AI voice headline prices are not comparable unless the buyer knows which layers of the stack are included. The CCM AI Voice Total Cost Index (AVTCI) tracks total-cost components and cost completeness.
Total-cost model
AI Voice Total Cost = Platform + STT + LLM + TTS + Telephony + Fixed Subscription + Concurrency + Security + Implementation + Integrations + Human Escalation
Commercial classes
CCM separates modular self-service, configurable production platforms, bundled per-minute AI, packaged SMB receptionists, managed enterprise voice AI and outcome-based agentic CX.
Examples: Vapi publishes hosting around $0.05/minute but external components can add cost. Retell publishes a configuration-dependent range. Bland publishes more bundled core-AI minute rates. Rosie packages minutes. Synthflow and PolyAI represent enterprise models, while Sierra uses outcome pricing.
Cost completeness
States include hosting-only, partial-stack, core-AI-bundled, fully bundled with telephony, managed enterprise, outcome-based and custom unknown.
Standard scenarios
Model 1,000, 10,000 and 100,000 connected minutes, but only when component assumptions are available.
Research principle: a smaller headline minute rate is not necessarily a lower all-in cost.