# Alternatives to TelEcho > Source: https://theagentsindex.com/telecho/alternatives (current datasheets, evidence-ranked) Candidates share the baseline category or are previously researched peers. Requirements, preserved strengths, explicit trade-offs and research coverage decide the order; paid tier does not. ## Shortlist ### 1. ElevenLabs Agents Hosted platform for building voice and chat agents, with telephony, SDKs and a choice of LLM. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Claude: yes — Anthropic models are natively selectable in agent settings; a few older Claude models drop out in EU data-residency workspaces.](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-agents/customization/llm) - [Open models: yes — Open-weight models run two ways: ElevenLabs-hosted Qwen in the native model list, or Llama and Mixtral through a custom LLM endpoint such as Together AI, Groq or SambaNova.](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-agents/customization/llm/custom-llm/together-ai) - [Model choice: yes — You pick the model per agent, plus a backup cascade; LLM usage is billed on top of the plan and varies by model.](https://elevenlabs.io/docs/eleven-agents/customization/llm) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - No researched regression against the baseline. [View ElevenLabs Agents](https://theagentsindex.com/elevenlabs-conversational-ai) ### 2. PolyAI Enterprise platform for building voice and chat agents that resolve customer calls, priced per minute. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Claude: yes — Claude is one of the third-party models you can run instead of Raven; the model docs list Claude options under the Amazon Bedrock provider tab, selectable per channel.](https://poly.ai/blog/agentic-dialog-platform-open-to-builders) - [Open models: partial — The model catalogue enumerates only Raven, OpenAI and Amazon Bedrock (Claude, Nova) with no open-weight option, but you can attach your own LLM endpoint.](https://docs.poly.ai/behavior/models/byom) - [Model choice: yes — You choose the model per channel in voice and chat configuration; Raven is the recommended default rather than the only option.](https://docs.poly.ai/behavior/models/model-use) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Wren plans and waits for approval by default, always asks before writing to the live environment, never receives secret values, and its API discovery requests are GET-only.](https://docs.poly.ai/wren/building) [View PolyAI](https://theagentsindex.com/polyai) ### 3. Synthflow Enterprise voice AI platform with in-house telephony for inbound and outbound call automation. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Free tier: yes — You can build an agent at no cost; charges begin at launch on a pay-as-you-go basis.](https://synthflow.ai/) - [API access: yes — Platform API with bearer-key auth covers agents, calls, campaigns, knowledge bases and subaccounts.](https://docs.synthflow.ai/authentication) - [Admin controls: yes — Agency admins grant or revoke per-subaccount permissions for actions, agent types, editor options and integrations.](https://docs.synthflow.ai/manage-subaccount-permissions) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - [Claude: no — The agent model selector enumerates OpenAI GPT variants and Synthflow's own LLMs; no Anthropic model is offered.](https://docs.synthflow.ai/general-configuration) [View Synthflow](https://theagentsindex.com/synthflow-ai) ### 4. Retell AI Pay-as-you-go platform for building, testing and running AI phone, chat and SMS agents. **Research coverage:** 34/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Claude: yes — Claude models are selectable as the agent's conversation model and priced per minute for voice and per message for chat, alongside GPT and Gemini options.](https://www.retellai.com/pricing) - [Open models: partial — Retell's own model menu is limited to hosted GPT, Claude and Gemini, but the custom-LLM path lets you put a self-hosted open-weights model behind the agent over a WebSocket you operate.](https://docs.retellai.com/integrate-llm/overview) - [Model choice: yes — You pick the conversation model per agent from a published, per-minute-priced list, and you can substitute your own model entirely through the custom-LLM WebSocket.](https://docs.retellai.com/integrate-llm/overview) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Prohibited-topic guardrails screen both the agent's replies and user input, and tools are explicitly wired per node, but guardrails only swap in a placeholder message rather than stopping or escalating the call.](https://docs.retellai.com/build/guardrails) [View Retell AI](https://theagentsindex.com/retell-ai) ### 5. AudioCodes Live Hub Self-service cloud platform for building voice AI agents and connecting them to real telephony channels. **Research coverage:** 33/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Open models: partial — Open-weight models such as gpt-oss and Gemma are reachable only through the bring-your-own-model path with your own Groq, Cerebras or OpenAI keys, not from the pre-deployed set.](https://techdocs.audiocodes.com/livehub/Content/AI-Agents/Bring%20your%20own%20models.htm) - [Model choice: yes — You choose the LLM per agent from pre-deployed models or add your own provider, and you can equally bring an entirely external conversational AI platform instead.](https://techdocs.audiocodes.com/livehub/Content/AI-Agents/Bring%20your%20own%20models.htm) - [API access: yes — A documented REST API under /api/v1/ configures the platform and reads back calls, recordings, transcripts and campaigns, with OAuth 2.0 client-credentials authentication.](https://techdocs.audiocodes.com/livehub/Content/LiveHub/REST%20API.htm) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - [Agent permissions: partial — An agent calls any tool you configured without a per-call approval step, so control is exercised up front by choosing its tools; the MCP management connection does offer an explicit read-only mode.](https://techdocs.audiocodes.com/livehub/Content/AI-Agents/Tools.htm) [View AudioCodes Live Hub](https://theagentsindex.com/audiocodes-live-hub) ### 6. Vapi Developer platform for building, testing and deploying voice AI agents that make and receive phone calls. **Research coverage:** 35/35 criteria **Where it improves on TelEcho:** - [Claude: yes — Claude is selectable as the assistant's LLM, on Vapi's integration or your own Anthropic account.](https://docs.vapi.ai/providers/model/anthropic) - [Open models: yes — Open-weight models reach the pipeline through Groq, Together AI, Mistral, DeepSeek and OpenRouter, or a self-hosted server.](https://vapi.ai/platform) - [Model choice: yes — You choose transcriber, LLM and voice independently and can swap any of them.](https://vapi.ai/platform) **Trade-offs against TelEcho:** - [Agent permissions: partial — Tools fire mid-call without human approval; a per-tool rejection plan is the mechanism that withholds an action.](https://docs.vapi.ai/tools/tool-rejection-plan) - [Certifications: partial — SOC 2 Type II and a HIPAA BAA sit in the Scale contract, and the plan table shows SOC2 only in that column; HIPAA mode is a $2,000/month add-on on either plan.](https://docs.vapi.ai/enterprise/plans) [View Vapi](https://theagentsindex.com/vapi) ## Method Unknown data is never treated as a benefit or a trade-off. Featured placement is labelled but cannot alter recommendation order.