Vapi vs Bland - Which is Best?

Vapi - a quick overview

Founded in San Francisco in 2020 by Jordan Dearsley and Nikhil Gupta, Vapi is a cutting-edge platform providing a configurable API that enables developers to build sophisticated voice AI products and scale phone operations effortlessly. With over 100,000 developers building on Vapi's infrastructure, the company has quickly established itself as a go-to solution for creating seamless voice experiences.

Vapi stands out with its powerful features including multilingual capabilities, automated testing, tool calling functionality, API-native architecture, and the flexibility to bring your own models and run A/B experiments. In the following section, we'll break down Vapi's features, pros/cons, pricing, and user reviews compared to Bland AI and our product, exploring why our solution might be the superior choice for your voice AI needs.

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The core features of Vapi include:

• API-Native Architecture: Vapi is built for developers who want total control over their voice AI. Unlike Bland AI's more templated approach, Vapi gives you the keys to customize everything through APIs. But here's the thing - you need coding skills and engineering time to make it work. Ringly.io takes a different path by giving you the same power without needing to write a single line of code.

• Multilingual Support: Talk to customers in over 100 languages with Vapi's voice agents, which blows past Bland AI's 28 languages. This is huge if you're running a global business.

• Auto-testing: Vapi lets you test your voice AI agents before it goes live, catching problems before your customers do. This beats Bland AI's testing tools but requires technical know-how to set up properly. It does give a good end-to-end phone agent experience though.

• Bring Your Own Models: Tech teams love that Vapi lets them plug in their favorite AI language models or APIs. Bland AI is more restrictive here. The freedom is great, but it creates headaches with compatibility and complexity. Ringly.io hits the sweet spot - optimized models ready to go, with the option to bring your own when needed, without the technical hassle.

• Tool Calling: Vapi's agents can talk to your other business systems through API calls, similar to Bland AI but with more developer options. The catch? You need to carefully design and secure these connections. Ringly.io's Custom Actions feature does the same thing but makes it dead simple - connect to popular business tools in minutes with pre-built connectors.

• A/B Experiments: Data nerds rejoice! Vapi lets you test different conversation approaches to see what works best - something Bland AI doesn't offer. But you'll need stats knowledge to make sense of the results. Ringly.io flips the script by automatically analyzing calls and suggesting improvements based on real customer interactions.

• Enterprise Reliability: With 99.9% uptime and lightning-fast response times, Vapi handles serious business needs similar to Bland AI. Both platforms perform well under pressure.

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Next, let's look at Vapi's pros and cons. We studied dozens of reviews from real Vapi users from platforms like G2, Capterra, Product Hunt and TrustRadius. Then we identified commonalities and summarized the main pros and cons of Vapi based on real user feedback for you here:

Pros of Vapi:

• Top-notch voice AI capabilities - Users consistently praise Vapi for having some of the best voice AI tech in the market. While not perfect (no AI is yet), it's clearly leading the pack compared to alternatives.
• Extensive customization options - Many users love the flexibility Vapi offers with its wide range of LLM/STT/TTS models and personalization features. This makes it adaptable across different industries and business needs.
• Strong technical foundation - Tech-savvy users appreciate Vapi's Web SDK and comprehensive documentation, making it easy for devs building on top of vapi.
• Excellent support team - Multiple reviewers highlight Vapi's responsive and helpful support team. When issues come up, they're quick to provide detailed solutions, which keeps projects on track.
• Fast-improving platform - Users note that Vapi is evolving quickly, with regular improvements to their technology and offerings as the voice bot space grows.

