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Still stuck trying to pick the best Bland AI alternative?
By the end of this article, you'll know exactly which AI tool deserves your money.
We'll break down:
If you want the quick answer: It's Ringly.io. It's the ebst voice platform for Shopify brands.
In simple terms, it's an AI phone calling tool that big companies love. If you've ever called a business and thought "wait, am I talking to a robot?" – that might be Bland's conversational AI automation at work.
It's basically AI that sounds so real on calls that most people can't tell the difference. Bland AI stands out by saving enterprises money and letting them handle more customer conversations without hiring more staff.
We meticulously studied dozens of user reviews of Bland AI from online review platforms like G2, Gartner, and SoftwareAdvice and identified the following themes amongst user complaints that you should be wary of when looking for a Bland alternative:
Best for Shopify stores looking for the best way to offer 24/7 AI phone support at a fraction of the cost.
How it went when I tried setting up Ringly:
After I installed the Shopify app, the only thing I had to do was to upload my data to the knowledge base. (website was uploaded automatically)
After I did that, I could already speak to my agent via a web call.
Setting it live was as simple as picking a phone number with my area code from the dashboard. I was able to connect the number with 1 click. (The number is also free and included)
There was not really anything else to the setup.
They claim that out of the box, their agents resolve an average of 73% of support calls. They back that up with data from over 2,100 active Shopify stores.
Signup -> onboarded took only 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Most of that time was spent waiting for the knowledge to be uploaded.
Over the first 2 weeks I used it (14-day free trial), it resolved 76% of my calls on its own.
The rest of the calls were escalated to a support ticket by my agent.
(update: the more calls you get, the smarter it gets. As of today, my resolution rate is 79%.)
Standout Features (pros):
Pricing is on a results basis; you don't pay until your agent has at least a 60% resolution rate
Shopify integration is native. It will allow your agent to solve order status and refund requests on the phone.
Reviews are overall very positive, mainly because of the results-based pricing. If you don't pay unless you get results, every customer gets results.
Cons:
What’s unique about Ringly is that it is the first AI phone support tool built for Shopify.
Editors note: Ringly.io opened 5 spots for Shopify stores to pay $0 until AI resolves 60% of your support calls. You can book a call to claim it.
| Plans | Price | Included | Contract | Cancellation | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start | 99,- /mo |
✓ 250 call minutes, then $0.36/min |
Monthly | Anytime | Start 14-day free trial → |
| Grow (Most popular) | 349,- /mo |
✓ 1,000 mins, then $0.19/min ✓ Self-learning ✓ AI knows your customers ✓ 30-day onboarding |
Monthly | Anytime | Start 14-day free trial → |
| Scale | 1099,- /mo + setup fee |
✓ Custom price/min ✓ Custom agent & integrations ✓ Slack channel |
Custom | Custom | Book your demo → |
Best for: Developers that want to build AI voice agents
G2 rating: 4.6/5 (12 reviews)
Founded in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2023 by Todd Li, Evie Wang, Bing Wu, Weijia Yu, and Zexia Zhang, Retell AI is crushing it as the go-to platform for lightning-fast AI voice agent creation.
With over 3,000 businesses already on board, they're helping developers build human-like voice agents in just one day instead of months - a total game-changer for contact centers looking to level up their operations without the usual headaches.
The bottom line: Retell AI offers more flexible pricing but might need more setup. Bland AI seems simpler but might cost more for basic use.
"Made our customer service smarter and faster" - Utkarsh M. We’ve been using Retell to build these voice agents for our customer service, for over a year. It’s so natural, people don’t even realize it’s not a human half the time. The responses are super quick too, like you’re having a real convo. It’s actually helped us cut down on how many calls our team has to take, and customers are definitely happier..less hold time and better answers. If you’re on the fence about trying it, just do it.
"Extremely slow customer service on discord even when unannounced API changes break product" - Jerry Y. The product is the same as others on the market -- we would switch instantly if there were no switching cost, these guys are not a reliable vendor.
Best for: Developers that want an AI voice solution and also deploy AI chatbots
G2 rating: 4.7/5 (56 reviews)
Voiceflow burst onto the scene in 2018 when four friends from Toronto—Braden Ream, Andrew Lawrence, Tyler Han, and Michael Hood—decided to solve a massive problem: building AI agents or a chatbot was way too complicated.
Fast forward to today, and they've built an ai platform for building bots with over 250,000 users. What we like Voiceflow for is that they laser-focused on ambitious Product teams who need to create AI agents (both text and voice) with speed, total control, and the ability to see everything that's happening under the hood.
"Versatile, powerful, effective and intuitive agent development platform" - Peter C. What I like most is that the platform is very intuitive and while there is a learning curve, once you get the hang of it, you are empowered to create some really powerful applications. The support when you get stuck is great and there are plenty of resources which makes it easy to help yourself.
"Unresolved technical issues" - Brandon Parkash. I tried to contact them about technical issues but they make it difficult to contact them plus weren’t helpful
Best for: developers building AI voice products
Product Hunt + Trustpilot rating: 4.4/5 (19 reviews)
Founded in San Francisco in 2020 by Jordan Dearsley and Nikhil Gupta, Vapi is a cutting-edge platform that combines advanced ai technology with 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 great voice experiences.
Although there are alternatives that offer the right AI voices as well, 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.
Vapi might be cheaper if you're technical and can handle the complexity. Bland seems easier to use but potentially more expensive for basic setups. It's like choosing between building your own gaming PC (Vapi) or buying one pre-built (Bland) - one gives you more control, the other is more convenient.
"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.
"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.
