{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "name": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API", "vendor": "AssemblyAI, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.assemblyai.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "voice-agents", "summary": "AssemblyAI's Voice Agent API runs a spoken conversation over one WebSocket, combining its own speech-to-text, language model and text-to-speech. Agents are stored through a REST API and reached from a browser, a server or an inbound Twilio SIP number.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.json", "repo": "https://github.com/AssemblyAI/voice-agent-starter-python", "license": "Proprietary service under AssemblyAI's Terms of Service. The two starter repositories on GitHub carry no licence file", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Self-serve API key from the dashboard, sent in the `Authorization` header on REST calls and on the WebSocket upgrade, with or without a `Bearer` prefix. Keys belong to a project and can be created and deleted in the dashboard (2 on the free plan, 4 on pay as you go, 25 on a contract). No scopes or expiry were found. Browser clients use a one-time token from `GET /v1/token`, redeemable within 1 to 600 seconds and passed as the `token` query parameter.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "$4.50 an hour ($0.075 a minute), billed per second from socket open to session end, idle time included. The rate covers speech-to-text, the managed model, speech output, recordings and hosting. New accounts get $50 of credit with no card, which covers the Voice Agent API. LLM Gateway tokens and Twilio carrier minutes are billed separately. Volume pricing is by sales contact (https://www.assemblyai.com/pricing, https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/billing-and-pricing, checked 2026-10-09).", "priceSummary": "Pay per use", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Voice Agent docs, the two API description files, the billing docs or the pricing page. Payment is by card into a prepaid balance (checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/voice-agents/voice-agent-api", "llmsTxt": "https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/api-reference/specs/voice-agent-api.yaml", "capabilities": [ "voice.agent", "voice.pipeline", "voice.tools", "voice.telephony" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "no-card", "closed-source", "llms-txt", "webhooks", "streaming", "pipeline", "python", "javascript", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-08-26", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 64.4, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 351, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 72, "maintenance": 64, "payments": 40, "reliability": 60, "schema": 83, "security": 62, "transparency": 66 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One $0.075 a minute rate covers speech-to-text, the managed model, speech output, recordings and hosting, and the socket has an AsyncAPI file, typed error codes and a 30-second resume window. No concurrent-session limit is published, the status page has no Voice Agent component, and phone calls are inbound only through a Twilio trunk the customer owns.", "bestFor": "A developer who wants one managed pipeline at a flat rate and is content with AssemblyAI's own speech models and voices, with an optional model of their own.", "strengths": [ "One published rate of $4.50 an hour ($0.075 a minute), billed per second, with $50 of credit and no card for new accounts", "AsyncAPI 3.0 file for the socket, an OpenAPI file for the token endpoint, llms.txt and a Markdown copy of every docs page", "Session errors carry a code, a message and sometimes the offending field, and the docs name the three codes that are safe to retry", "HTTP tool header values are write-only and encrypted at rest, and tool calls are limited to public `https` hosts with redirects refused", "Every session is stored with a stereo recording, a JSON timeline of turns and tool calls, and signed webhooks with a delivery history" ], "weaknesses": [ "No number is published for the concurrent-session limit that the `concurrency_exceeded` error enforces", "status.assemblyai.com lists the Asynchronous API, Streaming API and LLM Gateway, with no Voice Agent component", "Telephony is inbound only, over a SIP trunk on a Twilio account the customer owns", "API keys have no scopes or expiry, and opting out of model training needs a paid plan", "The Terms of Service bar benchmarking and competitive analysis (2.4(f)) and any automated or programmatic method of extracting data or Output (4.4), which matters before any probe is run" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `session.end` before closing the socket. Without it the session stays resumable, and billed, for 30 seconds", "Retry only `at_capacity`, `concurrency_exceeded` and `internal_error`, with backoff. Every other session error code is fatal", "Send `tool.result` inside the `reply.done` handler, not straight after `tool.call`", "Mint a one-time token with `GET /v1/token` for browser clients and never ship the API key to a page", "Deduplicate webhooks on `event_id`, and verify `X-AAI-Signature` against the raw body bytes because a 401 is not retried" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 64.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 72, "maintenance": 64, "payments": 40, "reliability": 60, "schema": 83, "security": 62, "transparency": 51 }, "provenanceScore": 81 }, "connect": { "install": "git clone https://github.com/AssemblyAI/voice-agent-starter-python", "http": "curl -X POST https://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/agents \\\n -H \"Authorization: $ASSEMBLYAI_API_KEY\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"name\": \"Support Assistant\", \"system_prompt\": \"You are a friendly support agent.\", \"greeting\": \"Hi, how can I help?