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Telnyx voice AI pricing for contractors

Short answer. Telnyx charges $0.05 a minute for its voice AI engine. That rate covers the agent runtime, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech. You pay for the language model and the phone line on top. Telnyx says a typical agent lands near $0.06 a minute all in. Pay as you go has no monthly fee. We read the Telnyx voice AI pricing page on October 26, 2026.

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Telnyx voice AI rates

Item	Rate
Voice engine (runtime, speech-to-text, text-to-speech)	$0.05 a minute
LLM tokens on Telnyx GPUs	Per token. Telnyx gives about $0.006 a minute for the Kimi model
LLM on OpenAI or Anthropic models	Per token at those providers' rates
Inbound calls (SIP trunking)	From $0.0032 a minute
Outbound calls (SIP trunking)	From $0.005 a minute
Call recording	$0.002 a minute
US local phone number	$1.00 a month
Text messages out	From $0.004 a message

Source: Telnyx voice AI pricing, checked October 26, 2026.

Telnyx plans

Plan	Monthly	What you get
Pay as you go	$0	Standard rates, card on file, 500 concurrent calls, community support
Growth	$2,000 minimum spend	15% off voice, messaging, and numbers, 24/7 chat or phone support
Enterprise	$5,000 minimum spend	Custom pricing on dedicated infrastructure

Source: Telnyx voice AI pricing. The voice engine and LLM rates are the same on every plan. The discount applies to phone, text, and number charges. Growth comes to $24,000 a year and Enterprise to $60,000 a year at the minimum.

What 1,000 inbound minutes cost

Part	Rate	1,000 minutes
Voice engine	$0.05	$50
Kimi LLM, Telnyx estimate	$0.006	$6
Inbound phone line	$0.0032	$3.20
One US local number	$1.00 a month	$1
Total	$0.0592 a minute before the number	$60.20

Our math from Telnyx's listed rates, before tax. A bigger model, call recording, or outbound calls add to it. Telnyx's own example puts 230,000 minutes near $13,700 a month.

Telnyx vs Vapi

	Telnyx	Vapi
Platform rate	$0.05 a minute, speech and voice included	$0.05 a minute hosting, speech and voice extra
Model	Per token	Pass-through at cost
Phone line	From $0.0032 a minute inbound	Vapi telephony free, Telnyx transport $0.0055 a minute
Monthly fee	$0 on pay as you go	$0, or Core at $29 a month
HIPAA	Included on every plan, per Telnyx	$2,000 a month add-on
1,000 minutes	About $60, our math	$82 to $129, Vapi's estimate

Sources: Telnyx voice AI pricing and Vapi pricing, checked October 26, 2026. Both are developer tools. You or a freelancer build the agent. For a ready receptionist, see Trillet pricing or Rosie AI pricing.

FAQ

How much does Telnyx voice AI cost? $0.05 a minute for the voice engine, plus LLM tokens and phone costs. Telnyx puts a typical agent near $0.06 a minute.

Does Telnyx have a monthly fee for voice AI? Not on pay as you go. Growth has a $2,000 monthly minimum spend. Enterprise has a $5,000 minimum.

What does the Telnyx $0.05 a minute include? The agent runtime with turn-taking, tools, and knowledge base lookups. The rate covers Telnyx-hosted speech-to-text and text-to-speech.

How much is a Telnyx phone number? A US local number costs $1.00 a month. Inbound calls start at $0.0032 a minute.

Is Telnyx cheaper than Vapi? For 1,000 inbound minutes with a small model, our math gives about $60 on Telnyx. Vapi's own estimate for 1,000 minutes is $82 to $129.

Checked 2026-10-26. Prices and policies change. Confirm on the source before you buy.