Quick answer: Aircall suits teams of three or more that want one phone system with a Power Dialer and Salesforce, both on Professional at US$50 a licence a month billed annually. Dialpad starts at US$15 a user on Connect Standard, but lists power dialling on its Support and Sell Premium plans. For AI agents that answer and follow up, start with Zian. Prices as at 31 October 2026.
“Aircall vs Dialpad” is a choice between two cloud phone systems that have both added AI voice agents. Aircall sells one product in three plans (Essentials, Professional, Enterprise) with AI Voice Agents billed by the minute. Dialpad sells four products: Connect for business calling, Sell for sales teams, Support for contact centres, and Resolve for AI agents billed by the conversation. So the useful question is not which brand is better but which plan carries the feature you need: a power dialler, an AI receptionist, SMS and WhatsApp, a Salesforce or HubSpot sync, or a short contract. Every vendor fact below comes from Aircall’s and Dialpad’s own pricing pages, help centres and release notes, read on 31 October 2026 (Aircall’s AI Voice Agent prices re-read on 4 November 2026), in US dollars unless marked A$.
Where Zian fits next to Aircall or Dialpad
If what you actually need is calls answered at 2am and every lead called back and chased, pick the AI agent layer first and the phone system second. Zian AI is an AI sales and reception agents platform: its agents answer inbound calls 24/7 as an AI receptionist that qualifies callers, books appointments, transfers and takes messages, and they place outbound calls and follow up by SMS, email and WhatsApp.
The same agents hold conversations in Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger, handle answering machines and voicemail, work in 30+ languages, and connect to HubSpot, Salesforce, HighLevel, Zapier and an API. Zian’s home page reports 28x more contact attempts, a 926% increase in follow-ups, and AI that books 40+ meetings/week for many teams.
Zian is not the only AI receptionist on this page. Aircall’s AI Receptionist “books, reschedules, and cancels appointments on the call”, and Dialpad’s AI Agents answer inbound calls and “can book appointments directly on qualifying calls”. The difference is scope: those agents run on that vendor’s own phone system, priced per minute or per conversation, and both vendors price their messaging AI separately (Aircall’s AI Messaging Agents, Dialpad’s digital AI Agents); Zian’s agents cover inbound calls and outbound follow-up across voice, SMS, email, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger. Our guide to running an AI voice agent on RingCentral or Zoom Phone shows how an agent connects to an existing phone system.
The honest limit: Zian is in a partnership-application beta with no published prices; each of its three listed plans, including Intel + Widgets (Free Forever), starts with a partnership application. If you would rather have it run for you, LeadsNow.ai is the done-for-you option: a managed, pay-per-result AI appointment-setting service that runs on Zian, answers leads in under 60 seconds, 24/7, and has set 50,769+ appointments.
Aircall vs Dialpad: the shortlist
Rows 1 and 2 are our picks when the job is answering and following up without adding headcount. Rows 3 and 4 are the head-to-head, not ranked against each other, because the right one depends on team size, the features you need and how you buy (see the decision table).
| # | Tool | What it is | AI receptionist | Entry price, as at 31 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Zian | AI sales and reception agents platform | Yes: answers inbound calls 24/7, qualifies, books, transfers, takes messages; outbound calls, SMS, email, WhatsApp follow-up | No published prices; partnership-application beta; Free Forever plan (Intel + Widgets) listed |
| 2 | LeadsNow.ai | Done-for-you AI appointment setting that runs on Zian | Managed for you; leads answered in under 60 seconds, 24/7 | Pay-per-result |
| 3 | Aircall | Cloud phone system for sales and support, one product in three plans | AI Receptionist (AI Voice Agents): 50 minutes a month on all plans, then US$0.29 a minute pay-as-you-go, less in bundles (as at 4 November 2026) | Essentials US$30 per licence a month billed annually (US$40 monthly); 3-licence minimum |
| 4 | Dialpad | Four products: Connect, Sell, Support and Resolve (AI agents) | AI Agents: US$1.99 per voice conversation on its rates page; “Custom Pricing” on its pricing page | Connect Standard US$15 a user a month on annual billing (US$27 monthly); no published seat minimum found |
Aircall vs Dialpad pricing, plan by plan
The table lists each vendor’s US list prices as shown on Aircall’s pricing page and Dialpad’s pricing page on 31 October 2026. Both pages default to annual billing. Aircall’s monthly rates load from the page’s own script when you switch to “Pay monthly”; Dialpad’s monthly rates are in the page data behind its “Monthly” toggle.
