What is GoHighLevel Voice AI and what does it cost per minute?
GoHighLevel Voice AI is the platform’s phone agent that answers inbound calls, makes outbound calls, qualifies the caller and books appointments, billed per minute of talk time on top of the plan.
What is GoHighLevel Voice AI?
GoHighLevel Voice AI is an AI phone agent built into the GoHighLevel platform that picks up calls on a business’s number, holds a spoken conversation, asks qualifying questions and writes the result into the contact record. It can also place outbound calls, for example to confirm an appointment or follow up a missed enquiry.
Voice AI is one of the two AI agents in the platform. The other, Conversation AI, handles text channels such as SMS, WhatsApp and web chat. Both read the same contact record, so a caller who then texts is recognised as the same person.
Skill Up Experts builds Voice AI agents as part of the AI automation service, usually as an after-hours and overflow receptionist for clinics, home-services companies and real estate teams.
How does Voice AI handle a call?
Voice AI handles a call in four steps: it answers with a scripted greeting, listens and transcribes the caller in real time, generates a spoken reply from its instructions and the contact’s history, and takes an action such as booking a calendar slot, transferring to a human or sending a text. Every call ends with a transcript and a summary saved on the contact.
The agent runs in one of two technical modes. Speech-to-speech mode uses a single model that listens and speaks directly. Pipeline mode chains a voice engine, a language model and a text-to-speech voice, which lets you choose a specific voice provider. The mode you pick sets the per-minute price.
How much does Voice AI cost per minute?
Rates below are HighLevel’s published AI product pricing effective April to May 2026 and verified on 29 September 2026. They are platform usage charges, billed on top of the plan and before any agency fee.
| Component | Rate per minute (USD) | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Speech-to-speech, Gemini model | $0.10 | Single model, listens and speaks |
| Speech-to-speech, OpenAI model | $0.20 | Single model, listens and speaks |
| Pipeline mode: voice engine | $0.045 | Always charged in pipeline mode |
| Pipeline mode: text-to-speech, OpenAI or Cartesia | $0.015 | Added to the engine rate |
| Pipeline mode: text-to-speech, ElevenLabs V3 | $0.17 | Added to the engine rate |
| Language model tokens | Metered separately | Small per-call amount in pipeline mode |
| Telephony (the phone minute itself) | Metered separately | Charged per minute by the telephony partner |
What does Voice AI cost per month at typical volumes?
A business using 1,000 minutes of Voice AI a month pays between about $60 and $215 in AI usage, depending on the mode and voice chosen. The low end is pipeline mode with an OpenAI or Cartesia voice ($0.045 plus $0.015, so $0.06 per minute). The high end is pipeline mode with an ElevenLabs V3 voice ($0.045 plus $0.17, so $0.215 per minute). Speech-to-speech sits between them at $0.10 or $0.20 per minute.
- 500 minutes a month: about $30 to $108 in AI usage.
- 1,000 minutes a month: about $60 to $215 in AI usage.
- 3,000 minutes a month: about $180 to $645 in AI usage.
- All figures exclude telephony minutes, language-model tokens and the plan fee, and are worked from the published per-minute rates.
Can an agency charge clients for Voice AI minutes?
An agency can rebill Voice AI minutes to its clients, with or without a markup, only on the $497 Agency Pro plan, according to HighLevel’s rebilling article dated 14 September 2026. On the $297 plan the agency absorbs the AI cost and has to recover it in its fee. Plan details are on How much does GoHighLevel cost?.
What has to be ready before Voice AI takes live calls?
An agent that goes live without these six items produces bad transcripts and lost callers.
- A written script covering greeting, the five most common questions, booking, and what to say when it does not know.
- Escalation rules: which callers get transferred to a human and to which number.
- Calendar connection with the correct service durations and buffers.
- A2P 10DLC registration in the US if the agent sends follow-up texts after the call.
- Test calls against real scenarios, including an angry caller and a wrong number.
- Weekly transcript review for the first month, with script edits after each review.
Does Voice AI work outside the United States?
Voice AI works in any country where the platform can provide a phone number and where the chosen voice supports the language. US businesses get the widest number coverage and the most accents.
Common questions about GoHighLevel Voice AI
Is Voice AI included in the $297 or $497 plan?
No. Both plans give access to Voice AI, but every minute of talk time is metered at the published per-minute rates on top of the plan.
Which mode is cheaper, speech-to-speech or pipeline?
Pipeline mode with an OpenAI or Cartesia voice is cheapest at about $0.06 per minute. Speech-to-speech with Gemini is $0.10. Pipeline with ElevenLabs V3 is the most expensive at about $0.215 per minute but gives the most natural voice.
Can Voice AI transfer a call to a person?
Yes. The agent can transfer to a named number when the caller asks for a human or when the conversation matches an escalation rule you set.
Does Voice AI record calls?
Yes. Calls are transcribed and summarised on the contact record. Recording consent rules differ by US state and by country, so the greeting must include the disclosure your jurisdiction requires.
How long does it take to build a Voice AI agent?
A first agent with script, calendar connection and escalation rules takes one to two weeks including testing. The first month after launch needs weekly transcript reviews.
Want to know what an AI receptionist would cost on your call volume?
Book a free strategy call. We take your monthly call count, pick the right mode and voice, and give you a usage estimate alongside our fee.
Book a Free Strategy Call