Best for: Small and medium-sized businesses looking for a powerful conversational ai platform.
Product Hunt rating: 4.7/5 (201 reviews)
Founded in Berlin, Germany in 2023 by Albert Astabatsyan, Hakob Astabatsyan, and Sassun Mirzakhan-Saky, Synthflow AI offers a great conversational AI voice. With over 1,000 users, they're helping businesses stop missing calls and start making more money with their conversational ai technology designed for SMEs.
Their human-like voice AI agents don't just follow scripts—they actually understand what callers want and handle everything from appointments to customer questions without a human needing to step in.
Here's the deal: Synthflow gives you lots of fancy features and ready-to-go solutions, but you're paying WAY more per minute than Bland's simple $0.09 rate. It's like choosing between a fancy restaurant with a complicated menu (Synthflow) or a simple place that does one thing really well (Bland).
"Is a very good platform" - Alejandro Palacios. Is good, easy to use, I like the videos for guide.I've just started to use, hope this keep going well. I would like to see some other languages.
"Synthflow support is non existent" - Andrew Vernon. I used Synthflow for testing purposes to compare it against other VoiceAI platforms. Their support is non existent. I sent and email and opened a support ticket and none were answered. There's no way we could go ahead, what if we had issues, how long would the response times be.
Best for: Local businesses that want to streamline customer service
Product Hunt and Trustpilot rating: 3.6/5 (6 reviews)
Founded in 2021 in Palo Alto, California by Bob Summers, Goodcall is revolutionizing customer service and sales with its innovative Agentic Voice AI. With over 2,000 users, Goodcall helps local businesses streamline their operations by automating call handling and sales processes, ensuring no opportunity is missed.
Key features include 24/7 call handling, lead capture and qualification, customizable AI skills, appointment scheduling, and seamless CRM integration. By offering detailed call analysis and optimizing workflows, Goodcall is designed to enhance customer service, and stay ahead in today’s fast-paced market.
Here's the real talk: GoodCall gives you unlimited minutes for a flat fee - which could be a huge win if you make long calls. BUT you only get 100 customers... So if you have lots of customers, Goodcall will get expensive very quickly. Bland charges $0.09 per minute, which is better if you have many customers with relatively short calls.
"Incredible product" - Danny Lannon. saves me so much time, and I've been able to capture leads in an entirely new way. 100% worth it and saves me a ton of time.
"Customer dis-service" - Merle Craner. When I call a customer service number, I expect a number of options to eventually get to a person to deal with the problem. Goodcall starts immediately with upsell options to service I don't want or need. There is no interaction, just a constant sales pitch. If you have the patience, you will be told they can't help with the problem and provide another number to go through the exact same process again.
Best for: Businesses looking to scale customer service operations and want many voices and characters.
Trustpilot rating: 3.6/5 (259 reviews)
Founded in 2022 in Mountain View, California, Play AI was created by Hammad Syed and Mahmoud Felfel. The company specializes in transforming written text into realistic, natural-sounding voiceovers and AI voice agents, making it easy for anyone to integrate lifelike voices into their projects.
With a focus on AI voice generation, Play AI offers a wide array of features including voice cloning, support for 142 languages, emotion-driven voices, speaking styles, and advanced audio analytics. The intuitive user interface ensures that users, regardless of technical expertise, can easily create custom voice solutions.
"Disappointing experience" - Raja Mohammad Zishanullah. I purchased the unlimited plan on Play.ht. The service is incredibly slow and plagued with frequent errors, making it nearly unusable. The newer voice models sound robotic and lack the natural flow that was initially promised. Customer service has been consistently poor, with slow and unhelpful responses. Overall, Play.ht has been a huge disappointment, and I would strongly advise avoiding their service.
"Excellent convenient service" - Core Partners Studio. Excellent convenient service for voiceover, a large database of realistic voices, very convenient to work as a team, great tech support. We will continue to work further!
Best for: Large enterprises that need a tailored AI solution.
Gartner rating: 4.6/5 (13 reviews)
Founded in 2017 in London, UK, Poly AI is an enterprise-grade conversational ai platform known to handle customer service calls with natural, human-like conversations. It was created by Nikola Mrkšić, Tsung-Hsien Wen, and Pei-Hao Su, who met while researching spoken dialog systems at Cambridge’s Machine Intelligence Lab.
Today, Poly AI serves 100+ enterprise customers, helping businesses with unique business requirements automate phone support at scale. Known for its advanced AI models and industry-specific solutions, it’s a go-to for companies looking to streamline inbound calls without sacrificing customer experience.
Ps. Wasn't Poly AI a chatbot? Yes, there was a private AI chatbot platform called Poly.AI, but they changed their name to PolyBuzz.
PolyAI operates on an enterprise-only model, requiring businesses to book a call before accessing pricing or trials. There’s no free trial or self-serve option, making it a high-barrier solution for companies with serious volume needs.
"Conversational assistant of the highest quality" - Verified enterprise customer. The assistant itself is lifelike and constantly learning. The time saving it allows our staff onsite is the real value add. In comparison, competitor offerings seem robotic make customers feel like they are not being cared for.
"App is working slow" - Sagar R, Senior Recruitment Consultant. Sometimes the app is working slow and it will take time to initiate any command.
We've tried to explore alternatives for every use case, and here's the truth: finding the perfect Bland AI alternative comes down to what you need most - easy setup, better features, or pricing that won't drain your wallet.
After testing all these products, here are our top 3 picks:
Ringly.io stands out because it solves the exact problems people hate about Bland - complicated setup, hidden fees, and poor support. It's the only option that gives you a 110% money-back guarantee, proving they're confident you'll love the results.
