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 | Free plan, 300 credits a month, no payment method | Free plan |
| 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.
What the free elunos plan does and does not do
So nobody discovers the boundary only after signing up.
Included
- Zero cost indefinitely, no expiry date and no payment method needed
- 300 credits a month, which is 300 chat messages or the equivalent of 30 call minutes
- Chat runs live, with real visitors on your own site
- Calling as a sandbox, to try out conversation design and voices
- Reports and statistics, the same ones the paid plans get
- Always the latest speech models, at no extra cost
Not included
- No phone number of your own for real customers to call
- So no live call answering either; that starts with the Core plan
- No call forwarding to staff
- One conversation at a time
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. Free plans exist, but 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.
It runs indefinitely at zero cost, with no payment method and no expiry, and includes 300 credits a month. That is 300 chat messages or the equivalent of 30 call minutes. Chat runs live on your own site; calling runs as a sandbox for trying things out. A phone number of your own, that customers call, starts with the Core plan.
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. 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.
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 €99 a month on 20 August 2026, though the models are not directly comparable: IONOS bills per call, fonio and elunos.ai per minute or credit. Also check whether a price is quoted net or gross, which shifts the figure by almost a fifth. The calculator on our pricing page shows what a given call volume means.
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