\", \"voice\": {\"voice_id\": \"alba\"}}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http --scope user assemblyai-docs https://mcp.assemblyai.com/docs" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/voice.agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/assemblyai-voice-agent" }, "sameCompany": [ "assemblyai-stt" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Voice Agent session", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.075, "note": "$4.50 an hour billed per second of open socket. Speech-to-text, managed model, speech output and recordings included. LLM Gateway tokens and carrier minutes extra" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "AssemblyAI, Inc.", "domain": "assemblyai.com", "domainRegistered": "2016-12-24", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.assemblyai.com/legal/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://www.assemblyai.com/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.assemblyai.com", "changelog": "https://www.assemblyai.com/changelog", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-10-09", "score": 81 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.json", "live": { "slug": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "probe": { "target": "wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:53:19.457306073Z", "lastOk": false, "lastStatus": 0, "lastMs": 0, "lastNote": "unsupported protocol scheme \"wss\"", "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 0, "uptime30d": 0, "p50ms24h": 0, "p95ms24h": 0, "samples24h": 125, "samples30d": 125, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 85, "ok": 0 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 40, "ok": 0 } ], "outages": [ { "start": "2026-10-09T15:42:56.660671906Z", "end": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "note": "unsupported protocol scheme \"wss\"" } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.assemblyai.com", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T03:57:59.907485515Z" }, "githubStars": 3, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.assemblyai.com/docs/billing-and-pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:16.435584974Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "3b80ad9644cf" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:57:59.907485515Z" } }, "answer": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.4 (B) and 63.8 (B). Bland AI API + MCP leads on reliability, payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.", "b": { "slug": "bland-ai", "name": "Bland AI API + MCP", "vendor": "Bland AI", "vendorUrl": "https://www.bland.ai", "kind": "http-api", "category": "voice-agents", "summary": "Phone-first voice-agent platform that runs its own speech recognition, language model, TTS and telephony, billed as one per-minute rate.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bland-ai.json", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http", "stdio" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.bland.ai/v1", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "bland-cli" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "API key in the `Authorization` header for REST, and as `Bearer org_...` for the hosted MCP server at `https://api.bland.ai/v1/mcp`. The `bland mcp` command in the CLI runs a local stdio server. An agent can sign its owner up through a device-code flow or a headless flow that needs a texted 6-digit code from the owner.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Start is free to join with 2 credits and an inbound number, no card, then $0.14 a connected minute and $0.05 a transfer minute, 10 concurrent calls and 100 calls a day. Build is $299 a month with $0.12 a minute, $0.04 transfer, 50 concurrent calls and 2,000 calls a day. Scale is $499 a month with $0.11 a minute, $0.03 transfer, 100 concurrent calls and 5,000 calls a day. Enterprise is custom. Every outbound attempt has a $0.015 minimum and failed calls are charged $0.015. SMS is $0.02 a message. The rate covers STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, and BYO Twilio customers pay no transfer fee. An Agent Phone Plan for personal AI agents is $29.99 a month ($14.99 the first month) (https://docs.bland.ai/platform/billing).", "priceSummary": "$299 / mo", "where": "both", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 support in the docs, pricing page or MCP docs (checked 2026-09-30). Headless signup for the Agent Phone Plan answers HTTP 402 with a Machine Payments Protocol challenge settled through Stripe Link, which is a different protocol from x402 and only covers that plan (https://docs.bland.ai/platform/agent-headless-onboarding).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 42, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 1179, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.bland.ai", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.bland.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "voice.agent", "voice.pipeline", "voice.tools", "voice.telephony" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "freemium", "no-card", "mcp", "llms-txt", "webhooks", "pipeline", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-13", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 63.8, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 370, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 65, "reliability": 65, "schema": 68, "security": 66, "transparency": 71 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One per-minute rate covering STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, $0.14 on Start and $0.12 on Build. No OpenAPI document.", "bestFor": "Teams that want one predictable per-minute bill for outbound and inbound phone agents, and personal agents that need their own US number.", "strengths": [ "One per-minute rate covering STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, $0.14 on Start and $0.12 on Build", "Start plan with 2 credits and an inbound number, no card", "Hosted MCP server with 42 tools labelled read, write or destructive, with confirmation on destructive ones", "Headless agent signup that needs only a 6-digit texted code from the owner", "Subprocessor list with locations and a valid security.txt" ], "weaknesses": [ "No OpenAPI document", "Start caps at 10 concurrent calls and 100 calls a day", "Failed calls and outbound attempts cost $0.015 each", "Audit logs are enterprise-only and don't record API key use", "Privacy policy gives no retention period for recordings or transcripts" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `wait_for_call` (it waits up to 45 seconds) instead of polling `get_call_log`", "Send destructive MCP tools a second time with the confirmation argument", "Space calls to the same number at least 10 seconds apart or expect a 429", "Budget $0.015 for every outbound attempt, including ones that never connect", "Run `validate_pathway` before saving a pathway graph" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 63.8 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 53, "maintenance": 60, "payments": 65, "reliability": 65, "schema": 68, "security": 66, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 87 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://api.bland.ai/v1/calls -H \"Authorization: $BLAND_API_KEY\" \\\n -H \"content-type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"phone_number\":\"+15551234567\",\"task\":\"Confirm tomorrow 3pm appointment and ask if they need to reschedule.