50%
cheaper phone numbers
The math: Retell charges $0.07–0.155/min (telephony + AI bundled). Kadeno charges $0.010/min (telephony only). If you run your own AI pipeline at ~$0.02/min, your total is $0.030/min — less than half of Retell's cheapest tier.
Pricing
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Kadeno | Retell AI |
|---|
| Telephony | $0.010/min | $0.055/min (infra fee) |
| Phone number | $1.00/mo | $2.00/mo |
| STT + LLM + TTS | Bring your own | $0.03–0.10/min |
| SMS | $0.010/msg PAYG | $20/mo flat |
| Extra concurrency | Included | $8/slot/mo |
| Platform fee | $0 | Varies by plan |
Cost at Scale
10,000 Minutes/Month
| Kadeno + Own AI | Retell AI |
|---|
| Telephony | $100 | $550 |
| AI (STT+LLM+TTS) | ~$200 (your cost) | $300–1,000 |
| Numbers (10) | $10 | $20 |
| Total | ~$310 | $870–1,570 |
When Kadeno Wins
Choose Kadeno when
- You have your own AI pipeline — Running Whisper + GPT + ElevenLabs yourself? Kadeno provides the phone line, you keep full control and margin.
- Cost matters at scale — At 10,000 minutes/month, the difference between $0.030/min and $0.13/min is enormous.
- SMS volume is low or unpredictable — Retell charges $20/mo flat for SMS. Kadeno charges $0.010/msg — you only pay for what you send.
- You want model choice — Use any STT, LLM, TTS combination without switching telephony providers.
Choose Retell AI when
- Speed to market — Retell gets you a working voice agent in minutes with zero AI infrastructure to manage.
- Built-in features — Function calling, knowledge bases, conversation analysis, and agent quality scoring are included.
- Small scale — Under 1,000 minutes/month, the convenience may outweigh the cost savings.
Run your own AI? Pay less for telephony.
$0.010/min · $1.00/mo numbers · $0 platform fee