell AI isn’t functional in the UK, one user commented, “Not sure why this company is on Trustpilot UK. Their platform is unusable here.”
  • Complex for Non-Technical Users: Building bots often requires coding skills, making it hard for cross-functional teams.
  • No Autonomous Testing : There is no built-in autonomous testing feature like Dograh, so users must rely on manual methods or integrate third-party tools to test and validate their bots effectively.
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Retell AI Voice Quality and Latency

Retell AI Voice Quality and Latency
Retell AI Voice Quality and Latency

Retell AI’s roundtrip averages latency sub500–800 ms, which is slower than competitors like Dograh. This delay often creates noticeable pauses that interrupt the natural rhythm of dialogue. In fast-paced or dynamic conversations, the impact becomes more pronounced and disruptive. Users may find the flow less smooth, leading to a less engaging experience. While the platform remains functional, the lag can reduce conversational fluidity. Overall, higher latency weakens the natural feel of interactions.

Retell AI Developer Capabilities

Retell AI offers robust developer tools to build, customize, and scale advanced voice automation, real-time streaming, flexible integrations and a modular design for production environments.

Core Retell AI Features :

  • Quickstarts : The company claims its phone agent can be deployed in just 5 minutes.
  • Setup Conversation Flow Agents : Create agents with fine-grained control for structured conversations.
  • Single/Multi Prompt Agent Setup : Create flexible agents for dynamic, less structured conversations using prompt based configuration.
  • Simulation Testing : Retell AI offers automated testing with simulated conversations to validate agent behaviour at scale.
  • Webhook : Offers webhook to receive real-time events for your calls.
  • Custom Telephony : Integration with your custom telephony provider via SIP.

Retell AI Security and Compliance

Retell AI Security and Compliance
Retell AI Security and Compliance

Retell AI is designed for enterprise-grade security and compliance, offering broad certifications and customizable data protection to support healthcare, finance, insurance, and global enterprises.

  • SOC 2 Type II: Confirms rigorous security controls and practices are in place for enterprise users.
  • HIPAA Compliance: Tailored for healthcare providers, with Business Associate Agreements to ensure PHI protection under HIPAA standards.
  • GDPR Compliance: Fully aligns with European data protection laws, ensuring anonymization, consent management, and processing transparency.
  • PCI-DSS: Enables automatic redaction and tokenization of card data.
  • ISO 27001: Information security management framework.

Retell AI Customer Support

Retell AI welcomes all kinds of feedback, feature requests, and help inquiries. Get dedicated support from both the Retell team and community via

Retell AI App Review

Retell AI App Review
Retell AI App Review

Retell AI reviews show a mix of positive and negative feedback from users worldwide. Many praise its advanced voice agent capabilities, 30+ language multilingual support, intuitive setup, and real-time performance tracking. However, concerns include its 800 ms latency, lack of availability in the UK, slow customer support, and unresolved GDPR compliance questions. Reddit discussions also reflect this balance of satisfaction and dissatisfaction.

The Better Retell AI Alternative Dograh

Dograh Voice AI
Dograh Voice AI

Dograh stands out as a powerful open source alternative to Retell AI with several advantages :

  1. Open Source - Dograh is an open source voice ai platform giving full flexibility to developers to customize, self host and extend features.
  2. Easy to Use and Dependability - With AI to AI testing (over calls) and feedback loop through call summary, it is fairly easy to build extremely dependable bots with Dograh AI. Also this helps cut down on time needed to build the voice agent, and significantly improves time to market.
  3. LoopTalk - Think AI calling AI. Dograh’s LoopTalk auto-tests voice bots using AI-driven customer personas to simulate real-world scenarios boosting accuracy and letting you get started in minutes.
  4. No Double Billing - Dograh offers an open source solution to self host. And its cloud solution has transparent pricing with no double billing charges for STT, TTS and LLM.
  5. End-to-End Support - Dograh’s professional team offers end-to-end support from integration and workflow setup to analytics and optimization.
  6. Faster Setup - Dograh offers drag and drop workflow builder UI and prebuilt workflow as per your business needs.

Key Features

Dograh Workflow Builder
Dograh Workflow Builder
  • NEPQ led Sales - Uses Neuro-Emotional Persuasion Questioning (NEPQ) to drive deeper engagement and guide conversations effectively.
  • Real-Time Response - Dograh enables low-latency (<500ms), human-like voice conversations for seamless user interactions.
  • Longer Conversation - Dograh multi-agent bots can handle calls up to 45 minutes, maintain full context throughout conversations without hallucinations.
  • Human Like Speech - Pauses, Filler words & clear tone for realistic, engaging voice interactions.
  • Emotionally Effective - Understand user concerns by actively empathizing and probing their pain points to deliver more personalized, effective voice interactions.
  • Tailor-Made Build - Dograh experienced team offers hands-on support to help you design and deploy custom voice agents tailored to your scripts and business needs.
  • Multilingual Voice Support - Support multilingual voice agents using top STT and TTS providers, enabling natural and fluent conversations for diverse global audiences.
  • Expert Cloud Support - Get expert cloud support with Dograh test and refine your voice agent in real time using our intuitive, cloud-hosted interface.
  • Flexible Deployment Option - Dograh supports both cloud and open-source deployments, giving you flexibility based on your business and technical needs.
  • Customer Support - Dograh’s dedicated support team ensures your Voice AI runs smoothly from setup to ongoing updates with fast, reliable assistance.
  • Data Privacy - Your data privacy is our top priority. Dograh’s open source solution helps adhere to strict GDPR and HIPAA standards to keep your information secure and fully compliant.

