Telephony & Phone Numbers

Twilio vs Vonage: voice API pricing, billing and AI agent costs

Pricing and features, side by side. Last verified October 27, 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: for an AI agent that answers calls, Vonage is cheaper on list price. Receiving a call and streaming it to your AI costs about 0.99¢ a minute on Vonage (phone leg plus WebSocket leg) against 1.29¢ on Twilio (call plus Media Streams), and Vonage bills by the second while Twilio rounds each call up to a whole minute. For outbound calls at standard rates Twilio is slightly cheaper, unless you get Vonage’s lower US zone-based rates through its sales team. Pick Twilio if your voice agent platform connects to Twilio natively or you want Conversation Relay to handle speech for you.

4 of 7 rows differ

Twilio and Vonage compared: type, billing style, starting price, billing, best for, key features, last verified
Detail	Twilio	Vonage
TypeSame	BothTelephony & Phone Numbers
Billing styleSame	BothPay as you go
Starting priceDiffers	US local: $0.0140/min outbound, $0.0085/min inbound	US: $0.00495/min inbound, $0.01446/min outbound
BillingDiffers	Pay as you go, per minute	Pay per use, billed per second
Best forDiffers	Phone numbers and call transport under any voice agent stack	Developers who need programmable voice with SIP, WebRTC and WebSocket connections
Key featuresDiffers	Volume and committed-use discounts available	Billed per second Call recording $0/min; standard voicemail detection $0, advanced $0.00843 per call WebSocket calls for streaming audio to an AI agent
Last verifiedSame	BothOctober 27, 2026

Twilio Voice Pricing →

Twilio review: pricing, features and alternatives →

Both are pay-as-you-go voice APIs that connect AI agents to US phone numbers. Twilio lists US local calls at $0.0085/min inbound and $0.0140/min outbound, local numbers at $1.15/mo, Media Streams (the audio feed to your AI) at $0.0044/min and recording at $0.0025/min, rounds each call up to the next minute by default and gives a $15 trial credit. Vonage lists standard US rates of $0.00495/min inbound and $0.01446/min outbound, a WebSocket leg at $0.00492/min, local numbers at $1.09/mo and recording at $0, bills per second and starts you with free credit and no card.

Pick Vonage if your agent mostly answers calls and streams audio to your own speech-to-text, LLM and voice: its list rate for that is about 0.99¢ a minute, billed by the second, with recording and standard voicemail detection at $0.

Pick Twilio if your voice agent platform imports Twilio numbers natively, you want Conversation Relay’s built-in speech, or you make mostly outbound calls on standard pay-as-you-go rates. Twilio also applies volume discounts automatically above 100,000 US and Canada minutes a month.

Cozzo tip: short calls are where the billing step bites. Twilio bills a 2-minute-20-second call as 3 minutes by default; Vonage bills the 2 minutes 20 seconds.

Sources: Twilio · Vonage

Twilio vs Vonage: US voice prices

	Twilio	Vonage
Receive a call (local number)	$0.0085/min	$0.00495/min (zone-based $0.00485 through sales)
Receive a call (toll-free)	$0.0220/min	$0.0154/min
Make a call (US)	$0.0140/min (Alaska $0.0945)	$0.01446/min standard; zone-based $0.00849 (Alaska and Hawaii $0.01538) through sales
Audio stream to your AI	Media Streams $0.0044/min	WebSocket leg $0.00492/min
Browser/app and SIP calls	$0.0040/min	$0.00492/min (SIP endpoint or WebRTC app)
Local phone number	$1.15/mo	$1.09/mo (setup fee may apply)
Toll-free number	$2.15/mo	Not shown on the voice pricing page
Recording	$0.0025/min + $0.0005/min a month storage	$0 (mono, stereo or multichannel)
Transcription of recordings	$0.05/min	$0.0451/min
Voicemail (answering machine) detection	$0.0075 per call	Standard $0; advanced $0.00843 per call
Billing increment	Rounded up to the next minute by default (Twilio docs)	Per second (Vonage pricing page and support docs)

Twilio

Receive a call (local number): $0.0085/min
Receive a call (toll-free): $0.0220/min
Make a call (US): $0.0140/min (Alaska $0.0945)
Audio stream to your AI: Media Streams $0.0044/min
Browser/app and SIP calls: $0.0040/min
Local phone number: $1.15/mo
Toll-free number: $2.15/mo
Recording: $0.0025/min + $0.0005/min a month storage
Transcription of recordings: $0.05/min
Voicemail (answering machine) detection: $0.0075 per call
Billing increment: Rounded up to the next minute by default (Twilio docs)