| Plan | Annual billing, per user a month | Monthly billing, per user a month | What the plan is for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aircall Essentials | US$30 | US$40 | Phone system: unlimited US and Canada calls, SMS, IVR, recordings and transcripts, 250+ integrations, 50 AI Voice Agent minutes |
| Aircall Professional | US$50 | US$70 | Adds AI call summaries, smart routing, Power Dialer, outbound call campaigns, voicemail drop, Salesforce |
| Aircall Enterprise | Custom pricing | Custom pricing | Unlimited global calls, SSO, SLA; 25-licence minimum |
| Dialpad Connect Standard | US$15 | US$27 | Business calling, meetings, messaging, real-time transcripts and call summaries |
| Dialpad Connect Pro | US$25 | US$35 | Adds CRM integrations and 24/7 support |
| Dialpad Sell Essentials | US$39 | US$49 | Sales seat: unlimited US and Canada minutes, AI transcripts, coaching teams, CRM integrations |
| Dialpad Sell Advanced | US$59 | US$70 | Adds local presence and voicemail drop (Reach Booster) and Live Coach |
| Dialpad Sell Premium | US$79 | US$95 on the page’s Monthly toggle, but its Sell FAQ says Premium is “available on annual plans only” | Adds quality management (AI scorecards, playbooks); the plan for Dialpad Dialer |
| Dialpad Support Essentials | US$89 | US$109 | Contact centre seat with omnichannel routing and Power Dialer; Advanced US$119 and Premium US$149 annual |
Two limbs matter before you compare totals. Aircall says “All plans require a minimum of 3 licenses regardless of billing cycle”, and its plan includes one local or toll-free number, with each extra number at US$6 a month. Dialpad marks a direct line for every user as included on Connect and Sell in its feature comparison, and its pricing page warns that “The price you see on the website may differ from your actual price due to regional pricing and currency based on your country.” We could not find a published seat minimum for Dialpad’s self-serve plans, as at 31 October 2026; its billing FAQ says only that “A minimum user requirement applies” when you move to invoiced contract billing.
Annual billing saves more on some Dialpad plans than on Aircall’s. Aircall says “Save 25% by paying annually”, and its own figures work out to 25% on Essentials and 28.6% on Professional. Dialpad’s figures work out to 44.4% on Connect Standard, 28.6% on Connect Pro, 20.4% on Sell Essentials and 15.7% on Sell Advanced. For Australian teams, Aircall’s Australian pricing page lists Essentials at A$45 and Professional at A$75 per licence a month billed annually (Essentials there includes “1,000 min of domestic outbound calls”; Professional is unlimited), and Dialpad’s AUD figures are A$20 for Connect Standard and A$49 for Sell Essentials.
Aircall vs Dialpad: the head-to-head table
Each cell is the vendor’s own wording or a direct summary of it, read on 31 October 2026. “Which plan” cells name the lowest-priced plan that includes the feature.
| Criterion | Aircall | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Power dialler | Power Dialer on Professional and above: “Import up to 1,000 numbers and dial them in sequence”; desktop and web | Power Dialer on Support plans, marked not applicable on Sell; Dialpad Dialer (progressive, “N:1 lines per agent”) on Sell Premium; AutoReach power dialler integration for Sell, Support and Connect Pro or Enterprise customers, set up through Dialpad, no published price |
| Team outbound campaigns | Outbound call campaigns on Professional, with automated retries; AI Voice Agent campaigns on all plans | Dialpad Dialer campaigns with calling windows, attempt limits and Do Not Call scrubbing |
| Voicemail drop and local presence | Both on Professional and above | Reach Booster: included on Sell Advanced, Sell Premium and Support; paid add-on on Sell Essentials; not on Connect |
| AI receptionist | AI Voice Agents (AI Receptionist): 50 minutes a month on all plans, US$0.29 a minute pay-as-you-go, billed to the exact decimal minute (as at 4 November 2026); 38 languages | AI Agents on a Department, Mainline or Contact Center: US$1.99 per voice conversation (rates page) |
| AI on human calls | Transcripts on all plans; AI summaries on Professional; AI Assist Pro live coaching US$49 per seat a month | Real-time transcripts and AI Recaps on all plans; Live Coach included on Sell Advanced, add-on on Sell Essentials |
| SMS | SMS and MMS on all plans; SMS “available in 14 countries”, domestic delivery only except US–Canada | 250 outbound SMS pooled per account on Connect and Sell; paid on Support; bulk sends of up to 50 only for eligible companies (a US-based enterprise office, an active Enterprise plan, Invoice payment, and more than 1 year old or more than 4 offices or more than 50 licences) and for transactional messages only, as at 4 November 2026 |
| Add-on, US$10 per seat a month plus WhatsApp messaging rates | Digital Engagement channel: included on Support, paid add-on on Sell | |
| AI on SMS and WhatsApp | AI Messaging Agents, US$0.15–US$0.35 per conversation | AI Agents on digital channels, US$0.99 per digital conversation |
| CRM | HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho, Zendesk on all plans; Salesforce on Professional and above; 250+ integrations | Salesforce, HubSpot and Zoho; pricing page lists CRM integrations from Connect Pro, while its HubSpot and Salesforce Lightning help articles list Connect users; Pipedrive only through Zapier |
| Calling area | Unlimited US and Canada calls on Essentials and Professional; international “Contact us for rates and bundle”; numbers in 38 countries on its coverage page | Unlimited US and Canada minutes on Sell, excluding Dialer minutes; international calls per minute from credits; numbers “in over 50 countries” |
| Contract and refunds | Monthly or annual; 3-licence minimum; no refunds | Monthly or annual (Premium annual only); refund only within 3 days of a card payment |
In one line: Aircall packs the dialler, the phone system and Salesforce into one Professional seat, while Dialpad spreads the same features across Connect, Sell and Support, so the right Dialpad plan depends on which feature you need most.