Cons of Vapi:

• Limited international number support - Several UK users complained about the lack of local number support, forcing them to pay twice for making calls (once for Vapi and once for Twilio). This creates unexpected costs for international users.
• Account management frustrations - Some users report difficulty canceling accounts or removing payment information, creating billing frustrations and data privacy concerns.
• Bot-heavy support experience - While some praise human support, others report dealing with "awful" support bots when trying to resolve account or billing issues, creating a frustrating experience.
• Technical complexity - Reading between the lines, Vapi seems more geared toward technical users. While this offers flexibility, it may present a steeper learning curve for non-technical business users. Ringly.io has a focus on ease of use, so you don't need to be technical.
• Still maturing - Despite its strengths, users acknowledge Vapi is still a young product in a developing market, suggesting there's room for improvement as the technology evolves. If we compare Bland AI to this, they ‍officially 3 years younger than Vapi. It is somewhat expected in this emerging conversational ai space though.

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Bland AI - a quick overview

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Founded in San Francisco in 2023 by Isaiah Granet and Sobhan Nejad, Bland AI is an innovative platform designed to build artificial intelligence-powered phone calling agents that efficiently handle the bulk of enterprise call volume.

Focusing on versatility, Bland AI seamlessly manages customer support, sales, and appointment setting calls, empowering large enterprises to streamline their communication operations.

Bland AI is built specifically for large enterprises that want to automate their customer support and sales operations, offering no-code agent building, enterprise scalability, and easy integrations. The platform stands out with its advanced capabilities like memory functionality across calls, conversational pathways, high-accuracy transcription, context-aware summarization, and confidence scoring.

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In the following section, we'll break down Bland AI's features, pros/cons, pricing, and user reviews compared to Vapi and our product, highlighting why our solution might be the ideal choice for your voice automation needs.

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The core features of Bland AI include:

• Voice Selection: Bland lets you pick from different AI voices to match your brand's feel. While Vapi also offers voices, Bland gives you more customization options for gender, accent, and tone. This makes your calls sound more on-brand compared to Vapi's more limited voice options, while keeping a good call quality and natural language.

• AI Models (Base, Enhanced, Turbo): Bland offers three different AI engines that trade off between cost and smarts. Their base model handles simple stuff, while their turbo option tackles complex conversations. Vapi takes a more technical approach, letting developers bring their own AI models. The difference? Bland makes it simpler for non-tech users. Ringly.io cuts through the complexity entirely – you don't need to choose between models because their ai voice agents are optimized out of the box to handle everything from basic questions to complex situations.

• Custom Prompts: With Bland's AI platform, you can craft specific instructions for how your AI agent talks. You control the first words and conversation style. Vapi offers similar prompt engineering but requires more technical know-how. Where Bland falls short is connecting these prompts to real business outcomes.

• Background Tracks: Bland AI also has a  unique background noise feature adds cafe or office sounds to make calls feel more natural. This helps mask the AI-ness of calls, which Vapi doesn't offer. While it seems small, it helps customers feel more comfortable.

• Custom Tools: Bland lets your AI access external data during calls through API connections. For example, your AI can look up order details or account info. Vapi offers similar "tool calling" capabilities but requires more technical setup. Ringly.io makes it way simpler with no-code setup through Zapier or Make.com – letting regular business users create powerful integrations without needing a developer.

• Language Support: Bland handles 28 languages, letting your AI agent speak with customers in their preferred language. Vapi actually beats Bland here with support for 100+ languages. Both are strong in this area, letting businesses serve international customers with the best conversational quality.

• Interruption Threshold: Bland lets you control how quickly your AI jumps in during pauses, which helps tune conversation flow. Set it low for customer service (letting people finish) or high for sales calls (controlling the conversation). Vapi offers similar control but buries it in technical settings.

• Inbound Call Handling: Bland manages incoming calls with custom greetings and data collection. This helps businesses automate reception duties. Vapi offers similar features but with more complex setup requirements. Ringly.io enhances this with their Smart AI Call Transfer feature, which not only handles calls but knows exactly when to pass calls to humans – complete with perfect call summaries for your team. This means the right calls reach the right people with the right context every time.

