Retell AI vs SoundHound AI
A side-by-side comparison of Retell AI and SoundHound AI, two Voice tools, drawn from Ignaite's continuously-verified listings.
Compared from listings verified as of
At a glance
| Attribute | Retell AI | SoundHound AI |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Voice | Voice |
| Pricing (differs) | FREEMIUM | PAID |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Deployment (differs) | Cloud | Hybrid |
| Platforms (differs) | Web, API | API |
| Model support (differs) | Multi-model | Self-contained (on-device) |
| Vendor (differs) | Retell AI | SoundHound AI |
| 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
SoundHound AI
Owns its full speech stack (no third-party ASR/TTS) with Speech-to-Meaning understanding, deployable on-device or in the cloud at enterprise scale.
- Full-stack proprietary speech tech
- On-device or cloud deployment
- Enterprise-proven (Amelia platform)
- Billions of conversations handled
- Enterprise focus, custom pricing
- Broad platform, longer onboarding
- Less suited to small teams
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 SoundHound AI if you need Transcription (STT).
- Transcription (STT) (secondary capability)
They also differ on:
- Pricing
- FREEMIUM · PAID
- Deployment
- Cloud · Hybrid
- Platforms
- Web, API · API
- Model support
- Multi-model · Self-contained (on-device)