Which plan has a power dialler on Aircall and Dialpad?
On Aircall the answer is Professional. Its pricing page puts the Power Dialer on Professional (US$50 a licence a month annually) and leaves it off Essentials, and its Power Dialer help article says the dialler runs on the desktop and web apps and that during a session you will not receive incoming calls. Professional also carries outbound call campaigns for teams. Aircall’s August 2026 release notes say “Outbound Campaigns is now generally available” (25 August 2026), and its Outbound Campaigns overview puts agent campaigns on the Professional plan “at no additional cost”, though the same sentence of that overview still says agent campaigns are “currently in beta” as at 31 October 2026. AI Voice Agent campaigns are “available on all Aircall plans”.
On Dialpad it depends on the product. Its feature comparison, updated 22 October 2026, lists “Power Dialer — Dialpad” and “Power Dialer — Salesforce (SFDC)” as included on Support Essentials, Advanced and Premium, and “N/A” on all three Sell plans. Its newer Dialpad Dialer is a progressive dialler that “connects only answered calls to available agents”, with voicemail detection and Do Not Call scrubbing; the article lists “Organizations with Dialpad Sell Premium licenses” as who can use it. Its setup article adds two requirements: a Contact Center and “Outbound calling credits available for Dialer usage”. The feature comparison also excludes dialler minutes from unlimited domestic calling.
One older Dialpad page reads differently. Its Powerdialer with Salesforce article, labelled “Legacy feature”, says that dialler “is available to users with a Dialpad Sell license” and points users to the new Dialer. Dialpad’s help centre also documents a partner route: its Dialpad + AutoReach article describes AutoReach’s preview and power dialers, campaigns and SMS cadences running on Dialpad, available “to Dialpad Support and Dialpad Sell customers, as well as Dialpad Connect users on a Pro or Enterprise plan”, enabled through your Customer Success Manager. We could not find a published AutoReach price, as at 31 October 2026. If you are buying Sell Essentials or Advanced for power dialling, get the entitlement and its price in writing. For a dialler-first comparison of Aircall against a single-line dialler, see our Aircall vs PhoneBurner comparison for SDR teams.
Aircall AI vs Dialpad AI: what is included and what costs extra
Both vendors split AI into two jobs: AI that helps your people on calls, and AI agents that handle the call themselves. The second job is where the billing models differ most.
