AI SUPPORTSOFTWAREBrowse 30 tools 
Side-by-side comparison
Compare audience fit, channels, integrations, knowledge sources, public pricing information, and operational considerations.
Both products appear in ai support agents and voice and contact-center ai. That overlap gives you a starting point; it does not mean the products cover the same channels, workflows, or deployment model.
Enterprise voice AI platform for natural customer-led conversations in contact centers.
Large contact centers automating high-volume inbound phone support.
Explore its buying criteria: AI support agents · Voice and contact-center AI.
Full PolyAI profile and vendor sources · Checked 2026-09-02
Developer infrastructure for configuring and deploying advanced voice AI agents with chosen models and telephony.
Engineering teams that want low-level control of voice models, providers and call infrastructure.
Explore its buying criteria: AI support agents · Voice and contact-center AI · Agent builders.
Full Vapi profile and vendor sources · Checked 2026-09-02
The table below preserves each vendor’s scope and qualifiers. An unlisted feature is unverified here; it is not a claim that the feature is unavailable.
Before you decide
PolyAI: Per-minute voice usage at a negotiated rate, including ongoing maintenance, improvements and 24/7 support. Confirm call volumes, telephony and contract commitments in the proposal. Vapi: Usage-based hosting plus provider costs for transcription, language models, speech and telephony. Bring-your-own keys move provider billing to your own account. Includes 10 concurrent calls; extra lines cost $10/month each. Scale uses a quoted platform fee and committed volume under an annual contract. Ask both vendors to quote the same expected workload, required channels, and implementation scope. Include required subscriptions and usage charges before comparing the total; the listed starting prices alone may cover different work.
The recorded sources for PolyAI include call-center knowledge; policies; CRM/business systems; procedures. For Vapi, they include prompts; custom functions; documents; external APIs. Ask each vendor to demonstrate ingestion or live access for the exact system you use, with permissions and refresh behavior. A source missing from this directory is not proof that a vendor cannot support it.
Use the same sample of real support requests, approved knowledge, and escalation rules in both pilots. Can it cite or restrict answers to approved knowledge? What happens when the agent is uncertain? Which actions can it complete beyond answering? Record answer quality, completed tasks, human handoffs, and total cost in the buyer worksheet. Check these specific cautions before launch: PolyAI: Quote-only and implementation-led; not a self-serve chatbot builder. Vapi: Total per-minute cost includes selected STT, LLM, TTS and telephony providers; more engineering is required than turnkey tools.
Record your requirements and pilot results in the buyer worksheet →
On a small screen, swipe the table to compare both products.
| Criterion | PolyAI | Vapi |
|---|---|---|
| Best fit | Large contact centers automating high-volume inbound phone support. | Engineering teams that want low-level control of voice models, providers and call infrastructure. |
| Key capabilities | natural voice dialogue, intent handling, business-system actions, handoff, analytics | voice orchestration, custom models, telephony, function calling, webhooks, HIPAA/zero-retention options |
| Company sizes | enterprise | small, mid-market, enterprise, developer/startup |
| Channels | phone, contact center, voice assistants | phone, voice, web, telephony APIs |
| Integrations | telephony/contact-center systems, CRM, knowledge bases, APIs | telephony providers, LLM providers, TTS/STT providers, webhooks/APIs |
| Knowledge sources | call-center knowledge, policies, CRM/business systems, procedures | prompts, custom functions, documents, external APIs |
| Pricing model | Per-minute voice usage at a negotiated rate, including ongoing maintenance, improvements and 24/7 support. Confirm call volumes, telephony and contract commitments in the proposal. | Usage-based hosting plus provider costs for transcription, language models, speech and telephony. Bring-your-own keys move provider billing to your own account. Includes 10 concurrent calls; extra lines cost $10/month each. Scale uses a quoted platform fee and committed volume under an annual contract. |
| Pricing summary | Custom quote; no public monthly price for the general platform. Its managed voice deployment is likely to require a higher budget than self-serve tools; confirm with a quote. | Pay as you go: $0.05/minute for call hosting or $0.005/message for SMS/chat hosting (USD), plus model, speech and transport-provider charges. These are platform fees, not the full cost of a call. |
| Free plan or trial | Demo available; no general self-serve free trial confirmed. | Free trial credit available for initial testing; ongoing use is metered. |
| Differentiator | Voice-first focus and enterprise contact-center deployment. | Composable developer stack with provider choice and infrastructure controls. |
| Considerations | Quote-only and implementation-led; not a self-serve chatbot builder. | Total per-minute cost includes selected STT, LLM, TTS and telephony providers; more engineering is required than turnkey tools. |
Large contact centers automating high-volume inbound phone support.
Voice-first focus and enterprise contact-center deployment.
Engineering teams that want low-level control of voice models, providers and call infrastructure.
Composable developer stack with provider choice and infrastructure controls.
Verify current pricing, limits, security, and required integrations directly with each vendor before purchasing.