Vonage

Receive a call (local number): $0.00495/min (zone-based $0.00485 through sales)
Receive a call (toll-free): $0.0154/min
Make a call (US): $0.01446/min standard; zone-based $0.00849 (Alaska and Hawaii $0.01538) through sales
Audio stream to your AI: WebSocket leg $0.00492/min
Browser/app and SIP calls: $0.00492/min (SIP endpoint or WebRTC app)
Local phone number: $1.09/mo (setup fee may apply)
Toll-free number: Not shown on the voice pricing page
Recording: $0 (mono, stereo or multichannel)
Transcription of recordings: $0.0451/min
Voicemail (answering machine) detection: Standard $0; advanced $0.00843 per call
Billing increment: Per second (Vonage pricing page and support docs)

US pay-as-you-go list prices from twilio.com/en-us/voice/pricing/us and vonage.com/communications-apis/voice/pricing (Calling, Numbers and Programmable features tabs), read Oct 27, 2026. Vonage lists its standard US rates under “International calling (PSTN)” and its lower zone-based rates under “Domestic calling (PSTN)”, available through sales. Taxes and regulatory fees are extra.

What a month costs: Twilio vs Vonage

	Twilio	Vonage
AI receptionist: 1,000 inbound calls × 3 min, local number, audio streamed to your AI	$39.85 (3,000 × $0.0129 + $1.15)	$30.70 (3,000 × $0.00987 + $1.09)
Same 1,000 calls, but each lasts 2 min 20 s	$39.85 (each call billed as 3 min)	$24.12 (2,333 min billed by the second)
10,000 inbound minutes, local, streamed	$130.15	$99.79
10,000 inbound minutes, toll-free, streamed	$266.15	$203.20 + the toll-free number
Outbound agent: 10,000 minutes, local, streamed	$185.15	$194.89 at standard rates; $135.19 at zone-based rates (through sales)
Recording 3,000 minutes (first month)	$9.00	$0
Voicemail detection on 1,000 outbound calls	$7.50	$0 standard; $8.43 advanced

Twilio

AI receptionist: 1,000 inbound calls × 3 min, local number, audio streamed to your AI: $39.85 (3,000 × $0.0129 + $1.15)
Same 1,000 calls, but each lasts 2 min 20 s: $39.85 (each call billed as 3 min)
10,000 inbound minutes, local, streamed: $130.15
10,000 inbound minutes, toll-free, streamed: $266.15
Outbound agent: 10,000 minutes, local, streamed: $185.15
Recording 3,000 minutes (first month): $9.00
Voicemail detection on 1,000 outbound calls: $7.50

Vonage

AI receptionist: 1,000 inbound calls × 3 min, local number, audio streamed to your AI: $30.70 (3,000 × $0.00987 + $1.09)
Same 1,000 calls, but each lasts 2 min 20 s: $24.12 (2,333 min billed by the second)
10,000 inbound minutes, local, streamed: $99.79
10,000 inbound minutes, toll-free, streamed: $203.20 + the toll-free number
Outbound agent: 10,000 minutes, local, streamed: $194.89 at standard rates; $135.19 at zone-based rates (through sales)
Recording 3,000 minutes (first month): $0
Voicemail detection on 1,000 outbound calls: $0 standard; $8.43 advanced

Cozzo’s arithmetic on the list prices above: rate × minutes plus one phone number. Vonage’s support docs say the leg from Vonage to your Voice API application is free, and a leg to a WebSocket or SIP endpoint is billed at the rate on the pricing page, so streamed rows add the $0.00492 WebSocket leg. Your speech-to-text, LLM and voice are billed by their own vendors.