| AI feature | Aircall | Dialpad |
|---|---|---|
| Transcripts and call summaries | Transcripts on all plans; AI summaries, sentiment and key topics on Professional; AI Assist add-on on Essentials | Real-time transcripts and AI Recaps on every Connect, Sell and Support plan |
| Live in-call coaching | AI Assist Pro add-on, US$49 per seat a month | Live Coach: included on Sell Advanced and Premium, add-on on Sell Essentials, not on Connect |
| AI voice agent (receptionist) | AI Voice Agents: 50 minutes a month on all plans, plus 100 one-off trial minutes for new accounts; US$0.29 a minute pay-as-you-go; monthly bundles, billed monthly with an annual commitment, US$250 for 1,000 minutes, US$805 for 3,500, US$1,900 for 10,000; custom pricing over 50,000 minutes “as low as $0.12”; standalone from US$100 a month; as at 4 November 2026 | AI Agents: US$1.99 per voice conversation (rates page); pricing page shows “Custom Pricing” and a pool of AI Agent Credits |
| What a billable unit is | A minute of conversation, billed “to the exact decimal minute” (66 seconds = 1.10 minutes); calls under 15 seconds are not billed. The pricing page lists the language model, voice and “Telephony call rates” as included, while the billing article says telco costs “apply separately, though local inbound calls are included at no extra cost” (not toll-free numbers), as at 4 November 2026 | A conversation in which the customer responds at least once and the AI “looks up information or performs a task at least once” |
| Outbound AI calls | “Trigger-based outbound calling and voicemail detection”; AI Voice Agent campaigns on all plans; a US$0.015 call origination fee on every outbound AI call attempt, “regardless of whether the call successfully connects”, “Not included in any minute bundles” (as at 4 November 2026) | Agentic AI Agent Greeting Skill supports “outbound appointment reminders” and “outbound bot conversations” |
| AI on messaging | AI Messaging Agents for SMS and WhatsApp, US$0.15–US$0.35 per conversation | AI Agents on digital channels, US$0.99 per conversation; agentic chatbot in an Early Adopter Program |
The Seven-Minute Line. Aircall bills its AI receptionist by the minute and Dialpad bills by the conversation, so the lower-cost option depends on how long your AI calls run. At Aircall’s pay-as-you-go rate and Dialpad’s published per-conversation rate (drawn from a pre-purchased pool of AI Agent Credits), US$1.99 per Dialpad voice conversation divided by US$0.29 per Aircall minute is 6.86 minutes, about 6 minutes 52 seconds. Calls that average under about seven minutes cost less on Aircall; longer calls cost less on Dialpad. On a fully used Aircall bundle the line moves out: 7.96 minutes at the 1,000-minute bundle (US$0.25 a minute), 8.65 at 3,500 minutes (US$0.23) and 10.47 at 10,000 minutes (US$0.19). Aircall prices as at 4 November 2026.
Three limbs change the arithmetic. Aircall includes 50 minutes a month on all plans, bills to the exact decimal minute and does not bill calls under 15 seconds, and sells monthly bundles, on an annual term, down to US$0.19 a minute at 10,000 minutes; its pricing table quotes custom pricing over 50,000 minutes “as low as $0.12”, while its pricing FAQ and its AI Voice Agent charges article put custom rates from 10,000 minutes. Aircall’s AI Receptionist page shows only the bundles, saying the AI Receptionist “is billed as a monthly minute bundle”; the US$0.29 pay-as-you-go rate is on the pricing page and in the billing article. Dialpad charges only when its agent does work: its AI Agent credits article says a voice session is billable when the customer responds and the AI looks something up or performs a task, and that “A conversation is billed even if it includes a transfer to an agent”. And Dialpad’s pricing page shows Resolve, its AI agent product, as “Custom Pricing”, so a quote can differ from the published per-conversation rate. For how other AI receptionists price the same calls, see our named AI receptionist price sheet; our Aircall vs Quo comparison runs the same per-minute against per-call test on Quo’s AI agent.
Dialpad’s AI Agent article also says “Dialpad’s Agentic AI Chatbot is currently in an Early Adopter Program and is not yet available to all users.” That sentence covers the digital chatbot; its Agentic AI Agent setup guide describes connecting an agent “to any voice target: Department, Mainline, or a Contact Center”.
Want the calls answered and returned by AI? Zian’s AI agents answer inbound calls 24/7 as an AI receptionist, place outbound calls, and follow up by SMS, email, WhatsApp, Instagram DMs and Facebook Messenger, with HubSpot, Salesforce, HighLevel and Zapier integrations. Apply For Partnership
What 5 and 20 users cost on Aircall and Dialpad: the worked calculation
This uses list prices only, computed by script, as at 31 October 2026 (Aircall’s AI Voice Agent rate as at 4 November 2026), in US dollars, before taxes, international calls and extra numbers on Dialpad. Seat cost is price × users × 12. The AI receptionist line assumes 300 AI-answered calls a month at an average of 3 minutes each, every one billable on Dialpad. Aircall bills whole 3-minute calls as exactly 3 minutes, and the example assumes local (not toll-free) inbound numbers, which Aircall’s billing article says carry no extra telco charge.
