The open-source, self-hostable alternative to Vapi & Retell — build production voice agents with a drag-and-drop workflow builder. From zero to a working bot in under 2 minutes.
- 100% open source, self-hostable — no vendor lock-in, unlike Vapi or Retell
- Full control & transparency — every line of code is open, with flexible LLM / TTS / STT integration
- Maintained by YC alumni and exit founders, committed to keeping voice AI open
An honest comparison on the axes that matter most to teams evaluating voice AI platforms.
| Dograh | Vapi | Retell | |
|---|---|---|---|
| License | BSD 2-Clause (open source) | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Self-hostable | ✅ Yes — one Docker command | ❌ SaaS only | ❌ SaaS only |
| Pricing | Free (self-host) · usage-based (cloud) | Per-minute SaaS | Per-minute SaaS |
| Bring your own LLM / STT / TTS | ✅ Any provider, or use Dograh's stack | Configurable within their integrations | Configurable within their integrations |
| Source-level customization | ✅ Every line is yours to modify | ❌ Closed source | ❌ Closed source |
| Data residency | Your infra, your rules | Their cloud | Their cloud |
| Vendor lock-in | None | Full | Full |
Note We collect anonymous usage data to improve the product. You can opt out by setting the
ENABLE_TELEMETRYtofalsein the below command.
Note If you wish to run the platform on a remote server instead, checkout our Documentation
curl -o docker-compose.yaml https://raw.githubusercontent.com/dograh-hq/dograh/main/docker-compose.yaml && REGISTRY=ghcr.io/dograh-hq ENABLE_TELEMETRY=true docker compose up --pull alwaysNote First startup may take 2-3 minutes to download all images. Once running, open http://localhost:3010 to create your first AI voice assistant! For common issues and solutions, see 🔧 Troubleshooting.
- Open http://localhost:3010 in your browser.
- Pick Inbound or Outbound, name your bot (e.g. Lead Qualification), and describe the use case in 5–10 words (e.g. Screen insurance form submissions for purchase intent).
- Click Web Call — you're talking to your bot.
🔑 No API keys needed. Dograh ships with auto-generated keys and its own LLM / TTS / STT stack. Connect your own keys for LLM, TTS, STT, or Telephony (e.g. Twilio, Vonage, Telnyx) anytime.
- Telephony: Built-in telephony integration like Twilio, Vonage, Vobiz, Cloudonix (easily add others), with support for transferring calls to human agents
- Languages: English support (expandable to other languages)
- Custom Models: Bring your own TTS/STT models
- Real-time Processing: Low-latency voice interactions
- Zero Config Start: Auto-generated API keys for instant testing
- Python-Based: Built on Python for easy customization
- Docker-First: Containerized for consistent deployments
- Modular Architecture: Swap components as needed
- Test Mode: Try your agent end-to-end before publishing, with no production calls or data affected
- In-Dashboard Web Calls: Talk to your bot directly while building — no telephony setup required
- QA Node: A built-in workflow node that analyzes prompt quality across your other nodes
Refer Local Setup
For detailed deployment instructions including remote server setup with HTTPS, see our Docker Deployment Guide.
Visit https://www.dograh.com for our managed cloud offering.
You can go to https://docs.dograh.com for our documentation.
👋 Coming from the Better Stack video? Drop your use case in our pinned GitHub Discussion — we read every reply and the founders personally onboard early adopters.
- Slack — the cornerstone of Dograh AI contributions. Connect with maintainers, discuss features before coding, get help with setup, and stay current on contribution sprints.
- GitHub Discussions — share use cases, ask questions, swap workflow recipes.
- GitHub Issues — report bugs or request features.
👉 Join us → Dograh Community Slack
We love contributions! Dograh AI is 100% open source and we intend to keep it that way.
- Fork the repository
- Create your feature branch (git checkout -b feature/AmazingFeature)
- Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add some AmazingFeature')
- Push to the branch (git push origin feature/AmazingFeature)
- Open a Pull Request
Dograh AI is licensed under the BSD 2-Clause License- the same license as projects that were used in building Dograh AI, ensuring compatibility and freedom to use, modify, and distribute.
Built with ❤️ by Dograh (Zansat Technologies Private Limited) Founded by YC alumni and exit founders committed to keeping voice AI open and accessible to everyone.
