An AI receptionist for Canadian businesses, on the number you already have.
Answers the first ring at any hour, in English, French or 90 other languages, books the appointment and pages you when it matters. Billed by the second, in Canadian dollars.
No phone needed — call directly from your browser. 5-minute demo.
An AI receptionist answers your business line the moment it rings, 24/7, understands the caller, books the appointment and routes what is urgent. BotsDontSleep.ai runs one on your existing Canadian number for $0 setup and $0.60 CAD per answered minute, billed by the second, with no contract, in English, French and 90+ languages.
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers your phone the way a trained front-desk person would: it greets the caller, works out what they need, answers from your own services and prices, books into your calendar, and transfers or pages a person when the rules you set say so. It never puts a caller on hold because it is already on another call, and it never invents an answer; when it does not know, it takes a message and says so.
The difference from an answering service is who picks up and how you pay. A live service staffs people in shifts and sells minutes or calls in monthly bundles. An AI receptionist is always available, speaks whichever language the caller uses, and here is billed only for the seconds it is actually talking.
What does an AI receptionist cost in Canada?
Published pricing for the AI receptionists that serve Canadian businesses, read from each provider's own site or listing on October 15, 2026. Currency is as each provider states it; verify on their site before buying. The full 2026 price index covers 20 providers, human and AI, with the same 300-minute month priced on each.
| Provider | Based | Published pricing | Billing model | Setup fee | Contract |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BotsDontSleep.ai | Toronto, Ontario | $0.60 CAD per answered minute, billed by the second | Pay per minute, no plan | $0 | None, no minimum |
| Voxara AI | Canada | $49 to $597 CAD a month for 100 to 2,000 minutes; overage $0.30 to $0.45 a minute | Monthly minute pools | None stated | Month to month |
| Polaris Voice | Toronto, Ontario | $84 to $254 a month for 150 to 1,500 minutes; overage $0.30 to $0.75 a minute; 7-day trial | Monthly minute pools | None listed | Month to month, 15% off annual |
| Dialbox | Canada | $129 to $999 CAD a month for pools of 100 to 900 AI-handled calls; no per-minute billing; 7-day trial | Monthly call pools, bundled with a business phone line | Not listed | Monthly or annual |
| ai-receptionist.com | Serves the US and Canada | $14 to $199 a month for 75 to 1,000 minutes; extra minutes $0.25; 7-day trial | Monthly minute pools | None | None, cancel anytime |
| Ask Benny | Canada | $99 to $399 CAD a month for 300 to 2,500 minutes (Starter, Business Pro, Enterprise); overage $0.35 to $0.45 a minute; 7-day trial | Monthly minute pools | None | None; 25% off annual billing |
| Virtual Assistant Canada (Zara) | Canada | $99 to $269 CAD a month, built for you, per its site in October 2026 | Monthly plans | Not read | Not read |
| RingCentral AI Receptionist | US, available in Canada | Price on request; standalone or add-on licence | Per-licence | Not published | Per RingCentral plan |
Worked example: 200 calls a month averaging three minutes is 600 minutes. Here that is $360 CAD with nothing else to buy. On a 300-minute plan it is the plan fee plus 300 minutes of overage; on a 1,000-minute plan it is the full plan fee whether you use the minutes or not. The right model depends on how steady your volume is: pools reward predictable volume, per-second billing rewards seasonal or after-hours volume.
Which AI receptionists serve Canada?
Voxara AI builds a fully custom agent on every plan, with human transfer available from the Growth plan up.
Polaris Voice is a Toronto provider selling minute plans, with a dedicated success manager on its top tier.
Dialbox bundles the AI with a business phone line, booking and texting, priced per call pool rather than per minute.
ai-receptionist.com has the lowest entry price of the group, answers in English and French, and serves the US and Canada.
Ask Benny markets itself to Canadian small businesses by industry, with English and French on every plan and minute pools from 300 a month.
Virtual Assistant Canada builds the agent for you on monthly plans.
RingCentral offers its AI receptionist as an add-on inside a phone-system subscription.
BotsDontSleep.ai is the per-minute option: no plan to pick, no pool to run out of, and two named live deployments in Ontario you can read about on the homepage.
Does it answer in French?
Yes, including Quebec French. The receptionist detects the caller's language in the first sentence and continues in it, and it follows a caller who switches mid-sentence, which matters in Montreal, Ottawa and Moncton where many calls do exactly that. A bilingual line needs no menu and no second number.