| Line | Calculation | 5 users a year | 20 users a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aircall Essentials, annual | US$30 × users × 12 | US$1,800 | US$7,200 |
| Aircall Essentials, monthly | US$40 × users × 12 | US$2,400 | US$9,600 |
| Aircall Professional, annual | US$50 × users × 12 | US$3,000 | US$12,000 |
| Aircall Professional, monthly | US$70 × users × 12 | US$4,200 | US$16,800 |
| Dialpad Connect Standard, annual | US$15 × users × 12 | US$900 | US$3,600 |
| Dialpad Connect Standard, monthly | US$27 × users × 12 | US$1,620 | US$6,480 |
| Dialpad Connect Pro, annual | US$25 × users × 12 | US$1,500 | US$6,000 |
| Dialpad Sell Essentials, annual | US$39 × users × 12 | US$2,340 | US$9,360 |
| Dialpad Sell Advanced, annual | US$59 × users × 12 | US$3,540 | US$14,160 |
| Dialpad Sell Advanced, monthly | US$70 × users × 12 | US$4,200 | US$16,800 |
| Dialpad Sell Premium, annual | US$79 × users × 12 | US$4,740 | US$18,960 |
| Aircall extra numbers, a direct line per user | (users − 1) × US$6 × 12 | US$288 | US$1,368 |
| Aircall AI receptionist, pay-as-you-go | (900 − 50 included) minutes × US$0.29 × 12 | US$2,958 | US$2,958 |
| Dialpad AI receptionist | 300 conversations × US$1.99 × 12 | US$7,164 | US$7,164 |
| Aircall Professional + direct lines + AI receptionist | Sum of the three lines | US$6,246 | US$16,326 |
| Dialpad Sell Advanced + AI receptionist | Sum of the two lines | US$10,704 | US$21,324 |
At entry level Dialpad is half the seat price: 5 users on Connect Standard cost US$900 a year against US$1,800 on Aircall Essentials, and 20 users cost US$3,600 against US$7,200. At the sales tier the seats are close: Aircall Professional at US$3,000 a year for 5 users against Dialpad Sell Advanced at US$3,540, and identical on monthly billing (US$4,200 and US$16,800). With a direct line per user and the AI receptionist added, the 5-user totals are US$6,246 on Aircall and US$10,704 on Dialpad; at 20 users, US$16,326 and US$21,324. The AI line, not the seat line, decides most of that gap (US$2,958 against US$7,164 a year), and at pay-as-you-go rates the AI line itself flips only if your calls average longer than about seven minutes (7.03 minutes at 300 calls a month, after the 50 included minutes; about 7.5 with Aircall’s 1,000-minute bundle).
The rows do not match feature for feature, and you should swap in your own numbers. Aircall Professional includes a Power Dialer that Dialpad Sell Advanced does not list; Sell Advanced includes live AI coaching, which on Aircall is the US$49 AI Assist Pro add-on (US$2,940 a year for 5 users). Aircall’s smallest order is 3 × US$30 × 12 = US$1,080 a year on Essentials; on Dialpad we found no seat minimum, so one Connect Standard user is US$180 a year on annual billing. Aircall’s smallest bundle, US$250 a month for 1,000 minutes on an annual term, beats pay-as-you-go only above about 912 minutes a month (50 included + US$250 ÷ US$0.29); at this example’s 900 minutes, pay-as-you-go is US$246.50 a month, US$3.50 less, so the table uses pay-as-you-go.
Pick Aircall if, pick Dialpad if: the decision table
Read it by your binding constraint. If no row binds, the worked calculation above decides on price.
| If this is your situation | Pick | Why, from the vendors’ pages |
|---|---|---|
| Calls go unanswered after hours, and leads need calling back and chasing across channels | Zian; LeadsNow.ai if you want it run for you | AI agents answer inbound calls 24/7 and follow up by voice, SMS, email and WhatsApp |
| Sales reps need a power dialler and Salesforce on one seat | Aircall Professional | Power Dialer and Salesforce both on Professional at US$50 annual; Dialpad lists its own Power Dialer on Support, not Sell; on Sell, power dialling comes through the separately arranged AutoReach integration |
| You want the lowest seat price for business calling | Dialpad Connect Standard | US$15 a user annual against Aircall Essentials at US$30, with no published seat minimum |
| One or two users | Dialpad | Aircall needs at least 3 licences on every billing cycle for Essentials and Professional; only its standalone AI Voice Agents plan (from US$100 a month) “has no minimum, it includes 1 user” |
| Reps want live AI coaching without an add-on | Dialpad Sell Advanced | Live Coach included at US$59; Aircall’s live coaching is AI Assist Pro at US$49 on top of the seat |
| Your AI receptionist calls are short (under about 7 minutes) | Aircall | Per-minute billing at US$0.29 beats US$1.99 per conversation below 6.86 minutes (pay-as-you-go, as at 4 November 2026) |
| Your AI receptionist calls are long, or many end without a task | Dialpad | Billed per conversation, and only when the AI looks something up or performs a task |
| A progressive dialler with several lines per agent | Dialpad Sell Premium (Dialpad Dialer) | “N:1 lines per agent”; needs a Contact Center and outbound calling credits |
| Pipedrive is your CRM | Aircall | Native Pipedrive integration on every Aircall plan; Dialpad says it “does not have a native Pipedrive integration” and connects through Zapier |
| WhatsApp for sales reps at a known price | Aircall | US$10 per seat a month plus WhatsApp rates; on Dialpad Sell, WhatsApp is an add-on with no published price |
| A full contact centre with WhatsApp, chat and social channels | Dialpad Support | Digital Engagement channels included on Support plans, from US$89 a user annual |
Who each option is wrong for
Zian is wrong for a team that only wants a lower-cost phone line with no AI handling, and for a buyer who needs a published price today.
