With Retell, we’ve increased scheduling NPS by 38%, and filled underutilized provider capacity, allowing our team to focus on meaningful patient care instead of phone tag.
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Hosted IVR Solutions with AI Voice Agents
5.0
ON G2
A hosted IVR with nothing to install. The voice agent runs in Retell's cloud and connects to your carrier, IVR, or contact center over SIP, so your numbers and routing stay where they are. Callers say why they are calling instead of pressing through a menu, and the agent answers, routes, or hands back to your current flow. Start with a share of calls before you move a whole line.
Trusted by over 4,000 businesses powering 100+ million calls per month.
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How It Works
Move a hosted IVR to AI voice in four stages, from mapping your menu to cutting over a full line.
Map your menu to intents
Write each menu option and its destination into the agent, load your common answers into a knowledge base, and decide which requests the agent resolves and which it routes.
Test against real call reasons
Run simulated calls for every branch, vague or mixed reasons, keypad entries, and callers who ask for a person, and grade every run before live traffic reaches the agent.
Connect over SIP and split traffic
Point a SIP trunk or a route from your current IVR or contact center at Retell, keep your numbers with your carrier, and send a small share of calls to the agent first.
Expand and track routing
Every call is transcribed and analyzed, so you can track why people called, where each call went, what was resolved, and which calls went back to your IVR or a person.
Use Cases
Where a hosted AI IVR fits in the phone system you already run
AI in front of the IVR you already run
Need callers to stop memorizing press 1, press 2 without rebuilding the routing behind it. The agent asks why the person is calling, then sends them into the menu you already have: a warm transfer with IVR navigation turned on lets the agent press the right digits on the caller's behalf, or it transfers straight to the department's number, extension, or SIP address. Your existing routing stays untouched, and callers never hear the menu. See how IVR navigation works.
A pilot on a share of calls, with no number porting
Need proof on real calls before you move a main line. Add a branch in your current IVR flow that sends a percentage of callers to the agent's number or SIP address, while everyone else stays on the existing menu. Your numbers stay with your carrier: import them over an elastic SIP trunk, or dial calls to Retell's SIP URI from your own platform. Inside Retell, A/B testing can split a number's traffic between two agent versions so you compare scripts on the same calls.
AI disclosure and an opt-out before the AI branch
Need callers told they are about to speak with an AI, with a way to decline, because your legal team or local privacy rules ask for it. Put the notice and the choice in your current IVR just before the branch, so callers who decline stay on the default menu. The agent's greeting can say it is an AI assistant, it answers honestly when asked, and anyone who asks for a person is transferred. The consent and disclosure checklist covers what to confirm.
Hand back to your contact center with the context
Need transfers that do not make the caller start over. The agent transfers to a queue number or SIP address, and a warm transfer can wait for a person to pick up and brief them privately first. Custom SIP headers carry the call reason or account ID to your platform when the destination is a SIP endpoint, and end-call headers return the outcome when the agent hangs up. Retell's docs include setup guides for Genesys Cloud, Five9, Avaya, Amazon Connect, and Twilio.
Replace the touch-tone menu on lines that need more
Need the agent to finish routine requests, not just route them. On lines where the menu only sorts callers into queues, such as intake, claims questions, or billing, the agent answers from a knowledge base and looks up records in your systems through custom functions during the call. Callers can still key in an account number or PIN on the phone keypad. The AI IVR page covers the full replacement.
Hosted in the cloud, not on servers you maintain
Need out of patching on-premises IVR hardware and paying for capacity you rarely use. Retell runs as a hosted service: there is no IVR server to install, changes go live from the dashboard or API, and each workspace has its own concurrency limit with burst capacity for spikes. Connections run over TCP, UDP, TLS, or mutual TLS, with SRTP for media. For the rest of the stack, see the hosted contact center guide.
Built for Contact Centers, Not Demos
Retell is the AI Voice Platform Enterprise Contact Centers Run On
Retell lets you build, test and deploy AI phone agents that handle real call volume, so your team spends its time on the conversations that need a person.