\"}'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http bland https://api.bland.ai/v1/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer $BLAND_API_KEY\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "bland": { "args": [ "bland-cli", "mcp" ], "command": "npx", "env": { "BLAND_API_KEY": "${BLAND_API_KEY}" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/voice.agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/bland-ai" }, "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Start plan connected minute", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.14, "note": "all in, STT, LLM, TTS and telephony" }, { "item": "Build plan connected minute", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.12, "note": "all in, plus $299 a month" }, { "item": "Start plan transfer minute", "unit": "call-minute", "usd": 0.05, "note": "Bland numbers only" }, { "item": "Build plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 299 }, { "item": "Agent Phone Plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 29.99, "note": "$14.99 the first month" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Bland Inc.", "domain": "bland.ai", "domainRegistered": "2023-07-30", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.bland.ai/legal/terms", "privacy": "https://www.bland.ai/legal/privacy", "statusPage": "https://status.bland.ai", "changelog": "https://www.bland.ai/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-01", "notes": [ "The terms (updated 2026-08-28) name Bland Inc. The privacy policy (updated 2026-06-23) names Intelliga Corp DBA Bland AI." ], "score": 87 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai.json", "live": { "slug": "bland-ai", "probe": { "target": "https://api.bland.ai/v1", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-10T03:53:21.784833417Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 235, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 279, "p95ms24h": 1247, "samples24h": 249, "samples30d": 2476, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 40, "ok": 40 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.bland.ai", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T03:58:00.97950053Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "bland-cli", "version": "0.10.1", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:43:03.436580846Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 1548, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://bland.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-04-05T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T15:40:28.992504172Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.bland.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T14:01:32.351895568Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "bland.ai", "registered": "2023-07-30", "source": "https://rdap.identitydigital.services/rdap/domain/bland.ai", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:08:15.310416438Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.bland.ai/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:36.427773872Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "d73002ae0cca" }, { "url": "https://docs.bland.ai/platform/billing", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:36:41.792318321Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-06T16:07:50.570943874Z", "fingerprint": "aa3457425060" }, { "url": "https://www.bland.ai/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-01T13:16:48.844714237Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "31b0239cb0b9" }, { "url": "https://www.bland.ai/legal/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:38.634502753Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b2d6dc77b3fe" }, { "url": "https://www.bland.ai/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:48:40.688000635Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "86441cb18833" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T03:58:00.97950053Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "AssemblyAI, Inc.", "b": "Bland AI", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws", "b": "https://api.bland.ai/v1", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$0.075 per minute of call", "b": "$29.99 per month (plan)", "name": "Price for voice agents" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under AssemblyAI's Terms of Service. The two starter repositories on GitHub carry no licence file", "b": "none", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "42", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-08-26", "b": "2026-09-13", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-07-01", "b": "2026-08-28", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-05-26", "b": "2026-06-23", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "yes, with an opt-out", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "1.2k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "none", "b": "3/5 (2)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.4 (B) and 63.8 (B). Bland AI API + MCP leads on reliability, payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, AssemblyAI Voice Agent API or Bland AI API + MCP?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. AssemblyAI Voice Agent API has a hosted endpoint at wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws and Bland AI API + MCP at https://api.bland.ai/v1.", "question": "Can an agent call AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 83 against 68", "Agent ergonomics, 72 against 53" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "A developer who wants one managed pipeline at a flat rate and is content with AssemblyAI's own speech models and voices, with an optional model of their own.", "slug": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "watchFor": "No number is published for the concurrent-session limit that the `concurrency_exceeded` error enforces" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 60", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 65 against 40", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 71 against 66" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine" ], "goodFor": "Teams that want one predictable per-minute bill for outbound and inbound phone agents, and personal agents that need their own US number.", "slug": "bland-ai", "watchFor": "No OpenAPI document" } ], "job": { "capability": "voice.agent", "name": "Voice agents" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bolna.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Bolna API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bolna" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-deepgram-voice-agent.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Deepgram Voice Agent API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-deepgram-voice-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Gemini Live API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-hume-evi.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-hume-evi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-openai-realtime.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs OpenAI Realtime API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-openai-realtime" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-retell-ai.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Retell AI API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-retell-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-synthflow.