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Next, let's look at Bland AI's pros and cons. We studied dozens of reviews from real Bland AI users from platforms like G2, Capterra, and TrustRadius. Then we identified commonalities and summarized the main pros and cons of Bland AI based on real user feedback for you here:

Pros of Bland AI:

Super fast response times - Some users are blown away by Bland's low latency. When the system works well, the AI responds quickly, making conversations feel more natural than robotic. This low phone call latency is likely similar to vapi.

Continuous improvement - Fans point out that the Bland team updates their product every week. They're not sitting still - they're hustling to make their AI calls better with each update.

Time-saving for sales teams - When it works right, Bland can save sales teams hours of manual calling. This lets your human talent focus on closing deals instead of dialing numbers all day.

Strong support (for some) - A handful of users praise Bland's support team and their dedication to helping customers succeed with the platform.

Impressive tech (when working) - Users who have good experiences are genuinely impressed by what Bland has built, suggesting the technology has serious potential when implemented correctly.

Cons of Bland AI:

Reliability issues - A common complaint is that the system simply doesn't work consistently. Users report calls where the AI doesn't speak or gets interrupted, creating awkward customer experiences.

Setup complexity - Several users mention spending "multiple hours" setting up the conversational ai features only to get disappointing results. This suggests a steep learning curve that eats into promised time savings. At Ringly.io we have pre-tested templates for AI phone agents, so you're 90% there in just 1 click.

Customer service concerns - While some praise support, others call it "unresponsive," "not helpful," and even "the WORST." This inconsistency means you might be on your own when problems arise.

Potential customer loss - Perhaps most concerning, some users report actually losing customers due to poor AI call experiences. This turns what should be a business booster into a reputation risk.

Can't match human connection - Multiple reviewers emphasize that despite promises, the technology simply can't replace real human interaction with customers, especially for important conversations. At Ringly.io, you can always let the agent transfer the phone call to a human when more help is needed.

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These mixed reviews suggest Bland AI might work for some simple use cases but could be risky for critical customer communications where the human touch really matters. Ringly.io's approach of focusing on proven templates and business results rather than just technology helps avoid many of these pitfalls.

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Pricing - Vapi vs Bland

Note: The pricing information below is from the time of writing and may be subject to change. For the most up-to-date pricing, readers should visit each company's pricing page.

Vapi pricing:

Bland pricing:

Ringly.io pricing:

Online customer reviews: Vapi vs Bland AI

When evaluating lead generation tools like Vapi, Bland, and Ringly.io, online reviews can provide great insights into user satisfaction, platform reliability, and overall ease of use. Here's a breakdown of the positive and negative reviews for each platform, based on their ratings and user feedback.

What users are saying about Vapi:

Vapi is well known for its conversational ai for developers with specific needs. Vapi has a 4.4-star rating from 19 reviews on Product Hunt and Trustpilot combined, which means that users are generally positive.

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"Amazing tool as well as after hours support on a Saturday night"

‍- Robert Peter. Amazing system that they are building. I had issues on a Saturday night, and received a phone call from one of the technicians Sahil and he helped me through my issue. What dedication. I saw some of the other reviews, and they seem to be related to billings, and stuff that could easily be spoken about. I just wanted to give a shout out to this guy for his passion and dedication to the project.

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"Unreliable"

- Brent P, managing member. Support is non-existent and documentation is extremely poor. I spent a lot of time setting up an assistant which was working ok. Then they had a developer conference and rolled out a lot of new features and EVERYTHING broke. I spent hours and hours trying to get it working again to no avail. Emailed them and was told the "bugs" would be fixed tomorrow... then tomorrow.. then tomorrow. REALLY FRUSTRATING.

What users are saying about Bland AI:

Bland is known for its human-like conversations for enterprises, with advanced features, while staying user-friendly. Bland has a 3.0-star rating from 10 reviews on Product Hunt, which means that users are generally not very positive.

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"Extremely impressed"

‍- Casper Boutens. Extremely impressed by Bland, the team is improving their product every week, they offer great support and all by all great phone calls made by their AI.