Ideal Users

  • Real Estate Agent
  • Customer Support
  • Sales and Marketing Automation
  • Tech Support
  • Finance, Insurance and Banking
  • E-Commerce
  • Healthcare
  • Logistics & Home Services
  • Travel & Hospitality

Pricing

Dograh offers an open source solution without any platform charges. This makes it more cost-effective, customisable and scalable compared to Retell AI base pricing starts from $0.07+ /min for AI Voice Agents and for $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents.

Quick Comparison Table


Dograh (Open Source)

Retell AI (Proprietary)

Open Source

Yes, full transparency, customization, and self-hosting options for maximum control and flexibility.

Retell is not a fully open source and proprietary platform. Platform offers several open source demo repositories including LLM & Twilio integration.

No Double Billing

Transparent, open source solution without any platform charges. 

Retell AI base pricing starts from $0.07+ /min for AI Voice Agents and for $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents.

Ease & Dependability

Voice Agents are immensely complex to build in general.Dograh’s inbuilt AI testing and self improvement features help build reliable voice agents with ease.

Intuitive dashboard with native SMS and chat capabilities for multi-channel workflows and quick onboarding.

LoopTalk

AI-driven auto-testing framework simulates real-world customer scenarios, improving accuracy and reducing manual test effort.

No dedicated autonomous testing feature, manual or third-party test.

End-to-End Support

Direct feedback and interaction with founders and engineers on Slack.

Retell AI provide support Email- support@retellai.com

and discord community.


Human-Like Speech

Realistic conversational AI with NEPQ-led sales, emotion detection, dynamic pauses, fillers, and over 45-minute conversation context.

Retell AI maintains sub-800ms response latency consistently, ensuring both speed and reliability even under high call volumes.


Multilingual

Supports multilingual voice agents using top STT and TTS.

It supports 31+ languages and captures cultural nuances, making it ideal for global deployments and diverse audiences.

Flexible Deployment

Cloud or self-hosted open source deployments for data sovereignty and regulatory compliance (GDPR/HIPAA).

Retell AI is a cloud-native platform that developers can integrate with any telephony system using SIP trunking, while also handling multiple calls simultaneously with flexible plans to scale as needed.

Testing & Optimization

Cloud-hosted tools and live analytics for test/refine cycles in real time.

Developers can test AI agents in a web-based playground, with Retell offering post-call analytics like sentiment, success rates, and containment for optimization.


Ideal Use Cases

Real estate, Finance, customer support, sales/marketing automation, tech support, e-commerce, healthcare.

Retell ai has a wide range of use cases like customer support automation, outbound sales, lead qualification, financial and insurance services, healthcare and telemedicines and telemarketing. 

Cost Efficiency

Open source, cost-effective scaling, ideal for teams seeking to avoid unpredictable or hidden costs.

Retell AI base pricing starts from $0.07+ /min for AI Voice Agents and for $0.002+/msg for AI Chat Agents. With competitive rates for STT, TTS and LLM. 

Migrate from Retell AI: Save upto 90% time with Dograh Voice AI.

Dograh offer an open-source, no-code Voice AI builder that lets you control and deploy voice agents in minutes with reliable multi-agent conversational flows.

Book a Demo

Getting started with Dograh

Interested in leveraging Dograh for lead generation, cold calling or business automation ? Here’s a streamlined path to getting started, along with direct links to essential resources :

1. Sign Up for Dograh

Register your accoung on the Official Platform

Dograh Sign Up & Platform Homepage

Sign Up

2. Quick Start Instructions

Step by Step written guide to building and deploying your first voice AI Agent

How to Build AI Voice Agent - Step by Step with Dograh

Build with Dograh

This guide walks you through using Dograh’s no-code drag-and-drop builder to easily set up real estate or customer calling workflows.

3. Tutorial : No Code Voice Agent Creation

Tutorial : NO CODE VOICE Agent Creation

How to Build AI Voice Agent with No Code ( Step - by - Step )

No-Code Voice Tutorial

Discover how to easily create agents, design workflows, and integrate CRMs using Dograh code-free, with real business examples included.

4. Book a Demo

Book a Demo

Schedule a personalized walkthrough with Dograh experts

Book a Demo

Book a demo to see how Dograh can support your business needs like automating real estate leads or customer support with tailored insights and a live walkthrough.

Alternative Resource

Comprehensive implementation guide for business leaders

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FAQ's

1. Is Retell AI good for businesses ?

Yes, Retell AI is good for businesses, but Dograh AI offers open-source flexibility and AI-to-AI testing for greater adaptability.

2. How does retell AI work ?

Retell AI works by automating voice, SMS and chat interactions through LLMs, STT, and TTS, enabling natural, humanlike conversations.

3. Can retell AI send SMS ?

Yes, Retell AI supports native SMS alongside voice and chat, enabling multi-channel customer communication.

4. What is the latency of Retell AI ?

Retell AI maintains sub-800ms response latency consistently, ensuring both speed and reliability even under high call volumes. But Dograh AI offers sub 500 ms latency.

5. Which is the best AI for business use ?

Dograh AI is the best for business use, offering open-source flexibility, AI-to-AI testing, and cost-efficient scalability.

6. Can AI be beneficial to businesses ?

Yes, AI can boost business efficiency, automate tasks, and enhance customer interactions across multiple channels.

7. Which AI chatbot is best for business ?

Dograh AI is the best chatbot workflow builder for business, offering robust AI-to-AI testing, open-source flexibility, and scalable automation.

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