{ "data": { "a": { "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": 334, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 4, "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": "2026-10-09T11:46:23.603647603Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 347, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 265, "p95ms24h": 639, "samples24h": 259, "samples30d": 2311, "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": 125, "ok": 125 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.bland.ai", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T11:37:59.566026032Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "bland-cli", "version": "0.10.1", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:02:42.934349304Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 1817, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://bland.ai/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-04-05T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:39:03.064061024Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.bland.ai/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:08.52419357Z" }, "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": "2026-10-08T18:26:37.630880756Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "d73002ae0cca" }, { "url": "https://docs.bland.ai/platform/billing", "kind": "deprecations", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:18:19.520889038Z", "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": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:39.921837265Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b2d6dc77b3fe" }, { "url": "https://www.bland.ai/legal/terms", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:26:41.890724274Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "86441cb18833" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T11:46:23.603647603Z" } }, "answer": "Bland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.", "b": { "slug": "gemini-live", "name": "Gemini Live API", "vendor": "Google", "vendorUrl": "https://ai.google.dev", "kind": "http-api", "category": "voice-agents", "summary": "Google's Live API runs real-time spoken conversations with Gemini audio-to-audio models over a stateful WebSocket. It takes audio, images and text, speaks back, and supports interruptions, function calling and Google Search grounding.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-live", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-live.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-live.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-live.json", "repo": "https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-live-api-examples", "license": "Proprietary service under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "google-genai" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@google/genai" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Self-serve API key from Google AI Studio, tied to a Google Cloud project. Keys created since 28 May 2026 are authorisation keys bound to a service account and restricted to the Gemini API, and unrestricted standard keys are rejected. The raw WebSocket guide passes the key as a `key` query parameter. For browsers and phones, a backend mints an ephemeral token (preview) at `POST /v1beta/auth_tokens`, single use by default, 1 minute to start a session and 30 minutes to use it, optionally locked to a model and configuration.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Free tier on the Live models with no billing account, where content is used to improve Google products. Paid tier per 1M tokens on `gemini-3.8-live`, the extended thinking model and `gemini-3.1-flash-live-preview`. Text in $0.75, audio in $3.00 (about $0.005 a minute), image or video in $1.00, text out $4.50, audio out $12.00 (about $0.018 a minute). Google Search grounding $14 per 1,000 queries after 5,000 free a month. Each turn re-bills the whole session context. Paid tier needs a linked billing account and a $5 minimum prepayment (https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/pricing, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$14 / 1k req", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Live API docs, the pricing page or the billing guide (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 29486957, "pypiWeekly": 34128301, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/live-api", "llmsTxt": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "voice.agent", "voice.speech-to-speech", "voice.tools" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "free-tier", "closed-source", "speech-to-speech", "websocket", "streaming", "python", "typescript", "llms-txt", "api-key", "function-calling" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-15", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 57.1, "grade": "C", "agentReady": false, "rank": 560, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 7, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 40, "reliability": 41, "schema": 66, "security": 48, "transparency": 72 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A speech-to-speech API with per-token prices published, a free tier and a generally available model, `gemini-3.8-live`, since 15 September 2026. The documented raw WebSocket connection carries the API key in the URL, connections reset about every 10 minutes, and no SLA or readable incident history was found for the Developer API.", "bestFor": "Teams building their own voice or vision assistant on a single speech-to-speech model with function calling and Search grounding, who can run a backend for tokens and audio transport.", "strengths": [ "`gemini-3.8-live` went generally available on 15 September 2026 with asynchronous function calling as the default and three response scheduling modes.", "Ephemeral tokens can be single use, expire in 30 minutes by default and be locked to a model and session configuration.", "Prices are public per million tokens with per-minute equivalents, $0.005 a minute of audio in and $0.018 a minute of audio out.", "Session resumption handles, a GoAway message with `timeLeft` and sliding-window context compression are documented for long sessions.", "Free tier on the Live models with no billing