Compare · prices read 2 September 2026
Retell offers voice-agent infrastructure with usage-based pricing. Sureline offers subscription plans with call time included, starting at $83.33/month billed annually at $1,000/year, or $100 billed monthly. Compare the work of configuring and maintaining your agents as well as the call volume and capacity you need.
Retell's prices are from retellai.com/pricing; Sureline's from the plan pricing. Both change, so the date at the top is part of the claim.
The same month, billed by each
About 60 four-minute calls. The Sureline figure is an annual monthly equivalent; competitor figures use the monthly terms in the cited snapshot. This is a subscription comparison, not an all-in invoice.
Competitor prices are a snapshot from 2 September 2026; check each vendor for current terms. Sureline shows subscription prices, with included call time. Additional services are not included in this comparison.
Criterion by criterion
| Sureline | Retell | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A finished receptionist: agents, inbox, knowledge base, rules, transfers | A platform to build voice agents on, with an API and SDKs |
| Who builds the agent | You, from a trade template, on a canvas | Your developer, or you, on the builder and the API |
| Pricing model | Subscription with included call time | Per component: voice, speech, language model, telephony, number |
| Included call time | 10, 120 or 200 hours each month, by plan | About 8.8¢ to 13¢ depending on the model, telephony included |
| Monthly | Starter: $83.33/month billed annually at $1,000/year, or $100 billed monthly. Growth: $1,000/month. Scale: $1,500/month. Call time included. | $2 a number; concurrency and knowledge bases past the free allowance $8 each |
| Monthly minimum | $100 monthly, or $1,000 annually | None |
| Books appointments | Included, with Housecall Pro and Zapier | A function call you build and connect |
| Transfers a live call | Included, with a whispered summary before you pick up | Built with the SDK and your own conditions |
| Inbox, transcripts, texting the caller | Included, one thread per customer | Transcripts and analytics in the dashboard; the inbox is yours to build |
| Knowledge base | Read from your website, filled in once | Ten free, then $8 a month each, plus a per-minute add-on |
| Website and app | Same agent, same voice, two lines of code | Web call SDK, wired by a developer |
| Free to start | Limited time 60 day free trial through Oct 15th | $10 credit |
Retell from retellai.com/pricing, read 2 September 2026 · Sureline from sureline.io/pricing and the product
Who should pick which
Pick Retell if you have a developer and a flow of your own to build, or you are a product team shipping voice into something bigger. Pick Sureline if you are the owner of a business with a phone that rings, you want the receptionist working this week, and you want to be able to open it up and change it yourself.
| Included capacity | Starter | Growth | Scale |
|---|---|---|---|
| Published agents | 1 | 3 | 8 |
| Simultaneous calls | 1 | 5 | 10 |
| Call time each month | 10 hours | 120 hours | 200 hours |
| Annual billing | $1,000/year | $10,000/year | $15,000/year |
| Monthly billing | $100/month | $1,000/month | $1,500/month |
FAQ
No. Sureline runs its own cascade of speech and language models and publishes a rate for each. It sells software, not phone service: a telephone call reaches your agent over a carrier, and the carrier time is its own line on the bill. See the pricing page for subscriptions and included call time.
You pick from the models Sureline publishes rates for, from the starting model to the best available, per agent. Bringing a model of your own is a Retell job.
You may not need to. If the inbox, the transfer, the after-hours rules and the booking are built and someone maintains them, Retell is doing its job. Sureline is for the owner who does not have that someone.
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