What is the difference between an AI SDR and revenue intelligence?

Revenue intelligence platforms (Gong, Chorus, Clari Copilot) are post-call tools: a human makes the sales call, and the software records, transcribes, scores, and alerts on risk language. They are copilot tools, not autonomous agents. AI SDR platforms (11x Alice, Artisan Ava, Regie.ai) run prospecting, email, sequencing, and increasingly voice autonomously before the human AE ever gets involved. The two categories are complementary, not interchangeable.

How much per minute does Vapi cost?

Vapi's platform rate is $0.05 per minute, but that is not what you pay. You also pay for STT (roughly $0.005-$0.01/min), your LLM of choice (GPT-4 level adds $0.10-$0.15/min at typical sales-call token usage), TTS (ElevenLabs adds $0.02-$0.10/min), and telephony via Twilio or Telnyx ($0.01-$0.03/min). All-in for a typical sales use case: $0.25-$0.33 per minute. Retell's $0.07/min bundled rate is often cheaper all-in for standard deployments.

What is the cost per meeting booked for an AI SDR?

Cost per meeting = monthly platform fee / meetings booked per month. Artisan Ava at $2,500/month producing 15 meetings equals $167/meeting. 11x Alice at $5,000/month producing 20 meetings equals $250/meeting. A fully-loaded human SDR at $65k OTE + 30% benefits + $2k tooling = $7,208/month producing 15 meetings equals $480/meeting. Alice and Ava beat the human SDR economically if they consistently produce 10+ qualified meetings per month.

AI on the Sales Call in 2026

Q: What does an AI sales call actually do?

It depends on which of three distinct product categories you are looking at. Revenue Intelligence (Gong, Chorus, Clari) records and analyses calls after a human sells them. AI SDR platforms (11x, Artisan, Regie.ai) run prospecting and outreach autonomously, with or without voice. Voice AI Infrastructure (Vapi, Retell, Bland) provides developer platforms to build custom calling agents. Each category solves a different problem, costs differently, and carries different legal risk.

Q: How much does Gong cost in 2026?

Gong charges three separate fees: a platform fee of $5,000-$50,000 per year, a per-user fee of $1,298-$1,600 per user per year on the Foundation tier (or $2,880-$3,000 bundled with Engage and Forecast), plus $15,000-$65,000 for implementation. A 10-seat team on Foundation typically pays around $25,500 in Year 1. All contracts are 12-month annual prepay with no month-to-month option.

Three different product categories all call themselves AI for sales calls. Only one runs autonomously. Here is the 2026 field guide.

Revenue Intelligence

Records and analyses the call after a human sells it. Copilot, not autonomous.

from $1,360/seat/yr

GongChorusClari CopilotSalesloftAvoma

See the comparison →

AI SDR

Runs prospecting and outbound autonomously, often with voice. Agent-class, not copilot.

from $2,000/mo

11xArtisanRegie.aiAiSDRAmplemarket

See the comparison →

Voice AI Infrastructure

Developer platforms to build your own calling agent. Bring your own LLM, TTS, and compliance.

from $0.07/min

VapiRetellBlandSynthflowElevenLabs

See the comparison →

22+

Vendors covered

$0.05 to $0.33

Voice AI per-minute range

~$25,500

Gong Year 1 (10 seats)

May 2026

Last verified

This reference is built for revenue leaders deciding between doubling down on conversation intelligence, buying an autonomous AI SDR, or wiring their own voice agent on Vapi or Retell. It publishes real May 2026 prices, flags the marketing-vs-capability gap at each vendor, and covers the US TCPA, California CIPA, and EU GDPR rules that determine what you can legally deploy. Revenue leaders start with Gong or Chorus. SDR-team builders start with 11x or Artisan. Engineers start with Voice AI Infrastructure. Compliance leads start with Legal Recording Consent.

§All 22+ Vendors at a Glance

May 2026 pricing. Amber = vendor-stated; prices change; confirm before purchase.

Vendor	Category	Starting Price	Min. Term	Prices on Website?	Deep Dive
Gong	Revenue Intelligence	~$1,360/user/yr + platformvendor-stated	12 months	No	Deep dive →
Chorus (ZoomInfo)	Revenue Intelligence	~$1,000-$1,400/user/yrvendor-stated	24 months	No	Deep dive →
Clari Copilot	Revenue Intelligence	$120-$160/user/movendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
Salesloft	Revenue Intelligence	Custom (10-seat min)vendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
Avoma	Revenue Intelligence	$40-$100/user/mo	Monthly/Annual	Yes	Deep dive →
Fathom	Revenue Intelligence	Free / $19 / $29/user/mo	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
Fireflies	Revenue Intelligence	Free / $18-$29/user/mo	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
Otter.ai	Revenue Intelligence	Free / $8-$20/user/mo	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
Grain	Revenue Intelligence	$12-$25/user/mo	Monthly/Annual	Yes	Deep dive →
11x (Alice + Julian)	AI SDR	~$5,000/mo ($50k-$60k/yr)vendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
Artisan (Ava)	AI SDR	~$2,000-$5,000+/movendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
Regie.ai	AI SDR	$3,450-$13,000+/movendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
AiSDR	AI SDR	Per-email / per-leadvendor-stated	Monthly	No	Deep dive →
Amplemarket Duo	AI SDR	Custom (Amplemarket bundle)vendor-stated	Annual	No	Deep dive →
Relevance AI	AI SDR	$19-$599/mo	Monthly/Annual	Yes	Deep dive →
Vapi	Voice AI Infra	$0.05/min platform (all-in $0.25-$0.33)	None	Yes	Deep dive →
Retell AI	Voice AI Infra	$0.07/min bundled (all-in $0.07-$0.20)	None	Yes	Deep dive →
Bland AI	Voice AI Infra	$0.09-$0.14/min + plan	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
Synthflow	Voice AI Infra	$375-$900/mo or $0.08/min	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
ElevenLabs Conversational	Voice AI Infra	From $0.05/min TTS	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
PlayHT Conversational	Voice AI Infra	$0.01-$0.04/min TTS	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →
Deepgram Voice Agent	Voice AI Infra	From $0.0043/min STT	Monthly	Yes	Deep dive →