account, and paid-tier content isn't used to improve Google products per the pricing page." ], "weaknesses": [ "The WebSocket guide authenticates with the API key as a `key` query parameter, and ephemeral tokens as an `access_token` query parameter.", "The status page at aistudio.google.com/status renders in the browser only, so no incident history could be read, and no SLA was found for the Developer API.", "No machine-readable contract for the WebSocket messages was found. The Discovery document types only the setup and token schemas.", "The capabilities, best practices and API reference pages still say the Live API is in preview, and the docs give both 70 and 99 supported languages.", "No telephony. Phone calls need a partner such as Voximplant, LiveKit or Pipecat, and concurrent session limits are shown only inside AI Studio." ], "agentNotes": [ "Enable `sessionResumption` and keep the newest handle. Connections end after about 10 minutes, and handles stay valid for 2 hours.", "Set `contextWindowCompression` with a sliding window. Without it audio sessions stop at 15 minutes and audio with video at 2 minutes, and every turn re-bills the whole context.", "On `gemini-3.8-live` function calls are non-blocking by default. Set `behavior: BLOCKING` if the model must wait for the tool response.", "Send 16 kHz 16-bit PCM in 20 to 40 ms chunks and discard buffered playback when `interrupted` is true.", "Keep the API key on a server and send it through the SDK. Give browsers an ephemeral token from `POST /v1beta/auth_tokens`, locked with `liveConnectConstraints`." ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "C", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 57.1 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 40, "reliability": 41, "schema": 66, "security": 48, "transparency": 55 }, "provenanceScore": 89 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install google-genai # or: npm i @google/genai", "http": "curl -X POST \"https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/auth_tokens\" \\\n -H \"x-goog-api-key: $GEMINI_API_KEY\" -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\"uses\": 1, \"liveConnectConstraints\": {\"model\": \"models/gemini-3.8-live\", \"config\": {\"sessionResumption\": {}, \"responseModalities\": [\"AUDIO\"]}}}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/voice.agent", "tool": "https://letme.dev/gemini-live" }, "sameCompany": [ "gemini-api", "gemini-embedding", "vertex-ai-tuning", "google-model-armor", "google-imagen", "google-veo", "google-lyria", "google-speech-to-text", "google-adk", "google-secret-manager", "google-weather-api", "chrome-devtools-mcp", "google-maps-platform", "google-cloud-translation", "google-calendar-api", "firebase-cloud-messaging", "google-drive-api", "gemini-cli", "google-search-console", "google-ads-api", "google-forms", "google-sheets-api", "gmail-api" ], "area": "voice", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "gemini-3.8-live audio input", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.005, "note": "$3.00 per 1M audio tokens, charged while the API is listening" }, { "item": "gemini-3.8-live audio output", "unit": "audio-minute", "usd": 0.018, "note": "$12.00 per 1M audio tokens" }, { "item": "gemini-3.8-live text input", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.75 }, { "item": "gemini-3.8-live text output", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 4.5, "note": "includes thinking tokens and transcription text" }, { "item": "Google Search grounding", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 14, "note": "after 5,000 free search queries a month shared across Gemini 3.x models" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Google LLC", "domain": "google.com", "domainRegistered": "1997-09-15", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/terms", "privacy": "https://policies.google.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://aistudio.google.com/status", "changelog": "https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/changelog", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The WebSocket and the token endpoint are on generativelanguage.googleapis.com, Google's API domain. The docs are on ai.google.dev.", "RDAP for google.com gives a registration date of 1997-09-15.", "The Gemini API Additional Terms of Service are effective 23 March 2026 and incorporate the Google APIs Terms of Service. Paid services fall under Google's Data Processing Addendum for products where Google is a data processor.", "The Google Privacy Policy read on 8 October 2026 is effective 1 October 2026. It is Google's general policy, and the terms page is where API data use is set out.", "www.google.com/.well-known/security.txt expires 2030-04-01 and points to g.co/vulnz and the vulnerability reward programme. ai.google.dev has no security.txt of its own (404).", "aistudio.google.com/status answered 200 with a page drawn by script, so no component or incident history was read." ], "score": 89 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-live.json", "live": { "slug": "gemini-live", "probe": { "target": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-09T11:46:29.256413354Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 12, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 24, "p95ms24h": 48, "samples24h": 44, "samples30d": 44, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 44, "ok": 44 } ] }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T11:46:29.256413354Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Bland AI", "b": "Google", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://api.bland.ai/v1", "b": "https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Freemium", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$29.99 per month (plan)", "b": "not published", "name": "Price for voice agent" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "Proprietary service under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "42", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-13", "b": "2026-09-15", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-08-28", "b": "2026-04-28", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-06-23", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "not found in the text", "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": "1.2k npm/wk", "b": "29.5M npm/wk, 34.1M PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Bland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Bland AI API + MCP or Gemini Live API?" }, { "answer": "Both need an API key.", "question": "Do Bland AI API + MCP and Gemini Live API need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Bland AI API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.bland.ai/v1 and Gemini Live API at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta.", "question": "Can an agent call Bland AI API + MCP and Gemini Live API without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 65 against 41", "Security \u0026 auth, 66 against 48", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 65 against 40" ], "also": [ "Runs on your own machine", "Free to start without a card" ], "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" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Agent ergonomics, 69 against 53", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 60" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams building their own voice or vision assistant on a single speech-to-speech model with function calling and Search grounding, who can run a backend for tokens and audio transport.", "slug": "gemini-live", "watchFor": "The WebSocket guide authenticates with the API key as a `key` query parameter, and ephemeral tokens as an `access_token` query parameter." } ], "job": { "capability": "voice.agent", "name": "Voice agent" }, "others": [ { "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-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-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" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-gemini-live.json", "title": "Bolna API + MCP vs Gemini Live API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-gemini-live" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live.json", "title": "Deepgram Voice Agent API vs Gemini Live API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-gemini-live.json", "title": "ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP vs Gemini Live API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-gemini-live" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-hume-evi.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-hume-evi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-retell-ai.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Retell AI API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-retell-ai" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-synthflow.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Synthflow API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-synthflow" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-ultravox.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Ultravox Realtime API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-ultravox" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vapi.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Vapi API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vapi" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vocily.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Vocily AI", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vocily" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vogent.json", "title": "Gemini Live API vs Vogent API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vogent" } ], "scores": [ { "bland-ai": 65, "by": 24, "edge": "bland-ai", "gemini-live": 41, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bland-ai": 68, "by": 2, "edge": "bland-ai", "gemini-live": 66, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "bland-ai": 53, "by": 16, "edge": "gemini-live", "gemini-live": 69, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "bland-ai": 66, "by": 18, "edge": "bland-ai", "gemini-live": 48, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "bland-ai": 65, "by": 25, "edge": "bland-ai", "gemini-live": 40, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "bland-ai": 60, "by": 23, "edge": "gemini-live", "gemini-live": 83, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "bland-ai": 71, "by": 1, "edge": "gemini-live", "gemini-live": 72, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Bland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do voice agent.", "verdicts": { "bland-ai": "One per-minute rate covering STT, LLM, TTS and telephony, $0.14 on Start and $0.12 on Build. No OpenAPI document.", "gemini-live": "A speech-to-speech API with per-token prices published, a free tier and a generally available model, `gemini-3.8-live`, since 15 September 2026. The documented raw WebSocket connection carries the API key in the URL, connections reset about every 10 minutes, and no SLA or readable incident history was found for the Developer API." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.min.md" }, "markdown": "Bland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do voice agent.\n\n- Bland AI API + MCP: grade B, 63.8/100, rank #334 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bland-ai.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bland-ai.json\n- Gemini Live API: grade C, 57.1/100, rank #560 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gemini-live.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-live.json\n\n## Which one, for what\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 41\n- Security \u0026 auth, 66 against 48\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 65 against 40\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Runs on your own machine\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No OpenAPI document\n\n### Gemini Live API (C)\n\nGood for: Teams building their own voice or vision assistant on a single speech-to-speech model with function calling and Search grounding, who can run a backend for tokens and audio transport.\n\nAhead on:\n- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 53\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 60\n\nWatch for: The WebSocket guide authenticates with the API key as a `key` query parameter, and ephemeral tokens as an `access_token` query parameter.