Picture this: an AI-powered customer support system that can read the room—picking up on customer moods, tone of voice, and chatting with the warmth and nuance of a real human. Sounds like something out of a sci-fi bestseller, right? Not anymore. This tech is ready for you to use today.
Thanks to advances in generative AI and natural language understanding, conversational AI apps like PolyAI have taken off. Now, when customers connect with your virtual agents, they’re not stuck listening to robotic scripts or yelling “Get me a human!” Instead, modern AI voice assistants keep the conversation flowing—personalized, natural, and tuned to each customer’s needs.
Whether you’re already a PolyAI fan or just exploring what’s out there, we’ve rounded up the best apps like PolyAI that deserve a spot on your radar.
Here’s what we’ll cover:
- Why some businesses are searching for PolyAI alternatives
- Why an AI voice tool should become your new best friend
- The 5 must-have features to look for
- The 9 best PolyAI competitors and alternatives in today’s market
Shall we?
What is PolyAI?
If you’ve ever called to book a doctor’s visit, reserve a hotel room, or look for car deals close to you, you might’ve talked with one of PolyAI’s conversational voice AI agents.
PolyAI is a conversational voice AI platform for automating customer service calls.
PolyAI customer support tools replace or supplement human phone agents with AI that sounds natural, understands different accents, and handles full customer conversations from start to finish.
In a nutshell, it:
- Answers inbound and outbound calls in a human-like voice
- Authenticates callers, books appointments, takes payments, answers FAQs, and troubleshoots issues
- Works 24/7 with consistent quality and no wait times
However, some companies report that the tool isn’t the cheapest, integration takes time, and the learning curve can be daunting. If you’re in the same boat, keep reading to find more apps like PolyAI.
Why look for PolyAI alternatives?
PolyAI can be a great addition to your customer support automation stack. Imagine your conversational chatbots gaining a voice to communicate with customers in a way that is helpful and natural. However, every tool comes with its limitations, and PolyAI isn’t an exception.
Let’s look at a few disadvantages that its users express.
Data privacy and industry limitations
PolyAI provides generally strong data privacy and compliance, but it’s not universally complete. It supports key standards such as SOC 2 Type II, HIPAA, PCI-DSS, GDPR, and ISO 27001.
However, not all features are standard—role-based access control, audit logging, and on-prem deployments require custom negotiation or higher-tier agreements. For organizations with extremely strict compliance needs, such as certain healthcare or financial institutions, this partial visibility can be a blocker.
High learning curve and implementation
Some users report that setting up custom conversational flows or deep integrations comes with a learning curve and might require a few calls to their customer support.
A great feature for a conversational voice AI agent platform to have is no-code or low-code builders. Let’s be honest, not every business has a dedicated tech team that can program custom AI voice agents. Straightforward and visual automation builders are the way to go.
Pricing transparency
It’s important to understand that advanced conversational voice AI agent tools aren’t cheap because they require complex technology and resources to customize and optimize the platform to interact at this level.
However, PolyAI typically uses custom pricing models, often involving usage-based calculations that lack transparency. Customers have reported estimates ranging widely, which makes budgeting and small business adoption difficult.
Lack of voice analytics
Some users noted that the platform lacks advanced voice analytics to analyze interactions and provide insights. Without the ability to analyze interactions, you lose valuable information about what your customers expect from your customer support, the most common problems, and things they appreciate.
5 main features to look for in a voice AI tool
The global Voice AI Agents market is projected to grow from USD 2.4 billion in 2024 to approximately USD 47.5 billion by 2034. You don’t want to be left behind. But while virtual intelligent assistants offer exciting potential, choosing the wrong tool can lead to limitations in industry-specific knowledge and customization. Let’s look at what features to prioritize to ensure the best possible experience for your customers.
- Industry-specific features: A conversation you’d have with retail customer service is completely different from trying to book an appointment with a doctor. A strong voice AI should come with prebuilt capabilities tuned for your industry. For example, hospitality virtual agents should be able to follow booking flows, automate check-ins, and offer upselling add-ons. Banking tools should provide secure authentication, balance inquiries, and fraud alerts.
- Multilingual support: Unless your business focuses on only one market, say English- or German-speaking customers, this feature isn’t essential. But if you cross borders, ensuring your customers can communicate in their preferred language is key. Look for native fluency in multiple languages and accents, not just translation. You want real conversational flow in each language — not something that sounds like Google Translate dictation.
