Voice Agent Platforms

ElevenLabs Agents vs Ultravox: priced, tested on real calls, and which to pick

Pricing and features, side by side. Last verified October 24, 2026. Spot a wrong price? support@cozzo.io

Cozzo’s tip: start with the billing row. It’s where the surprises hide.

Cozzo’s verdict. Short answer: Ultravox is the cheaper bill, and ElevenLabs Agents was the quicker talker on our calls. Ultravox charges a flat $0.05 a minute with its audio-native model and voices included. ElevenLabs charges $0.08 a minute on every plan and bills the LLM you pick on top, but its plans come with more calls at once (10 on the $22 Creator plan, versus a hard cap of 5 on Ultravox’s Pay as you go). On Cozzo’s own phone calls ElevenLabs replied faster in every round we ran, while Ultravox stopped talking sooner when a caller cut in and passed one more Round 4 receptionist call (14 of 15 vs 13 of 15). Both need their Enterprise plan for a HIPAA BAA, and both have you bring your own phone carrier.

5 of 8 rows differ

ElevenLabs Agents and Ultravox compared: type, billing style, starting price, billing, hipaa / baa, best for, key features, last verified
Detail	ElevenLabs Agents	Ultravox
TypeSame	BothVoice Agent Platforms
Billing styleSame	BothPay as you go
Starting priceDiffers	Agents: $0.08 per minute	$0.05/min (first 30 min free)
BillingDiffers	Usage-based	Per minute
HIPAA / BAADiffers	HIPAA-eligible options with BAAs on Scribe Medical	Not listed
Best forDiffers	Builders who want ElevenLabs' voices and speech models in one agent pipeline	Developers wanting a speech-native model at a flat per-minute rate
Key featuresDiffers	ElevenLabs speech models in one low-latency pipeline New Realtime API speech-to-speech models, which ElevenLabs says are OpenAI Realtime-compatible 90+ languages on newest TTS models	30 free minutes SIP at 0.5¢/min (0.48¢ on Pro) Speech-native realtime model
Last verifiedSame	BothOctober 24, 2026

Cozzo testedVoice agent latency on real phone calls

ElevenLabs Agents: 1.04 s median reply time (tied 1 of 8, 11 calls)
Ultravox: 1.18 s median reply time (3 of 8, 11 calls)

Real phone calls, vendor defaults, Oct 20, 2026. Small samples, so treat close numbers as ties. See the method and limits.

Measured on Cozzo’s test calls

ElevenLabs Agents: 1.04 s median reply time (11 phone calls); cost about $0.045 per ~32 s call (plan credits) (about $0.08/min equivalent)
Ultravox: 1.18 s median reply time (11 phone calls); cost about $0.24 in total, after the free 30 minutes ($0.05/min list price)

From our own phone calls on Oct 20, 2026, vendor defaults. Measured cost is what our calls cost, not a list price.

Cozzo-tested · Round 4 · October 22, 2026

AI receptionist test: ElevenLabs Agents vs Ultravox

Calls passed out of 3 on each scenario, same dental-office prompt for both.

ElevenLabs Agents · 13/15 · 1.06 s median reply

Book a new patient
Reschedule
Unknown insurance
Interruption
Dental emergency

Ultravox · 14/15 · 1.27 s median reply

Book a new patient
Reschedule
Unknown insurance
Interruption
Dental emergency

† Callback taken, but the number was read back wrong at least once. 3 calls per scenario; small samples.

