The best AI voice agents for banking differ most in who runs them and who hears the member's call. Dograh, an open-source AI voice agent platform, can run on the bank's own servers with local models and reads the core through HTTP API tools. Glia, interface.ai, Posh and AviaryAI are banking specialists. Vapi and Retell AI are hosted per-minute platforms.
Key Takeaways
- Count every company that hears a member call, since each is a vendor you oversee.
- Banking specialists arrive with core connections, but general platforms need your own build.
- Ask each platform how it verifies callers and keeps card numbers off calls.
This post is part of our guide to AI Voice Agents for Banking and Credit Unions. Below, we compare the shortlist on the six tests a bank or credit union weighs most. We start with Dograh, then the banking specialists and general platforms, and end with five trial calls.
Six tests for a banking voice agent platform
Bank calls carry account data and money, so the tests start with the caller and end with price. The first test is how the platform verifies callers. The FFIEC guidance on authentication warns that attackers target call centers to get credentials reset, and that reliable verification methods "generally do not depend solely on knowledge-based questions." Ask whether the platform uses your bank's own checks, and whether account lookups are blocked until the check passes.
The second is where fraud, dispute and lost-card calls go. They should reach a person, with the caller's words and the time written to your system first.
The third is card data. A card number read aloud reaches the speech and language models, the transcript and the recording. Ask how the platform keeps card numbers off the call. Handling Payment-Sensitive (PCI) Calls in a Voice Agent Safely explains the designs.
The fourth is who hears the call. Credit unions follow NCUA's guidelines for safeguarding member information, and banks follow the Interagency Guidelines. Both ask the institution to choose service providers with care, bind them by contract and monitor them, including by reviewing audits and test results. Generally, every company that hears or stores a member's call is a service provider you have to oversee, so check that list with counsel.
The fifth is how the platform connects to your core banking system. The sixth is the cost model, whether a per-minute fee, a contract or a flat program, and what sits on top, such as models and phone minutes.
How the platforms compare
The table starts with Dograh, then the banking specialists, then the general platforms. Specialist entries use each vendor's own words.
| Platform | Open source | How you buy it | Caller checks and card data | Core connection |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dograh | Yes, BSD-2 | Self-host from GitHub, or Dograh Cloud with a 1¢/min platform fee and 10 concurrent calls included | Your bank's own check through HTTP API tools; no keypad or payment step, so the bank's system sends its link | HTTP API tools, Pre-Call Data Fetch and webhooks to your core's API; no prebuilt connector |
| Glia | No | "Priceless Pricing" with unlimited seats and minutes; live "within 100 days or less" | "PCI Level 1 Security Across The Stack" | "100+ pre-built banking integrations" |
| interface.ai | No | Through its sales team; "Deploy the same day" | Device biometrics, caller ID forensics and risk-based authentication | Completes requests on "your core" |
| Posh | No | Through a demo | SOC2 Type II and CSA STAR Level 1 | Integrations with your existing systems |
| AviaryAI | No | Through a demo; live in under two weeks | Agents "verify the member"; early collections take payment on the call | Jack Henry Symitar, Corelation Keystone, Fiserv DNA, CU*Answers |
| Vapi | No | $0.05/min hosting, before models and phone; 4 concurrent calls on the base tier | Your team builds the checks | Your team builds the connection |
| Retell AI | No | $0.07 to $0.31/min; 20 concurrent calls free | SOC 2 certified; your team builds the checks | Your team builds the connection |
Dograh: open source on the bank's own servers
Dograh's code is open, so a bank can read it, change it and self-host it for free with Docker Compose. Its GitHub repository holds the whole platform, including telephony, Campaigns for outbound lists, call traces and automatic QA.
Agents are built in a visual workflow builder, or from an AI assistant through Dograh's MCP server. During the call, HTTP API tools read and write your core through its API, and each tool is attached to one step, so balance lookups can sit only on the step after your check.
Because Dograh is the orchestration layer that runs the call flow, tools and telephony, the speech and language models are yours to pick, from Dograh's managed models to your own provider keys or open-weight models on your own servers. With the platform and the models on your servers, neither the voice platform nor a model company hears the member's call. The phone carrier stays on the call either way.
It works with your own phone setup, including Twilio, Vonage, Plivo, Telnyx and Asterisk ARI. For fraud and lost cards, Transfer Call hands the call to your team on Twilio, Telnyx, Plivo, Cloudonix or Asterisk ARI. Dograh calls the destination first and connects the caller only when someone answers, after the agent writes the report to your system, since no summary goes with the call by default. There is no keypad tool and no payment feature, so card numbers stay off the call and your system sends its own payment link.
Self-hosted, the platform runs 10 calls at once by default, a limit you can raise. Self-hosted Dograh has no per-minute platform fee (servers, model keys and phone minutes still cost). Dograh Cloud has a 1¢-a-minute platform fee. There is no prebuilt core connector, so your team connects the core's API and builds the flow.
