How much does an AI receptionist cost in Canada? (2026)
An owner who misses calls has 4 choices: hire someone, pay a live answering service, let it go to voicemail, or use an AI receptionist. Here is what each one costs a Canadian business this year, per month and per answered call, with the arithmetic shown so you can redo it with your own numbers.
The short answer
An AI receptionist in Canada costs from $39.99 to $249.99 a month on AskMuse, depending on how many calls you get. A full-time receptionist costs about $3,922 a month once the employer's share of CPP and EI is added, before vacation pay or benefits. A live answering service typically starts at $175 to $350 a month for a small block of minutes. Voicemail costs nothing extra, and answers nobody.
What a full-time receptionist costs in Canada
The Government of Canada's Job Bank puts the median wage for receptionists (NOC 14101) at $21.00 an hour across Canada, from Statistics Canada's Labour Force Survey (reference period 2023-2024, updated 19 November 2025). Provincial medians run from $19.23 in Manitoba to $24.00 in British Columbia; Ontario is $20.50 and Quebec is $20.00.
At the national median, full time:
- $21.00 × 40 hours × 52 weeks = $43,680 a year, or $3,640.00 a month.
- Employer CPP in 2026 is 5.95% of pay above the $3,500 basic exemption: $2,390.71 a year.
- Employer EI in 2026 is 1.4 times the employee rate of $1.63 per $100, so $2.282 per $100: $996.78 a year.
- Together: $3,922.29 a month, before vacation pay, benefits, workers' compensation or the cost of hiring.
For that, you get a person at the desk for 40 of the week's 168 hours. Evenings, weekends, lunch, sick days and the moment they are already on another call still need an answer.
What a live answering service costs
A live answering service is a team of operators who pick up your line, usually to take a message. Typical published pricing in Canada, read on 1 October 2026, starts at roughly $175 to $350 a month for 50 to 100 minutes, with minutes past the block commonly billed at about $1 to $3 each. Setup fees, after-hours or holiday surcharges and minimum billing per call are common, and some plans are billed in US dollars. Check what counts as a minute and what happens on a busy month before you sign.
What voicemail really costs
Voicemail is usually included in your phone plan, so it costs $0 extra. Its cost is the callers who hang up instead of leaving a message, and those calls never show up on any bill. We will not quote a statistic for how many there are: the figures in circulation come from companies selling answering. You can count your own. Your phone's call log shows every missed call; your voicemail shows how many left a message. The difference is the work that went somewhere else.
What an AI receptionist costs in Canada
An AI receptionist answers your calls itself, 24 hours a day, in a natural voice. AskMuse plans are counted in calls, not minutes, and a call up to 10 minutes counts as 1 call:
| Plan | Per month | Calls included | Per call |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solo | $39.99 | 40 | $1.00 |
| Starter | $59.99 | 100 | 60¢ |
| Pro | $99.99 | 200 | 50¢ |
| Growth | $169.99 | 350 | 49¢ |
| Scale | $249.99 | 650 | 38¢ |
Canadian dollars, before tax. Annual billing saves 20%. Spam and calls under 15 seconds never count. Past the allowance, talk time is $0.18 a minute. A second business line is $15 a month on any plan. Call recordings are included from Pro, or $4.99 a month on Solo and Starter.
On every plan, including Solo:
- She answers every call, nights and weekends, in English and French.
- She books the appointment into Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple iCloud, and texts the caller a confirmation.
- Every caller's name and number is kept, even on a 20-second hang-up, and the lead is texted to you when the call ends.
- You get a full transcript of every call in your dashboard.
Live transfer to you starts on Starter. Other languages start on Pro. Up to 10 calls at once starts on Growth. Setup is free: about 15 minutes yourself, or we do it with you. There is a 7-day free trial and no contract.
AI receptionist cost per answered call: a worked example
Take a business that gets 100 calls a month, and assume each call runs about 3 minutes. That length is our assumption for the example; put in your own.
| Option | Monthly cost | Per answered call | Calls it answers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full-time receptionist | $3,922.29 | $39.22 | Those during the 40 hours they work |
| Live answering service | $300 to $900 (300 minutes at $1 to $3) | $3 to $9 | Most, usually as a message |
| Voicemail | $0 extra | None answered | 0; some callers leave a message |
| AI receptionist (AskMuse Starter) | $59.99 | 60¢ | All 100, any hour, and books them |
How to read it. The receptionist line divides a full month's pay by 100 calls; a busy office gets more value from a person than calls alone show, and a quiet one gets less. The answering-service line uses per-minute pricing only; a bundle can come out lower or higher. The AskMuse line is the list price of the plan that covers 100 calls.
Which one fits your business
- Hire a person when the job is more than the phone: greeting walk-ins, paperwork, a front desk that needs someone at it.
- Use an answering service when you want a human voice taking messages and the per-minute bill fits your call volume.
- Use an AI receptionist when the calls you miss are the ones that would have booked: after hours, on the job, or 2 at once.
- Stay on voicemail only if your call log shows almost every missed caller leaves a message and you call them back the same day.
You can also run 2 together: a person in office hours and an AI receptionist for everything else. For the same choice row by row, from hours covered to setup time, see AskMuse vs a receptionist vs an answering service vs voicemail.
AI receptionist cost: questions owners ask
How much does an AI receptionist cost per month in Canada?
On AskMuse, from $39.99 a month for 40 calls on Solo to $249.99 a month for 650 calls on Scale, in Canadian dollars before tax. A call up to 10 minutes counts as 1 call, and annual billing saves 20%.
Is an AI receptionist cheaper than hiring a receptionist?
On cost alone, yes. A full-time receptionist at the national median wage of $21.00 an hour costs about $3,922 a month with the employer's CPP and EI, before vacation pay or benefits. AskMuse plans run from $39.99 to $249.99 a month and answer around the clock.
Are there extra fees on top of the plan?
Only if you go past your plan. Past the allowance, talk time is $0.18 a minute. A second business line is $15 a month, and call recordings are $4.99 a month on Solo and Starter (included from Pro). Setup is free and there is no contract.
Does the AI receptionist answer in French?
Yes, on every plan. She answers in English and French on the same number, from Solo up. Other languages start on Pro.
Can I try it before I pay?
Yes. There is a 7-day free trial on every receptionist plan; you pick the plan before the trial starts and can cancel any time before it ends. You can also call the demo line at (902) 707-6527 and hear her answer.
Sources
- Job Bank, Government of Canada: Receptionist (NOC 14101) wages in Canada. Median $21.00 an hour; reference period 2023-2024; updated 19 November 2025; source Labour Force Survey, Statistics Canada. Read 1 October 2026.
- Canada Revenue Agency: CPP contribution rates, maximums and exemptions. 2026: 5.95%, basic exemption $3,500. Read 1 October 2026.
- Canada Revenue Agency: EI premium rates and maximums. 2026: $1.63 per $100, employer 1.4 times. Read 1 October 2026.
- Live answering services: typical published pricing of services selling in Canada, read 1 October 2026. No company is named, by our own rule.
- AskMuse plans: askmuse.ca/pricing.