Cold calling economics
How much does it really cost to cold call with Twilio?
Short answer
For one rep on the phone about two hours a day, Twilio costs roughly $5–7/month in call minutes plus ~$1.15/month per phone number — call it $6–8/rep/month. That's because outbound US calls are about $0.014/minute. The catch isn't Twilio's price; it's that most dialer apps charge $30–169 per user/month on top to use it.
What Twilio actually charges
Twilio bills usage, not seats. The three line items that matter for outbound sales calling:
| Item | Approx. price (US) | How it's billed |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound call | ~$0.014/min | Per minute, rounded up |
| Local phone number | ~$1.15/mo | Monthly, per number |
| Toll-free number | ~$2.00/mo | Monthly, per number |
| Call recording | ~$0.0025/min | Per minute recorded + storage |
| Outbound SMS | ~$0.0079/msg | Per segment + carrier fees |
Prices are approximate and change — check Twilio's pricing page for current rates. International calls cost more, sometimes a lot more.
A realistic monthly estimate
A productive cold caller makes roughly 100–150 dials a day. Most don't connect, so actual talk time is usually 1.5–2.5 hours a day. At ~$0.014/min, two hours of talk time is about $1.70/day, or roughly $35–40/month of minutes for a rep dialing hard every working day — plus the number. Here's the math at a few team sizes (heavy usage, ~2 hrs talk/day/rep):
The pattern: Twilio scales with how much you actually talk; per-seat dialers scale with headcount. A rep who barely calls still costs a full seat on Aircall or Close, but costs almost nothing on Twilio.
The fees people forget
- A2P 10DLC (if you text): US carriers require you to register a "brand" and campaign before sending business SMS. It's a one-time brand fee (~$4) plus a small monthly campaign fee. Voice calling doesn't need it.
- Carrier surcharges: some destination carriers add a fraction of a cent per minute on top of Twilio's rate.
- Recording storage: recordings cost a sliver per minute to make and to store. Cheap, but not zero at high volume.
- Number reputation: not a Twilio fee, but if your numbers get flagged as "Scam Likely" you'll buy and rotate more of them. Budget a few extra $1.15 numbers.
So why do dialer apps cost so much more?
Most dialers resell telephony with a markup and bundle it into a per-seat subscription. You're paying for their software and their margin on minutes. With a bring-your-own-carrier (BYOC) setup you connect directly to Twilio at wholesale rates and only pay a vendor (if any) for the software layer. That's the entire reason a free dialer on your own Twilio can be 70–90% cheaper than Aircall, Close, or PhoneBurner.
DialSheet is the software layer — for $0
It's a free, open-source power dialer and CRM that runs on your own Twilio account. You pay Twilio the numbers above and nothing to us. Setup takes about five minutes.
Start calling freeCommon questions
How much does Twilio charge per minute for outbound calls?
Outbound calls to US/Canada landlines and mobiles are about $0.014 per minute on Twilio at the time of writing, billed per minute (rounded up). Calls to other countries cost more. You also pay a small per-call carrier surcharge on some routes.
What does a Twilio phone number cost?
A US local phone number is about $1.15/month. Toll-free numbers are about $2/month. You can buy and release numbers any time, and you can rotate several local numbers to improve answer rates.
Is calling on Twilio cheaper than a per-seat dialer?
For most teams, yes. A rep on the phone ~2 hours/day costs roughly $5–7/month in Twilio minutes plus the $1.15 number. Per-seat dialers charge $30–169/user/month regardless of usage, so the savings grow with team size.
Are there hidden Twilio fees for sales calling?
The main ones to know: per-minute carrier surcharges on some routes, recordings storage (a fraction of a cent per minute), and — if you text — A2P 10DLC registration (a one-time brand fee plus a small monthly campaign fee). Voice calling itself has no setup fee.