Aircall is wrong for one- or two-person teams that want its phone plans (3-licence minimum; only the standalone AI Voice Agents plan has none), for reps who must power-dial from a phone (desktop and web only), and for buyers who want live AI coaching inside the seat price. It does not refund a committed term: its cancellation article answers “Can I get a refund?” with “No”, and plans over 10 seats need 30 days’ written notice before renewal, as do smaller annual or committed plans.
Dialpad is wrong for a sales team that wants a built-in power dialler on Sell Essentials or Advanced (not listed there; the AutoReach integration is arranged separately), for a buyer who wants every add-on priced on the website (Digital Engagement, local number packages and bulk WhatsApp activation are not), and for teams that want month-to-month on Premium (annual only). Its refund FAQ says refunds apply only “within 3 days of the transaction date”, and that annual plans “do not qualify for a refund”.
Calling outside the US and Canada on Aircall or Dialpad
Both include unlimited calls within the US and Canada on their sales plans and charge for the rest. Aircall’s Essentials and Professional list international outbound as “Contact us for rates and bundle”; its country coverage page lists numbers in 38 countries, including Australia, the UK and New Zealand, while its AI Receptionist FAQ says new numbers are available “in 100+ countries”. Aircall’s Australian Professional plan includes “Unlimited domestic outbound calls (landline and mobile)”.
Dialpad says it supports “international local numbers in over 50 countries”. Its International Services FAQ says “domestic” is set by your office’s country and that calls to other countries are charged per minute from credits. One limb conflicts with the pricing page: the FAQ says “Dialpad Sell and Dialpad Support users are charged for local, as well as international calls”, while the pricing page lists “Unlimited domestic (US & CAN) minutes” on Sell Essentials and the 22 October feature comparison ticks unlimited domestic minutes on every Sell plan. Ask Dialpad which applies to your order.
How we compared Aircall and Dialpad
Methodology and defined terms. A feature counts as on a plan only when the vendor’s own pricing page, feature comparison or help article places it there, read in context for “beta”, “legacy”, “Early Adopter” and plan or country limits. Where two of a vendor’s own pages disagree, we print both. A published price is one on the vendor’s pricing page, rates page or help centre, including prices that load in the page’s script or data. “We could not find” means we searched in the vendor’s vocabulary with a positive control on the same files. On 31 October 2026 that covered Aircall’s pricing pages (US and Australia), the article titles in its 4,212-URL help-centre sitemap and its release notes for July, August and September 2026, and Dialpad’s 705 product-page sitemap URLs, its help centre through the Help Center API, and every Dialpad release note from 14 August to 13 October 2026. Both vendors publish pages comparing themselves with the other; we used neither for the other vendor’s facts. Zian is described only from its published capabilities. Ranking: Zian first and LeadsNow.ai second as the done-for-you option; Aircall and Dialpad are not ranked against each other.
Disclosure. zian.ai publishes this page and sells Zian, which is ranked first here. LeadsNow.ai is a sister business that runs on Zian.
Aircall vs Dialpad: frequently asked questions
Is Aircall or Dialpad better?
Aircall suits teams of three or more that want one phone system for sales and support, with a Power Dialer and Salesforce on its Professional plan at US$50 a licence a month billed annually. Dialpad suits teams that want the lowest seat price, from US$15 a user a month on Connect Standard, or a sales seat with live AI coaching on Sell Advanced at US$59. Prices as at 31 October 2026.
Does Dialpad cost less than Aircall?
At entry level, yes: 5 users cost US$900 a year on Dialpad Connect Standard against US$1,800 on Aircall Essentials, both billed annually. At the sales tier the gap narrows: 5 users cost US$3,000 a year on Aircall Professional and US$3,540 on Dialpad Sell Advanced. Extra numbers, AI agent usage and calls outside your domestic area are extra on both.
Does Dialpad have a power dialler?
Yes, but not on all plans. Dialpad’s feature comparison, updated 22 October 2026, lists its Power Dialer on the three Support plans and marks it not applicable on Sell. Its newer Dialpad Dialer, a progressive dialler, needs Sell Premium licences, a Contact Center and outbound calling credits, and its help centre documents an AutoReach power dialler integration for Sell, Support and Connect Pro customers. Aircall’s Power Dialer comes with Professional.
How much does an AI receptionist cost on Aircall or Dialpad?
