AnswerConnect CA alternative
Hey Jodie answers your calls 24/7 from a flat C$99/month, with unlimited minutes and no per-minute meter.
Priya from Calgary
Jodie answering...
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12 seconds after the call started
Both answer 24/7. AnswerConnect Canada prices in Canadian dollars across tiered plans with a per-minute meter; Hey Jodie is a flat monthly price with unlimited minutes.
| Hey Jodie | AnswerConnect | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per call (60 calls/mo, 4 min avg) | C$3.32 per call (Professional) | C$7.08 per call (Growth plan) |
| Starting monthly price | From C$99/month (Basic) | C$325/month (Entry, 100 min) + C$75 setup |
| Included minutes | Unlimited on every plan | 100-450 by tier, then per-minute overage |
| Setup fee | C$0 on every plan | C$75 on Entry and Standard (C$0 on Best Value) |
| Pricing model | Flat monthly, unlimited minutes | Tiered + per-minute overage |
| Per-minute overage | C$0.50 (Basic only) | C$2.95/min Entry; C$2.75/min Best Value & Standard |
| Free trial | 7 days free, no card required | Book a demo call |
| Contract | Cancel anytime, no minimums | Month-to-month per their site |
| Who answers | Trained AI receptionist | Human receptionist, home-based across Canada |
| Setup time | Minutes - forward your phone | Onboarding call and script briefing |
| Average review rating | 4.82 out of 5 (56 reviews) | 4.9 out of 5 |
Figures reflect AnswerConnect's published Canadian rates on answerconnect.com/ca/ at the time of writing, all in Canadian dollars: Entry C$325 for 100 minutes, Growth (their 'Best value' plan) C$425 for 300 minutes, and Standard C$825 for 450 minutes, with a C$75 setup fee on Entry and Standard. AnswerConnect bills by the minute, not per call; the per-call figures are derived from a 60-call, 4-minute-average month. Hey Jodie pricing is published in full on the pricing page.
Slide the minutes you'd use - the calculator picks AnswerConnect's cheapest Canadian tier plus per-minute overage and compares to Hey Jodie's flat plan.
Cost calculator
Hey Jodie Basic
C$99/mo
Flat. Unlimited.
Competitor: Growth (Best value)
C$425/mo
C$425 base
You'd save
C$326/month (C$3,912/year)
AnswerConnect's Canadian tiers are from answerconnect.com/ca/ at the time of writing, in Canadian dollars: Entry (C$325, 100 min) and Standard (C$825, 450 min) add a one-off C$75 setup fee; Growth (C$425, 300 min), their 'Best value' plan, does not. Overage is C$2.95/min on Entry and C$2.75/min on Growth and Standard. The setup fee appears in the month-one math above when the cheapest tier for your usage is Entry or Standard. AnswerConnect bills by the minute, not per call. Hey Jodie Basic is flat monthly with unlimited minutes.
Verifiable from public information on answerconnect.com/ca/ and our pricing page - not marketing copy.
AnswerConnect's Best Value plan is C$425/month for 300 minutes, then C$2.75/min over. Hey Jodie's Professional plan is a flat C$199/month with unlimited minutes, so 60 calls is C$3.32 each and the price doesn't move when volume spikes.
C$3.32 per call on Hey Jodie Professional vs C$7.08 per call on the AnswerConnect Growth plan, at 60 calls a month.
AnswerConnect's Entry and Standard plans charge a C$75 setup fee and onboarding requires a scripting call. Hey Jodie has no setup fee on any plan - forward your phone and Jodie starts answering inside ten minutes.
C$0 setup on every Hey Jodie plan vs C$75 on AnswerConnect Entry and Standard.
AnswerConnect sells tiered receptionist plans on a per-minute meter suited to higher, script-heavy call volumes. Hey Jodie is built for the other end: roofers in Hamilton, accountants navigating CRA letters, electricians on jobs in Edmonton - at a flat price.
Flat C$99-399 with unlimited minutes, versus C$325-825 tiered plans metered by the minute.
AnswerConnect advertises a 4.9 review rating; Hey Jodie sits at 4.82 across 56 verified reviews. The reviews are the real comparison - here are four from real customers.
In our view, AnswerConnect could make its Canadian pricing easier to compare: at the time of writing it showed headline plans on answerconnect.com/ca/ but routed sign-up through a contact form, and the trial terms and billable-minute rules were not spelled out. Here is what each side puts in the open.
| Hey Jodie | AnswerConnect | |
|---|---|---|
Base monthly price | ||
Per-minute overage rate Hey Jodie has no per-minute meter. AnswerConnect publishes C$2.95/min on Entry and C$2.75/min on Growth and Standard. | ||
Setup fee Hey Jodie: C$0 on every plan. AnswerConnect: C$75 on Entry and Standard, C$0 on the Best Value plan. | ||
Free trial (no card) Hey Jodie offers 7 days free with no card. AnswerConnect advertises a trial but, at the time of writing, publishes no details of it on its website. | ||
Contract / notice period Hey Jodie: cancel any month from the dashboard. AnswerConnect says its plans run monthly with no long-term contract. | ||
Every plan price on one public page Hey Jodie lists every plan on its public pricing page. At the time of writing, AnswerConnect showed its headline Canadian plans but routed sign-up and trial details through a contact form. | ||
Total first-year cost calculable from public info Hey Jodie: 12 x flat plan. AnswerConnect: depends on your minute usage over each tier cap. |
If you are out on jobs and just need calls answered well without watching a per-minute meter, these are the businesses Hey Jodie was built for.
