“How much does it cost?” is the first question every operator asks about AI phone answering — and the honest answer is: it depends entirely on the pricing model. Two services can look similar and bill you three times differently on the same busy Friday. Here's how restaurant voice AI is actually priced in 2026, and how to compare like for like.
The three pricing models
Nearly every provider uses one of these — and the model matters more than the sticker number.
- Flat monthly. One predictable price regardless of call volume. Easiest to budget; a busy night costs the same as a slow one. Depla uses this — a flat $149/mo with no per-order fees.
- Per-minute.You pay for talk time, often a few cents a minute. Fine at low volume, but it quietly scales with your busiest, most profitable hours — the exact moment you're relying on it most.
- Per-order (usage). A fee per order the AI captures. Sounds fair, but it taxes success: the better the tool works, the bigger the bill.
What you can expect to pay
As a rough 2026 benchmark, a well-configured restaurant voice AI handling a couple hundred calls a month tends to land in the $150–$300/month range, depending on the model and add-ons. Flat plans cluster at the lower, more predictable end; usage plans can run higher once volume climbs. Always model your actual call volume against each model rather than trusting the headline price.
The hidden costs to ask about
- Setup / onboarding fees. Some vendors charge to build your menu and configure the agent.
- Per-integration charges. Pushing orders into your POS (Clover, Toast, Square) is sometimes an upsell rather than included.
- Overage tiers. Flat plans can still cap minutes or calls, then bill overages — read the ceiling, not just the floor.
- Extra languages or numbers. Multilingual support or additional phone lines can carry surcharges.
- Contract length. A low monthly rate locked into an annual commitment is a different deal than a true month-to-month.
How to compare fairly
Put every option on the same footing: take your real monthly call volume, run it through each provider's model including fees, and compare the all-in number — not the advertised one. Then weigh it against what a missed call actually costs you: at $25–40 per order and even a few missed calls a day, the phone is often losing you more each month than any of these plans cost. We break down that math in the real cost of missed restaurant calls.
Where Depla lands
Depla is deliberately a flat $149/mo: no per-minute meter, no per-order tax, POS order push included, and English + Hindi / Hinglish built in. You can see the full breakdown on the pricing page, compare it head-to-head with Loman and Slang.ai, or skip the deck entirely and try the live demo on your own menu.