Usage and billing
Voice calls and phone numbers
Voice lets people talk to your bot instead of typing, either through the call button in your web chat or by dialling a phone number on the phone channel. Both are billed from the same voice add-on, which measures call time in minutes. Reasoning, retrieval and power-ups also use your plan's message tokens.
You buy and manage voice from your billing page under Voice calls.
Voice needs an active paid plan, and the phone channel itself is available on the Standard plan and above. The add-on is a separate monthly subscription, so it renews every month even if your main plan is billed yearly.
Packs and minutes
- One voice pack gives your team 60 minutes of calls a month for $10.
- Minutes are shared across every bot on your team, and across web voice and phone calls. Buy as many packs as you need; the allowance is the total.
- Your allowance resets on each monthly renewal of the voice add-on. Unused minutes do not roll over.
- There are no automatic overage charges. When minutes run out, nobody can start a new call until the next renewal. Text chat keeps working.
Call minutes cover the conversation itself. When the bot looks something up or runs a power-up during a call, that work uses your normal message tokens, the same as it would in text chat.
Launch offer
During the launch offer, eligible teams get $5 off their first voice invoice: 60 minutes for $5 in the first month, then $10/month. The discount applies once per team, regardless of how many packs you buy. Two packs cost $15 for the first month, then $20/month; three cost $25, then $30/month. Phone numbers and your main plan are not discounted. Your billing page shows eligibility and the amount before checkout. Cancelling and subscribing again does not reset eligibility.
Phone numbers
Phone numbers for the phone channel are rented at $5 a month per number, added to your voice subscription and charged pro rata from the day you get the number. You need a voice subscription before you can rent a number. Numbers are available in the United States and the United Kingdom.
Releasing a number stops calls immediately and adjusts the charge on your next invoice. Chat Thing holds released numbers for seven days in case you need them back.
How minutes are counted
When a call starts, it reserves its full maximum duration (the per-bot call limit, up to 15 minutes) from your allowance. That is what stops two callers spending the same minutes at once. When the call ends, only the time actually used is kept and the rest goes back to the allowance. A call needs at least 30 seconds of allowance to start.
On the phone channel, a call that is transferred to your team keeps using minutes while your team member is on the line. Call time also includes silence and pauses while the bot is thinking.
Your billing page shows both figures: minutes used this period and minutes currently reserved by calls in progress.
If you set a per-bot monthly limit in the web or phone channel settings, that bot can never use more than its limit, but the limit does not set minutes aside for it. Every bot still draws from the same team allowance.
Free test minutes
The phone channel's shared test line gives every team whose plan includes the phone channel 10 free test minutes a month, tracked separately from your voice packs. You can use them without a voice subscription or a rented number. They reset on the first of each month (UTC).
Adding and removing packs
- Increasing the number of packs takes effect at your next renewal. It does not add minutes to the current period.
- Reducing packs also applies from the next renewal.
- Cancelling the voice add-on stops it renewing. Your remaining minutes stay usable until the end of the paid period, and any rented phone numbers stop with it.
- If your main Chat Thing plan ends, the voice add-on ends with it.
Monthly examples
| Voice packs | Shared minutes | Voice cost | With one phone number |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 60 | $10/month | $15/month |
| 2 | 120 | $20/month | $25/month |
| 3 | 180 | $30/month | $35/month |
These prices are added to your Chat Thing plan and exclude applicable taxes. The table shows regular monthly prices. Eligible teams pay $5 less on their first voice invoice during the launch offer. Your existing carrier may charge for forwarding calls to your Chat Thing number.
Subscriptions purchased before the switch to 60-minute packs retain their purchased price and allowance, shown on the billing page.
Explore website voice calls or the AI receptionist, or compare plans and voice pricing.
Who can manage voice billing
Only team owners and admins can buy, change or cancel the voice add-on, and rent or release phone numbers. Other team members can see the remaining allowance in the channel settings and can ask an owner to manage it.