Updated June 2026

How Much Does an AI Answering Service Cost in Canada?

You’re missing calls. You know it’s costing you money. But when you start shopping for a solution, the pricing is all over the map — per-minute fees here, base rates there, annual contracts somewhere else. Here’s a straight breakdown of what each option actually costs a Canadian small business in 2026, with real dollar amounts in CAD.

The Three Options (and What They Actually Cost)

When a customer calls your business and nobody picks up, you have three ways to fix that: hire someone to sit at a desk, pay a call centre to answer for you, or use an AI receptionist. Each one works. Each one costs a very different amount. Here’s the quick summary before we break each one down:

• In-house receptionist:$50,000–$60,000/year all-in (salary, benefits, equipment, training)
• Human answering service:$200–$1,000/month depending on call volume, with per-minute fees on top
• AI receptionist:$99–$399/month flat rate, no per-minute surprises

The gap is big enough that it changes what makes sense for most small businesses. Let’s look at each one properly.

Human Answering Services: $200–$1,000/Month

A human answering service is exactly what it sounds like: you forward your calls to a call centre, and a real person picks up using your business name and a script you provide. They take a message, maybe transfer the call, and email or text you the details.

The model has been around for decades, and it works. The problem is the pricing.

Most Canadian answering services charge $0.75–$1.50 per minute, often with a monthly minimum. Some have a base fee ($50–$150/month) plus per-minute charges on top. Others bundle a block of minutes and charge overages when you go past it.

Here’s where it gets expensive fast. Say you get 100 calls a month, and each call averages 3 minutes. That’s 300 minutes. At $0.75/minute, you’re paying $225 just in usage fees, before the base rate. At $1.50/minute, it’s $450. Add a $100 base fee and you’re looking at $325–$550/month. Busy month? Could easily push past $700.

The other catch:quality varies. You might get a sharp operator who sounds like they work for you, or you might get someone juggling six other businesses who sounds like they’re reading a script for the first time (because they are). After-hours coverage often costs extra. And the scripts tend to feel generic — callers can usually tell they’re talking to a service, not your business.

If you’re curious what those missed calls are actually costing you right now, we put together a guide on the real cost of missed calls with the math broken down.

AI Receptionists: $99–$399/Month

An AI receptionist answers your phone the way a human would — greeting callers by name, answering common questions about your business, collecting their details, and sending you a summary by text or email. The difference is that it costs a fraction of a human service, it doesn’t charge per minute, and it sounds the same on call number one as it does on call number two hundred.

Most AI receptionist services in Canada charge a flat monthly fee between $99 and $399 CAD. No per-minute surcharges, no overage anxiety, no surprise bills at the end of a busy month. You know what you’re paying before the month starts.

The trade-off is honest: an AI receptionist handles about 95% of calls perfectly — taking messages, answering FAQs, capturing details, routing urgent calls. The other 5% are edge cases where a caller has an unusual request or wants to explain something complicated. For those, the AI takes a detailed message and you call back. Most business owners find that’s a better deal than paying five times more for a human to handle 100% of calls.

And unlike voicemail, callers actually talk to the AI. They don’t hang up. They don’t call your competitor. They have a conversation, leave their details, and you get a text summary before the caller’s even put their phone down.

Hiring a Full-Time Receptionist: $35,000+/Year

This is the option everyone considers first, and the one that costs more than most people calculate.

The salary alone for a receptionist in Canada runs $35,000–$45,000 per year. But salary is just the start. Here’s what the real number looks like:

• Salary:$35,000–$45,000
• CPP and EI contributions: ~$3,500/year
• Benefits(health, dental, if you offer them): $3,000–$6,000/year
• Desk, phone, computer:$2,000–$5,000 upfront
• Training: weeks of your time showing them how your business works
• Vacation:two weeks minimum where you’re back to voicemail
• Sick days: same problem
• After hours: not covered at all

Add it all up and a full-time receptionist realistically costs $50,000–$60,000 per year. And they only cover 40 hours a week. Evenings, weekends, holidays, lunch breaks — those calls go to voicemail. That’s fine for a busy medical office or a law firm with enough volume to justify the cost. For a plumbing company, a salon, a restaurant, or a trades business with 5–15 employees? It’s hard to make the math work.

For context: an AI receptionist at $99/month costs $1,188 per year. Even the top-tier plan at $399/month is $4,788/year. That’s roughly one-tenth the cost of a person, with 24/7 coverage instead of 9-to-5.

GetFavours Pricing Breakdown

We built GetFavours specifically for Canadian small businesses that need their phones answered properly without spending $50,000 a year on staff or $500 a month on a call centre. Here’s what each plan includes:

Small Favour — $99/mo CAD

One phone line with an AI receptionist (her name is Sarah) that answers calls, takes messages, and texts you a summary after every conversation. Covers business hours. Includes up to 100 minutes of calls per month. This is the plan for businesses that get a manageable number of calls but can’t afford to miss any of them.

Big Favour — $249/mo CAD

Everything in Small, plus 300 minutes per month and booking integration so Sarah can schedule appointments directly into your calendar, with CRM/Zapier support. Extras like after-hours coverage, multiple phone lines, and call routing to specific team members depend on your plan and are scoped together on your demo call. This is the plan most service businesses land on.

Whole Favour — $399/mo CAD

Everything in Big, plus unlimited minutes, custom call flows tailored to your exact business, and multi-location support — scoped together. Exact inclusions depend on your plan and are scoped on your demo call. Built for businesses that take a high volume of calls or have complex call flows.

All plans are month-to-month. No contracts, no per-minute charges, and $0 setup for founding-ten businesses. Full details are on the pricing page.

Side-by-Side: Annual Cost Comparison

Here’s what each option costs per year, so you can see them next to each other:

All prices in CAD. Human answering service costs assume 100 calls/mo at 3 minutes each. In-house costs include salary, benefits, equipment, and employer contributions.

Frequently Asked Questions

What’s the cheapest answering service for small businesses in Canada?

AI receptionist services are the most affordable option right now. GetFavours starts at $99/mo CAD with no per-minute charges, no contracts, and $0 setup for founding-ten businesses. Human answering services typically start at $200/month plus per-minute fees that can push your total to $500–$1,000/month depending on how many calls you get. Check our pricing page for current plan details.

Are there hidden fees with AI answering services?

With GetFavours, the monthly price is the monthly price. $0 setup for founding-ten businesses, no per-minute charges, no long-term contracts. You can cancel any time. Some competitors charge per call or per minute on top of a base fee, so it’s always worth asking “what’s the total cost if I get 100 calls this month?” before you sign up anywhere.

Can I try an AI answering service before committing?

Yes. GetFavours offers a free demo so you can hear exactly how Sarah handles calls for your type of business. You can also call our live demo right now at (807) 300-9458 to have a conversation with Sarah yourself, or book a demo and we’ll walk through your specific setup.

Last updated June 2026. Pricing reflects publicly available information at the time of writing. GetFavours is our product, so we’re naturally biased — but the comparison numbers are based on real market rates. If anything here is inaccurate, let us know.