Head to head
TheLeadRouter vs Retell AI
Written By Research Team
AI Outbound Calling
Fact Checked
All pricing verified against vendor documentation
Updated
Higher score
TheLeadRouter
Lead distribution, call routing and TCPA consent infrastructure — with AI dialing built in.
TheLeadRouter solves the half of the problem the voice-agent platforms do not. It handles what happens around the call: ping-post and waterfall routing, call tracking and RTB, live transfer, buyer contracts, caps, billing and payouts — plus consent capture with evidence stored on the lead record and DNC checks with an audit trail. Its pricing is the most transparent in this entire review: one $147/mo plan with every feature, and a published per-unit rate for every service. The honest caveat is the one that costs it the top spot: AI dialing runs $0.50/min, several times what the AI-native platforms charge, and there is no published SOC 2 or HIPAA certification. Buy it for routing, compliance and buyer delivery — not because it is the cheapest way to place a minute of AI calls.
Retell AI
The most granular, itemised pricing in the category — and the easiest honest cost model to audit.
Retell publishes a full component breakdown: voice infrastructure, TTS, each LLM, and every add-on priced separately. That is unusual and genuinely pro-buyer — you can model your real cost per minute before signing anything. It is also the most generous free start, with $10 in credits and 20 concurrent calls at no cost. The trade-off is that the headline '$0.07–$0.31/min' is a wide band, and your actual rate depends entirely on which model you pick.
Side by side
| Criterion | TheLeadRouter | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 87/100 | 84/100 |
| Rank | #2 | #4 |
| Type | AI-assisted dialer | Autonomous AI agent |
| Pricing model | Published | Published |
| Headline cost | $147/mo flat, every feature included; AI dialing $0.50/min | $0.07–$0.31/min depending on voice and model, from $0 with $10 free credits |
| Concurrency | Not published | 20 free concurrent calls; additional concurrency $8/mo each |
| Free trial | No credit card to explore; plan starts at checkout | $10 in free credits and 20 free concurrent calls |
| Certifications | TCPA architecture, Consent capture with submitted evidence, Consent stored on the lead record, DNC checks with audit log entries, GDPR, CCPA, Consent tracking | SOC 2 certified, HIPAA-ready, Custom SSO, Dedicated server on Enterprise |
Score by criterion
| Criterion | Max | TheLeadRouter | Retell AI |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing transparency | 20 | 20 | 18 |
| Outbound capability | 20 | 16 | 17 |
| Compliance & security | 20 | 17 | 15 |
| Integrations & extensibility | 15 | 15 | 12 |
| Time to first call | 15 | 12 | 14 |
| Scale & reliability | 10 | 7 | 8 |