A frozen pipe at minus-twenty doesn't care about your 100-minute Entry plan. Jodie answers, captures the postal code, and texts the job to your phone before the next call lands.
See Hey Jodie for plumbersT1 deadline volumes spike fast every April. A flat plan with unlimited minutes beats C$2.75/min when half your clients are calling about a CRA reassessment.
See Hey Jodie for accountantsAnswerConnect sells tiered plans on a per-minute meter suited to higher, script-heavy call volumes. Hey Jodie is built for the solo lawyer in Halifax whose phone rings during examinations for discovery.
See Hey Jodie for lawyers & law firmsA buyer browsing Realtor.ca at 8pm calls the next agent if you don't pick up. 24/7 cover comes standard at C$199/month, not a C$425 plan with a 300-minute cap.
See Hey Jodie for real estate agentsYes. AnswerConnect serves Canada through answerconnect.com/ca/, with its own Canadian-dollar price card, and its receptionists work from home across Canada. Plans are billed in CAD.
AnswerConnect is a virtual receptionist service founded in 2002 in Portland, with a Canadian operation at answerconnect.com/ca/. CCH AnswerConnect is a different product - a tax research platform from Wolters Kluwer used by Canadian CPAs. If you are researching call answering, AnswerConnect is what you want.
AnswerConnect publishes three main Canadian plans, all in CAD: Entry at C$325/month for 100 minutes plus a C$75 setup fee, Growth (their 'Best value' plan) at C$425 for 300 minutes with no setup fee, and Standard at C$825 for 450 minutes plus C$75 setup. Overage is C$2.95/min on Entry and C$2.75/min on Growth and Standard. Hey Jodie publishes C$99 Basic, C$199 Professional, C$399 Premium - all with unlimited minutes.
AnswerConnect is a 24/7 virtual receptionist service. Human agents working from home across Canada answer in your business name, take messages, transfer urgent calls, qualify leads, capture web chat on higher tiers, and notify you by SMS or email.
The recurring complaint in public reviews is billing surprise from per-minute overages on tiered plans. Most reviews are positive - AnswerConnect advertises a 4.9 rating. Hey Jodie addresses the billing-surprise point with flat-rate CAD pricing and unlimited minutes.
AnswerConnect advertises a free trial, but at the time of writing we could not find any details of it on their Canadian website - no length, terms, or whether a card is required. Confirm the terms with them directly before signing up. Hey Jodie offers 7 days free with no card - real customer calls go through Jodie before you pay anything.
This is our opinion, based on what their website showed at the time of writing. AnswerConnect does show its Canadian plans on answerconnect.com/ca/, but we still found the details harder to pin down than they should be - sign-up routes through a contact form, the free trial is advertised without its length or terms, and the rules for what counts as a billable minute are easy to miss. None of that is wrongdoing, but we think you should be able to see the price and the terms up front - so Hey Jodie publishes every plan, the trial length and the overage rate in full.
Published Canadian entry-tier prices: Hey Jodie C$99/month unlimited minutes, Smith.ai from US$95 (~C$130), Ruby from US$250 (~C$343), AnswerConnect C$325 for 100 minutes plus C$75 setup. Canadian players like On Call Centre are quote-only. Hey Jodie is the cheapest published-price unlimited-minutes option billed in CAD.
AnswerConnect states its plans run monthly with no long-term contract, and you can upgrade, downgrade, or cancel anytime. Hey Jodie also has no minimum - cancel any month from the dashboard.
Hey Jodie setup takes minutes - forward your phone and Jodie starts answering. AnswerConnect's plans are monthly, so check your billing date before cancelling. Most businesses run both for 5-7 days during cutover, then cancel.
Move off the per-minute meter without dropping a call. Run both for a week, then cancel AnswerConnect - their plans run monthly with no long-term contract.
Total time: Under 1 hour active time, 5-7 days for safe parallel running
Sign up at the register page. No card needed. You get your Hey Jodie phone number on the spot.
Set conditional forwarding (busy / no answer / always) from your phone provider to the Hey Jodie number.
Hey Jodie picks up via the forward; AnswerConnect remains as a backup until you decide. Listen to a few call recordings to confirm the AI is doing the job.
AnswerConnect's plans run monthly with no long-term contract, so you can cancel anytime. Confirm your final billing date with your account manager or dashboard.
Once cancellation is confirmed, cancel from your AnswerConnect dashboard or via your account manager. Leave the forward to Hey Jodie in place. Confirm a test call lands on Hey Jodie.
Buyer's guides
This comparison is part of our independent buyer's guides ranking the whole field.
7 days free. No card required. Cancel in one click.
First 7 days free, then pricing from C$99/month
