MB Automate phone answering — quick briefing Reddit / r/n8n roundup · Apr 27, 2026 You asked how to automate phone answering with n8n. Community responses clustered around three trade-offs: turnkey voice platforms (less control), modular stacks (more control, more code), and focusing on process — not just tooling — to recover missed calls. Top Stories Recommended stack: vapi.ai + n8n Best fit for n8n workflows that want real-time voice without reinventing STT/TTS inside n8n. vapi.ai webhook fires on call-start with {caller_id, transcript_so_far}. n8n acts as the workflow brain: webhook → DB/HTTP lookups → LLM decision → return text to vapi to speak. retellai works for voice-only but gives less control; watch for a known retellai gotcha — you must echo tool_call_id in the webhook response or audio output breaks. Twilio + Deepgram + OpenAI Realtime = maximum control, maximum code; avoid unless you need deep customization.…