Head-to-head
Aircall vs Dialpad: which one in 2026?
Aircall and Dialpad are both cloud phone platforms with AI call features for sales and support teams. Aircall sells per-license plans with a three-user minimum and standalone AI Voice Agents from $99 a month. Dialpad splits into Connect, Sell and Support products, with contact center pricing starting at $89 per user per month.
Verdict
Dialpad ranks ahead for teams that want contact center tooling and a clear choice on AI data use, with the caveat that prices are shown without a billing cycle label. Aircall suits a smaller sales or support team that wants a shared inbox and a low-commitment AI voice agent. Neither vendor names a hosting region on the pages opened, so EU buyers should ask before signing. Aircall's legal entity was not stated on the pages opened.
Aircall and Dialpad side by side
| Aircall | Dialpad | |
|---|---|---|
| Price entry | $30 per license per month (Essentials); AI Voice Agents from $100 per month | $89 per user per month (Contact Center Essentials) |
| Lowest entry point | AI Voice Agents standalone from a $99 monthly minimum, or Essentials at $30 per license per month with at least 3 users. | Connect Standard at $15 per user per month, Sell Essentials at $39, and contact center Support Essentials at $89. |
| How billing is described | The FAQ says Essentials is billed annually; the pricing table does not label the cycle for every price shown. | Each plan shows one price with a Monthly or Annual toggle, and the page does not say which cycle the price reflects. |
| AI voice agents | Agents answer calls 24/7, identify intent and escalate with history. Essentials includes 50 minutes a month; rates from $0.19 per minute at 10,000 minutes. | Dialpad Resolve offers voice and digital agents with bounded actions, billed in AI Agent Credits on custom pricing, with no charge if no work is done. |
| Contact center depth | Professional adds Power Dialer, queue callback, whispering and barge, and live monitoring; Enterprise needs 25 users. | Support tiers add Live Coach, Quality Management and, on Premium at $149, Workforce Management with forecasting and scheduling. |
| Where data is stored | Hosted on AWS with no region named; retention is not stated on the security page. | Policy says permanent data is stored in the United States on Google Cloud unless an administrator chooses another region; the trust center names AWS. |
| Use of your data for AI | Transcripts are anonymized before reaching AI models. Whether customer data trains models is not stated. | Customers can choose whether their data improves Dialpad AI, and the policy says that choice is not needed to use AI features. |
| Compliance listed | Page states SOC 2 Type 2 compliance and GDPR; ISO 27001 is described as an alignment, not a certificate. | Trust center lists SOC 2, ISO/IEC 27001:2022, HIPAA, PCI DSS and GDPR by name, without detail on the pages opened. |
| Integrations named | More than 250 integrations are listed, including Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Bullhorn, monday.com, Shopify, Pipedrive and Microsoft Teams. | Named integrations are Salesforce, HubSpot, Zendesk, Microsoft Teams, Google Workspace, Dynamics, Zoho, Front and ServiceNow, among others on the pricing page. |
Where each one wins
Aircall wins on
- Standalone AI Voice Agents can be bought on their own from $99 a month, without licensing a seat-based phone system.
- Essentials and Professional prices are stated with their user minimums, so a small team can estimate cost.
- Transcripts are anonymized before they are passed to AI models, per the security page.
Dialpad wins on
- A $15 per user entry plan and a published contact center ladder cover very small teams and large support floors.
- The privacy policy gives customers a choice over whether their data improves Dialpad AI.
- Workforce Management, AI scorecards and live coaching are published as defined tiers.
Which to pick
Pick Aircall if
You run a sales or support team of three or more, want one inbox for calls and SMS, and may add an AI voice agent for routine calls.
Pick Dialpad if
You need a contact center with coaching, quality scoring and workforce planning, or a cheap team phone app with a data-use opt-out.
Each tool in context: Aircall profile, Dialpad profile, and the full Best AI Call Center Software in 2026.
Frequently asked questions
What is the minimum Aircall order?
Essentials and Professional require at least 3 users, so the floor is about $90 per month at the listed $30 per license, as of November 2026. Enterprise requires 25 users. The standalone AI Voice Agents product has a $99 monthly minimum and is not priced per user.
Does Dialpad use my calls to train its AI?
The privacy policy lets users choose whether their data is used to improve Dialpad AI and says that choice is not necessary to use the AI features. It adds that anonymized audio or text samples may be shared with third parties to improve speech-to-text.
Which one lists EU data hosting?
Neither, on the pages opened. Aircall's security page says AWS with no region. Dialpad says permanent data is stored in the United States unless an administrator selects a different region, while its trust center names AWS, so the two statements differ. Ask each vendor in writing.
How do the AI voice agent prices compare?
Aircall publishes $99 per month as the standalone minimum and per-minute rates from $0.19 at 10,000 minutes, though its table also cites rates as low as $0.12 above 50,000 minutes. Dialpad Resolve uses custom pricing billed in AI Agent Credits with no number published.