AI Receptionist for Small Business: Cost and How It Works

What does an AI receptionist do on a call?

An AI receptionist picks up your business line, talks to the caller in plain language and finishes the call one of four ways: it books the appointment, answers the question, passes the call to a person, or takes a message. Nobody presses 1 for sales. The caller says what they want and gets an answer to that.

On a typical call it does this, in order:

1. Answers on the first ring with a greeting you approved.
2. Asks what the caller needs and listens to the answer.
3. Answers common questions about your services, hours and the areas you cover.
4. Books an appointment into the calendar you already use, inside the rules you set.
5. Transfers to a person when the caller asks, or when your rules say so.
6. Texts the caller a confirmation and sends you the recording and transcript.

How much does an AI receptionist cost in Toronto?

Published AI receptionist plans in Toronto and the GTA run from about $98 to $600 CAD a month. The low end is a self-serve plan with a fixed number of minutes. The high end is a managed service where someone builds it, connects your calendar and keeps it tuned.

These vendor-listed prices were checked on October 11, 2026. Each provider includes a different number of minutes and features, so compare the usage allowance before comparing monthly fees.

Social Dots also offers missed-call text-back from $99 CAD a month. It sends a text after a call goes unanswered; it is a separate service from live AI voice answering.

Five things move the price:

• Minutes. Most plans include a set number of answered minutes and charge for the rest.
• Booking. Writing appointments into your real calendar costs more than taking a message.
• Setup. Some providers charge a one-time setup fee. Ask before you compare monthly prices.
• Languages. Coverage beyond English is sometimes a higher tier.
• Who maintains it. Self-serve means you rewrite the answers when your hours or services change.

Our own pricing is scoped per business, and the scope and price are agreed before any work starts. See how our pricing works.

AI receptionist, answering service, voicemail or a hire?

Each option covers a different part of the problem. Most owners end up with a mix: staff on the desk during the day, and an AI receptionist on lunch, overflow and after hours.

Where does it fit in a GTA service business?

It fits wherever the person who would answer the phone is busy doing the work. The calls that matter most tend to arrive at exactly those moments.

• Trades and home services. A technician in the middle of a job in Mississauga cannot pick up when a homeowner's furnace stops on a January night. That caller usually keeps dialling until someone answers.
• Salons and barbershops. The person who would answer has their hands in someone's hair. The phone rings out and the caller books the next shop on the list.
• Dental offices and med spas. The front desk is checking someone in, on another line or closed for the evening. Booking requests arrive after hours, when nobody is there to take them.
• Multi-city service areas. A company covering Brampton, Vaughan, Markham, Oakville and Hamilton gets calls from people who need to know first whether you serve their area.

Callers in the GTA speak many languages. Ask any provider which ones the receptionist handles, and test the ones your customers use.

What should an AI receptionist not handle?

It should not handle anything where a wrong answer costs you a customer or puts someone at risk. Set that boundary before launch, not after the first bad call.

• Anything involving safety, such as a gas smell or active flooding, goes straight to a person's phone.
• Complicated quotes that need a site visit or your judgment.
• Complaints and upset callers.
• Medical, legal or financial advice.
• Any caller who asks for a person.

What should you ask a provider?

Ask these on the first call. A provider who cannot answer them plainly is telling you something.

• Which calendar does it book into, and can I set buffers, service types and hours?
• What happens when it does not know the answer?
• Can I keep my current business number?
• Who loads what it knows about my business, and who keeps that current?
• Which languages does it handle?
• Does it tell callers it is an automated assistant? We recommend that it does.
• How are recordings and transcripts stored, and who can see them?
• How does text-back handle consent under Canada's anti-spam law (CASL)?
• If I leave, what do I keep: the number, the call history, the scripts?

How do you test one before you rely on it?

Call it yourself, and have two or three staff call too, using situations that really happen in your business.

1. Call after hours with an emergency.
2. Ask a price question you would never quote over the phone.
3. Reschedule an appointment, then cancel one.
4. Call as someone outside your service area.
5. Call in a language other than English.
6. Call upset and ask for the owner.
7. Listen to every recording and fix the wording where it sounds off.

Start by forwarding only after-hours calls. Widen the hours once the answers are right.

What does setup involve?

Most of the work is deciding how you want calls handled. Write down what your best receptionist would say in each situation above, and the setup follows from that.

• The services you offer and the areas you cover
• Your hours, holidays and booking rules
• Calendar access
• The numbers calls transfer to, and when
• The greeting and the text messages that go out
• Answers to the ten questions callers ask most

Our AI receptionist service is set up around those answers. If your main problem is calls that ring out while you work, missed call answering covers that part first.

How do you know it is working?

Compare it to your own numbers from before you switched it on. Count your missed calls for two weeks first. Your phone carrier's call log shows them. After launch, track the same things each week:

• Calls answered
• Appointments booked from calls
• Calls handed to a person
• Callers who asked for a person straight away

Connect each call to a lead record in your CRM so every caller has a next step and an owner.

Where to go from here

If you want to know what happens to a call you cannot answer today, start with the free 15-minute Growth Check-Up. You get a ranked list of what to fix first, in writing, whether or not you hire us.

What AI can answer, and when a person should step in

Three slides from a Social Dots explainer. They show an illustrative example of repeat questions moving to AI while the person at the desk keeps the moments that need judgment.

Frequently asked questions

Sources

• AlmaTalk: Canadian AI receptionist plans and minutes
• Polaris Voice: AI receptionist for Toronto businesses, published pricing
• Polaris Voice: plan minutes and CAD prices
• Oleg Litvin Digital Marketing: AI voice receptionist Toronto, published pricing