specification: FinOps Framework
specificationVersion: '1.0'
schema: https://www.finops.org/framework/
provider: Bland AI
providerId: bland-ai
created: '2026-05-08'
# Provenance stamped 2026-08-11: this artifact was written by the API Evangelist
# bulk sweep dated 2026-05-08, not harvested from the provider. See roadmap#35.
method: generated
modified: '2026-05-08'
reconciled: true
tags:
- AI
- Voice
- Agents
- Phone
- Realtime
- FinOps
- Cost Management
- FOCUS
description: >-
  FOCUS-aligned FinOps view of Bland AI. Bland bills a flat per-minute talk-time rate that
  bundles LLM, STT, TTS, and telephony costs, plus an optional monthly platform fee for paid
  tiers and per-minute transfer fees. Voice clones, knowledge bases, and concurrent call slots
  are capacity entitlements gated by plan.
notes: Bland's "flat per-minute" model removes the multi-vendor cost stack typical of voice AI; FinOps focus shifts to plan-tier sizing.
sources:
- https://www.bland.ai/pricing
- https://docs.bland.ai/
- https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
alignedWith:
  framework: FinOps Foundation Framework
  frameworkUrl: https://www.finops.org/framework/
  dataSpec: FOCUS
  dataSpecVersion: '1.3'
  dataSpecUrl: https://focus.finops.org/focus-specification/v1-3/
publisherName: Bland AI
serviceCategory: AI
billingModel:
  pricingCategory: Subscription + Usage (Per Minute)
  billingFrequency: Monthly
  billingCurrency: USD
  chargeCategories:
  - Usage
  - Purchase
  - Adjustment
focusColumns:
  ServiceName: Bland AI Voice Agent Platform
  ServiceCategory: AI
  ProviderName: Bland AI
  PublisherName: Bland AI
  InvoiceIssuerName: Bland AI
  BillingCurrency: USD
  ChargeCategory: Usage
meters:
- name: talk_time_minutes
  description: Per-minute charge for AI voice agent talk time (bundles LLM/STT/TTS/telephony).
  unit: minute
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - call_id
- name: transfer_minutes
  description: Per-minute charge applied while a call is transferred to a human agent.
  unit: minute
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - call_id
- name: platform_fee
  description: Monthly platform fee for paid tiers (Build, Scale).
  unit: month
  aggregation: sum
  dimensions:
  - account
  - plan
principles:
- name: Visibility
  description: Use Bland's call analytics dashboard plus monthly invoice line items.
- name: Allocation
  description: Tag pathways and phone numbers to business units to allocate per-minute spend.
- name: Optimization
  description: Right-size the plan tier (Start vs Build vs Scale) based on actual concurrency and daily call volume.
- name: Accountability
  description: Assign a plan owner to monitor monthly burn against tier caps and trigger upgrades.
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com