- Full data privacy and security: Forty-seven percent of consumers cut ties with companies over security concerns. Voice calls often contain sensitive data like payment details or account numbers—you can’t afford leaks or breaches. Your AI should meet enterprise-grade compliance standards such as GDPR, CCPA, SOC 2, and HIPAA, with encryption in transit and at rest.
- Seamless integrations: Depending on your industry, your chosen platform should plug easily into your CRM for access to client information, booking systems, payment processors, customer databases, and analytics tools. If the AI can’t pull customer data or push updates to your systems, it won’t deliver full automation.
- Omnichannel capabilities: The AI should handle more than just phone calls. People appreciate consistent and personalized communication, and an AI-powered platform can help you achieve that. Nearly 9 in 10 decision-makers believe personalization will be essential for business success in the upcoming years. Web chat, SMS, WhatsApp, and social DMs should all be connected to provide a consistent and unified experience. A great example of personalized omnichannel communication is Capacity, an AI-powered support automation platform. It connects across all your communication and support channels to provide seamless and unified service.
9 best PolyAI competitors and alternatives to consider
Any software you decide to use for your business is an investment in time and—most importantly—money. It’s unsustainable to switch tools every few months, losing money and gaining very little.
Deep research is also important because the market is filled with one-off solutions that might solve one tiny problem but complicate the rest. To make it easier, we gathered nine apps like PolyAI and alternatives to PolyAI for customer service that are worth your time. Let’s take a look!
TL;DR
- Best app like PolyAI for unified customer service and AI automation strategy: Capacity
- Best app like PolyAI for small businesses: Retell
- Best app like PolyAI for large enterprises: Synthflow AI
9 apps like PolyAI
| Tool | Best for | Pros | Cons | Free trial |
| Capacity | Unified customer service and AI automation strategy | Complete omnichannel experienceStrong agent-assist capabilities Deep integration with enterprise systemsAdvanced conversational AI Advanced voice analytics | Less focus specifically on the standalone voice agent experience | 14 days |
| Kore.ai | Custom AI agents | Many options to create custom AI agentsCovers the full agent lifecycleSupports voice, chat, and other channels | High complexityCan get expensive | 14-30 days |
| Bland AI | Conversational AI phone agents | Realistic voice deliverySimple usage model with pricing per minute Supports batch calls, API control, and CRM integration | Ethical concernsHigh fees for additional features | Free basic plan |
| Insighto.AI | Affordable AI voice support | Quick deployment Easy brand customization | Less known for deep voice-use cases or enterprise governanceMight lack more advanced features | Limited free credits |
| Retell | Small and medium-sized businesses | Realistic voiceQuick deployment | Complex customizations Pricing can scale up | Limited free credits |
| Voiceflow | Collaborative AI automation building | Easy-to-use visual design toolsReal-time team collaboration | Limited built-in analyticsOccasional UI slowdowns | 7 days |
| Synthflow AI | Large companies | Rapid time-to-market Low latency | Steep learning curveIt can get expensive as the business scales | 14 days |
| SoundHound AI | Advanced voice and speech processing | Enterprise-proven solutionHandles sophisticated user requests and integrations | Can get expensiveLess agile than newer, no-code platforms | Not disclosed |
| Vapi AI | Engineering teams building custom voice agents | Highly customizableHigh security | Steep learning curve Can get expensive | Limited free credits |
1. Capacity
Best Poly AI alternative for unified customer service and AI automation strategy
If you’re shopping for an all-in-one solution, Capacity has you covered. It’s an AI-powered support automation platform that covers voice, chat, email, SMS, social, and more, with real-time suggestions for agents and a unified knowledge base.
For example, Choice Hotels, a hospitality business with over 7,000 hotel locations, uses Capacity for front-door virtual agents, automated reservation management, and seamless routing. Capacity’s conversational AI capabilities and advanced voice recognition enable the hotel to serve its clients with class and ease. But the customer support and AI benefits don’t end there.
Main features
AI voice agent
Having your human support agents pick up the phone for every little question, like “What’s your return policy?” is expensive. On average, assisted support costs $13.50 per contact, with the most expensive being voice calls. Capacity takes the timeless question, “Can we automate call support?” seriously.
Its AI voice agents sound just like their human counterparts and can help customers:
- Book hotel rooms
- Reset passwords
- Find solutions to tech problems
- Reserve doctor’s appointments
- And many other functions
The best part? You can answer, route, and resolve customer inquiries instantly with AI-driven voice responses. No waiting, no frustration.