Which Canadian cities do we answer for?
Every one with a phone line; calls travel over the network, not to an office. Our local pages:
See the Canada-wide answering service page and the eight AI virtual receptionist pages.
How is an AI receptionist different from an answering service or a virtual receptionist?
An answering service is the broad category: anything that picks up your line when you cannot, from a staffed call centre to software. A virtual receptionist is the front-desk version of that idea — it books, routes and answers questions rather than only taking messages. An AI receptionist is the software form of both: always on, unlimited calls at once, billed for the seconds it talks.
For the money side, the answering service cost page runs the numbers on real call volumes, and the blog compares the best AI receptionist services for small businesses and breaks down what an AI receptionist costs.
AI receptionist vs. a monthly-plan AI vs. a live answering service
| Feature | BotsDontSleep.ai AI receptionist | Monthly-plan AI receptionist | Live answering service |
|---|---|---|---|
| Answer speed | Under one second, every call | Under one second, every call | Depends on agents on shift |
| Hours covered | 24/7/365 at one rate | 24/7/365 at the plan rate | Business hours, after-hours costs more |
| Languages | 90+ including French | Varies by provider | English, French on request |
| Calls at once | Unlimited | Unlimited | Limited by staffed agents |
| What you buy | Nothing in advance | A monthly minute or call pool | A minute bundle plus overage |
| A quiet month | Bills less | Same plan fee | Same bundle fee |
| Setup fee | $0 | Usually $0 | Often charged |
| Knowledge of your business | Trained on your services and prices | Varies by plan | Call script |
AI receptionist FAQs
Frequently asked
- What does an AI receptionist cost in Canada?
- BotsDontSleep.ai charges $0 setup and $0.60 CAD per answered minute, billed by the second, with no monthly minimum. Monthly-plan providers in Canada run roughly $49 to $999 a month for pools of minutes or calls, with overage rates on top. The right model depends on how steady your call volume is.
- Is the price in Canadian dollars?
- Yes. The $0.60 per minute rate is CAD, so there is no exchange-rate line on the invoice. Some providers serving Canada bill in US dollars, which adds a conversion cost to every month.
- Do I need a new phone number?
- No. You forward your existing number, so your published number, business cards and Google listing stay exactly as they are. Callers dial the same number they always have.
- Does it work in French and English on the same call?
- Yes. The receptionist detects the caller's language in the first sentence and continues in it, and it follows a caller who switches mid-sentence. A bilingual line needs no menu and no second number.
- How does it handle six time zones?
- Coverage is 24/7/365, so a 7 a.m. call in Newfoundland and an 11 p.m. call in Victoria are answered identically. Booking rules follow each location's own business hours, which you set during onboarding.
- Can it book into my calendar?
- Yes. The receptionist reads live availability from your calendar or booking system, offers real open slots, confirms the booking, and sends an SMS or email summary before the call ends.
- What happens to an emergency call at 2 a.m.?
- Urgent calls are triaged against the rules you define and paged to the on-call person by call, SMS or email. Non-urgent calls are logged, and the caller is booked for the next business day.
- Does the caller know it is an AI?
- Disclosure is on by default: the receptionist says it is an AI assistant when it greets the caller. You can adjust the wording during setup, but we recommend keeping it — callers book anyway, and honesty avoids an awkward moment later.
- Is there a contract or minimum?
- No. There is no contract, no monthly minimum and no cancellation fee. A quiet month simply costs less, which is the main reason seasonal businesses prefer per-second billing over a plan.
- How long until it is live?
- Most deployments go live within one week. We connect your existing number, train the agent on your services, prices and booking rules, run test calls with you, and launch after your review.
- What does it do when it does not know an answer?
- It takes a message and says so. The receptionist never invents an answer; anything outside its trained knowledge becomes a message with the caller's details, delivered to you by SMS or email.
- Can I hear it before I sign up?
- Yes. Call the demo line at 437-494-9110 and ask for Maryann — that is the live receptionist, answering the way it would answer for your business. No appointment needed.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Pricing and capability details verified against our current service.
Put an AI receptionist on your number
Forward your existing Canadian number and get a 24/7 AI receptionist for $0 setup and $0.60 CAD per answered minute. Live demos available at botsdontsleep.ai/contact.