See the AI receptionist benchmark →All voice AI benchmarks →

ElevenLabs Agents Pricing Explained →Ultravox Pricing Explained →

ElevenLabs Agents (ElevenLabs now calls it ElevenAgents) bills by the call minute: $0.08 for every minute, included or additional, on every plan. A plan’s monthly fee buys its included minutes and sets how many calls you can take at once: Free 15 minutes and 4 calls, Starter $6 for 75 minutes and 6, Creator $22 for 275 and 10, Pro $99 for 1,238 and 20, Scale $299 for 3,738 and 30, Business $990 for 12,375 and 40. The LLM is billed on top at the provider’s rate with no markup, and your phone carrier bills you directly. Ultravox bills one rate for every minute an agent is on a call: $0.05, covering its speech-native model and built-in voices, after 30 free minutes. Pay as you go has no monthly fee and a hard cap of 5 concurrent calls; Pro is $100 a month and removes the cap. Calls over Ultravox SIP add 0.5¢ a minute (0.48¢ on Pro).

Pick Ultravox if you want the lowest, simplest per-minute bill: one $0.05 rate covers the model and voice, with nothing to choose. It was the better listener on our tests, stopping within 0.34–0.48 s when a caller cut in during Round 4 and passing 14 of 15 receptionist calls. Watch two limits: Pay as you go stops at 5 calls at once (Pro is $100 a month), and in Round 5 it got the after-hours call wrong for both the gym and the roofer.

Pick ElevenLabs Agents if you want the fastest replies, the ElevenLabs voices, or your choice of LLM (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, ElevenLabs-hosted models or your own). It replied faster than Ultravox in every round we ran (1.04 s vs 1.18 s median on Oct 20 phone calls) and passed every after-hours call in Round 5. Watch two things: it kept talking for 0.88–1.46 s when interrupted in Round 4, and read the callback number back correctly only 1 of 3 times in Round 4’s new-patient calls.

Cozzo tip: if your callers interrupt a lot (busy front desks, quick questions), test how fast each agent stops talking. If most calls are simple and you want the snappiest reply, that’s where ElevenLabs shined on our lines.

Sources: ElevenLabs Agents · Ultravox

ElevenLabs Agents vs Ultravox: prices and plans

	ElevenLabs Agents	Ultravox
How you pay	Monthly plan with included minutes: Free $0 (15 min), Starter $6 (75), Creator $22 (275), Pro $99 (1,238), Scale $299 (3,738), Business $990 (12,375). Enterprise custom	$0.05/min after 30 free minutes. Pay as you go $0/month; Pro $100/month; Enterprise custom
What one minute costs	$0.08 per call minute, included or additional, on every plan, plus the LLM you pick	$0.05 per call minute, model and built-in voices included
What one minute includes	ElevenLabs speech-to-text, text-to-speech and agent hosting. The LLM is billed on top at the provider’s published rate, with no markup (select Gemini and Claude models at Vertex regional rates, +10%)	Ultravox’s audio-native model, which hears the caller directly instead of reading a transcript, and its built-in voices. An outside voice on your own TTS key is billed by that provider
Phone numbers and carrier	No telephony fee from ElevenLabs; you connect Twilio or a SIP trunk, and that provider bills you directly	No phone numbers listed: you connect Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Exotel or your own SIP, and they bill you. Ultravox SIP adds 0.5¢/min (0.48¢ on Pro)
Concurrent calls	4 (Free), 6 (Starter), 10 (Creator), 20 (Pro), 30 (Scale), 40 (Business). Burst pricing can take up to 3× your limit, with the extra calls at $0.16/min	Up to 5 on Pay as you go (hard cap). No hard cap on Pro ($100/mo). Priority concurrency on Enterprise
How calls are billed	Call minutes come out of your plan’s included minutes first, then $0.08 each. Upgrading rolls unused credits over; after a downgrade or cancellation, unused paid credits expire at the end of the cycle	Rounded up to the next 6 seconds ($0.005 each); billed monthly in arrears, or early once usage passes $10 (Pay as you go) or $100 (Pro)
Free testing	Free plan: 15 call minutes a month and 4 concurrent calls	30 free call minutes, plus unlimited free playground calls in the web console
HIPAA / BAA	BAAs for HIPAA customers on the Enterprise plan	BAA on an Enterprise plan (Ultravox docs); support now runs through support@inworld.ai
Extras	Text messages $0.003 each; Business adds 10 workspace seats and 10 professional voice clones	Threads (background agents) $2 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens; 1 custom voice clone (5 on Pro); 2 RAG corpora (20 on Pro)
1,000 call minutes a month	$80 on Creator ($22 + 725 extra minutes × $0.08), or $99 on Pro, which includes 1,238 minutes. Plus the LLM and your carrier	$50 ($55 over Ultravox SIP), plus your carrier’s number and minutes
5,000 call minutes a month	About $400 on Creator, Pro or Scale (the bigger plan only buys more calls at once: 10, 20 or 30). Plus the LLM and your carrier	$250 ($275 over Ultravox SIP), plus your carrier. Add $100 for Pro if you need more than 5 calls at once