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Synthflow API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-synthflow" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-ultravox.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Ultravox Realtime API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-ultravox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vapi.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vapi API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vocily.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vocily AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vocily" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vogent.json", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vogent API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vogent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-bolna.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Bolna API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-bolna" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-deepgram-voice-agent.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Deepgram Voice Agent API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-deepgram-voice-agent" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-elevenlabs-agents.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-elevenlabs-agents" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Gemini Live API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-hume-evi.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-hume-evi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-openai-realtime.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs OpenAI Realtime API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-openai-realtime" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-retell-ai.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Retell AI API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-retell-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-synthflow.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Synthflow API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-synthflow" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-ultravox.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Ultravox Realtime API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-ultravox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vapi.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Vapi API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vocily.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Vocily AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vocily" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vogent.json", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Vogent API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vogent" } ], "scores": [ { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 60, "bland-ai": 65, "by": 5, "edge": "bland-ai", "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 83, "bland-ai": 68, "by": 15, "edge": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 72, "bland-ai": 53, "by": 19, "edge": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 62, "bland-ai": 66, "by": 4, "edge": "bland-ai", "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 40, "bland-ai": 65, "by": 25, "edge": "bland-ai", "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 64, "bland-ai": 60, "by": 4, "edge": "assemblyai-voice-agent", "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "assemblyai-voice-agent": 66, "bland-ai": 71, "by": 5, "edge": "bland-ai", "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.4 (B) and 63.8 (B). Bland AI API + MCP leads on reliability, payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do voice agents.", "verdicts": { "assemblyai-voice-agent": "One $0.075 a minute rate covers speech-to-text, the managed model, speech output, recordings and hosting, and the socket has an AsyncAPI file, typed error codes and a 30-second resume window. No concurrent-session limit is published, the status page has no Voice Agent component, and phone calls are inbound only through a Twilio trunk the customer owns.", "bland-ai": "One per-minute rate covering STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, $0.14 on Start and $0.12 on Build. No OpenAPI document." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.min.md" }, "markdown": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.4 (B) and 63.8 (B). Bland AI API + MCP leads on reliability, payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust. Both do voice agents.\n\n- AssemblyAI Voice Agent API: grade B, 64.4/100, rank #351 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.json\n- Bland AI API + MCP: grade B, 63.8/100, rank #370 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bland-ai.json\n- Best conversational voice-agent APIs: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/voice-agents/index.md\n- All 91 voice agents comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/voice-agents/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### AssemblyAI Voice Agent API (B)\n\nGood for: A developer who wants one managed pipeline at a flat rate and is content with AssemblyAI's own speech models and voices, with an optional model of their own.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 83 against 68\n- Agent ergonomics, 72 against 53\n\nWatch for: No number is published for the concurrent-session limit that the `concurrency_exceeded` error enforces\n\n### Bland AI API + MCP (B)\n\nGood for: Teams that want one predictable per-minute bill for outbound and inbound phone agents, and personal agents that need their own US number.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 65 against 60\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 65 against 40\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 71 against 66\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n\nWatch for: No OpenAPI document\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | AssemblyAI Voice Agent API | Bland AI API + MCP | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 65 | Bland AI API + MCP +5 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 68 | AssemblyAI Voice Agent API +15 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 53 | AssemblyAI Voice Agent API +19 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 62 | 66 | Bland AI API + MCP +4 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 65 | Bland AI API + MCP +25 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 64 | 60 | AssemblyAI Voice Agent API +4 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 71 | Bland AI API + MCP +5 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **64.4 · B** | **63.8 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | AssemblyAI Voice Agent API | Bland AI API + MCP |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | AssemblyAI, Inc. | Bland AI |\n| Hosted endpoint | `wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws` | `https://api.bland.ai/v1` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |\n| Price for voice agents | $0.075 per minute of call | $29.99 per month (plan) |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under AssemblyAI's Terms of Service. The two starter repositories on GitHub carry no licence file | none |\n| Tools exposed | none | 42 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-08-26 | 2026-09-13 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-07-01 | 2026-08-28 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-26 | 2026-06-23 |\n| Customer content may train models | yes, with an opt-out | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | none | 1.2k npm/wk |\n| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**AssemblyAI Voice Agent API.