\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Bland AI API + MCP | Gemini Live API | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 41 | Bland AI API + MCP +24 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 66 | Bland AI API + MCP +2 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 69 | Gemini Live API +16 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 48 | Bland AI API + MCP +18 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 65 | 40 | 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) | 60 | 83 | Gemini Live API +23 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 72 | Gemini Live API +1 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **63.8 · B** | **57.1 · C** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Bland AI API + MCP | Gemini Live API |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Bland AI | Google |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.bland.ai/v1` | `https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | API key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |\n| Price for voice agent | $29.99 per month (plan) | not published |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the Gemini API Additional Terms of Service. The Python and JavaScript SDKs are Apache-2.0 |\n| Tools exposed | 42 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-13 | 2026-09-15 |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-08-28 | 2026-04-28 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-23 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 1.2k npm/wk | 29.5M npm/wk, 34.1M PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\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**Gemini Live API.** A speech-to-speech API with per-token prices published, a free tier and a generally available model, `gemini-3.8-live`, since 15 September 2026. The documented raw WebSocket connection carries the API key in the URL, connections reset about every 10 minutes, and no SLA or readable incident history was found for the Developer API.\n\n## Before you call either\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### Gemini Live API\n\n1. Enable `sessionResumption` and keep the newest handle. Connections end after about 10 minutes, and handles stay valid for 2 hours.\n2. Set `contextWindowCompression` with a sliding window. Without it audio sessions stop at 15 minutes and audio with video at 2 minutes, and every turn re-bills the whole context.\n3. On `gemini-3.8-live` function calls are non-blocking by default. Set `behavior: BLOCKING` if the model must wait for the tool response.\n4. Send 16 kHz 16-bit PCM in 20 to 40 ms chunks and discard buffered playback when `interrupted` is true.\n5. Keep the API key on a server and send it through the SDK. Give browsers an ephemeral token from `POST /v1beta/auth_tokens`, locked with `liveConnectConstraints`.\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Bland AI API + MCP or Gemini Live API?\n\nBland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Do Bland AI API + MCP and Gemini Live API need an API key?\n\nBoth need an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Bland AI API + MCP and Gemini Live API without installing anything?\n\nYes. Bland AI API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.bland.ai/v1 and Gemini Live API at https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"bland-ai\", \"b\": \"gemini-live\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare bland-ai gemini-live`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bland-ai.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gemini-live.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Bland AI API + MCP or Gemini Live API\n\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 Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-hume-evi.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- [Bolna API + MCP vs Gemini Live API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-gemini-live.md)\n- [Deepgram Voice Agent API vs Gemini Live API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/deepgram-voice-agent-vs-gemini-live.md)\n- [ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP vs Gemini Live API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elevenlabs-agents-vs-gemini-live.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Hume EVI (Empathic Voice Interface)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-hume-evi.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Retell AI API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-retell-ai.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Synthflow API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-synthflow.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Ultravox Realtime API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-ultravox.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Vapi API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vapi.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Vocily AI](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vocily.md)\n- [Gemini Live API vs Vogent API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gemini-live-vs-vogent.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "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": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Gemini Live API", "url": "" } ], "description": "Bland AI API + MCP scores 63.8 (B) on agent readiness against Gemini Live API's 57.1 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Gemini Live API leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance \u0026 community. Both do voice agent. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by…", "facts": [ "Bland AI API + MCP B 63.8", "Gemini Live API C 57.1", "scores" ], "h1": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Gemini Live API", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-bland-ai-vs-gemini-live.png", "path": "/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Bland AI API + MCP vs Gemini Live API for AI agents, B 63.8 vs C 57.1", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bland-ai-vs-gemini-live" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2350, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }