Best Virtual Receptionist Canada in 2026: 7 Compared on Cost

Looking for the best virtual receptionist in Canada? We compared 7 services that sell here, people and AI. We looked at what they cost at 100 calls a month, when they answer and whether they speak French.

Our pick for most small businesses is Jodie: it answers every call, day and night, for a flat C$99 a month with unlimited minutes.

Jodie is our own product, so we also show where others win. Aria wins for French-speaking callers, and AnswerPlus for a Canadian team on every call.

Key takeaways

What a virtual receptionist actually is (and what it is not)

A virtual receptionist is a person or an AI that answers your business phone from somewhere else, in your company's name. It passes on what the caller needs.

You may also see it called a remote receptionist, a live receptionist, a virtual answering service or virtual receptionist services. In Canada, many people just say answering service.

A good one does five jobs:

• Answers in your business name.
• Takes the caller's name, number and reason for calling.
• Books appointments into your calendar.
• Puts urgent calls through to your cell.
• Covers evenings and statutory holidays, if your plan does.

Human, AI or hybrid: the three types

Every service on this page is one of three types:

• Human: a person at an agency. AnswerPlus, Ruby and AnswerConnect use trained receptionists. People handle unusual or upset callers better.
• AI: software that talks to the caller. Jodie, Aria and Dialbox answer every call at once. They cost the same at 3am as at 3pm.
• Hybrid: both. Smith.ai answers with AI first, then can hand hard calls to a live receptionist.

What a virtual receptionist is not

It is easy to mix these up. A virtual receptionist is not:

• A virtual assistant. A VA does admin and email, not your phone line.
• Voicemail. The caller talks to someone, and the job gets written down.
• A phone menu. Nobody is told to "press 1".
• A phone system. Some companies sell business lines with an AI add-on. That is a different thing.
• Someone at your front door. It cannot greet visitors or sign for parcels.

If you only need messages taken, our guide to answering services compares that market.

Still deciding between a person and an AI? Read AI receptionists vs answering services.

How we ranked these virtual receptionists

We scored every service on six things you can check yourself:

• Cost at 100 calls a month. That is 100 calls of 2 minutes each (200 minutes) from 100 different callers. We used the cheapest published plan for that volume, before tax, and show any setup fee on its own.
• What the cheapest plan includes. Messages only, or booking and transfers too.
• Hours covered. Does the cheapest plan answer 24/7, or office hours and then voicemail?
• French. Does the service say it answers in French?
• Contract and free trial. The minimum term, how long it takes to leave, and whether you can test it with real calls first.
• Who answers, and in which dollars. A person, an AI or both, billed in Canadian or US dollars.

How we checked the facts

• We took every price and term from each provider's own website in October 2026.
• Where a provider does not publish a figure, we say so instead of guessing.
• We never turn US dollars into Canadian dollars, because the rate moves.

Jodie is our product. We ranked it first because it wins on cost and hours for most small businesses. We also say plainly where another service is the better buy.

The best virtual receptionists in Canada in 2026

Here are 7 of the best virtual receptionist services in Canada, people and AI, for owner-run and small businesses. Each one is the best pick for a certain kind of business and budget.

Every entry starts with the facts and who the service suits. Then it shows what you get, what it costs and one thing to watch out for.

1. Jodie, best for owner-run businesses that miss calls while they work

Jodie is an AI receptionist. It answers in your business name, asks the questions you set and takes down the job.

What you get

• A summary after every call, by email. The call also sits in the Jodie app, with the recording and transcript.
• Your own number. You keep it and forward your calls to Jodie.
• Set-up in under 10 minutes, because Jodie learns your business from your website. Your opening line can tell callers it is an AI and that the call may be recorded.
• 24/7 answering on every plan, statutory holidays included.

What it costs

• Basic: C$99 a month, with unlimited minutes. The price does not move with your calls. Fair use covers up to 1,000 calls a month, so 50, 100 or 200 calls all cost C$99.
• Professional: C$199 a month. It adds booking, call transfers and team members.
• Premium: C$399 a month. It adds priority support and links to other apps through Zapier, so call details can reach your CRM.
• Month to month, with no setup fee. You can cancel any time, and paying yearly gets you two months free. All prices are in Canadian dollars, before tax.

Watch out for: Jodie is an AI, not a person, its plans do not list French, and the C$99 Basic plan does not book appointments or transfer calls.

2. AnswerPlus, best for a Canadian-owned live team in English and French

AnswerPlus is a live answering service with its office in Hamilton, Ontario. It is Canadian-owned and operated, and all its receptionists are based in Canada.

What you get

• Answers 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
• Bilingual receptionists. They answer callers in English and in Quebec French. If you serve Quebec, or many of your customers would rather speak French, this is the live option to look at first.
• Your own call rules. Your account is set up with your own greeting, questions and call handling rules. Receptionists can screen calls by time of day or how urgent they are, then take a message or transfer the call to the right person.
• Call details, recordings and an account manager. After each call, AnswerPlus sends you the details by email, SMS or phone. A web portal lets you play back recent call recordings and change your on-call schedule, and every client gets a dedicated account manager.