Speech, plans and compliance

	Twilio	Vonage
Carrier-run speech for agents	Conversation Relay $0.07/min (speech recognition + text-to-speech; you bring the LLM)	No bundled equivalent listed; speech-to-text $0.01978/min (standard) and text-to-speech from $0.00079 per 100 characters, sold separately
Text-to-speech	Standard $0.0008, neural $0.0032, generative $0.0130 per 100 characters	Standard $0.00079, premium $0.00328, premier $0.01300 per 100 characters
Conference calls	From $0.0018 per participant per minute	$0 per participant per minute (up to 200)
Free trial	$15 of credit to buy a number and test voice	Free credit, no credit card required (amount not stated on the page)
Volume discounts	Automatic tiers above 100,000 US and Canada minutes a month; committed-use through sales	Lower zone-based US rates through sales; no automatic tiers listed on the voice pricing page
Compliance	HIPAA, GDPR, PCI, SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 listed on the pricing page; ask which products a BAA covers	Not listed on the voice pricing page; ask Vonage before handling patient or payment calls

Twilio

Carrier-run speech for agents: Conversation Relay $0.07/min (speech recognition + text-to-speech; you bring the LLM)
Text-to-speech: Standard $0.0008, neural $0.0032, generative $0.0130 per 100 characters
Conference calls: From $0.0018 per participant per minute
Free trial: $15 of credit to buy a number and test voice
Volume discounts: Automatic tiers above 100,000 US and Canada minutes a month; committed-use through sales
Compliance: HIPAA, GDPR, PCI, SOC 2 and ISO/IEC 27001 listed on the pricing page; ask which products a BAA covers

Vonage

Carrier-run speech for agents: No bundled equivalent listed; speech-to-text $0.01978/min (standard) and text-to-speech from $0.00079 per 100 characters, sold separately
Text-to-speech: Standard $0.00079, premium $0.00328, premier $0.01300 per 100 characters
Conference calls: $0 per participant per minute (up to 200)
Free trial: Free credit, no credit card required (amount not stated on the page)
Volume discounts: Lower zone-based US rates through sales; no automatic tiers listed on the voice pricing page
Compliance: Not listed on the voice pricing page; ask Vonage before handling patient or payment calls

From twilio.com/en-us/voice/pricing/us and the Vonage voice pricing page, read Oct 27, 2026.

Questions

Is Vonage cheaper than Twilio?

To receive calls, yes, on list price. Vonage’s standard US inbound rate is $0.00495 a minute against Twilio’s $0.0085 on a local number, and Vonage bills by the second while Twilio rounds each call up to the minute. To make calls at standard rates, Twilio’s $0.0140 a minute is slightly below Vonage’s $0.01446; Vonage’s zone-based rate of $0.00849 is lower but goes through its sales team. Local numbers are $1.15 a month at Twilio and $1.09 at Vonage.

How much does an AI phone agent cost on Twilio vs Vonage?

For the phone side of an inbound AI call on a local number, Twilio is $0.0085 for the call plus $0.0044 for Media Streams, or 1.29¢ a minute. Vonage is $0.00495 for the call plus $0.00492 for the WebSocket leg, or 0.99¢ a minute. For 1,000 three-minute calls that’s $39.85 a month on Twilio and $30.70 on Vonage, including one number. Speech-to-text, the LLM and the voice are extra on both.

Does Twilio or Vonage bill per second?

Vonage does: its pricing page and support docs say every call is charged per second, from answer to hang-up, with nothing for ringing. Twilio’s docs say calls are rounded up to the next minute by default, so a 25-second call shows as 1 minute on the invoice. Some Twilio contracts allow smaller increments.

Does Vonage charge for the audio stream to my AI agent?

Yes. Vonage’s support docs say the leg from Vonage to your Voice API application is free, but if the call is connected to a WebSocket endpoint, that leg is charged at the pricing-page rate, which is $0.00492 a minute. Twilio charges $0.0044 a minute for Media Streams.

Does Vonage have something like Twilio Conversation Relay?

Not as one bundled rate on its voice pricing page. Twilio’s Conversation Relay is $0.07 a minute and handles speech recognition and text-to-speech while you bring the LLM. Vonage lists speech recognition ($0.01978 a minute standard) and text-to-speech (from $0.00079 per 100 characters) separately, plus a Natural Language Understanding add-on at $0.055 a minute.

Is call recording free on Vonage?

Vonage’s voice pricing page lists mono, stereo and multichannel recording at $0.00000 a minute, and transcription of recordings at $0.0451 a minute. Twilio charges $0.0025 a minute to record, $0.0005 a minute a month to store and $0.05 a minute to transcribe.

Has Cozzo tested Twilio or Vonage?

Cozzo’s phone benchmarks dialed out through Twilio, which added about $0.01 a minute for the phone leg. We haven’t run calls through Vonage yet, so this page compares published prices only.

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