How much does an AI receptionist cost in Canada in 2026?

Per minute, per call or per credit: what each unit makes you pay

A per-minute plan counts time on the phone. It costs little when calls are short and rare; it runs out fast when your customers take the time to describe water damage, a symptom or a file. A six-minute call uses as much as three two-minute calls.

A per-call plan counts conversations, whatever their length. You budget the month by counting your calls, without timing anyone. This is the unit Zenvox uses: one answered conversation is one call, whether it lasts one minute or ten.

A credit plan converts each action into units, on a grid set by the provider: a call, a minute, a text or a written reply are not worth the same number of credits. To compare it, convert a normal month of your business into its grid.

Flat plans with no stated cap exist too. Read the terms of use, where a limit can be written somewhere other than the pricing page.

What the listed price includes

Read the included volume before the price itself: an entry plan can count a few dozen minutes or several hundred. Then read what comes with it: a local number, call languages, the summary after the call, booking. Two plans at the same price can buy two different services.

At Zenvox, every plan includes 50 Standard calls and 1 local number. Your receptionist answers in the evening and on weekends, in English and French, asks the questions of your trade, books appointments in your calendar, texts back a customer whose call was missed and sends you a text summary after every call. These tasks are part of the base plan in all eight industries.

Other tasks are added when they help: the email inbox, Instagram, Messenger and WhatsApp messages, Google review requests, or add-ons specific to your industry, such as estimates for a contractor or reminders for a clinic. You choose them yourself, and the free trial includes them.

After the 50 included calls, you add volume from your workspace in seconds, and you follow your usage there live.

Setup fees and the contract

Some providers charge for setup: configuring the agent, writing the script, an onboarding session. Others state it at zero, and others do not mention it. A fee a page does not mention is not a fee that does not exist: ask in writing before you pay.

Zenvox charges no installation, setup or activation fee. You set up your receptionist yourself, starting from your email, with no consultation and no API key: it reads your website, you confirm the useful facts, then you hand it a first task.

The contract matters as much as the price. A monthly plan with no commitment can be left the following month; an agreement of a year or more cannot. Read the commitment length and the notice period before the amount. At Zenvox, the plan is monthly with no contract.

An AI receptionist or an answering service

A telephone answering service puts a person on the line. Its price follows that person's time: minutes of conversation, or calls handled one by one. The longer your customers talk, the more the month costs.

An AI receptionist does not carry that per-minute cost of a person. At Zenvox, the monthly plan covers 50 calls, whether they last one minute or ten, evenings and weekends included. At equal volume, that is what generally makes it cheaper than an answering service: the difference comes from how the price works, not from a promotion.

A person keeps the edge in a delicate conversation, where judgement matters more than speed: a complaint, a negotiation, bad news. If your calls are mainly of that kind, a human answering service is worth its price. If they are requests to note, appointments to book and emergencies to recognize, an AI receptionist does that work without you paying a person by the minute.

An AI receptionist or a hire

A hire compares in hours of presence, not in calls: a wage, employer payroll costs, vacation, cover during time off, and a schedule that stops in the evening. The Government of Canada's Job Bank publishes wages by occupation and by region, receptionists included: that is the source to check for your city.

Then compare the hourly wage published for your region with the monthly price of your plan.

The two do not do the same work. A person at the front desk greets people at the counter, files, invoices and settles what cannot be settled by phone. An AI receptionist takes the calls nobody is free to take: in the evening, on weekends, while you are on a job site or with a customer. The two combine: the person by day, the receptionist for the rest, or for the calls that overflow.

What changes from one province to another

Currency and taxes. Zenvox shows its prices in Canadian dollars, before tax; sales taxes are added according to your province. A plan published in US dollars converts at the day's rate, which the table does not do for you.

Languages. A call can come in English or French anywhere in the country. Check that the receptionist understands both without a paid add-on: at Zenvox, English and French are in every plan.

The number. Every plan includes a local number. You can also keep your current number and forward it to your receptionist, when you are busy or all the time.

In Quebec, Law 25 adds to the federal privacy law: ask each provider where your recordings are kept and where the voice is processed in real time. Zenvox's answer is written at the bottom of this page.