ElevenLabs Agents

How you pay: Monthly plan with included minutes: Free $0 (15 min), Starter $6 (75), Creator $22 (275), Pro $99 (1,238), Scale $299 (3,738), Business $990 (12,375). Enterprise custom
What one minute costs: $0.08 per call minute, included or additional, on every plan, plus the LLM you pick
What one minute includes: ElevenLabs speech-to-text, text-to-speech and agent hosting. The LLM is billed on top at the provider’s published rate, with no markup (select Gemini and Claude models at Vertex regional rates, +10%)
Phone numbers and carrier: No telephony fee from ElevenLabs; you connect Twilio or a SIP trunk, and that provider bills you directly
Concurrent calls: 4 (Free), 6 (Starter), 10 (Creator), 20 (Pro), 30 (Scale), 40 (Business). Burst pricing can take up to 3× your limit, with the extra calls at $0.16/min
How calls are billed: Call minutes come out of your plan’s included minutes first, then $0.08 each. Upgrading rolls unused credits over; after a downgrade or cancellation, unused paid credits expire at the end of the cycle
Free testing: Free plan: 15 call minutes a month and 4 concurrent calls
HIPAA / BAA: BAAs for HIPAA customers on the Enterprise plan
Extras: Text messages $0.003 each; Business adds 10 workspace seats and 10 professional voice clones
1,000 call minutes a month: $80 on Creator ($22 + 725 extra minutes × $0.08), or $99 on Pro, which includes 1,238 minutes. Plus the LLM and your carrier
5,000 call minutes a month: About $400 on Creator, Pro or Scale (the bigger plan only buys more calls at once: 10, 20 or 30). Plus the LLM and your carrier

Ultravox

How you pay: $0.05/min after 30 free minutes. Pay as you go $0/month; Pro $100/month; Enterprise custom
What one minute costs: $0.05 per call minute, model and built-in voices included
What one minute includes: Ultravox’s audio-native model, which hears the caller directly instead of reading a transcript, and its built-in voices. An outside voice on your own TTS key is billed by that provider
Phone numbers and carrier: No phone numbers listed: you connect Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Exotel or your own SIP, and they bill you. Ultravox SIP adds 0.5¢/min (0.48¢ on Pro)
Concurrent calls: Up to 5 on Pay as you go (hard cap). No hard cap on Pro ($100/mo). Priority concurrency on Enterprise
How calls are billed: Rounded up to the next 6 seconds ($0.005 each); billed monthly in arrears, or early once usage passes $10 (Pay as you go) or $100 (Pro)
Free testing: 30 free call minutes, plus unlimited free playground calls in the web console
HIPAA / BAA: BAA on an Enterprise plan (Ultravox docs); support now runs through support@inworld.ai
Extras: Threads (background agents) $2 per 1M input tokens and $15 per 1M output tokens; 1 custom voice clone (5 on Pro); 2 RAG corpora (20 on Pro)
1,000 call minutes a month: $50 ($55 over Ultravox SIP), plus your carrier’s number and minutes
5,000 call minutes a month: $250 ($275 over Ultravox SIP), plus your carrier. Add $100 for Pro if you need more than 5 calls at once