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"Doesn't work at all"

- Albert Salgueda. Doesn't work at all. I call and it doesn't speak, it gets interrupted... still not there.

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What users are saying about Ringly.io:

Ringly.io is known for its simplicity, and a focus on e-commerce, with features like abandoned cart recovery and order status lookups. It has a 4.8 star rating from 12 reviews on Product Hunt and other platforms.

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"it stands out significantly ahead"

- Bertrand, Director. We are at the initial stage of testing and have made only a few calls so far. Consequently, I have rated the product with four stars for now. However, I must express that the product has shown significant promise. When compared to competitors, it stands out significantly ahead.

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"This is such a great product"

- Jim Miranda, Founder. This is such a great product. I have been with you for less than a week and already closed 3 deals with it."

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"It really sounds like a human"

- Laix, Founder. Tried Ringly.io today and the quality of the phone calls surprises me! It really sounds like a human, and it reacts really fast. Will need to deploy it in action to see the full capabilities.

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"How to automate customer service? -> Ringly.io"

- Sidra Husnain, Founder.

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Vapi vs Bland: Which is Best for You?

Choosing the right AI voice solution depends on your business size, goals, and how much control you need. Below, we break down who each phone agent provider is best for so you can make the smartest choice.

Who Vapi is best for…

• Developers and engineers who want to build AI phone call features into their own apps using APIs.

• Tech-savvy businesses that prefer customizing their own AI call flows rather than using a ready-made solution.

• Companies with in-house AI expertise that want more flexibility in training and tweaking their AI agent.

Who Bland is best for…

• Large enterprises that need a highly customized AI phone system built specifically for them.

• Businesses with big budgets that want full-service AI call automation and are willing to pay for premium customization.

• Companies focused on brand voice that require a fully tailored AI experience that sounds exactly like their human agents.

Who Ringly.io is best for…

• Ecommerce brands that want to automate abandoned cart recovery, order status checks, and common customer questions.

• Businesses that want a plug-and-play AI agent with no coding or complex setup—just connect your store and go.

• Companies that value sales and support automation to increase revenue and improve customer experience without hiring more staff.

While Vapi and Bland cater to more specialized needs, Ringly.io is the best all-in-one solution for businesses of all sizes. It’s built to handle both sales and support calls effortlessly, integrates with major ecommerce platforms, and works right out of the box—no technical expertise required.

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Why Ringly.io is a Better Choice (for customer support)

Highly Rated: 4.8/5

Ringly.io has quickly become a standout solution in the AI phone agent space. It’s seen impressive growth, particularly in ecommerce, where it has helped businesses automate their customer support and sales calls to skyrocket efficiency.

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Founded by Maurizio Isendoorn and Ruben Boonzaaijer, Ringly.io is designed to serve businesses looking to improve customer experiences while reducing reliance on human agents. The platform’s easy setup and seamless integrations with ecommerce platforms make it a go-to for growing businesses that need reliable, scalable phone solutions.

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What sets Ringly.io apart is its focus on automating customer service through AI, offering businesses of all sizes a simple way to manage inbound and outbound calls without the complexity. Whether you’re looking to automate order updates, recovery calls, or FAQs, Ringly.io makes it easy and accessible to even non-technical users.

Key features of Ringly.io's AI phone agent platform

• Knowledge base: Add your website, docs, or text, and your AI phone agent instantly becomes an expert on your business. No training needed - it just works. Your agent answers customer questions using your actual content, not made-up info. The system also updates daily with your website changes, so it's always current. This means fewer "let me get back to you" moments and more instant answers that build customer trust. Perfect for businesses tired of answering the same questions over and over

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• Abandoned Cart Recovery: Turn lost sales into money with AI phone calls that recover over 35% of abandoned carts. Your AI agent automatically calls customers who left items in their cart and helps close the sale. It works with all major platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce. The best part? It's way more effective than emails or texts because it creates that human connection. Just pick a proven template, connect your store, fill in a few blanks, and watch sales roll in while you sleep.

