In 2026, call centre software in India costs 1,000 to 3,500 rupees per agent a month on the per-agent products, 5,000 to 15,000 a month flat for ten users on MyOperator, or prepaid bundles of 10,000 to 50,000 rupees on Exotel, spent across calls, SMS and WhatsApp. On top of every option sit the minutes, at 40 to 80 paise each for outbound calls, and the numbers, at 500 to 2,500 a month.
For ten agents on outbound calls, the minutes cost as much as the seats, and the two together are a quarter or more of the salaries they manage. The seat price is the smallest line on the bill.
What does call centre software cost?
| Product | Price | Pricing shape |
|---|---|---|
| Freshdesk Contact Center (Freshcaller) | About 1,000 to 1,500 Growth, 2,800 to 3,600 Pro, 5,000 to 5,500 Enterprise per agent a month, billed yearly, per Indian partners; a free tier with metered calls | Per agent |
| Knowlarity | About 2,000 inbound only, 3,000 inbound and outbound, 3,500 with lead management, per agent a month | Per agent |
| Tata Tele Smartflo | About 1,500 Basic, 2,200 Standard and 3,500 Advanced per agent a month, as published by partners; Tata itself quotes | Per agent |
| Acefone | About 1,200 Starter per seat with a ten-user minimum, 2,300 Ultra with a five-user minimum | Per seat |
| MyOperator | 5,000 a month Sedan with unlimited calling in and out, 15,000 SUV, each for ten users; auto-dialler 700 a user a month extra; billed yearly | Flat, per ten users |
| Exotel | Prepaid bundles of about 9,999 for five months, 19,999 or 49,499 for eleven, credits shared across voice, SMS and WhatsApp | Prepaid credits |
| Ozonetel CloudAgent, Ameyo | Quoted; listings start around 3,800 a month | Quoted |
| Runo | About 600 to 900 per user a month, runs on the agent's own SIM | Per user, no cloud telephony |
Prices are 2026 list and partner-published rates before 18 percent GST, claimable if you are registered. Vendors quote as often as they list, so treat these as bands. Per-agent pricing is the contact centre version of the per-unit shape across Indian software: per employee in payroll software, per bed in hospital systems, per room in hotel software.
Per agent, flat, or prepaid: which shape fits
Per agent (Freshcaller, Knowlarity, Smartflo, Acefone) suits teams that change size and want the full agent desktop, with minutes paid separately; it is the shape above ten seats. Flat for ten (MyOperator) is 500 a user with calling included, the cheapest seat here, if ten is enough and you can do without the dialler. Prepaid credits (Exotel) suit bursty usage such as a seasonal campaign, easy to start and hard to forecast because voice, SMS and WhatsApp drain one pool. Choose the shape before the vendor: a ten-person desk on per-agent plans pays two to three times the flat plan for the same calls, and a thirty-person floor on the flat plan runs out of users in a week.
What does the first year actually cost?
Two teams of ten.
Inbound support, calls plus WhatsApp. This is the combined platform question we are asked most.
| Line | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Seats: MyOperator Sedan, ten users, unlimited calling | 60,000 |
| Or Freshcaller Growth, ten agents at about 1,200 | About 1.44 lakh |
| Numbers: one local, one 1800 toll-free | 15,000 to 30,000 |
| Outbound minutes on the metered plan: 3,000 minutes of call-backs a month at 60 paise | About 22,000 |
| WhatsApp shared inbox on a provider | 36,000 to 1.2 lakh |
| Meta's fees: 6,000 conversations a month, four replies each, less 1,000 free, at 15 paise | About 40,000 |
| DLT registration, once | 5,900 |
| Headsets, ten, once | 15,000 to 50,000 |
| GST at 18 percent on the software and numbers | 25,000 to 50,000 |
| First year | About 2.5 to 4.5 lakh, or 2,000 to 3,700 an agent a month |
The WhatsApp half is priced per message, not per seat; the per-message economics, including the 1 October 2026 change, are in our WhatsApp agent cost guide.
Outbound sales on a dialler.
| Line | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Seats: inbound and outbound plan at 2,200 to 3,000, ten agents | 2.6 to 3.6 lakh |
| Auto-dialler, where it is an add-on, at 700 a user | Up to 84,000 |
| Minutes: ten agents, three talk-hours a day, 22 days, about 40,000 minutes a month at 60 paise | About 2.85 lakh |
| Numbers: two 140-series numbers | 12,000 to 36,000 |
| DLT registration and DND scrubbing | About 6,000 |
| Headsets, once | 15,000 to 50,000 |
| GST at 18 percent | About 1 to 1.4 lakh |
| First year | About 7 to 9.5 lakh, or 5,800 to 7,900 an agent a month |
Ten agents at 18,000 to 25,000 a month are 22 to 30 lakh a year in salary. Platform and minutes are a quarter to two fifths of that, so the only question that matters is whether the dialler changes how many agents you need.
The minutes, not the seats
In the outbound table the seats are 2.6 to 3.6 lakh and the minutes 2.85 lakh. On a sales floor the metered line equals the licence line, and it is the one vendors are quietest about. A quote at 2,999 a seat with minutes at 80 paise costs more than one at 3,499 with minutes at 45 paise once each agent talks for more than about an hour a day. Ask for the per-minute rate to mobiles in writing, and what it becomes at 50,000 minutes a month. Inbound is different: incoming minutes are bundled or priced at 50 paise to 1.50, so a support desk's bill is mostly seats and numbers, and the flat plan wins.
The dialler is what you are paying for
An agent dialling by hand talks for about an hour and a half in an eight-hour day. A progressive or predictive dialler, which dials ahead and hands the agent a live call, pushes that to three hours or more. Then ten agents make the calls fifteen made before, and the five salaries saved, 11 to 15 lakh a year, pay for the whole platform and its minutes. A product without a dialler is not cheaper on a sales floor; it is a different product.
The regulation line
Promotional calls must go out from a 140-series number, scrubbed against the do-not-disturb register before dialling; service calls from banks, insurers and increasingly everyone else move to the 160 series. Both need the business registered as a principal entity on a telecom operator's DLT platform, about 5,900 rupees once, which also covers SMS. Registration takes one to three weeks and no campaign starts without it.
What moves the price
- Seats against users. Some vendors count concurrent agents, others every login.
- Outbound minutes, the rate to mobiles, and the volume at which it drops.
- The dialler, included or 700 a user extra.
- Numbers: local, 140, 160 and 1800 series, each rented monthly.
- Integrations: a CRM screen-pop, WhatsApp on the same desk, and recording storage beyond the allowance.
When is building worth it?
Never for the telephony. Only licensed operators and their cloud telephony partners can carry calls on the Indian network, so every "custom call centre" sits on a provider's APIs and pays their per-minute rates. What a business legitimately builds is the layer on top: a screen that shows the customer's orders before the agent says hello, dialler logic tuned to a collections book, or a WhatsApp and voice queue with one history. One such layer costs 3 to 8 lakh, the single-feature range in our app development cost guide; a full agent desktop with queueing and reporting on a provider's APIs costs 10 to 25 lakh, then 15 to 25 percent of that a year.
It pays above about a hundred seats, where licences at 2,500 to 3,500 are 30 to 42 lakh a year, or when the workflow is the product, as for a BPO or a lender's collections floor. An AI voice agent in front of the queue is a separate decision, worked through in our AI voice agent cost guide: 3 to 6 rupees a connected minute, against roughly 6 for a human seat with salary, licence and minutes, so it wins on calls that need no judgement and hours nobody staffs, not on price per minute.
How to read a call centre software quote
- Ask the per-minute rate to mobiles, and the volume tiers.
- Ask whether the dialler is included and which kind.
- Ask how agents are counted: concurrent, named or every login.
- Ask what a 140 or 160-series number costs and who does the DLT registration.
- Ask for the recordings and call data export if you leave.
Questions people ask
How much does call centre software cost in India?
About 1,000 to 3,500 rupees per agent a month on Freshcaller, Knowlarity, Smartflo or Acefone, 5,000 to 15,000 a month flat for ten users on MyOperator, or prepaid Exotel bundles of 10,000 to 50,000 rupees, plus 40 to 80 paise a minute outbound, 500 to 2,500 a month per number and 18 percent GST.
What does a combined calling and WhatsApp platform cost for a 10-agent team?
About 2.5 to 4.5 lakh in the first year, or 2,000 to 3,700 an agent a month: seats, a local and a toll-free number, a WhatsApp inbox on a provider, Meta's per-message fees, DLT registration and headsets. The WhatsApp half rises with conversations, not agents.
Is MyOperator cheaper than per-agent call centre software?
For up to ten users, yes: 5,000 a month is 500 a user with calling included, against 1,000 to 3,500 plus minutes on per-agent plans. It stops being cheaper when you need the dialler at 700 a user, more than ten users, or a suite's queueing and reporting.
Do I need DLT registration to run a call centre?
For promotional calls, yes: they must come from a 140-series number scrubbed against the do-not-disturb register, and the 140 and 160 series both require registration on an operator's DLT platform, about 5,900 rupees once. Inbound support on a local or toll-free number does not need it; sending SMS does.
Can an AI voice agent replace a call centre seat?
Per minute it costs about the same: 3 to 6 rupees a connected minute on a platform against roughly 6 for a human seat with salary, licence and minutes counted. The saving is in calls that need no judgement, reminders, confirmations and status checks, and in hours nobody staffs.
How much does custom call centre software cost?
Ten to 25 lakh for a full agent desktop with dialler logic, queueing and reporting on a licensed provider's APIs, or 3 to 8 lakh for one layer such as a CRM screen-pop or a shared WhatsApp and voice queue. Nobody should build the telephony; the licence to carry calls belongs to the operators.
Getting a real number
Ten agents on inbound: buy the flat plan and a WhatsApp inbox this week. An outbound floor: choose on the dialler and the per-minute rate, not the seat price. If your calls need a screen the vendors do not have, that layer is what we build, on the provider you already pay; see our web and SaaS development and Voice AI pages.