Is there a free AI phone agent?
Trying an AI phone agent for free is possible with almost every provider. Running one for free indefinitely is possible with none. That is not a pricing choice but a cost floor: every connected minute costs the provider money, for the phone line and for the speech model. So “free” means three different things in this market: a time-limited trial, a money-back guarantee, or a permanently free plan with a narrow scope. Which one is on offer decides what happens after four weeks.
Checked on 20 August 2026
Three things are called free, and they end differently
The difference does not show at signup, it shows when the clock runs out.
| What it is | What happens at the end | |
|---|---|---|
| Free trialThe most common case in this market. | Full access for a fixed number of days, usually without a payment method | Access ends, or a paid plan begins |
| Money-back guaranteeSounds like a trial, but it is a purchase. | A paid start with a right of return inside a window | Miss the window and you have bought it. The money leaves first |
| Free planRare, and always tightly bounded. | Zero cost indefinitely, in exchange for low volume and usually no live phone line | Keeps running until the scope stops being enough |
| Open sourceThe software is free, running it is not. | The code costs nothing and may be self-hosted | Telephony, speech model and servers are still metered |
What providers in the German-speaking market offer for free
All four read on their own pages on the same day.
| Provider | Free offer | Type |
|---|---|---|
| elunos.ai | 30-day money-back guarantee, plans from €99 | Money back |
| IONOS | 30 days free, then from €39 a month | Free trial |
| VITAS | 30 days free, prices not published | Free trial |
| fonio | 30-day money-back guarantee, plans from €99 net | Money back |
| Aaron (Doctolib) | No free offer published, route runs through a consultation | not published |
Based on each provider's public product and pricing pages, retrieved on 20 August 2026. “Not published” means it was not stated there; it does not mean the offer does not exist. Figures may have changed since, and each provider is the authority on itself.
Why permanently free does not work on the phone
Three costs that land on every answered call, at every provider.
The line
A connected call runs through a telecoms carrier, billed by the started minute. That cost exists whether a human or an AI is on the other end.
The speech model
Listening, understanding and replying costs compute for every second of the call. A long call therefore costs more than a short one, even though both are one call.
The phone number
A number of your own, that calls arrive on, carries a monthly line rental. That is how you spot a free plan: it usually does not have one.
How getting started with elunos.ai works
So nobody discovers the terms only after signing up: no free plan, but your money back.
How it works
- Every plan is paid from day one, Starter from €99 a month on a one-year term
- 30-day money-back guarantee: cancel inside that window and you get the full amount back
- You choose monthly (€119), yearly (€99) or two-year billing (€89), and the guarantee applies to each
- Live call answering from the start with your existing phone number, no sandbox
- Reports and statistics on every plan
- Always the latest speech models, at no extra cost
What there is not
- No permanently free plan and no time-limited trial
- No start without a payment method; the guarantee is a purchase with a right of return
- No refund after the 30 days; miss the window and you have bought it
- No agent to listen to without signing up, except the live demo on the home page
Which plan fits your call volume and what it costs each month is set out in our AI phone agent pricing and costs.
Common questions
For trying it out, yes. In production, no. No provider in the German-speaking market answers real customer calls for free indefinitely, because every connected minute creates line and model costs. Where free plans exist, they come without a phone number of your own. Anyone who wants to answer real calls ends up on a paid plan at every provider, at elunos.ai from €99 net a month with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
No. Every plan is paid from day one, Starter from €99 a month on a one-year term (€119 paid monthly, €89 over two years). Instead of a free plan there is a 30-day money-back guarantee: you set up the agent, let it answer real calls on your own number, and if it does not fit you get the full amount back within 30 days. To hear an agent without signing up, use the live demo on the home page.
On 20 August 2026, IONOS and VITAS each advertised 30 days free on their own pages. fonio names a 30-day money-back guarantee instead, which is a paid start with a right of return rather than a trial. elunos.ai takes the same route. Aaron, the Doctolib phone assistant, published no free offer; the route there runs through a consultation.
No, and the difference costs money. With a trial you pay once you decide. With a money-back guarantee you pay first and only get the money back if you cancel inside the window. Miss the window and you have bought it. That applies to fonio and to elunos.ai alike, which is why our window is stated on the pricing page and not in the small print.
There are freely available building blocks for speech recognition, speech synthesis and dialogue logic that a phone agent can be assembled from. What is free there is the code, not the operation: telephony, speech model and servers stay metered, and your own time for setup and maintenance is added on top. For a company without an engineering team that is usually more expensive than a plan.
Entry plans in the German-speaking market sat between €39 and €119 a month on monthly billing on 18 September 2026, though the models are not directly comparable: IONOS bills per call, VITAS per conversation, fonio and elunos.ai per minute. Also check whether a price is quoted net or gross, which shifts the figure by almost a fifth. Our pricing page states for every plan how many calls a day it covers.
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