Prices read on elevenlabs.io/pricing/agents and ultravox.ai/pricing on Oct 24, 2026; LLM billing from ElevenLabs’ docs (elevenlabs.io/docs) and billing and BAA details from docs.ultravox.ai. Monthly examples are Cozzo’s arithmetic (plan fee plus $0.08 for each minute past the included ones on ElevenLabs; $0.05 a minute on Ultravox), before the LLM, carrier charges, burst minutes and Ultravox’s one-time 30 free minutes. ElevenLabs’ LLM cost depends on the model; see our ElevenLabs Agents pricing guide for per-model estimates.

What Cozzo measured on real calls

	ElevenLabs Agents	Ultravox
Reply speed (Oct 20 phone calls)	1.04 s median, 11 calls, vendor defaults	1.18 s median, 11 calls, vendor defaults
Reply speed (browser link, no phone network)	0.41 s median	0.49 s median
Phone transcription errors (Oct 20)	0.6%	6.9%, all from the caller’s closing “Thanks, bye” being cut off as the call ended; the three test questions had no errors
Round 4 receptionist test (dental script)	13 of 15 calls passed; 1.06 s median reply; new-patient booking 1 of 3 (wrong digits in the callback read-back); kept talking 0.88–1.46 s when interrupted, inside the 2.0 s limit	14 of 15 calls passed; 1.27 s median reply; new-patient booking 2 of 3, and in the unknown-insurance calls it took the callback but read the number back wrong at least once; stopped within 0.34–0.48 s when interrupted
Round 5: gym	Passed every quote, booking, triage and after-hours call; stopped within 1.48 s; 1,100 ms median reply	Passed quotes, bookings and triage; failed after-hours (said the gym was open until 9 PM, then offered a 10 PM tour); stopped within 0.42 s; 1,520 ms median
Round 5: career coaching	Passed every call; stopped within 1.00 s; 1,070 ms median reply	Passed every call; stopped within 0.38 s; 1,340 ms median reply
Round 5: roofing & HVAC	Quote 1 of 2, booking 2 of 2, callback read-back 3 of 4; emergency and after-hours passed; stopped within 0.96 s; 1,100 ms median	Quote, booking and read-back unresolved (its own transcript had the right number, the recording didn’t); emergency passed but also told the caller to call 911 for a roof leak; after-hours failed; 1,600 ms median
Measured cost	About $0.045 per ~32 s call (about $0.08/min), charged as Starter-plan credits with no extra dollars billed	About $0.24 in total after the free 30 minutes (most of our Ultravox time was free)

ElevenLabs Agents

Reply speed (Oct 20 phone calls): 1.04 s median, 11 calls, vendor defaults
Reply speed (browser link, no phone network): 0.41 s median
Phone transcription errors (Oct 20): 0.6%
Round 4 receptionist test (dental script): 13 of 15 calls passed; 1.06 s median reply; new-patient booking 1 of 3 (wrong digits in the callback read-back); kept talking 0.88–1.46 s when interrupted, inside the 2.0 s limit
Round 5: gym: Passed every quote, booking, triage and after-hours call; stopped within 1.48 s; 1,100 ms median reply
Round 5: career coaching: Passed every call; stopped within 1.00 s; 1,070 ms median reply
Round 5: roofing & HVAC: Quote 1 of 2, booking 2 of 2, callback read-back 3 of 4; emergency and after-hours passed; stopped within 0.96 s; 1,100 ms median
Measured cost: About $0.045 per ~32 s call (about $0.08/min), charged as Starter-plan credits with no extra dollars billed