Conversational AI
Customers get frustrated talking with a robotic chatbot or voice agent. Conversational AI software is the only way to go. Capacity offers on-brand, accurate, and seamless interactions.
It can:
- Generate clear, natural voices with precise tone and clarity
- Support 24+ languages with male and female voice options and accents
- Work with IVRs and automation tools via gRPC & MRCP APIs
No-code tools
Remember when we mentioned the importance of having no-code tools to build automation workflows? Capacity offers just that! Your team responsible for implementation and customization can use a no-code drag-and-drop builder, along with custom triggers and logic sequences.
It’s a helpful feature when your tech team is unavailable and you have to fix a little detail right then and there. With these no-code features, everyone on your team can easily create, edit, and improve your automation.
Omnichannel support
Once a customer hangs up the phone, communication doesn’t end there. Omnichannel support maintains a consistent style and tone and reduces the time needed to recognize a person.
You can equip your:
- Voice
- Chat
- SMS
- Social media
…with conversational AI that doesn’t need babysitting. Imagine a customer calls to book a doctor’s appointment. Capacity’s conversational AI voice agent picks up and finds the best time for the visit. Once the call is over, the system sends an SMS or email reminder to the patient about the upcoming appointment, maintaining the same tone and style.
You can also:
- Verify users instantly with biometric voiceprints—no passwords needed
- Detect playback attacks, synthetic speech, and deepfakes
- Reduce wait times by authenticating users in seconds
- Work across IVR, mobile apps, and live agent interactions for seamless authentication
Agent Assist
True customer support automation isn’t just AI chats and voice calls—empowering your human staff is another important part of it. If your agents hate using the automation platforms you choose, it’ll never work. Capacity offers an Agent Assist feature that helps your agents every step of the way.
First, your team can always consult with the Answer Engine® to get instant and direct answers to their questions, like, “Can I issue a refund for a customer in this specific situation?”
Second, agents can use real-time coaching during live interactions. Are the silent pauses too long, or did they forget to offer an upsell opportunity? Capacity will offer tips to improve their performance and customer satisfaction.
Integrations with 250+ tools
A strong conversational voice AI agent platform not only talks with your customers and team but also with other systems. And by talking, we mean seamless information exchange—no manual work, no mistakes.
Capacity integrates with over 250 business management tools. Your favorite CRM? We have Flowla, HubSpot, SAP, Constant Contact, and many more. After integration, all you have to do is enjoy a smooth business ecosystem that functions on its own.
Advanced voice analytics and insights
One of the biggest challenges for voice AI agent platforms is analyzing interactions. It’s not as straightforward as analyzing text—people pause, cut words, and speak unclearly. Capacity offers comprehensive voice analytics and raw data turned into insights to improve your customer service one call at a time.
You get:
- Instant analysis of text and voice in real time to detect 74 emotions
- Understanding of nuances, sentiment, and intent across multiple languages
- Flags for agents with poor sentiment scores for coaching and improvement
- Compatibility with IVRs, IVAs, CRMs, and helpdesk platforms without disrupting workflows
Pros
- Delivers a complete omnichannel experience, including voice
- Strong agent-assist capabilities boost live team performance
- Deep integration with enterprise systems
- Advanced conversational AI capabilities
- Advanced voice analytics
- No-code tools
Cons
- Less focus specifically on the standalone voice agent experience
Free trial: Yes, Capacity offers a 14-day free trial.
2. Kore.ai
Best PolyAI alternative for custom AI agents
If you’re looking to expand your team with proactive AI agents, then Kore.ai is an interesting option. This enterprise-grade AI platform offers voice and chat agents, pre-built templates, full agent lifecycle management, and governance.
Main features
- Agent marketplace with industry-specific templates: You can find many pre-built templates tailored for specific industries to create your own AI agents, including voice agents.
- Multi-turn conversational voice agents: Their AI agents can handle complex, natural conversations that span multiple questions and responses instead of just simple commands.
- Multi-channel support: The app works seamlessly across phone, web, mobile apps, and messaging platforms to provide a consistent customer experience.
- Proactive outreach: You can build automation sequences for AI agents to reach out to customers. The tool can send reminders, updates, or offers instead of waiting for them to initiate contact.
