Simple, Transparent Pricing

Only pay for the Kalem voice engine. Bring your own OpenAI keys and SIP trunks — you control the costs.

How Kalem Pricing Works

Unlike bundled AI voice platforms that mark up LLM and telephony costs, Kalem uses a BYOC (Bring Your Own Credentials) model. You pay only $0.04 per minute for the Kalem voice engine — the orchestration layer that connects your OpenAI Realtime API key to your SIP trunks with sub-320ms latency.

Kalem Engine

$0.04/min

Voice orchestration, agent routing, analytics, and API

OpenAI (Your Key)

~$0.02–0.10/min

Billed directly by OpenAI. Choose gpt-realtime-mini or standard.

Telephony (Your Trunk)

~$0.01–0.02/min

Billed by Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, or your SIP provider.

Your total cost ranges from $0.07–0.16/min depending on your OpenAI model and telephony provider — with complete transparency on every component.

Recommended

Pay As You Go

Self-service · Full control

$0 /month
$0.04 /min — Kalem voice engine

OpenAI & telephony costs billed directly by providers (BYOC)

  • 100 free minutes to get started (one-time)
  • Bring Your Own Keys (OpenAI API)
  • Bring Your Own SIP Trunks
  • Unlimited agents & knowledge bases
  • Real-time dashboard & call analytics
  • Webhook integrations & API access
  • Community support
  • GDPR & SOC 2 Type II compliant
Start Free — No Credit Card
Managed Service

Enterprise

Fully managed · White glove

Custom

Tailored to your volume & needs

Volume discounts

Custom rates based on your usage profile

  • Everything in Pay As You Go
  • Dedicated prompt engineering & agent setup
  • CRM & n8n workflow integrations
  • Custom system instructions & fine-tuning
  • Priority support with dedicated account manager
  • SLA guarantees & uptime commitment
  • Rollover unused minutes (up to 2x cap)
  • Whitelabel & multi-tenant options
  • HIPAA compliance & BAA available
  • PCI DSS & custom DPA agreements
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Start free with 100 one-time minutes. No credit card required.

Cost Calculator

Compare Kalem's BYOC cost against the most popular AI voice agent platforms

100 2,500 5,000 7,500 10,000
Kalem (BYOC)
$/mo
Engine only
$0.04/min
100 free minutes included
Vapi
$
BYOC · $0.05/min
Retell AI
$
All-in · $0.07/min
ElevenLabs
$
All-in · $0.08/min
Bland AI
$
All-in · $0.12/min
Synthflow
$
$29+/mo + usage
Thoughtly
$
$97/mo + $0.07/min
Save up to $/month with Kalem

* Kalem price is engine only — add your OpenAI Realtime costs (Mini ~$0.02-0.05/min · Standard ~$0.06-0.10/min) + telephony (~$0.01-0.02/min)

Competitor pricing based on publicly available rates as of Q1 2026. Actual costs may vary by plan tier and volume.

Plan Comparison

Feature Pay As You Go Enterprise
Monthly fee $0 Custom
Kalem engine rate $0.04/min Volume discounts
Free minutes 100 (one-time) Included in plan
OpenAI API keys BYOC (your keys) Managed or BYOC
SIP trunks / telephony BYOC (your trunks) Managed or BYOC
Agents & knowledge bases Unlimited Unlimited
Webhook & API access
Prompt engineering & setup Self-service
CRM & n8n integrations —
Dedicated account manager —
SLA & uptime guarantee —
Rollover unused minutes — Up to 2x cap
Whitelabel options —
Compliance
GDPR
SOC 2 Type II
End-to-end encryption
HIPAA & BAA —
PCI DSS —
Custom SLA —
Custom DPA —

Why the BYOC Model Saves You Money

Most AI voice agent platforms bundle LLM inference, telephony, and orchestration into a single per-minute rate. While convenient, this model hides significant markups and removes your ability to optimize individual cost components.

Bundled platforms

  • •Hidden markups on OpenAI API usage
  • •Telephony costs baked into opaque rates
  • •Locked into their model and provider choices
  • •No way to switch LLMs or negotiate trunk rates
  • •Typical cost: $0.07–$0.13/min all-in

Kalem BYOC model

  • •Pay OpenAI directly at their listed rates
  • •Choose and switch telephony providers freely
  • •Negotiate volume rates with each provider
  • •Switch between gpt-realtime-mini and standard
  • •Typical cost: $0.07–$0.16/min with full visibility

At 5,000 minutes per month, switching to Kalem's BYOC model can save $150–$450/month compared to bundled platforms — while giving you full control over every cost component.

Frequently Asked Questions

Kalem charges only for the voice engine orchestration ($0.04/min). You connect your own OpenAI API key for the AI model and your own SIP trunk (e.g., Twilio, Telnyx) for telephony. This gives you full cost transparency — no markups on LLM or telecom usage.
Every new account receives 100 free Kalem engine minutes as a one-time credit. These don't expire and don't renew monthly. Once used, you'll be billed at $0.04/min. No credit card is required to start.
It depends on your providers and which OpenAI model you choose. With gpt-realtime-mini: $0.04 Kalem + ~$0.02-0.05 OpenAI + ~$0.01-0.02 telephony = ~$0.07-0.11/min. With gpt-realtime (standard): $0.04 Kalem + ~$0.06-0.10 OpenAI + ~$0.01-0.02 telephony = ~$0.11-0.16/min. Compare this to bundled platforms charging $0.07-0.13/min with less transparency and control.
You can try the platform with the 100 free minutes using Kalem's built-in keys. To continue beyond that, you'll need your own OpenAI API key — which you can generate at platform.openai.com in seconds.
Enterprise is ideal if you need hands-on help with prompt engineering, CRM integrations, dedicated support, or SLA guarantees. It's a managed service — we handle the setup and optimization so your team can focus on your business.

Kalem's BYOC model at $0.04/min engine-only is the most cost-effective. Here's how popular competitors compare:

  • Vapi — $0.05/min platform fee (BYOC model, similar to Kalem but 25% more expensive)
  • Retell AI — ~$0.07/min all-in with bundled LLM and telephony
  • ElevenLabs Agents — ~$0.08/min all-in with premium voice quality
  • Bland AI — $0.12/min all-in bundled (was $0.09/min, increased in late 2025)
  • Synthflow — Subscription tiers starting at $29/month + per-minute usage
  • Thoughtly — $97/month base + $0.07/min usage fee

At 5,000 minutes/month, Kalem saves you $150–$500+ compared to bundled platforms. Use the cost calculator above to compare at your exact volume.

Yes. Kalem supports any standard SIP trunk provider including Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, and others. You can also use your existing enterprise telephony infrastructure. This BYOC approach lets you negotiate your own telephony rates and maintain full control over your voice infrastructure.

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