Telnyx vs Plivo for AI Voice Agents: Coverage and Call Costs

Plivo's list rates are lower for inbound AI calls and include streaming, but self-serve covers only the US and India. Telnyx is lower outbound, bills features separately and reaches more countries on pay as you go. Dograh, the open-source AI voice agent platform we build, works with both. You can self-host it or run it on Dograh Cloud.

Key Takeaways

• On list rates, Plivo wins inbound AI calls and Telnyx wins outbound ones.
• Plivo's pay-as-you-go plan stops at the US and India.
• Telnyx bills streaming and conferences separately. Plivo lists them as included.

Picking between these two carriers depends on which way your calls go and where your callers live. We give a quick verdict, every rate side by side, one call priced on both, coverage, numbers and per-feature fees, then setup in Dograh, which works with either.

Pick Plivo or Telnyx

Plivo suits a team whose calls stay in the US or India and come in more than they go out. Its inbound rate is the lowest of the two, and audio streaming, conferences, recording and answering machine detection are listed as included. A support line or receptionist agent that mostly answers calls gets the most from that pricing.

Telnyx suits a team that makes more calls than it takes, or that needs numbers in many countries without an enterprise contract. Its outbound total for an AI call comes in below Plivo's, and its pay-as-you-go account is not limited to two countries. The trade-off is a bill with more lines, because Telnyx prices each feature on its own and its SIP fees vary by destination.

Telnyx also argues it has the better network. Its page comparing itself with Plivo describes a private, carrier-grade network with its own interconnects and round-the-clock engineering support, but gives no call-quality figures. Treat that as Telnyx's own claim and test calls from your callers' countries on both carriers before you commit.

Telnyx vs Plivo, line by line

The table compares the US list rates for the lines an AI agent call uses, from Telnyx's Voice API prices and Plivo's US voice prices. On Telnyx, every minute is the Voice API fee plus a SIP trunking fee. The last rows show how each carrier works under Dograh.

Under Dograh, recording and answering machine detection rarely reach either bill. Dograh asks neither carrier to record, because it keeps its own recording and transcript, and its own voicemail handling replaces the carrier's detection. That leaves minutes, streaming, numbers and transfers as the lines to compare.

One 5-minute AI call on each carrier

Here is one worked example, the same 5-minute call to a US local number and then the same length outbound, with streaming counted because an AI agent needs the audio. Telnyx's SIP fees are "from" prices, so your own destinations may come out higher.

Inbound, Plivo comes out about 37% lower, mostly because its streaming is included and its single minute rate is low. Outbound, Telnyx comes out about 9% lower, because its two minute fees plus streaming still add up to less than Plivo's outbound rate.

Over a month, the gap depends on your mix. As an example, 1,000 inbound 5-minute calls on one number cost $44.50 on Telnyx and $28.00 on Plivo. The same 1,000 calls made outbound cost $53.50 on Telnyx and $58.00 on Plivo. A team that both answers and dials should price its own split before choosing. Our post on Telephony 101 for voice AI shows where the carrier line sits next to the rest of a voice agent's cost.

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Coverage and self-serve limits

Coverage is the bigger difference for many teams, and it shows up in the plans more than in the rates. Plivo's plans page says pay as you go covers the United States and India, up to $2,500 of usage a month, with 2 requests a second and 50 calls at once. Coverage across more than 190 countries comes with Enterprise, which starts at $1,000 a month.

That suits an India-based team well. Plivo's self-serve account covers Indian calling without a contract, so a team there can start the same day. A US team that only needs US numbers is also fine on it, until a busy hour needs more than 50 calls at once.

Telnyx sets fewer limits on its self-serve account. Telnyx's coverage page says inbound calling reaches 132 countries and territories, local outbound calling more than 130, and that it holds carrier licences in more than 30. Those are Telnyx's own figures.

So the plan question splits cleanly. A team outside the US and India that wants to start without a contract can do that on Telnyx. On Plivo, it would need Enterprise first.

What numbers cost on each

Numbers are a fixed line, so they matter most for teams with many numbers and few calls on each. Plivo charges $0.50 a month for a US local number and $1.00 for toll-free, and sells local, mobile and toll-free numbers in more than 50 countries with address and identity checks done through its API.

Telnyx's US numbers start at $1.00 a month for local or toll-free and drop in tiers as you add more, to $0.79 for the next 200, $0.50 for the next 750, $0.39 for the next 4,000 and $0.25 above 5,000. Adding text messaging to a number costs $0.10 a month more.

For a handful of local numbers, Plivo is half the price. For thousands, Telnyx's tiers bring the average down below Plivo's flat rate. Toll-free numbers start at the same $1.00 on both, and Plivo's inbound toll-free minute is $0.0180, so price toll-free lines on minutes, not on the number.

Transfers and other per-feature fees

The two carriers price extras in opposite ways. Telnyx lists streaming at $0.0035 a minute, conferences at $0.002 per participant per minute, recording at $0.002 a minute and answering machine detection per call. Plivo lists streaming as included and conferences, recording and detection at $0.0000.

Transfers show the difference best. In Dograh, Transfer Call dials the destination as a new outbound leg while the caller hears hold music and connects once the destination answers, joining the two through a conference. On both carriers the new leg bills at the outbound rate. On Telnyx, the conference adds $0.002 per participant per minute while they talk, and Telnyx also lists $0.10 for each use of its transfer command. On Plivo, the conference is listed at $0.0000.

Billing increments matter for short calls. Telnyx bills each call in 60-second steps, so an 11-second call is charged as a full minute. Ask Plivo how it rounds before you price a campaign of very short calls.

Both carriers also sell their own voice AI layer. Neither is used when Dograh runs the agent, and our post on Telnyx voice AI pricing covers Telnyx's version and its per-minute engine.

Setup in Dograh and switching carriers

Both carriers connect in a few minutes, and the agent doesn't change with the carrier. Telnyx connects with an API Key, and if you leave the Call Control App ID blank, Dograh creates the application on save with its webhook already set. You then assign your Telnyx numbers to that application.

Plivo connects with your Auth ID and Auth Token. Leave the Application ID blank and Dograh creates a Plivo Application on save, with its answer URL set, and you link your numbers to it in the Plivo Console. Both carriers send the agent 8 kHz phone audio, and both support Transfer Call. The short spoken introduction before a transfer is a Twilio feature, so it is not on either carrier here.

Each carrier is a telephony configuration, and an organisation can hold several. That makes a split setup easy, with Indian numbers on Plivo and numbers elsewhere on Telnyx, all pointing at the same agent. It also makes a pilot easy. Run one number on each for a month and compare call quality and the bill on your own traffic.

The platform line stays the same either way. Self-hosted Dograh has no per-minute platform fee, but servers, model keys and phone minutes still cost money. Dograh Cloud charges a 1¢-a-minute platform fee. Your speech-to-text, language model and voice run on your own keys or on open models you host, and our breakdown of what an AI voice agent costs per minute prices those lines. Full call traces and built-in QA work the same on both carriers.

If Twilio is also on your list, our Twilio vs Plivo comparison prices the same call on Twilio's rates.