Open Source Alternative to Vapi / Retell
Self-hosted voice agent platform — no per-minute fees
dograh-hq/dograh
Star on GitHub
Glia, interface.ai, Posh and AviaryAI
These four sell to banks and credit unions specifically, and each arrives with banking workflows already built, through a demo or sales team.
Glia says its banking voice AI can "Resolve up to 80% of calls", and lists "100+ pre-built banking integrations" across cores, online banking, CRMs and contact center systems. It routes calls to staff "with a full summary", promises AI in production "within 100 days or less", and sells under "Priceless Pricing", with unlimited seats and minutes. Its homepage lists "PCI Level 1 Security Across The Stack".
interface.ai calls itself agentic AI for credit unions and community banks, with "Built-in Device Biometrics and Caller ID Forensics" and "Risk-based authentication that adapts to every transaction". It says more than 100 credit unions and community banks are live, with over 1.5 million conversations a day, and its security page lists SOC II attestation and CSA STAR level 1.
Posh offers a voice assistant "to answer FAQs, route calls and automate banking transactions", says it has helped more than 150 banks and credit unions, and lists SOC2 Type II and CSA STAR Level 1. It sells through a demo request.
AviaryAI runs inbound and outbound voice agents for credit unions, and says it works with the Jack Henry Symitar, Corelation Keystone, Fiserv DNA and CU*Answers cores. It lists SOC 2 Type II and says its agents run on "a private large language model trained on financial services data". For early collections it lists "Payment taken on the call, PCI compliant", which puts card data inside the call, the design the third test asks about.
Vapi and Retell AI: general platforms
Vapi and Retell AI are general voice platforms. Your team builds the bank's call flow on them, the same as on Dograh, but the call runs on the vendor's platform.
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting, with models and phone billed on top. The base tier includes 4 concurrent calls, Core 10 and Pro 30, and extra lines cost $10 a month. Vapi Pricing Explained works through full bills.
Retell AI charges $0.07 to $0.31 a minute depending on the models chosen, with its voice infrastructure at $0.055 a minute inside that. Every account includes 20 concurrent calls free, with more at $8 per call a month. It lists SOC 2, and a dedicated server is an add-on on its Enterprise plan. Retell AI Pricing Explained covers each part.
What every platform must prove in a trial
Whatever you shortlist, run the same five tests on a real phone line before signing. A demo shows the easy path, while these calls show where member data goes.
Call as a test member and ask for a balance, and check that the agent asks for your bank's check before it reads anything. Fail the check on purpose, and confirm nothing about the account is said. Report a lost card, and check the call reaches your card team with a report and the time already in your system.
Then start reading a card number aloud, and confirm the agent stops you and offers a link instead. Finally, have the vendor show where that call's recording and transcript are stored, and list every company that processed the audio.
Join the Dograh Community
Dograh is an OSS alternative to Vapi. Join our Slack community for queries, releases, best practices & community interactions.
Which platform fits which institution
The right choice depends on who must not hear the call and who will build the agent. A bank or credit union that wants member calls, recordings and transcripts on its own servers should start with Dograh self-hosted. It is the strongest fit for that need. The code is open for your security team to read, open-weight models keep the audio in-house, the agent reads and writes your core during the call, and there is no per-minute platform fee.
An institution that wants a vendor to arrive with banking workflows and core connections will look at the specialists, such as AviaryAI if it runs one of the cores AviaryAI names, interface.ai for its authentication features, and Glia or Posh for their banking programs. A developer team that wants a hosted platform this month can start on Vapi or Retell AI and watch the per-minute fee as volume grows.
Many institutions will shortlist two, one platform they can run themselves and one specialist. Run the five trial calls on both with the same test members. Lenders comparing mortgage platforms can use Best AI Voice Agents for Mortgage Lenders and Servicers Compared. To try Dograh, self-host it from GitHub with Docker Compose, or start on Dograh Cloud, and point one test number at a balance call on a test account.
Glossary
- Service provider
- A company that handles member information for the bank or credit union. NCUA's safeguarding guidelines and the Interagency Guidelines ask the institution to choose service providers with care, bind them by contract and monitor them. Any company that hears or stores member calls generally counts as one.
- Core banking system
- The bank's or credit union's system of record for accounts, balances, transactions and loans, such as the cores AviaryAI names. A voice agent reads from it and writes to it during the call through an API.
- Risk-based authentication
- Verification that asks for more as the risk of a request rises, for example a one-time code before a riskier change. interface.ai lists it. On Dograh, the bank's own system sets the rule and returns pass or fail.
- Open-weight model
- A speech or language model whose weights are published, so a bank can run it on its own servers. Paired with self-hosted Dograh, it keeps member call audio away from outside model companies.