Feature
Why contact centers choose Retell AI as their hosted IVR
Your menu, rewritten as reasons people call
A legacy IVR is a tree of options callers have to remember. You give the agent the same destinations, written as the reasons people call, plus a knowledge base for questions it can answer without a transfer. Where routing has to be exact, a conversation flow keeps strict branches, and logic split nodes pick the path from what the caller said or data passed in.
Data from your IVR, passed into the call
If a caller already keyed in an account number or picked a language in your IVR, they should not be asked again. Custom SIP headers starting with X- on inbound calls become variables the agent can use, and on imported numbers the inbound call webhook can pick the agent or add caller data before the call starts.
Hand back with the reason attached
Some calls still belong in a human queue. You decide which ones. A warm transfer can wait out your hold system and brief the person who answers in a whisper the caller does not hear, and transfer headers pass the call reason to your platform when the destination is a SIP endpoint. The full transcript is available after the call.
A share of calls first, then the whole line
Nobody moves a main line on faith. Connect your carrier or contact center over an elastic SIP trunk, check the trunk with the built-in SIP connection test, and route a small share of calls to the agent while the rest stay on your menu. When results hold, move more traffic. Reserved inbound concurrency keeps outbound work from crowding the line.
Routing and containment you can see
You need to know where calls went, not only that they were answered. Post-call extraction records fields you define, such as call reason, destination, resolved, and returned to the IVR. Webhooks report every transfer started, bridged, or cancelled, the analytics dashboard compares agent versions, and alerts tell you when success rate drops.
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Pricing
Cut Costs by 90% with AI phone Agents
Pay as you go
$0 to start.
$0.07–$0.31 per minute – Pay only for what you use.
60 mins of free access.
20 concurrent calls.
10 Free Knowledge Bases.
Enterprise Plan
For companies with large volumes, data or deployment requirements, or support needs.
White glove service for your use case.
Premium support with dedicated solution engineer teams.
Custom pricing and concurrent calls based on your needs
FAQ
Frequently asked questions.
What is a hosted IVR solution?
A hosted IVR runs in a provider's cloud instead of on servers in your building. The provider runs the call handling, you configure menus and routing in a dashboard or API, and calls reach it over the phone network or a SIP trunk. A classic hosted IVR plays recorded prompts and collects key presses. A hosted AI IVR on Retell asks why the person is calling and answers in conversation, while still accepting key presses.
Do we have to replace our current IVR or port our numbers?
No. The agent can sit in front of your IVR, behind one branch of it, or replace it on a single line. Numbers stay with your carrier: import them to Retell over an elastic SIP trunk, dial calls to Retell's SIP URI, or forward them. Most teams start by sending a share of calls to the agent and keep the existing menu for the rest.
Which phone systems and contact center platforms does it work with?
Any carrier or platform that supports SIP trunking. Retell's docs include setup guides for Twilio, Telnyx, Vonage, Genesys Cloud, Five9, Avaya, and Amazon Connect, and other SIP providers connect the same way. These are SIP connections, not prebuilt app connectors. Custom SIP headers carry call data in both directions.
Can callers still use the keypad?
Yes. Keypad input is captured by default, so a caller can say an account number or key it in. You set when input is complete, by a digit limit, a termination key such as pound, or a timeout after the last key. On outbound calls, the agent can also press digits to work through another company's menu.
How do callers know they are talking to an AI?
You decide where to tell them. Many teams add a short notice and an opt-out to their current IVR just before the AI branch, and have the agent's greeting say it is an AI assistant. The AI disclosure preset, on by default for new agents, makes the agent confirm it is an AI whenever someone asks. Rules differ by country and state, so confirm yours with counsel.
How much does a hosted AI IVR cost on Retell?
Retell voice agents are priced per minute of conversation, from $0.07 per minute, depending on the language model, voice, and telephony you choose, with no IVR server to install. Pay-as-you-go needs no contract, and Enterprise plans have custom pricing for high volume or custom deployment needs. See pricing for your mix.