Aircall’s AI Voice Agents include 50 minutes a month on all plans, then US$0.29 a minute pay-as-you-go, or monthly bundles on an annual term from US$250 for 1,000 minutes, as at 4 November 2026. Dialpad’s AI Agent rates page lists US$1.99 per voice conversation and US$0.99 per digital conversation. Per minute against per conversation breaks even at an average call of about 7 minutes (6.86) at Aircall’s pay-as-you-go rate.
Can Aircall or Dialpad send WhatsApp messages?
Both can. Aircall sells WhatsApp as a US$10 per seat a month add-on, plus WhatsApp messaging rates, which it passes through without a markup. Dialpad includes WhatsApp in its Digital Engagement channels, which come with Support plans and are a paid add-on on Sell. We could not find a published price for that add-on, as at 31 October 2026.
Do I need a contract for Aircall or Dialpad?
No. Both sell month-to-month and annual billing. Aircall needs at least 3 licences on either cycle for Essentials and Professional and gives no refunds. Dialpad gives a refund only if you cancel within 3 days of a card payment, and its Premium plans are annual only. On both, a self-serve month-to-month account of 10 seats or fewer can cancel from the dashboard.
Can an AI agent replace the phone system?
Not usually. An AI agent sits on top of the phone line: it answers, qualifies, books and follows up, and hands the call to a person when needed. Aircall and Dialpad each sell their own AI voice agent. Zian runs AI agents that answer inbound calls 24/7 and follow up by voice, SMS, email and WhatsApp.
Where every figure on this page comes from
| Figure | Who published it | Link | Date read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials US$30, Professional US$50 annual; US$40 and US$70 monthly (page script); 3-licence minimum, Enterprise 25; 1 number included, US$6 each extra; Power Dialer 1,000 numbers; outbound call campaigns, voicemail drop, AI summaries and Salesforce on Professional; HubSpot, Pipedrive, Zoho on all plans; SMS in 14 countries; AI Voice Agents from US$100 standalone; AI Assist Pro US$49; AI Messaging Agents US$0.15–US$0.35; WhatsApp US$10; “Save 25%”; “Contact us for rates and bundle” | Aircall | aircall.io/pricing | 31 October 2026 |
| A$45 and A$75 per licence annual; unlimited domestic outbound on Australian Professional; 1,000 minutes of domestic outbound calls on Australian Essentials | Aircall | aircall.io/en-au/pricing | 31 October 2026 |
| AI Voice Agents: 50 free minutes every month; 100 AI minutes for new accounts; US$0.29 a minute pay-as-you-go “with no commitment”; bundles US$250 for 1,000, US$805 for 3,500 and US$1,900 for 10,000 minutes a month; over 50,000 minutes “as low as $0.12”; FAQ: “10,000+ minutes at custom rates starting from $0.19/minute”; “Telephony call rates” listed as included | Aircall | aircall.io/pricing | 4 November 2026 |
| AI Voice Agent billed “to the exact decimal minute” (66 seconds = 1.10 minutes); calls under 15 seconds not billable; telco costs separate except local inbound calls; 50 included minutes used first, then bundle minutes, then overage at standard rates; custom bundles from 10,000 minutes; US$0.015 call origination fee per outbound attempt, not included in bundles | Aircall (help centre) | Understanding your AI Voice Agent charges | 4 November 2026 |
| AI Receptionist books, reschedules and cancels appointments; 38 languages; numbers “in 100+ countries” | Aircall | AI Receptionist | 31 October 2026 |
| AI Voice Agent bundles on “monthly billing, annual term” | Aircall | AI Receptionist | 4 November 2026 |
| WhatsApp add-on requires a paid plan; messaging rates extra | Aircall | WhatsApp in Aircall | 31 October 2026 |
| WhatsApp charges passed through with no markup | Aircall (help centre) | WhatsApp pricing changes (October 2026) | 31 October 2026 |
| Numbers in 38 countries | Aircall | country coverage | 31 October 2026 |
| Power Dialer desktop and web; no incoming calls during a session | Aircall (help centre) | Using the Power Dialer | 31 October 2026 |
| Agent campaigns “currently in beta” and on Professional “at no additional cost”; AI Voice Agent campaigns on all plans | Aircall (help centre) | Outbound Campaigns: Overview | 31 October 2026 |
| “Outbound Campaigns is now generally available” (25 August 2026) | Aircall (release notes) | Release Notes, August 2026 | 31 October 2026 |
| Release notes for September 2026 (Branded Caller ID, Number Reputation, AIVA templates and campaigns) | Aircall (release notes) | Release Notes, September 2026 | 31 October 2026 |
| No refunds; 30-day written notice over 10 seats and on annual or committed plans | Aircall (help centre) | Cancelling your subscription | 31 October 2026 |
| Monthly and annual subscription types; up to 25% annual discount; Starter AI Plan “has no minimum, it includes 1 user” | Aircall (help centre) | plans: pricing and flexibility | 31 October 2026 |
| Connect US$15 and US$25; Sell US$39, US$59, US$79; Support US$89, US$119, US$149 (annual); monthly US$27, US$35, US$49, US$70, US$109, US$145, plus US$95 and US$179 for Sell and Support Premium (Monthly toggle); Premium annual only per its FAQs; AUD A$20 and A$49; numbers “in over 50 countries”; 14-day Connect trial; “Custom Pricing” for AI agents; price “may differ” | Dialpad | dialpad.com/pricing | 31 October 2026 |
| AI Agent US$1.99 per voice conversation, US$0.99 per digital conversation | Dialpad | AI Agent rates | 31 October 2026 |
| AI Agents answer inbound calls and book appointments | Dialpad | AI Receptionist | 31 October 2026 |
| Power Dialer on Support, N/A on Sell; Reach Booster by plan; Live Coach by plan; 250 outbound SMS; Digital Engagement by plan; unlimited domestic minutes exclude dialler minutes; direct lines on Connect and Sell (updated 22 October 2026) | Dialpad (help centre) | Feature Comparison | 31 October 2026 |
| Dialpad Dialer: progressive, “N:1 lines per agent”, Sell Premium | Dialpad (help centre) | Dialpad Dialer | 31 October 2026 |
| Dialer needs a Contact Center and outbound calling credits | Dialpad (help centre) | Setup Dialpad Dialer | 31 October 2026 |
| AutoReach power dialler integration for Support, Sell and Connect Pro or Enterprise customers; enabled through a Customer Success Manager | Dialpad (help centre) | Dialpad + AutoReach | 31 October 2026 |
| Legacy Powerdialer “available to users with a Dialpad Sell license” | Dialpad (help centre) | Powerdialer with Salesforce | 31 October 2026 |
| Billable AI Agent voice session conditions; billed after transfer | Dialpad (help centre) | AI Agent Conversations Credits | 31 October 2026 |
| Agentic AI Agent on a Department, Mainline or Contact Center; outbound bot conversations | Dialpad (help centre) | Create an Agentic AI Agent | 31 October 2026 |
| Agentic AI Chatbot in an Early Adopter Program | Dialpad (help centre) | AI Agent | 31 October 2026 |
| “A minimum user requirement applies” for contracted invoicing | Dialpad (help centre) | Billing FAQs | 31 October 2026 |
| Refund only within 3 days; annual plans no refund | Dialpad (help centre) | Cancellation and Refund FAQs | 31 October 2026 |
| Self-cancel at 10 licences or fewer on month-to-month | Dialpad (help centre) | Cancel Your Dialpad Account | 31 October 2026 |
| Sell and Support users charged for local calls; domestic set by office country | Dialpad (help centre) | International Services FAQs | 31 October 2026 |
| Digital channels include WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Instagram | Dialpad (help centre) | Digital Channels | 31 October 2026 |
| Bulk WhatsApp up to 50; activation incurs an additional cost | Dialpad (help centre) | Bulk WhatsApp Messaging | 31 October 2026 |
| HubSpot and Salesforce Lightning for Connect, Sell and Support users | Dialpad (help centre) | HubSpot; Salesforce Lightning | 31 October 2026 |
| No native Pipedrive integration; connects through Zapier | Dialpad (help centre) | Dialpad + Pipedrive | 31 October 2026 |
| Bulk SMS of up to 50 messages (30 September 2026) | Dialpad (release notes) | Release Notes 26.09.30 | 31 October 2026 |
| Bulk Messaging up to 50 recipients: US-based enterprise office, active Enterprise plan, Invoice payment type, and more than 1 year old or more than 4 offices or more than 50 licences; “Strictly for transactional messaging only” | Dialpad (help centre) | Bulk Messaging | 4 November 2026 |
| 28x more contact attempts; 926% increase in follow-ups; 40+ meetings/week | Zian | zian.ai | 31 October 2026 |
| 50,769+ appointments; under 60 seconds, 24/7 | LeadsNow.ai | leadsnow.ai | 31 October 2026 |
| Annual discounts; 5- and 20-user totals; the 6.86-minute pay-as-you-go break-even, the 7.96-, 8.65- and 10.47-minute bundle lines, the 7.03-minute crossover at 300 calls and the 912-minute bundle break-even (AI figures recalculated 4 November 2026) | Our arithmetic from the rows above | This page | 4 November 2026 |
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