§Copilot, Agent, Autonomous: The Word That Decides the Budget

The word "agentic" is the most abused adjective in sales software marketing in 2026. Every vendor uses it. Most of them are wrong. Here is the honest spectrum:

Copilot

The AI suggests; the human acts. Every decision still needs a human keystroke. Gong, Chorus, Clari Copilot, Salesloft Rhythm, Fathom Ask Anything, Fireflies AI Topics all sit here.

Agent

The AI acts autonomously within a pre-approved sequence. A human defines the goal and guardrails; the AI executes without per-action approval. 11x Alice (outbound email), Artisan Ava, Regie.ai, Amplemarket Duo, Agentforce SDR all sit here.

Autonomous Agent

The AI sets its own sub-goals within a high-level objective. Rare in production sales deployments in 2026. A Vapi or Retell agent given a broad goal with tool access is the closest today; most enterprise deployments pull it back to agent-level with human approval gates.

The Gong headline: Gong's 2026 AI features (Call Spotlight, AI email composer, AI Ask Anything, AI Theme Spotter, AI scorecard) are copilot features. Gong uses the word "agents" in its marketing for roleplay and deal-risk capabilities, which reflects Gong's own definition, not the industry standard. A procurement team that budgets Gong as an "agentic platform" will set wrong expectations and wrong ROI targets.

Vendor position on the copilot-to-autonomous spectrum

Industry data: only ~26% of organisations have moved beyond AI pilots with autonomous agents as of 2026. The gap between marketing claims and production deployments is still wide.

Full category explainer →

§Is the Cost Per Meeting Booked Worth It?

Artisan Ava

$2,500/mo, 15 meetings/mo

$167

per meeting booked

11x Alice

$5,000/mo, 20 meetings/mo

$250

per meeting booked

Human SDR

$65k OTE + 30% benefits + tooling, 15 meetings/mo

$480

per meeting booked

Ava beats the human SDR on cost per meeting if she consistently produces 8+ qualified meetings per month. Alice wins at 10+. The calculator breaks down the full math for your team size and meeting targets.

Run the math for your team →

§The Legal Layer Most Vendors Skip

US FederalTCPA

FCC Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (adopted 8 February 2024) classified AI-generated voices as "artificial or prerecorded voice" under the TCPA. Outbound AI voice calls require prior express consent. B2C marketing calls require prior express written consent. Many AI voice cold-call deployments are illegal as configured in the US.

CaliforniaCIPA

California CIPA requires all-party consent for call recording. Ambriz et al. v. Google LLC (2024-2025) argues that an AI system "listening" to a call constitutes interception even without a traditional recording. Fathom, Fireflies, and Otter users with California-resident prospects carry exposure under this theory.

EUGDPR

GDPR requires affirmative consent for AI call recording in Europe, not just a "this call may be recorded" notification. Article 6(1)(a) consent is the clearest basis. 4% of global annual revenue or EUR 20 million maximum fine. AI transcription is personal data processing and is in scope.

Full legal guide (TCPA, CIPA, GDPR) →

§Frequently Asked Questions

What does an AI sales call actually do?

It depends on the category. Revenue Intelligence (Gong, Chorus, Clari) records and analyses after a human sells. AI SDR (11x, Artisan, Regie.ai) prospects and outreaches autonomously. Voice AI Infrastructure (Vapi, Retell, Bland) lets developers build custom calling agents. Only the last two are truly agentic.

How much does Gong cost in 2026?

Gong charges a platform fee ($5k-$50k/yr), a per-user fee ($1,360-$1,600/user/yr on Foundation), plus $15k-$65k implementation. A 10-seat team on Foundation typically costs around $25,500 in Year 1. All contracts are 12-month annual prepay.

Is 11x Alice worth $5,000 a month?

Alice wins on cost per meeting booked if she consistently delivers 10+ qualified meetings per month. At 10 meetings that is $500/meeting vs ~$480 for a human SDR - marginal. At 20 meetings it is $250/meeting - clearly better. Real-world performance varies significantly during the initial tuning period.

Is AI cold calling legal in the US?

Not without prior express consent. The FCC's Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (February 2024) puts AI-generated voices on the same legal footing as prerecorded calls under the TCPA. Prior express consent is required for all outbound AI voice calls in the US. Many current deployments are non-compliant.

What is the best AI note-taker for sales calls?

For individual reps on a zero budget: Fathom free tier (unlimited transcription, 5 AI summaries/month). For small teams where CRM push matters: Fireflies paid (~$18/user/mo). For mid-market teams wanting Gong-lite features at lower cost: Avoma ($40-$100/user/mo). See the full comparison.

Vapi or Retell for sales AI?

Retell's $0.07/min bundled rate is usually cheaper all-in than Vapi for standard sales deployments. Vapi offers more pipeline flexibility and a larger developer community. Vapi all-in runs $0.25-$0.33/min; Retell all-in runs $0.07-$0.20/min depending on your LLM choice. Both are developer platforms, not out-of-box SDR tools.

View all 25 FAQs →