Bland AI has earned its name in more ways than one. Sure, it’s a known player in the AI phone agent space — but if you’ve ever wrangled with its unpredictable pricing, occasional lag, or the “some assembly required” vibe, you’ve probably wondered if there’s something better out there. Spoiler: there is.
Here are the five platforms worth your attention in 2025.
1. Trillet
Trillet isn’t shy about what it’s here to do: make outbound calls actually work at scale without giving your teams a headache. Voices don’t sound like sterile podcasts — they breathe, stutter, and self-correct like real humans. That “uncanny valley” feeling you get with most AI agents? WAY less of it here.
But the real kicker is callback memory. If someone says “call me at 3pm tomorrow,” Trillet remembers — and does it. No more lost leads because the system thought “tomorrow” was a polite way of saying goodbye. It also pulls off something most platforms struggle with: multi-channel persistence. Conversations carry over seamlessly between voice, SMS, and WhatsApp, every time you switch channels, which adds to a pleasant customer experience.
And compliance? TCPA, GDPR, and ACMA (super fancy sounding acronyms, right?) are built in. You don’t need to duct tape your own legal safety net. Perhaps the best of all, it is the only platform that has a complete AI assistant that can build your agents for you without, no code required. No watching YouTube, just talk to the assistant and tell it what you want, and it will create your agent for you. The most seamless experience we have experienced creating an AI agent by far.
Pricing: Flat $0.09/min, no hidden “gotcha” fees.
Best for: High-volume outbound teams who actually like sleeping at night.
Trade-off: Trillet shines at scale, but feels heavy for small test runs.
2. Retell AI
Retell is like the sensible cousin: reliable, approachable, and less likely to blow up your budget. It’s easier to set up than most enterprise systems, offers decent compliance coverage, and doesn’t demand you have a dev team on speed dial.
That said, Retell isn’t exactly a playground for customization nerds. If you want deep, complex workflows, you’ll probably hit a ceiling. But for mid-sized orgs that value quick deployment and predictable behavior, it does the job.
Pricing: Around $0.09/min, depending on features.
Best for: Teams that want working software yesterday.
Trade-off: Limited control knobs for power users.
3. Vapi AI
Vapi is the opposite of turnkey. It’s a toolbox - and a good one - but you’ll need to bring your own hammer, nails, and probably some duct tape. You can mix and match STT, TTS, LLMs, and telephony providers however you like. That flexibility is great if you want to really customise every aspect of your phone agent.
But here’s the catch: with great freedom comes… vendor juggling. You’ll manage multiple APIs, multiple bills, and multiple ways things can break at 2am. If that excites you, Vapi is your jam. If not, maybe keep scrolling.
Pricing: Base rates are cheap; the real cost depends on your stack.
Best for: Engineering teams who want full control.
Trade-off: High complexity tax.
4. Synthflow
Synthflow is what you pick if you’d rather click buttons than write code. It nails ease-of-use, offers solid voice quality, and doesn’t require a degree in API wrangling to get started.
It’s perfect for SMBs or mid-market teams without engineering muscle. The downside? At enterprise scale, you might bump into limits — and heavy customization isn’t its strongest suit. But if speed and simplicity trump everything else, Synthflow works.
Pricing: Tiered, varies by seat and usage.
Best for: Non-technical teams that want results fast.
Trade-off: Less room for complex, bespoke workflows.
5. ElevenLabs + Stack
If you’re obsessed with how the AI actually sounds, ElevenLabs is still the gold standard. Their voices don’t just talk — they emote, pause, and sometimes make you double-check if it’s actually a bot.
But here’s the rub: ElevenLabs is not a full voice agent. It doesn’t connect to phone numbers natively, cannot call customers through a spreadsheet, cannot manage voicemail and IVR like all of the other platforms. Great if audio fidelity is your hill to die on, but it’s more Lego set than finished product.
Pricing: Depends on usage and your add-ons.
Best for: Teams where voice quality is non-negotiable.
Trade-off: Not plug-and-play. Expect integration overhead.
Bottom Line
Bland AI still has name recognition, but it’s hardly the only option — and for many teams, not the best one. Trillet AI leads the pack because it fixes the pain points that actually cost businesses money: compliance, missed callbacks, fragmented conversations, and surprise billing.
Retell makes sense if you want something simple and stable. Vapi is for devs who like more control over the product. Synthflow caters to no-code teams, and ElevenLabs is for audio perfectionists.
The right choice depends on your priorities. But if you’re running outbound campaigns at scale and you want fewer headaches (and fewer lawyers), Trillet is the one that makes the most sense in 2025.
