# What Number Masking Costs in India (2026)

> Number masking pricing in India 2026 - what per-minute rates cover, which charges appear separately, and how to model cost per order rather than cost per minute.

Source: https://edesy.in/blog/what-number-masking-costs-india-2026

**Short answer:** Edesy number masking is **₹1.50 per minute**, pay as you go, with two-way
masking, call recording, real-time analytics, API access, webhook events and the self-serve portal
included rather than charged separately. Enterprise pricing is available for high volume. Current
detail is on the [pricing page](https://edesy.in/number-masking/pricing).

The per-minute rate is the easy part to compare. The parts that actually move a bill are below.

## What Gets Charged Separately Elsewhere

When comparing providers, these are the line items that turn a cheap headline rate into a
surprising invoice:

| Charge | Why it appears | What to ask |
|---|---|---|
| Number rental | A monthly fee per number in your pool | Is pool rental separate from per-minute? |
| Recording storage | Free to record, charged to retain | How long is retention, and what after? |
| API request fees | Charged per session create or per call | Is the API metered separately? |
| Minimum commitment | A floor regardless of usage | Is there a monthly minimum? |
| Two-way as an upgrade | One-way in base, two-way costs more | Is bidirectional included? |
| Webhook delivery | Charged per event | Are events included? |

The pattern to watch for is a low per-minute rate paired with per-number monthly rental. Masking
is number-heavy by nature — see [pool sizing](https://edesy.in/blog/how-many-masked-numbers-do-you-need-2026) —
so rental scales with your concurrency, and on a large pool it can exceed the call charges
entirely.

## Model Cost Per Order, Not Per Minute

Per-minute pricing is not the number that tells you whether this is affordable. Your business
cares about **cost per order**:

> Cost per order = average masked minutes per order × rate

Worked example. A delivery platform where a typical order generates two masked calls averaging
90 seconds each:

- Masked minutes per order: 3
- Rate: ₹1.50/min
- **Cost per order: ₹4.50**

Compare that against your take rate per order, not against a competitor's per-minute rate. For
most marketplaces the number lands in single-digit rupees against a take rate measured in tens or
hundreds — which is why the decision is usually about capability rather than price.

Then check the sensitivity: what happens if average call duration doubles? At 6 minutes an order
it is ₹9. Still small. If your model breaks at that point, the problem is the margin, not masking.

## Levers That Genuinely Reduce Cost

**End sessions when the order completes.** This is the biggest one and it is free. Sessions left
to expire on a timer hold numbers that could be serving other orders, inflating the pool you need.

**Right-size the pool.** Over-provisioning is quiet, continuous waste. Instrument utilisation and
size to your real peak rather than a comfortable guess.

**Be deliberate about recording.** Recording every call is the default choice, not necessarily the
correct one. If you only need recordings for disputes, consider whether every call needs to be
retained — and for how long.

**Check what your calls actually cost you in duration.** A confusing IVR or a bad routing rule
adds seconds to every masked call. At scale, trimming ten seconds off an average call is a real
line item.

## Where Cutting Costs Backfires

- **Under-sizing the pool.** Saving on numbers by running at 95% utilisation means allocation
  failures at peak — orders with no contact path, which cost far more than the numbers would have.
- **Turning off recording entirely.** Fine until the first serious dispute, when the absence of a
  recording is the expensive part.
- **Choosing one-way to save money.** It does not save money — a one-way session consumes the same
  number — and it drops the callback. See
  [one-way vs two-way](https://edesy.in/blog/one-way-vs-two-way-number-masking-2026).

## What "Cheapest" Usually Hides

A materially lower headline rate normally means one of: two-way is an upgrade, numbers are rented
separately, recording retention is short or charged, there is a monthly minimum, or support is
limited. None of those are dishonest — they are just a different packaging, and you only find out
which by asking the six questions in the table above.

## Getting a Real Number for Your Case

The fastest way to a credible estimate is to run a small pilot rather than model it. Create a few
sessions on the [self-serve portal](https://masking.edesy.in), run a week of real orders through
them, and measure your actual average masked minutes per order. That figure is the one your whole
model rests on, and it is almost never the one people guess.

See [number masking ROI](https://edesy.in/number-masking/guides/number-masking-roi) for the fuller business case.

## Related Reading

- [Number masking for marketplaces and gig platforms](https://edesy.in/blog/number-masking-for-marketplaces-gig-platforms-2026)
- [How many masked numbers do you need](https://edesy.in/blog/how-many-masked-numbers-do-you-need-2026)
- [Choosing a number masking provider](https://edesy.in/number-masking/guides/choosing-number-masking-provider)
- [Number masking for delivery and logistics fleets](https://edesy.in/blog/number-masking-delivery-logistics-fleets-2026)
- [Number masking pricing](https://edesy.in/number-masking/pricing)