Ultravox

Reply speed (Oct 20 phone calls): 1.18 s median, 11 calls, vendor defaults
Reply speed (browser link, no phone network): 0.49 s median
Phone transcription errors (Oct 20): 6.9%, all from the caller’s closing “Thanks, bye” being cut off as the call ended; the three test questions had no errors
Round 4 receptionist test (dental script): 14 of 15 calls passed; 1.27 s median reply; new-patient booking 2 of 3, and in the unknown-insurance calls it took the callback but read the number back wrong at least once; stopped within 0.34–0.48 s when interrupted
Round 5: gym: Passed quotes, bookings and triage; failed after-hours (said the gym was open until 9 PM, then offered a 10 PM tour); stopped within 0.42 s; 1,520 ms median
Round 5: career coaching: Passed every call; stopped within 0.38 s; 1,340 ms median reply
Round 5: roofing & HVAC: Quote, booking and read-back unresolved (its own transcript had the right number, the recording didn’t); emergency passed but also told the caller to call 911 for a roof leak; after-hours failed; 1,600 ms median
Measured cost: About $0.24 in total after the free 30 minutes (most of our Ultravox time was free)

Small samples (1–3 calls per scenario per vendor in Rounds 4 and 5, 11 calls each on Oct 20), so treat close numbers as ties. Each vendor ran on its default model and voice (ElevenLabs: its default LLM with the eleven_v4_turbo voice). Full method and limits are on each benchmark page.

Questions

Is Ultravox cheaper than ElevenLabs Agents?

On list price, yes. Ultravox is $0.05 a minute with the model and voice included, so 1,000 call minutes a month is $50 ($55 over Ultravox SIP) plus your carrier. ElevenLabs is $0.08 a minute plus the LLM, so the same 1,000 minutes is $80 on the Creator plan or $99 on Pro before the LLM. At 5,000 minutes it’s $250 on Ultravox Pay as you go (add $100 if you need Pro for more than 5 calls at once) versus about $400 on ElevenLabs plus the LLM.

Which is faster, ElevenLabs Agents or Ultravox?

ElevenLabs, in every test Cozzo ran. On Oct 20 phone calls its median reply was 1.04 s vs Ultravox’s 1.18 s; in Round 4 receptionist calls 1.06 s vs 1.27 s; and in Round 5 it was quicker on gym (1,100 vs 1,520 ms), coaching (1,070 vs 1,340 ms) and roofing calls (1,100 vs 1,600 ms). Ultravox was the faster one to stop talking when interrupted.

Which handled receptionist calls better in Cozzo’s tests?

It’s close and depends on the call. In Round 4 (a dental script) Ultravox passed 14 of 15 calls and ElevenLabs 13 of 15; both missed calls by reading the callback number back wrong. In Round 5 ElevenLabs passed every gym and coaching call and the roofing after-hours call, while Ultravox failed the after-hours call for both the gym and the roofer. Test your own script before you go live.

Do ElevenLabs Agents and Ultravox support HIPAA?

Both sign a BAA only on their Enterprise plans. ElevenLabs lists BAAs for HIPAA customers on Enterprise; Ultravox’s docs say it signs BAAs for customers with HIPAA needs on an Enterprise plan and suggest building with non-patient data first. On ElevenLabs, also pick an LLM its docs mark as suitable for HIPAA.

How many calls can each handle at once?

ElevenLabs sets it by plan: 4 on Free, 6 on Starter, 10 on Creator, 20 on Pro, 30 on Scale and 40 on Business, and burst pricing can take up to 3 times that at $0.16 a minute for the extra calls. Ultravox’s Pay as you go has a hard cap of 5; its $100-a-month Pro plan removes the hard cap.

Can I use ElevenLabs voices on Ultravox?

Yes. Ultravox lets you bring your own text-to-speech key, such as ElevenLabs or Cartesia, and that provider bills you for the voice on top of Ultravox’s $0.05 a minute. Ultravox’s own built-in voices are included in the $0.05.

Can I choose the LLM?

On ElevenLabs Agents, yes: it supports OpenAI, Anthropic, Google and ElevenLabs-hosted models, or your own custom LLM, and passes the model cost through with no markup. Ultravox runs its own audio-native model, which is included in the $0.05 a minute.

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