Vapi alternative
Crackle vs Vapi.
Vapi charges $0.05 a minute for hosting and passes each provider through at its own cost, so you choose and pay for the model, voice, transcriber and phone line separately. Crackle charges one rate a minute with the voice, transcription and model already in it. Choose Vapi for phone lines and control of every provider; choose Crackle for one price, voices recorded in Indian languages, and calls in your website or app.
Vapi’s facts are from its own pages, checked on 14 October 2026. Prices change; the sources are at the foot of the table.
Side by side.
| What | Crackle | Vapi |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $0.07 a minute | $0.05 a minute for hosting, plus each provider at its own cost |
| What the price covers | Voice, transcription and model, whichever you choose | Hosting. Model, voice, transcription and telephony are billed at cost; Vapi estimates $82 to $129 for 1,000 minutes |
| To start | Free plan with sign-up credit; plans from $29 a month include call credit | $5 of free credit; Core plan $29 a month |
| Calls at once | 2 on the free plan; 5, 20, 75 on paid plans | 4 to start, 10 on Core, 30 on Pro; more at $10 a line a month |
| Billed by | The second; a call nobody joins costs nothing | Not stated on their pricing page |
| Phone numbers | Not yet | Yes, and SIP |
| Web and mobile apps | Web, iOS, Android and React Native, through LiveKit | Web SDK and server SDKs |
| Talk button for a website | Yes: one line of HTML | Yes, a web widget |
| Languages | 44, with voices recorded in Hindi, Hinglish, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati and Punjabi | Multilingual through the providers you choose; no count given |
| Answers from documents | Yes: PDF, Word and text, up to 500 documents | Yes |
| Calls your APIs | Yes: your HTTP endpoints, during a call or before it | Yes |
| How an agent is built | A studio: write instructions, pick a voice, press Test agent; or the API | Dashboard, CLI and configuration as code |
Sources: Vapi pricing, Vapi docs index, read on 14 October 2026. Crackle’s figures are from its live price list.
When Vapi is the better choice.
- You want to pick every provider yourself (model, voice, transcriber) and pay each at cost.
- You need phone numbers, SIP or outbound campaigns today.
- You need HIPAA, which Vapi offers as a $2,000-a-month add-on.
When Crackle is the better choice.
- You want one price per minute with the voice, transcription and model in it, and no provider bills to add up.
- Your callers speak Hindi, Hinglish or another Indian language and you want a voice recorded in it.
- Your calls happen in your website or app: a one-line talk button or a LiveKit client is all you need.
Moving from Vapi.
Most of an agent carries straight across. Their names for things, and Crackle’s.
- Assistant
- Agent
- System prompt
- Instructions: paste it in and keep it as it is
- First message
- Greeting: a fixed line, one written for each caller, or none
- Custom functions or tools
- Tools: the same HTTP endpoints, described in plain words
- Knowledge base files
- Knowledge: upload the same PDFs, Word and text files
- Web SDK call
- Start a call from your server and join it with LiveKit, or paste the talk button
- Call events to your server
- Webhooks, signed, for each call’s start, lines and end
Other comparisons.
Try Crackle on your own agent.
Paste in the instructions you already have, pick a voice and talk to it. Sign-up credit is there for your first test calls.