What it costs

• Price on quote. You fill in a form and get a quote.
• Not published: its prices, a free trial or a contract length.
• Cost at 100 calls: we could not work it out, because there is no published price.

Watch out for: you only learn the price from a quote, so ask for the cost at your call volume, in writing.

3. Aria, best for an AI that answers in English and French

Aria is an AI receptionist priced in Canadian dollars that answers phone calls and website chat. It speaks English and French, and it answers 24/7.

What you get

• Messages, spam checks and booking. It takes messages with your own questions, spots spam calls and books appointments into Google Calendar, Calendly or Acuity.
• Alerts on urgent calls. You set escalation rules, and Aria alerts a real person by email, SMS or phone.
• Set-up done for you. Aria builds your receptionist for you, from your website.

What it costs

• Starter: C$59 a month for up to 150 voice minutes. That covers about 75 calls of 2 minutes, and booking is included.
• Pro: C$189 a month for up to 600 minutes. Direct call transfers start here.
• Extra minutes: if you run out, Aria keeps answering. You can add a minute pack, or switch on auto top-up with a monthly spending cap. Aria does not publish what a pack costs, so at 100 calls we counted Pro at C$189.
• A 7-day free trial on every plan, with no credit card. There is no setup fee and no contract, and paying yearly saves 15%.

Watch out for: past about 75 calls a month, you pay for extra minutes at a price Aria does not publish, or move up to C$189.

4. Dialbox, best for trades that want a business line, texting and booking

Dialbox is a Canadian AI receptionist that comes with a business phone line. You pay for handled calls, not minutes.

What you get

• A business line, texting, website chat and booking into your calendar, all on Core.
• Unlimited numbers to transfer calls to. So even on the cheapest plan, the AI can book the job or put an urgent call through to your cell.
• Your choice of number. You can bring your own number, or forward your calls to Dialbox.

What it costs

• Core: C$129 a month for 100 AI-handled calls, with no per-minute fees. Very short abandoned calls and blocked spam calls do not count toward your 100.
• Going over: as you get close to the limit, Dialbox sends you alerts. If you keep going over, the usual next step is a bigger plan.
• No free plan. The 7-day trial needs a credit card to start. After that, it is month to month, and you can cancel any time.
• At 100 two-minute calls: C$129. That is C$30 more than Jodie Basic, but C$70 less than Jodie Professional, which you need for booking and transfers.

Watch out for: the trial needs a credit card, and 100 handled calls is the limit on Core, so a busy month means a bigger plan.

5. Smith.ai, best for AI first with live receptionists behind it (billed in US dollars)

Smith.ai is a US company that sells both AI and live receptionists. Its AI can hand a hard call to a live receptionist based in North America, so you get AI speed with a person behind it.

What you get

• 24/7 answering on both the AI plans and the plans with live people.
• Month-to-month AI plans, but you give 30 days' notice to leave.
• A 30-day money-back promise on the plans with live people, up to US$1,000. It does not cover extra calls.

What it costs

• Per call, in US dollars. There is no Canadian price list, so what you pay in Canadian dollars moves with the exchange rate.
• AI plans: the free plan covers 25 calls a month, then costs US$3.00 a call. AI Pro is US$150 for 75 calls, then about US$2.50 a call.
• Live plans: from US$300 for 30 calls, with US$11.50 for each extra call on Starter.
• At 100 calls: about US$212.50 on AI Pro, or about US$915 on the plans with live people.

Watch out for: every call counts, so a busy month costs more, and the bill is in US dollars.

6. Ruby, best for a premium live team, billed in US dollars

Ruby is a US live receptionist company, and a real person answers every call, 24/7, holidays included. If you want a polished live team and price matters less, Ruby is a strong choice.

What you get

• Optional AI tools on top of its live team.
• Appointment scheduling, included in its plans.
• No setup fees.

What it costs

• Bundles of receptionist minutes, in US dollars. Ruby has no Canadian price list.
• Plans: US$250 a month for 50 minutes, US$395 for 100 minutes, US$720 for 200 minutes and US$1,725 for 500 minutes.
• At 100 two-minute calls, you use 200 minutes, so the 200-minute plan at US$720 covers it.
• Not published: what an extra minute costs. Its pricing page also lists no free trial or contract length, so ask about all three before you sign.

Watch out for: you pay for every minute, the rate for extra minutes is not published, and the bill is in US dollars.

7. AnswerConnect, best for 24/7 live answering at higher volumes

AnswerConnect is a large live answering service with a Canadian website and prices in Canadian dollars. A person answers 24/7, which no AI-only service can offer.