** One $0.075 a minute rate covers speech-to-text, the managed model, speech output, recordings and hosting, and the socket has an AsyncAPI file, typed error codes and a 30-second resume window. No concurrent-session limit is published, the status page has no Voice Agent component, and phone calls are inbound only through a Twilio trunk the customer owns.\n\n**Bland AI API + MCP.** One per-minute rate covering STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, $0.14 on Start and $0.12 on Build. No OpenAPI document.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### AssemblyAI Voice Agent API\n\n1. Send `session.end` before closing the socket. Without it the session stays resumable, and billed, for 30 seconds\n2. Retry only `at_capacity`, `concurrency_exceeded` and `internal_error`, with backoff. Every other session error code is fatal\n3. Send `tool.result` inside the `reply.done` handler, not straight after `tool.call`\n4. Mint a one-time token with `GET /v1/token` for browser clients and never ship the API key to a page\n5. Deduplicate webhooks on `event_id`, and verify `X-AAI-Signature` against the raw body bytes because a 401 is not retried\n\n### Bland AI API + MCP\n\n1. Call `wait_for_call` (it waits up to 45 seconds) instead of polling `get_call_log`\n2. Send destructive MCP tools a second time with the confirmation argument\n3. Space calls to the same number at least 10 seconds apart or expect a 429\n4. Budget $0.015 for every outbound attempt, including ones that never connect\n5. Run `validate_pathway` before saving a pathway graph\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, AssemblyAI Voice Agent API or Bland AI API + MCP?\n\nAssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP score within a point of each other on agent readiness, 64.4 (B) and 63.8 (B). Bland AI API + MCP leads on reliability, payments \u0026 pricing and transparency \u0026 trust.\n\n### Do AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call AssemblyAI Voice Agent API and Bland AI API + MCP without installing anything?\n\nYes. AssemblyAI Voice Agent API has a hosted endpoint at wss://agents.assemblyai.com/v1/ws and Bland AI API + MCP at https://api.bland.ai/v1.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"assemblyai-voice-agent\", \"b\": \"bland-ai\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare assemblyai-voice-agent bland-ai`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/assemblyai-voice-agent.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bland-ai.json\n\n## Other comparisons with AssemblyAI Voice Agent API or Bland AI API + MCP\n\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Bolna API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bolna.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Deepgram Voice Agent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-deepgram-voice-agent.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Gemini Live API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-hume-evi.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs OpenAI Realtime API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-openai-realtime.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Retell AI API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-retell-ai.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Synthflow API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-synthflow.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Ultravox Realtime API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-ultravox.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vapi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vapi.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vocily AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vocily.md)\n- [AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Vogent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-vogent.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Bolna API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-bolna.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Deepgram Voice Agent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-deepgram-voice-agent.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Gemini Live API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-hume-evi.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs OpenAI Realtime API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-openai-realtime.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Retell AI API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-retell-ai.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Synthflow API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-synthflow.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Ultravox Realtime API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-ultravox.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Vapi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vapi.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Vocily AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vocily.md)\n- [Bland AI API + MCP vs Vogent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-vogent.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-10", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Bland AI API + MCP", "url": "" } ], "description": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent and Bland AI score within a point of each other for voice agents, 64.4 and 63.8 out of 100. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API B 64.4", "Bland AI API + MCP B 63.8", "scores" ], "h1": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent API vs Bland AI API + MCP", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai.png", "path": "/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "AssemblyAI Voice Agent vs Bland AI for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/assemblyai-voice-agent-vs-bland-ai" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2600, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }