The average cost per minute can be higher than the base rate because Vapi charges $0.05/min, but additional provider costs (like GPT-4o, speech-to-text, etc.) are passed through and can increase your total per-minute cost. This could explain why you see ~$0.16/min on your dashboard, even if the model rate is $0.08/min.
Actionable step:
Check your [Vapi billing page](
https://dashboard.vapi.ai/org/billing) for a detailed breakdown of charges and provider costs to identify where the extra cost is coming from.
If you need more details about the sudden change in free minutes or credits, contacting Vapi support may clarify recent changes to the free tier or credit system.
Sources:
- [Vapi Pricing](
https://docs.vapi.ai/pricing)
- [Discord discussion](
https://discord.com/channels/1211482211119796234/1369028756592791662)
- [Changelog Nov 30, 2024](
https://docs.vapi.ai/changelog/2024/11/30)