TL;DR
An AI voice agent in India is billed per call minute. The all-in price combines speech recognition, a language model, a voice, telephony and the platform. Swarvo AI charges ₹6 per minute pay-as-you-go after a ₹100 free credit; always compare vendors on the all-in per-minute figure.
If you are budgeting for an AI voice agent in India, the headline per-minute rate is only part of the story. This guide explains each cost component so you can compare quotes properly and predict your monthly bill.
The five cost components of an AI voice call
Every minute of an AI voice call consumes several services at once:
- Speech recognition (STT). Converts what the caller says into text.
- Language model (LLM). Decides what to say next.
- Voice (TTS). Turns the reply into speech.
- Telephony. The phone line or SIP trunk that carries the call.
- Platform and orchestration. The software that ties it together, handles interruptions and logs results.
Developer platforms often bill these separately, so the final price depends on the providers you choose. Managed services usually quote one all-in per-minute rate.
Two pricing models you will meet
- All-in per minute. One rate covers voice, intelligence and platform. Simple to forecast.
- Platform fee plus pass-through. A platform fee per minute, plus each provider's usage charge. Flexible, but harder to predict.
Always convert quotes to the same unit: total rupees per connected minute.
What Swarvo AI charges
Swarvo lists clear INR pricing on the pricing page:
- Free plan: ₹100 starter credit, then ₹6 per minute.
- Starter: a call wallet with 2 concurrent calls, billed at ₹6 per minute.
- Business: 5,000 minutes a month included, CRM sync and live handoff.
- Enterprise: custom volume, SLAs and dedicated hosting.
WhatsApp and telephony usage on the pilot are passed through at actual provider cost.
A worked example (illustrative)
Suppose a clinic receives 40 calls a day averaging 2 minutes. That is 80 minutes a day, or about 2,400 minutes in a 30-day month.
At ₹6 per minute, the voice agent cost is 2,400 × 6 = ₹14,400 a month. Add telephony at your provider's rate. These numbers are an illustration of the method, not a quote: replace the call count, duration and rates with your own.
Hidden costs to ask about
- Minimum monthly commitments.
- Charges for unanswered or very short calls.
- Setup, number provisioning and integration fees.
- Extra fees for cloned voices or additional languages.
- Overage rates when you exceed included minutes.
Estimate your own cost
Use the voice agent cost calculator to compare AI against a human-handled team for your minutes, then book a demo for an exact quote. For platform choices, read best AI voice agent platforms in India.