Usage Rates
Every action in Volume Reach — a call attempt, a connected minute, an SMS — draws a small amount from your prepaid wallet. Rates are the same for everyone: there are no tiers to climb, and SMS gets cheaper automatically as you send more.
Overview
Volume Reach tracks 11 billable metrics. Each is charged independently and deducted from your wallet in real time as activity happens.
You are never billed for activity that didn't happen. If a call goes unanswered you pay the dial attempt and nothing else. See Fair-billing rules below — several situations that look billable are deliberately zeroed out.
Rate Table
| Metric | Rate |
|---|---|
| AI Dial Attempt | $0.02 |
| AI Connected Minute | $0.18 |
| AI Connected Minute (premium voice) | $0.37 |
| Human Dial Attempt | $0.01 |
| Human Connected Minute | $0.06 |
| Inbound Minute | $0.06 |
| SMS Credit (outbound) | $0.028 → $0.019 |
| Inbound SMS | $0.020 |
| AI SMS Reply | $0.06 |
| Voicemail Drop | $0.07 |
| Lead Finder Contact | $0.01 |
SMS Credit is volume-priced — the range is the highest and lowest per-segment rate, and where you land depends only on how much you send that month. See SMS volume discounts.
Some metrics need the matching feature turned on: Human Dial Attempt and Human Connected Minute need the Multi-line Dialer, and AI SMS Reply needs SMS. Ringless Voicemail is enterprise-only and priced per deal.
Fair-billing rules
These are the rules that decide when a call is not billed. They apply automatically on every account.
- Unanswered calls bill zero minutes. You pay the dial attempt only. Billing starts when the contact actually picks up, not when the phone starts ringing — though for AI and human calls the connected clock includes the brief moment before you (or the AI agent) are bridged in.
- AI calls under 20 seconds bill zero conversation minutes. Quick hangups, wrong numbers, and dead air cost you the dial attempt and nothing more.
- Voicemail systems, call screeners, and after-hours recordings bill zero conversation minutes. If the AI wasn't talking to a person, it isn't a conversation minute.
- Human and inbound calls under 6 seconds are not billed.
- A single AI call bills at most 4 minutes, no matter how long it actually runs.
- Minutes round up to the next whole minute. A 90-second conversation bills as 2 minutes.
What Each Metric Means
AI Dial Attempt
Charged each time Volume Reach places an outbound call using your AI agent, whether or not it's answered. This covers the cost of initiating the call.
AI Connected Minute
Charged for each minute your AI agent is in a live conversation with a real person.
Example: 100 AI calls where 40 are answered and the average conversation is 3 minutes. That's 120 connected minutes × $0.18 = $21.60, plus 100 dial attempts × $0.02 = $2.00, for $23.60 total. The 60 unanswered calls cost $1.20 in dial attempts and no minutes.
AI Connected Minute (premium voice)
An optional premium voice with enhanced audio quality, billed at a higher rate. It must be explicitly enabled on your agent — it is not the default.
Example: The same 120 connected minutes on premium voice would be $44.40 instead of $21.60.
Human Dial Attempt
Requires the Multi-line Dialer. Charged per line dialed — a 4-line batch on one contact is 4 dial attempts, answered or not.
Human Connected Minute
Requires the Multi-line Dialer. Charged for each minute a human agent is connected to a live contact.
Inbound Minute
Charged for each minute a contact spends on an inbound call to one of your Volume Reach numbers.
SMS Credit (outbound)
Charged for each outbound SMS segment. Messages up to 160 characters are 1 segment; longer messages split into multiple segments, each charged separately. All-in — carrier fees are already included in the rate.
Inbound SMS
Charged for each SMS received from a contact on your Volume Reach numbers.
AI SMS Reply
Requires SMS. Charged each time the AI SMS Agent sends an automated reply. This is separate from the outbound SMS credit for the same message.
Voicemail Drop
Charged each time Volume Reach leaves a pre-recorded voicemail after detecting the call went to voicemail.
Lead Finder Contact
Charged per contact pulled beyond your included monthly allowance. Lead Finder is free with any feature and includes 1,000 contacts per month.
Ringless Voicemail
Delivers a voicemail directly to a contact's voicemail inbox without ringing their phone. Available on enterprise agreements only, priced per deal — contact support.
SMS volume discounts (automatic)
Every account automatically gets a lower SMS Credit rate as its monthly sending volume grows. There's nothing to turn on.
| Segments sent this month | Rate per segment |
|---|---|
| 1 – 2,500 | $0.028 |
| 2,501 – 10,000 | $0.025 |
| 10,001+ | $0.019 |
A few things to know about how this works:
- It's bracket-style, like a tax bracket. Only the segments inside a band are charged that band's rate — your first 2,500 segments always cost $0.028 each even after you cross into the next band, exactly like the first bracket of income tax.
- The counter resets monthly. Your segment count starts back at zero on the 1st of each month, based on your account's local timezone.
- It's strictly a discount. Each segment is priced at whichever is lower — your account's SMS rate or the band rate — never a surcharge.
- Negotiated rates take priority. If your account has a custom SMS rate on file, that rate applies instead of the ladder.
Sending more than 25,000 segments a month? Contact support about enterprise rates.
What a month actually costs
A worked example, 1,000 AI calls per month at a 40% answer rate and 2 minutes per answered call:
| 1,000 dial attempts × $0.02 | $20.00 |
| 800 connected minutes × $0.18 | $144.00 |
| Usage total | $164.00 |
| AI Dialer subscription | $100.00 |
| Month total | $264.00 |
Usage is usually the larger half of the bill. Model it before scaling up.
Tips & Best Practices
- Monitor your answer rate. Dial attempts are always charged, so better lists and better call times directly reduce wasted spend.
- Keep AI conversations tight. Connected minutes are the highest-cost metric. Scripts that reach a decision quickly cost less per contact.
- Watch your AI SMS Reply volume. Every automated reply is charged. If your agent is sending many replies per conversation, review the flow.
- Only use premium voice where it pays for itself. It's roughly double the standard connected-minute rate.
Limits & Availability
Rates are identical on every feature-based plan. Trial accounts get $10 of usage credit and can only text and call their own verified number.
Legacy Launch, Growth, and Scale accounts keep their original per-unit rates, which differ from the table above — see Legacy plans. The SMS volume ladder applies to legacy accounts too.
Troubleshooting
I was charged for a call that wasn't answered. Dial attempt charges apply whenever a call is placed, answered or not. That's expected. Connected-minute charges only apply once someone picks up.
I was charged a dial attempt but no minutes on a call that connected. The call most likely ran under 20 seconds, or reached a voicemail system or call screener. Both bill zero conversation minutes by design.
My SMS message used more credits than expected. Messages over 160 characters split into multiple segments, each costing one credit. Emojis and special characters reduce the effective character limit per segment — a single emoji can push a message into a second segment. Check your message length in campaign settings.