What you get

• Bundles of minutes. It has published an Entry and a Growth plan, but its full plan list now sits behind a sign-up form. Check the latest prices with AnswerConnect.
• Month-to-month terms. We found no free trial on its website.

What it costs

• Entry: C$325 a month for 100 minutes, plus a C$75 setup fee. Each extra minute costs C$2.95.
• Growth: C$425 a month for 300 minutes, with no setup fee. Each extra minute costs C$2.75.
• At 100 two-minute calls, you use 200 minutes. Entry would cost C$325 plus 100 extra minutes at C$2.95, or C$620. Growth covers it for about C$425.
• After-call work counts as billable minutes, so the real bill can be higher than the talk time suggests.

Watch out for: your minutes include the time spent writing up each call, not just the time on the phone.

Other options we looked at

These providers came up often when we looked at the Canadian market, but did not make our top 7.

Posh is a US live answering company with a Canadian price list. So if you have wondered what a Posh virtual receptionist is, that is the company.

• Chic plan: C$65 a month plus C$2.30 a minute.
• At 100 two-minute calls: about C$420 on its 200-minute plan.
• Terms: it answers 24/7, runs month to month and has a free trial.

RingCentral sells an AI receptionist as an add-on to its business phone system. It suits firms that already use RingCentral for their phones.

• Price: its Canadian page shows a price for 100 minutes, but it does not say whether that is in Canadian or US dollars.
• Compare: see Jodie vs RingCentral.

CloudTalk is a phone system with AI voice agents built in, not an answering service.

• Price: it charges per user, and its pricing page does not list what the voice agents cost.
• Trial: 14 days.

Virtual receptionists compared side by side (Canada)

Here is the virtual receptionist comparison for Canada, using the six things from our method.

How to read the table

• Cost at 100 calls means 100 calls of 2 minutes each, before tax, on the cheapest plan that covers them.
• Setup fees are extra.
• Smith.ai and Ruby bill in US dollars, so we show their prices in US dollars.

Which virtual receptionist fits your business?

Find the row that sounds most like you. The pick is the one we would choose for that kind of business and call volume.

What Canadian businesses should check

• French. Aria answers in English and French, and AnswerPlus has bilingual receptionists. Jodie's plans do not list French. So if many of your callers speak French, pick one of those two.
• Where your call data goes. Ask every provider. Jodie's recordings and transcripts are processed in Ireland and the United States under contractual safeguards, and you can switch recording or transcription off. Our privacy policy has a Canadian section that covers PIPEDA and Quebec's Law 25.
• Canadian or US dollars. Smith.ai and Ruby bill in US dollars, so your cost moves with the exchange rate. Jodie, Aria, Dialbox, AnswerConnect and Posh price in Canadian dollars.
• Your number. With Jodie, you keep your number and forward calls to it. Dialbox lets you bring your number or use its business line.

Before you sign: five questions to ask

1. What hours do your customers actually call, and what happens after the plan's hours?
2. Will it ask the questions your trade needs, such as the postal code, how urgent the job is, and whether it is a new or existing customer?
3. How fast does the message reach you, and how?
4. What will it cost at your call volume, including setup fees, minimum terms and the currency?
5. Can you try it with real calls first, and does it connect to your calendar or CRM?

During any trial, ring it yourself, out of hours too, and ask it something awkward. You will learn more in five minutes than from any sales call.

What results look like: the monthly bill at 50 and 100 calls

Say 100 people ring you in a month, and each call lasts 2 minutes (200 minutes in all). Here is what that month costs, before tax:

• Jodie: C$99.
• Dialbox: C$129.
• Aria: C$189 on Pro.
• Posh: about C$420.
• AnswerConnect: about C$425.
• Smith.ai: about US$212.50 on its AI plan.
• Ruby: US$720.

Now look at a quieter month. The table shows the same two-minute calls at 50 and 100 a month, in Canadian dollars, before tax.

Which one costs least depends on how many calls you get:

• Below about 75 two-minute calls a month: Aria's Starter costs less than Jodie.
• Above that: Aria's next plan is C$189, and Jodie's flat C$99 wins. It stays C$99 up to 1,000 calls.
• Booking and transfers: Jodie's Professional plan is C$199. Dialbox includes both for C$129, up to 100 handled calls, so at about 100 calls a month Dialbox costs less.

If you want a cheap virtual receptionist for a quiet line, Aria Starter, at C$59, is the lowest Canadian-dollar price here. For an affordable price that stays the same in a busy month, Jodie's flat C$99 is the one to beat.

Here is what owners who use Jodie say about it.

Try Jodie free for 7 days

Here is what happens next:

1. Set Jodie up in under 10 minutes, from your website.
2. Forward your calls to it and keep your number.
3. Jodie answers every call, day and night, and emails you a summary with the recording and transcript.

You pay nothing for 7 days, and you do not need a credit card. If it is not right for you, cancel before then and you pay nothing.

Start your free trial and ring your own number to hear it.