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Testing an agent bills at the same rates as production. There’s no separate test tier and no free testing sandbox, so a message or a minute spent testing costs what it would on a live call. Plan test usage like any other usage, and check the Retell pricing page for current rates.

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How testing is billed

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Text testing

The Playground, simulation testing, and batch testing run in text and bill per message, at the chat rate for the model that produced each message. Rates range from roughly 0.001to0.001 to 0.05 per message depending on the model, so a cheaper model keeps iteration inexpensive. See the pricing page for the per-model rates. Three things that add up:
  • A simulated run bills two models. The LLM setting you pick applies to the simulated user only. Your agent’s replies bill at the model in the agent’s own LLM settings, so a cheap simulated user doesn’t make a run cheap if the agent runs an expensive model.
  • Batches multiply. A batch bills every case on every run, with no discount. Running 20 cases three times each bills 60 runs.
  • Grading bills too. Each case in a batch adds one post-call-analysis unit for the pass or fail verdict, on top of the conversation. Unsaved Playground runs aren’t graded, so they don’t carry this.

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Voice testing

Web call testing and phone call testing place a real voice call and bill per minute, at the same rate as a production call: voice infrastructure, text-to-speech, and the LLM add up to roughly 0.07to0.07 to 0.31 per minute depending on the model and voice.
  • Phone testing adds telephony (about 0.015perminuteforaRetellnumber)andrequiresa[phonenumber](/deploy/purchase−number).Retellnumberscost0.015 per minute for a Retell number) and requires a [phone number](/deploy/purchase-number). Retell numbers cost 2.00 per month.
  • Web testing has no telephony line, since it runs in the browser.
Because a voice minute costs far more than a text message, run most of your checks in text simulation and reserve web or phone calls for final validation.

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Conductor

Conductor is free up to a daily allowance: 30 messages per user and 200 per workspace each day, reset at midnight Pacific. Past that, Conductor bills $0.20 per message, but only if a workspace admin has turned on pay-as-you-go for Conductor. With it off, Conductor stops answering until the allowance resets. Your account also needs to be in good standing, so an expired trial or a failed payment blocks it either way. Any simulations Conductor runs on your behalf bill as normal per-message simulation runs. Check Billing → Usage for the exact amount.

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Free allowances

  • $10 in free credits when you sign up.
  • 20 free concurrent calls.
  • Conductor: 30 messages per user and 200 per workspace each day, reset at midnight Pacific.
  • AI QA: the first 100 minutes are free, then $0.10 per minute. See AI QA.
Apart from Conductor’s daily messages, testing draws on the same balance as production, so treat test usage as billable. One thing the signup credit doesn’t cover: buying a phone number requires a card on file, so phone call testing needs payment set up even if you still have credit left.

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See also