Retell AI vs Sesame
A side-by-side comparison of Retell AI and Sesame, two Voice tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Retell AI | Sesame |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Voice | Voice |
| Pricing (differs) | FREEMIUM | FREE |
| License (differs) | Proprietary | Open source |
| Deployment | Cloud | Cloud |
| Platforms (differs) | Web, API | Web |
| Model support (differs) | Multi-model | Self-contained (on-device) |
| Vendor (differs) | Retell AI | Sesame |
| Capabilities (differs) |
|
|
The honest brief
Retell AI
Bring your own LLM behind the voice agent, so it isn't locked to a single model like most all-in-one voice platforms.
- Inbound and outbound call handling
- SIP/Twilio telephony built in
- Low-latency turn-taking model
- No-code builder plus API
- Per-minute costs stack with LLM/TTS
- Voice quality depends on chosen vendors
- Cloud-only, no self-host
Sesame
Open-sourced its CSM-1B voice model under Apache 2.0 while keeping the viral Maya/Miles companions a hosted demo.
- Open Apache-2.0 CSM-1B base model
- Lifelike, natural conversational pacing
- Free real-time web demo
- Founder pedigree (Oculus co-creator)
- Demo only; no production API yet
- Companions not self-hostable
- Early-stage product
When to pick which
Both cover Voice agent.
Pick Retell AI if you need Tool / function calling and AI app builder.
- Tool / function calling (secondary capability)
- AI app builder (primary capability)
Pick Sesame if you need Speech synthesis (TTS) and Companion chat.
- Speech synthesis (TTS) (secondary capability)
- Companion chat (secondary capability)
They also differ on:
- Pricing
- FREEMIUM · FREE
- License
- Proprietary · Open source
- Platforms
- Web, API · Web
- Model support
- Multi-model · Self-contained (on-device)