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How voice is billed

Voice is billed the same way as everything else on Alfe: usage draws down your tenant’s single, shared USD credit pool. There’s no separate voice invoice and no per-provider bill to reconcile — voice, model usage, compute, channels, and storage all come out of the same balance. See core concepts for how the pool works.

  • Text-to-speech. Turning an agent’s words into audio is metered by the amount of text spoken.
  • Speech-to-text. Transcribing what a caller says.
  • Phone numbers. A number carries a recurring monthly charge, plus per-minute charges for calls and per-message charges for texts and WhatsApp. See Phone & SMS.

You don’t pre-buy voice separately or manage a voice-specific balance — as an agent talks, listens, or takes a call, the cost is deducted from the shared pool.

Voice usage is checked against your available balance. If the pool is empty, new voice usage is declined until it’s topped up — so keeping a balance (or enabling auto-recharge) keeps your agents reachable. You can manage your balance and auto-recharge from the dashboard.

Current rates for text-to-speech, speech-to-text, phone numbers, and per-call and per-message usage are on the pricing page.