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• Order Status Checking: Your AI phone agent checks order status in real-time during customer calls. When someone asks "Where's my package?" your agent instantly finds their order in Shopify and gives them the exact status. No more frustrated customers, no more manual lookups. It turns your most annoying support calls into your most satisfying customer experiences. The system works 24/7, verifies orders properly, and explains shipping updates in friendly, easy-to-understand language. Five minutes of setup saves you hours of tracking questions every week.

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• Smart AI Call Transfer: Your AI agent knows exactly when to hand calls to your team, complete with perfect call summaries. It routes calls to the right person or department based on custom triggers you set. You can handle transfers in multiple ways - cold transfers for urgent issues or warm transfers with context for better preparation. Your team only gets the calls they should, with complete context about why the customer is calling. This means your experts stay focused on complex issues while your AI handles the simple stuff automatically.

• SMS Capabilities: Stop making customers write down links and codes. Your AI agent sends perfect text messages during the call with just one click. Send checkout links, discount codes, and tracking numbers without spelling nightmares. Messages arrive instantly while customers are still on the call, so they know they got what they need. You can create templates with smart variables like {{customer_name}} for personalization, or let your AI craft custom messages based on the conversation. This feature turns "I'll think about it" into "I just bought it" by removing purchase barriers

• Custom Actions: Connect your calling agent to your business tools to create tickets, send emails, update CRMs, and more - all during customer calls. Works with everything from Freshdesk to HubSpot through simple no-code connections via Make.com or Zapier. Your agent collects exactly the information needed, then takes immediate action before the customer even hangs up. Create unlimited custom actions for different situations with smart triggers that activate at the perfect moment. This turns your phone system into your business command center, solving problems in real-time.

• AI Voicemails: Your AI agent recognizes voicemail boxes and leaves perfect messages every time - no more silent hangups on outbound calls. The system waits for the beep with natural timing and delivers custom messages that include personal details like names and order numbers. You control whether to leave messages or hang up, what script to use, and what personal variables to include. Set up once, use forever across all your call campaigns. This feature ensures consistent professional messaging while your team focuses on live conversations.

• AI Call Analysis: See exactly why calls succeed or fail with powerful AI analysis of every conversation. Your dashboard shows call results (resolved, incomplete, transferred), caller mood (positive, negative, neutral), and AI-written summaries of key points. Powerful search and filtering help you find calls by keyword, length, cost, or any data point you need. The system doesn't just track calls - it shows you how to improve them with AI suggestions, category analysis, and trend spotting.

• AI Phone Call Automations: Create end-to-end workflows that handle entire customer journeys automatically. Trigger calls from anywhere through Zapier integration or API connections, reaching customers exactly when they need help. Send call data to your other systems to keep everything in sync, including summaries, results, and customer mood. No coding needed - just simple tools like Zapier or Make.com..

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Short conclusion

Choosing the best AI phone solution for your business ultimately depends on your unique needs, goals, and resources. Here’s a quick summary to help you decide which software best fits your business:

• Vapi is a great choice if you’re a developer or tech-heavy business looking for flexibility in features and API integrations. It's perfect for businesses that want to build their own AI experiences with minimal external input.

• Bland AI excels if you’re a large enterprise with a big budget and need highly customized, full-service solutions. It’s the go-to option for companies who want the ultimate in brand-specific AI experiences and can afford the premium costs.

• Ringly.io is designed to offer the best of both worlds: an easy-to-use, powerful AI phone agent that automates key business processes without the technical hurdles. It’s ideal for ecommerce businesses seeking a seamless, plug-and-play AI solution to improve sales and customer experience.

While Vapi and Bland are tailored for specific use cases, Ringly.io provides an all-encompassing, user-friendly solution that works for businesses of all sizes. It’s the smart choice for companies looking to scale without the technical complexity or high cost.

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Want to compare other players in the market? Check out our other comparisons:

• Bland AI vs Synthflow