Pros
- Many options to create custom AI agents
- Covers the full agent lifecycle
- Supports voice alongside chat and other channels
Cons
- High complexity—not startup-friendly
- Can get expensive
Free trial: They offer free trials for their Automation AI and Contact Center AI solutions, ranging from 14 to 30 days.
3. Bland AI
Best PolyAI alternative for conversational AI phone agents
Bland AI focuses on phone support and sales. Their voice-first AI platform is designed for building human-like phone agents that handle inbound and outbound calls using advanced natural language processing.
Main features
- Natural-sounding voice agents with intonation, pauses, and multilingual support: The company invests heavily in making AI agents sound human. Bland AI enables human-like conversations that feel natural and can adapt to different languages and accents.
- API for voice and SMS workflows: The tool lets developers easily integrate phone and text interactions into existing systems and customer workflows.
- High security and uptime: You get full control over data, ensuring compliance, privacy, and reliable performance.
- No-code automation builder: The tool is easy to use, even for less tech-savvy team members, as you can design and launch automated voice workflows without needing programming skills.
Pros
- Extremely realistic voice delivery
- Simple usage model with pricing per minute
- Supports batch calls, API control, and CRM integration
Cons
- Some customers have noticed ethical concerns—bots have been observed lying and impersonating humans
- You might encounter hidden fees for additional features
Free trial: You can try their basic plan for free with 100 calls.
4. Insighto.AI
Best PolyAI alternative for affordable AI voice support
If you’re looking for a simple and clear platform to automate your voice customer support, Insighto.AI is a strong option. With a transparent, pay-as-you-go model, the platform offers AI voice and chat agents for marketing and customer engagement.
Main features
- Voice AI agents with real-time intent switching and auto-learning: Their AI agents handle dynamic conversations by adapting instantly to changing customer needs while continuously improving from interactions.
- Plug-and-play CRM integrations: Insighto.AI connects seamlessly with popular CRM systems to streamline data flow and customer management.
- Supports multimodal interactions: You can engage customers across different formats like voice, text, and video for a more flexible and rich experience.
- Brand customization: You can make their AI agents sound on-brand with many voice, style, and persona customization options.
Pros
- Quick deployment with real-time conversational flow
- Easy brand customization
Cons
- Less known for deep voice use cases or enterprise governance
- The tool is still pretty new and might lack more advanced features
Free trial: They offer $10 in free credits that you can use to explore AI voice and chat features.
5. Retell
Best Poly AI alternative for small and medium-sized businesses
Retell is a great option if you’re looking to introduce AI voice agents into your workflows and communication channels. It’s well-suited for small and mid-sized businesses as it automates routine calls like appointment reminders and basic support without hiring extra staff. Its quick setup and integration help smaller businesses punch above their weight in customer service.
Main features
- Lifelike voice bots for phone calls: You can choose from many available languages to handle real customer conversations over the phone in a conversational and natural tone.
- Multi-turn conversations and context handling: The tool works well in maintaining context across long interactions to resolve complex queries smoothly.
- Easy integration with CRM and support tools: It connects quickly with existing business systems to streamline workflows.
- Analytics and reporting: Each interaction is registered and reflected through insights into call performance and customer interactions to drive continuous improvement.
Pros
- Realistic voice
- Quick deployment and CRM integration
Cons
- Complex customizations may require developer resources
- Pricing can scale with usage
Free trial: No, but they offer $10 in free credits.
6. Voiceflow
Best PolyAI alternative for collaborative AI automation building
Voiceflow is a voice and chat design platform. One thing that stands out is that it offers many customization and collaboration options. Teams can visually design, test, and document complex conversation flows without heavy coding.
Main features
- Drag-and-drop conversation flow builder: Anyone on your team can design complex AI conversations visually without coding.
- Multimodal support: The platform focuses heavily on chat and voice communication. Their benefits shine most when customers interact with both, as it provides conversational and consistent communication.
- Team collaboration and versioning: Multiple team members can co-create, track changes, and manage different versions of projects.
- Prototyping and testing tools: It lets teams quickly test and refine conversations before going live.
Pros
- Easy-to-use visual design tools
- Real-time team collaboration
Cons
- Limited built-in analytics
- Occasional UI slowdowns on large flows
Free trial: They offer a basic plan for free and a 7-day free trial for their premium plans.
7. Synthflow AI
Best PolyAI alternative for large companies
Synthflow AI is a no-code voice AI platform that lets you quickly design and deploy natural, real-time voice agents. It targets customer support and appointment scheduling use cases across finance, healthcare, and education sectors.
Main features
- No-code design interface for building voice agents: It’s a great tool if you’re not ready to invest in expanding your tech team. It lets you create and customize AI-powered voice agents without writing code.
- Ultra-low <500ms latency: It ensures conversations feel natural and real-time with near-instant replies.
- Compatible with existing telephony systems: It integrates smoothly with your current phone infrastructure to avoid costly overhauls.
- Multilingual support: You can automate your voice support across many countries as their virtual agents engage customers in multiple languages.
Pros
- User-friendly visual builder
- Voice agents feel immediate and conversational due to low latency
Cons
- The learning curve is steep
- It can get expensive as the business scales
Free trial: Yes, they offer a 14-day free trial.
8. SoundHound AI
Best PolyAI alternative for advanced voice and speech processing
SoundHound AI offers its Amelia tool—a conversational AI platform focused on enterprise-grade virtual agents. It helps automate customer service and employee workflows across industries.
Main features
- Handles complex multi-turn conversations: The tool is a solid option for natural, human-like dialogues that maintain context across multiple exchanges.
- Cognitive automation that integrates with contact center systems: It also offers customer support task automation while working seamlessly with existing call center platforms.
- Built-in integrations for enterprise systems and IT workflows: Connects out of the box with business tools to streamline operations and processes.
- Automatic speech recognition: Accurately transcribes and interprets spoken language in real time for smooth interactions.
Pros
- Long-standing, enterprise-proven solution
- Strong performance in handling sophisticated user requests and integrations
Cons
- Can get expensive
- Less agile than newer, no-code platforms
- Customization can be difficult
Free trial: Not disclosed.
9. Vapi AI
Best PolyAI alternative for engineering teams building custom voice agents
Vapi AI is an API-first conversational AI platform tailored for developers who want deep customization and advanced modular control—ideal for teams with in-house technical expertise.
Main features
- API-first modular architecture: If you have dedicated tech resources, this is a strong option. It gives developers full control over the speech-to-text, LLM, and text-to-speech layers.
- Low latency: Conversations run smoothly as the app offers sub-500 ms response times with scalable infrastructure.
- Visual editing: Vapi AI provides a visual editor for designing call flows, integrating backend systems, and triggering actions via APIs or webhooks mid-conversation.
- Advanced security features: It’s a great tool for highly regulated industries as it offers SOC 2, HIPAA, and PCI compliance, plus options for private or VPC deployment.
Pros
- Highly customizable
- High security
Cons
- Steep learning curve and developer reliance
- Can get expensive
Free trial: No, but you get $10 in free credits.
Power your customer support with natural and conversational AI voice agents
As call centers and customer support teams become increasingly overwhelmed, AI comes to the rescue. Clunky, robotic conversations that end in frustration are a thing of the past. Now your customers can engage in complex conversations and solve their questions in seconds with intelligent virtual voice agents.
To recap: the top 9 apps like PolyAI worth your time:
- Capacity
- Kore.AI
- Bland AI
- Insighto.AI
- Retell
- Voiceflow
- Synthflow AI
- Amelia by SoundHound AI
- Vapi AI
If you’re looking for full internal and external support automation across all your channels, you can’t miss Capacity. With over 250 integrations, a knowledge base, helpdesk automation, and AI agents that sound natural and friendly, it’s not just another tool—it’s an AI-orchestrated business strategy.
FAQs
The best voice agent platform depends on your business needs, budget, and audience. Capacity, PolyAI, Kore.ai, Bland AI, Synthflow AI, and other apps like PolyAI are strong options.
Strong alternatives to PolyAI are Capacity, Kore.ai, Bland AI, Insighto.ai, Retell, Voiceflow, Synthflow AI, and Amelia.
An AI voice bot for customer service is an AI-powered system that can handle spoken conversations with customers. It answers questions, authenticates users, takes bookings or payments, and resolves issues—without human intervention.
You’d be surprised how many companies in hospitality, banking, retail, and even healthcare use AI voice agents. Global companies like Marriott, Hilton, HSBC, Bank of America, Walmart, and Sephora use AI automation for customer support.
Yes, of course! Any business can deploy AI customer service tools for voice, chat, or omnichannel support. It’s just a matter of picking a platform that fits your industry, customer volume, and compliance needs.