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Trying to pick between conversational AI tools like Bland and ElevenLabs can feel overwhelming—so many features that all sound the same, pricing plans that don't quite line up, and reviews that leave you more confused than when you started. By the end of this article, you’ll be able to confidently decide which platform works best for you. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Ready to clear the confusion and find your perfect fit? Let’s go.
Founded in San Francisco in 2023 by Isaiah Granet and Sobhan Nejad, Bland AI is a platform that's revolutionizing how big companies handle phone calls. Their AI-powered calling agents take on the heavy lifting of enterprise call volume, letting human agents focus on what really matters.
In the next section, we'll dive into Bland AI's standout features, the good and not-so-good parts, what it'll cost you, and what actual users are saying—all compared to
Founded in New York City in 2022 by Piotr Dąbkowski and Mati Staniszewski, ElevenLabs is a trailblazer in AI audio technology, specializing in ultra-realistic voice generation and conversational AI.
ElevenLabs’ core features include low-latency text-to-speech models supporting over 29 languages, advanced turn-taking logic for natural conversations, customizable SDKs (Python/TypeScript), a vast Voice Library with thousands of voices contributed by creators worldwide, and seamless integration across web and telephony platforms.
Pros:
Cons:
Note: The pricing information below is accurate at the time of writing and may be subject to change. For the most up-to-date pricing, please visit each company's pricing page.
Key Notes on Plans and Policies
All feature sets are cumulative—higher tiers include all lower-tier capabilities plus additional benefits.
Minutes refer specifically to Conversational AI usage per month.
Enterprise plans offer custom solutions tailored by volume and business needs.
Ringly.io has simple, usage-based pricing with no hidden fees or long-term commitments. Test drive it risk-free for 14 days, then scale up or down on month-to-month terms—or book a demo for fully tailored enterprise support.
"Extremely impressed" – Casper Boutens
Extremely impressed by Bland; the team is improving their product every week... great support and all by all great phone calls made by their AI...
"Doesn't work at all" – Albert Salgueda
Doesn't work at all... I call and it doesn't speak, it gets interrupted... still not there...
"Quality is extremely good" – Tommi Keränen
The quality of the voices is truly staggering! ... Even in my native Finnish ... voice cloning works very well if input quality is good enough...
"Numbers make it unusable" – Gabriele Mazzola
The quality drops dramatically when dealing with numbers or dates ... In my case ... makes the tool unusable even though I love the voices...
Ringly.io is known for its simplicity, and a focus on e-commerce, with features like abandoned cart recovery and order status lookups. It has a 4.8 star rating from 12 reviews on Product Hunt and other platforms.
"it stands out significantly ahead" - Bertrand, Director. We are at the initial stage of testing and have made only a few calls so far. Consequently, I have rated the product with four stars for now. However, I must express that the product has shown significant promise. When compared to competitors, it stands out significantly ahead.
"This is such a great product" - Jim Miranda, Founder. This is such a great product. I have been with you for less than a week and already closed 3 deals with it."
"It really sounds like a human" - Laix, Founder. Tried Ringly.io today and the quality of the phone calls surprises me! It really sounds like a human, and it reacts really fast. Will need to deploy it in action to see the full capabilities.
"How to automate customer service? -> Ringly.io" - Sidra Husnain, Founder.
The bottom line:
If you're running a complex, high-security operation and have dev resources, Bland might be your go-to. For creative or highly custom voice projects, ElevenLabs gives you all the tools. But for most businesses—especially those in e-commerce or customer service—Ringly.io offers the smartest balance of power, ease of use, and pricing. It’s fast to set up, easy to manage, and designed to turn customer conversations into conversions.
Highly Rated: 4.8/5
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.
Choosing the right AI phone agent platform depends on your team’s goals, technical skills, and how your business operates. All three platforms — Bland, ElevenLabs Conversational AI, and Ringly.io — bring something valuable to the table. But they’re built for different users and outcomes.
If you're part of an enterprise with a dedicated tech team and need full infrastructure control, Bland gives you precision and power — just be prepared for a steeper learning curve.
For developers and creators looking for maximum customization and voice quality, ElevenLabs offers plenty of voice cloning and multilingual magic — but it leans heavily on technical expertise.
And then there’s Ringly.io — purpose-built for growing e-commerce brands and customer-facing teams that want results without the complexity.
In the end, Ringly.io balances everything beautifully:
It’s no wonder Ringly.io continues to win over users — from solo founders to larger teams — who want AI that drives action, not just automation.
Ready to turn customer conversations into conversions? Try Ringly.io and see the results for yourself.
Want to compare other players in the market? Check out our other comparisons: