Answers on the first ring, at any hour, including evenings, weekends and holidays.
Definition
What an AI receptionist is
The name undersells it. A voicemail box takes messages; an AI receptionist holds the conversation.
Answers real questions (hours, address, parking, services, pricing) from your own documents, rather than reciting a script.
Books the appointment during the call, into Google Calendar, Outlook, Cal.com or Apple Calendar, without double-booking.
Qualifies the caller against your criteria and transfers to the right person when it matters.
Writes it up: who called, why, what was agreed. Then it follows up if the caller asked.
Takes several calls at once. One person cannot; everybody after the first hears ringing.
Setup
How it works
Three steps, and you keep the number you already advertise.
Point your number at it. Forward your existing business line, or forward only after hours and when you are already on a call. Nothing about your published number changes.
Give it your business. Upload your price list, service area, hours and FAQs. It answers from those documents, so it says what you would say.
It answers, and you read the write-up. Every call arrives as a summary (who rang, what they wanted, what was booked) with the recording attached.
By industry
What it does in your industry
The script, the questions it must answer and the reason the call matters are different in each of these. Pick yours.
Law firms. A well-handled first contact is worth a great deal; voicemail sends it to a competitor.
Dental clinics. Bookings, confirmations and cancellations, including the calls that arrive before the front desk does.
Veterinary clinics. Worried owners ring after hours. The call is urgent and it is rarely convenient.
Plumbers. The caller has water on the floor and rings three companies. The first to answer wins the job.
HVAC contractors. Heat fails on the coldest night of the year, which is exactly when nobody is at a desk.
Roofing companies. Storm damage produces a burst of calls in a single afternoon.
Auto repair shops. Callers are stranded, want a quote, or are chasing a car that is already in the bay.
Towing & locksmiths. Pure emergency demand, almost all of it outside business hours.
Hair salons. The phone rings mid-appointment, when both hands are busy.
Restaurants. The phone rings mid-service, precisely when nobody can answer.
Real estate. Buyers call evenings and weekends about a listing they are standing in front of.
Cleaning services. Quotes, schedule changes and access details, mostly while crews are on site.
Landscaping & lawn care. Seasonal call spikes that arrive faster than you can hire for them.
Pest control. Callers want someone today, and will keep dialling until somebody picks up.
Moving companies. Long qualifying calls (dates, volumes, addresses, stairs) that a script cannot handle.
Accountants & bookkeepers. Deadline season turns the phone into a queue you cannot staff for.
Pricing
What an AI receptionist costs
Two plans cover most small businesses. Both bill by the second of answered conversation, with no setup fee and no per-call charge.
| Plan | Per month | Answered conversation | Roughly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $97.97 | 150 minutes | ~110 calls at the 80-second average |
| Pro | $247.97 | 400 minutes | ~300 calls |
Why 80 seconds matters. Across 2,639 answered business calls measured over a recent 90-day window, the average call ran 80 seconds. If a provider bills in whole minutes, an 80-second call is charged as two. That is a 50% premium on the most common call your business receives, purely from rounding. Billing by the second removes it.
Buying guide
What to ask before you choose one
Four questions that separate the options quickly.
How do you bill: by the second or the minute? Rounding up to whole minutes adds 50% to a typical 80-second call. Ask for the rounding rule in writing.
Does it switch language mid-call? Not "do you support French", but whether the caller can start in English, switch, and never press a key. Test it on the demo line.
Does it book, or only take a message? A message you must call back is a missed booking with extra steps.
Where is call data stored, how long is it kept, and who can see it? Ask for the retention period and whether you can set it yourself.
Where and in what language
Cities and languages
Same product, written for the market you sell into.
Across Canada. Bilingual by default, billed in Canadian dollars.
Bilingual EN/FR. How the language switch actually works on a live call.
Recepcionista virtual. Atendimento telefónico em português.
Phone answering service. The same job, described the way answering services are usually bought.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
What is an AI receptionist?
An AI receptionist is software that answers your business phone and holds a real conversation with the caller. It answers questions about your business from your own documents, books appointments into your calendar, qualifies callers and transfers them when it matters, then writes up who called and why. Unlike voicemail it does not take a message and stop, and unlike a phone menu the caller never has to press 1.
How is it different from an answering service or voicemail?
Voicemail takes a message, and most callers hang up rather than leave one. A traditional answering service puts a person on the line, bills a base fee plus per minute rounded up, and generally handles one call at a time. An AI receptionist answers on the first ring at any hour, takes several calls at once, and books directly into your calendar during the call.
How much does an AI receptionist cost?
AlmaTalk starts at $97.97/month for 150 minutes of answered conversation, and $247.97/month for 400 minutes. You are billed by the second of real conversation, so a call nobody spoke on costs nothing. There is no per-call fee and no setup fee.
Does it answer in French as well as English?
Yes, natively, and it switches mid-call when the caller does. The caller never has to press 1 for English or 2 for French. It also handles 30+ other languages.
Can it book appointments into my calendar?
Yes. It books during the call and syncs with Google Calendar, Outlook, Cal.com and Apple Calendar, including reminders and rescheduling.
What happens if two people call at the same time?
Both are answered. AlmaTalk answers multiple calls simultaneously, which is the one thing a single person on a front desk cannot do; everybody after the first hears ringing.
Will callers know they are speaking to an AI?
It introduces itself as your business's assistant and does not pretend to be a person. In practice most callers simply get their answer or their booking and carry on.
What does it do with a question it cannot answer?
It transfers to whoever you nominate, or takes a detailed message and sends you a written summary immediately. It is designed to take a message rather than invent an answer.
Hear it answer before you decide anything
Ring the number below. That is the product itself picking up, in English or French. Interrupt it, change your mind mid-booking, ask it something awkward. No form, no salesperson.
Answered 24/7 in English, French and 30+ more languages.
AlmaTalk is built by ALMA Intelligence Inc., a Canadian company based in Ottawa, Ontario. Call recordings are stored in Canada (ca-central-1).