Bland AI vs Vapi (2026)

The v2 Tools API creates tools against built-in integrations including Cal.com, Salesforce and Slack, or against any HTTP endpoint for internal services, invoked automatically mid-call and mid-SMS with the response injected back into the live conversation, with credentials held in a secrets store. Webhook nodes, a custom code node and bring-your-own-Twilio extend it further. Together they reach scheduling, CRM, messaging, telephony and any internal system.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/tutorials/tools/integration-tools.mdread 2026-09-05

Function tools call the customer's server logic, and API Request tools call any HTTPS API directly with credentials held by reference. MCP tools connect an assistant to external MCP servers at runtime. Built in tools transfer calls, end calls, send SMS and press DTMF keys, and prebuilt integrations include Google Calendar event creation, Make and n8n. Deepgram, OpenAI and other providers are model layers, not integrations.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Function tools, Integrations, Built-in tools)read 2026-09-27

Conversational Pathways are node-and-edge conversation graphs with branching, conditional routing on tool output, variable extraction, inline tool execution on dialogue nodes, a custom JavaScript code node, and Flex Mode letting the agent choose its next node. Pathways carry versions that promote to staging or production, folders, and a generation endpoint that builds a pathway from a prompt.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/tutorials/pathways.mdread 2026-09-05

Squads split a call across specialized assistants that hand off to each other through handoff tools with declared destinations, resolved at runtime. Context passing, variable extraction and rejection rules are all configurable, and the squad examples route callers by verification and inquiry type. Vapi's older Workflows builder has been retired and its flows moved to Squads.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Introduction to Squads, Handoff tool, Workflows migration guide)read 2026-09-27

Agents take inbound and outbound calls over purchased numbers, SIP trunking with auto-discovery, test calls and number porting, or a bring-your-own Twilio account. Batch outbound campaigns run from a recipient list, and a web voice and chat widget and SMS, RCS and iMessage messaging run the same pathways as voice.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/enterprise-features/sip-integration.mdread 2026-09-05

Outbound campaigns carry a schedulePlan with an earliest and latest dispatch time, so Vapi starts dialing a contact list on its own schedule, with pre dial webhooks. Assistant hooks run actions on call events. Agents also answer on Vapi, Twilio, Telnyx and SIP numbers, in web calls and over SMS chat.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Campaign scheduling and lifecycle, Assistant hooks, SIP introduction, SMS chat)read 2026-09-27

Knowledge bases are built and held by the platform. A customer creates one from an uploaded file, direct text or a website scrape with sitemap URL discovery, then lists, updates and versions it by id, queries it directly through a chat-with-knowledge-base endpoint, and attaches it to pathway nodes by id. The same knowledge base serves every agent it is attached to.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/api-v1/post/knowledge-learn-web.mdread 2026-09-05

Knowledge bases are the customer's uploaded files, such as txt, pdf, docx, csv, md and more, added through the dashboard or the file API, kept in Vapi and attached to assistants. During a call the query tool searches them by file ID, with Google Gemini models doing the retrieval, and new knowledge is added by uploading a file instead of retraining. A custom knowledge base can swap in the customer's own retrieval server.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Knowledge bases, Query tool)read 2026-09-27

A dedicated Memory API keeps contact memory records scoped to a persona or agent number, each holding a summary, structured facts and recent cross-channel messages. Endpoints read the memory context a contact sees at conversation start, retrieve what memory changed during a specific call, merge new facts, enable or disable memory per pathway version, and reset one contact's memory without touching the rest. Memory is kept separate from the call record.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/api-v1/post/memory-contact.mdread 2026-09-05

For chat and SMS, a sessionId groups chats under one persisted conversation that expires 24 hours after creation by default (expirationSeconds). Sessions can be read in session logs and deleted through the API, and within a call, squads carry context across handoffs. Nothing the agent learns about a caller is kept beyond the session.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Session management, Session logs)read 2026-09-27

Guard Rails are configurable objects with their own create, update and delete endpoints, and they run continuously on every AI response to catch critical failures before they reach the caller. They are backed by blocked-number rules, live listen and stop on an active call, warm and live transfer to a human, and threshold alarms routed to email, phone or a custom tool. Guardrails, warm and live transfers and alarms are sold on the Enterprise tier, and the self-serve plans carry only the pathway-level transfer node.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/tutorials/guard-rails.mdread 2026-09-05

A tool rejection plan attaches conditions to any tool and blocks the call when the recent conversation state matches them, and handoff rejection rules block unwanted transfers between assistants. Transfer tools hand a caller to a person by blind or warm transfer. There is no approval step that holds an action until a person signs off, so escalation hands over the whole conversation.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Tool rejection plan, Transfer Call tool)read 2026-09-27

Bland holds SOC 2 Type I and Type II, is HIPAA-eligible with a signed BAA, and covers GDPR and PCI DSS, with compliance documentation obtainable under NDA on Enterprise. It has announced FedRAMP certification on its own blog, and it publishes a trust and security page, a DPA and a subprocessor list. Customers get SSO, JWT request signing, HMAC webhook validation, organization member permissions, a secrets store and a paginated audit-log endpoint for SIEM export. The identity controls are sold on the Enterprise tier.

Sourcebland.ai/trust-securityread 2026-09-05

Vapi supports SSO through any SAML 2.0 or OIDC identity provider on the Enterprise and Premier plans, and RBAC with Admin, Editor and Viewer roles assigned per member. SCIM is not supported. Vapi's SafeBase trust center announces a completed SOC 2 Type II examination, with the report under NDA, and a public SOC 3, and lists HIPAA, PCI DSS v4.0.1, GDPR and CCPA. HIPAA mode and zero data retention are organization settings.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Single Sign-On) and security.vapi.airead 2026-09-27

An event-stream endpoint returns the sequence of events that occurred during a call, alongside per-execution tool logs with aggregated statistics, call detail with transcripts and corrected transcripts, recordings, citation schemas extracting structured data from transcripts, configurable alarms, and audit logs for SIEM export. Together they let a team reconstruct what the agent did step by step, beyond what a metrics dashboard shows.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/api-v1/get/event-stream.mdread 2026-09-05

Call logs hold the transcript, messages, analysis, costs, latency, recordings and downloadable pipeline logs for each call, with chat, session, webhook and API request logs beside them. Monitors evaluate call data against thresholds and open issues. Raw data is kept for 14 to 180 days depending on the package.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Call logs, Logs overview, Monitoring quickstart) and vapi.ai/pricingread 2026-09-27

The Enterprise plan includes on-premises and VPC deployment, data residency and a dedicated orchestration server, and Bland offers self-hosted and on-premises deployment for regulated industries, with region-scoped static IPs for outbound and SIP traffic. These options are sold on the Enterprise tier, not held behind an access program.

Sourcebland.ai/pricingread 2026-09-05

Each organization belongs to the United States or the European Union region, with its own dashboard, API and SIP hosts, such as api.eu.vapi.ai and sip.eu.vapi.ai in the EU. Every resource stays in its region, and each region is an isolated environment. The service is hosted only, with no self hosted or customer tenant option.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (EU region and data residency)read 2026-09-27

Customers start from pathway templates, clone out-of-box test scenario templates into their own pathway through a dedicated endpoint, and draw on a shipped read-only library of eval agent templates alongside ones their organization saves. Personas are reusable agent identities that attach to any number of phone numbers. All of these can be browsed and cloned.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/tutorials/pathways.mdread 2026-09-05

Cloneable example builds cover appointment scheduling, medical triage and scheduling, ecommerce order management, property management routing, lead qualification and multilingual support. Each does a different job, but the customer builds each one step by step instead of adopting a packaged agent. Model Intelligence presets are settings.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Guides)read 2026-09-27

Bland runs its own full stack, with telephony, speech to text, the language model, text to speech and pathway orchestration all its own, and its per-minute price bundles the language model with no per-token charge. Customers cannot select a model, use a custom model or bring their own.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/welcome-to-bland.mdread 2026-09-05

Each assistant's transcriber, model and voice can be swapped for any supported provider. Customers can use their own provider keys, Azure OpenAI and Bedrock credentials, or their own server acting as the LLM. Transcriber and voice fallback plans switch providers automatically on failure.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Core Models, Provider Keys, Custom LLM, fallback configuration)read 2026-09-27

Developers get a versioned REST API across v1 and v2 covering calls, pathways, knowledge bases, memory, tools, personas, evals, SIP and organizations, plus a command line interface, an interactive dev terminal, a Web Agent SDK with token-based auth, HMAC-signed webhooks and post-call webhooks, and a hosted MCP server with a published tool reference and setup guides for Claude Code, Cursor, Codex and other clients.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/integrations/mcp/overview.mdread 2026-09-05

The API covers assistants, squads, calls, chats, campaigns, sessions and phone numbers, with server SDKs, a Web SDK and a CLI beside it. The Vapi MCP Server at mcp.vapi.ai, authenticated by bearer token, manages assistants, phone numbers and calls from any MCP client.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (API reference, Vapi MCP Server)read 2026-09-27

Bland ships two test surfaces for customers. Agent Testing runs scenarios with assertions against a pathway or persona and returns assertion results and scores, batch runs, simulation sets reporting pass rates and flakiness, and node failure heatmaps. Evals grades batches of real calls with configurable LLM judges and returns per-judge verdicts and per-call results. Both test the customer's own agent.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/tutorials/scenarios.mdread 2026-09-05

Evals test assistants and squads with mock conversations, using exact, regex or AI judged checks and tool call checks, and return pass or fail. Simulations run full conversations against AI testers with success criteria and tool mocks, and the testing guides set a release and regression cadence.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (Evals quickstart, Simulations overview, Run and maintain tests)read 2026-09-27

Agents navigate third party IVR menus that take DTMF input by inferring and playing keypad tones, through a play-keypad-touch-tone system tool and pathway configuration, and they detect and respond to voicemail systems on outbound calls. This is control of a telephone keypad only, and Bland offers no browser, desktop session or remote computer control.

Sourcedocs.bland.ai/api-v1/post/calls.mdread 2026-09-05

Browser, desktop and computer control are not described. IVR navigation presses DTMF keys to walk a phone menu on a telephone keypad, not a screen. Web SDK client side tools trigger side effects in the customer's own web app, which is the product running in a browser.

SourceVapi, docs.vapi.ai (llms.txt, IVR Navigation, Client-side tools)read 2026-09-27