The Vapi alternative
without building your own stack.
Vapi is for developers who want to choose and pay every provider: transcription, LLM, voice and telephony. 008 Agent gives you the whole agent, at one price per minute and connected to your PBX.
One bill, not several
With Vapi you pay its hosting and, separately, each provider. With 008, one per-minute price.
No code
Vapi is built for coding. With 008 you set up the agent from the dashboard.
Just another extension
The agent registers on your PBX like a desk phone: your numbers and your carrier stay the same.
Scale without limits
Vapi starts at 4 lines and charges $10 per extra line; 008 scales horizontally, with one pod per call.
Talk to our agent on WhatsApp right now.
008 Agent vs Vapi, point by point.
Vapi gives you parts to build with; 008 gives you a finished agent. It depends on who's going to maintain it.
| Criterion |  |  008 Agent |
|---|---|---|
| How it bills | $0.05/min hosting plus each provider | One per-minute price with voice and LLM |
| Total cost per minute | About $0.08 to $0.13 per its calculator | $0.20 to $0.39 on the plans; big discounts at volume |
| Choosing models and providers | Any you like, one by one | Frontier LLMs already integrated |
| Concurrent calls | 4 with no package; 10 on Core ($29/mo); $10 per extra line | No limit: scales horizontally, one pod per call |
| Connecting to your telephony | Your own trunk, Twilio or Vapi numbers (inbound only) | PBX extension or SIP trunk |
| Who it's for | Developers, via API | Business teams, no code |
| Data read out over the phone | Whatever you build | Built-in spelling and validation |
Vapi data taken from its public pages in October 2026; sources are listed at the bottom of the page. Prices exclude tax and may change.
A Vapi minute is several bills.
Vapi's hosting is cheap, and on top of it come the transcription, LLM, voice and telephony of every provider you pick.
- Vapi hosting$0.05/min
- Transcription (STT)Depends on the providerExtra
- LLMDepends on the providerExtra
- Voice (TTS)Depends on the providerExtra
- Telephony via Twilio$0.008/min inboundExtra
008 Agent- High volumeBig discounts, custom pricing
- Voice and LLMInside the minuteIncluded
- Published plans$0.20 to $0.39/min
- TelephonyYour carrier, at its ratesExtra
Vapi's calculator estimates $82 to $129 per 1,000 minutes. On 008's published plans, a minute ranges from $0.20 (Elite, with a $549/month instance fee) to $0.39 with no fee, voice and LLM included. At high volume, Enterprise applies big custom discounts.
Where Vapi still wins.
For a technical team that wants full control, Vapi is about as flexible as it gets.
Flexibility
You pick every provider and model, and swap them whenever you like.
Cost at low volume
With cheap providers and few minutes, it comes in below 008's plans.
Ecosystem
A huge developer community and large customers in production.
If you have developers to build and maintain it, Vapi goes a long way. If you want the agent running on your PBX without coding, 008 gives it to you ready.
It plugs into your phone system as it is.
Bring your SIP trunk or your PBX and connect it straight to the pods. No need to change carriers or numbers.
Your trunk, your numbers
Connect your current carrier over SIP.
Works with your PBX
The agent joins as just another extension.
Transfers to your team
Hands the call to a person when needed.
Integrated with your stack
CRM, helpdesk and calendar, no code.
500, 1,000… as many as you need.
Every new call spins up its own pod. No matter how many run at once, none takes resources from another.
It slows down, whispers and even laughs.
It doesn't just understand what you say: it adjusts pace, volume and emotion the way a person would. Ask it to slow down and it does. If you're in a library, it lowers its voice.
Pace on request
Slower for reading out numbers, quicker when you're in a hurry.
Volume and whisper
Lowers its voice when the moment calls for it.
Real emotion
It laughs, empathizes and sounds warm, not robotic.
Matches your tone
It adapts to the way each customer talks.
Sorry, could you say that again more slowly?
Sure. Your order number is… four… seven… two… nine.
«Forty-seven, eighty-one, twenty-two, zero five, N as in Nancy»
008 AgentIDs, orders and phone numbers, right the first time.
It's where almost every voice agent fails: ID numbers, order numbers, phones or emails read out over the phone. Ours captures them, repeats them back to confirm and validates them before saving.
Understands how people dictate
Groups, pauses, «double zero», «N as in Nancy».
Validates before saving
ID check letter, phone format, order length.
Confirms it with you
Repeats the data out loud before moving on.
Emails without typos
Dots, dashes and at signs in the right place.
From Vapi to 008 Agent, without downtime.
- 01
Bring your instructions
Your prompts, knowledge base and tools move from Vapi to 008 as they are.
- 02
Connect your PBX
The agent joins as an extension or over your SIP trunk: numbers and carrier stay put.
- 03
Run both side by side
Route part of your calls to 008 and compare on your own data before moving anything else.
- 04
Move the rest
Once you're sure, switch all traffic over. No lock-in.
At low volume it can be: hosting costs $0.05 and, with cheap providers, the total lands around $0.08 to $0.13. In exchange you pay several providers and someone on your team maintains the integration.
At volume, Enterprise discounts bring 008 below it, with voice and LLM inside and nothing to maintain.
008 runs frontier LLMs that are already integrated and tuned for calls. If you need a specific model, we'll look at it in the demo.
Yes. The agent registers as an extension on your PBX or connects to your SIP trunk, so you change neither carrier nor numbers.
Handing a call to your team is a transfer to another extension, just like with a person.
No. You set it up from the dashboard: language, voice, instructions, tools and extension.
Compare 008 with other platforms.
Put an agent to the test.
Request a demo or talk to our agent on WhatsApp right now.
Sources
Vapi and its logo are trademarks of their owner. 008 is not affiliated with or endorsed by Vapi; we name it only for comparison, using public information.