Answers on the first ring, at any hour, including evenings, weekends and holidays.
The short answer
An AI receptionist answers your business phone automatically, day and night, and handles what a front desk handles: questions, bookings, transfers and messages. AlmaTalk starts at $97.97 a month for 150 minutes of answered conversation and $247.97 for 400, billed by the second. It answers in English and French, takes several calls at once, and writes up every call afterwards.
What it does
What an AI receptionist actually does
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) and follows up if the caller asked.
Takes several calls at once. One person cannot; everybody after the first hears ringing.
Pricing
What an AI receptionist costs in Canada
Two plans cover most small businesses. Both bill by the second of answered conversation, with no setup fee and no per-call charge.
Compare that with covering the same hours a different way. A full-time position is about 40 hours a week; a week has 168. Answering whenever the phone rings means 4.2 positions for one seat (168 divided by 40) before you have covered a second simultaneous caller.
| 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 |
| Option | What it costs | Covers nights & weekends? | Two calls at once? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Someone on the front desk | Wage + employer costs, per person | Only if you staff 4.2 positions | No |
| Traditional answering service | Base fee + per minute, rounded up | Usually, at a higher rate | Sometimes, for more |
| Voicemail | Nothing | Technically | No, and most callers hang up |
| AlmaTalk | From $97.97/mo, billed by the second | Yes, at the same rate | Yes |
The number to watch
Why 80 seconds is the number that should decide your quote
Across 2,639 answered business calls measured over a recent 90-day window, the average call ran 80 seconds. Most owners guess three to five minutes.
Eighty seconds is "are you open Saturday", or booking an appointment, or leaving a name and a number. It is short. And it changes how you should read any quote you are given. 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.
Best fit
Which Canadian businesses gain most
It is not the highest-volume businesses. It is the ones where a single missed call is expensive.
Trades and emergency services. Plumbing, HVAC, locksmiths, towing: the caller has an urgent problem and rings three companies. The first to answer wins the job.
Clinics and practices. Bookings, confirmations, cancellations, and the calls that arrive before the front desk does.
Law and accounting. A well-handled first contact is worth a great deal; voicemail sends it to a competitor.
Restaurants. The phone rings mid-service, precisely when nobody can answer.
Real estate. Buyers call evenings and weekends, never during office hours.
Bilingual
English and French, without pressing 1
Most bilingual phone setups make the caller choose up front. Real conversations do not work that way: someone starts in English, reaches a word they only know in French, and switches without thinking.
AlmaTalk follows that switch mid-sentence, with no key press and no announcement, plus 30+ other languages. For businesses in Quebec, Ottawa–Gatineau or anywhere with francophone customers, this is usually the deciding feature.
Privacy
The three questions to ask any provider
Anything that answers your phone handles personal information: names, numbers, sometimes health or financial details volunteered by a caller who assumes they are talking to your business. In Quebec that engages Law 25; everywhere else it is still your liability. Ask any vendor:
Where is the data stored?
"The cloud" is not an answer. Ask for the region. Ours: call recordings are stored in Canada (ca-central-1).
How long is it kept, and can you set that?
Retention you cannot control is retention you cannot defend.
Who can access it, and is there an audit trail?
Any serious vendor answers all three without hesitating. One who cannot becomes a compliance problem you inherit.
Try it properly
How to test one properly (five minutes)
Test it where it costs you money, not the polite enquiry at two in the afternoon.
Ring it at 9pm.
After-hours is the entire point.
Interrupt it.
Real callers talk over you.
Change your mind mid-booking.
"Actually, can we do Thursday instead?"
Switch language mid-sentence.
If it makes you start over, it is not bilingual.
Ask something it should not know.
Watch whether it invents an answer or takes a message. This is the one that separates real products from demos.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
How much does an AI receptionist cost in Canada?
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.
Where is my call data stored?
Call recordings are stored in Canada (the ca-central-1 region). Voice processing itself runs through third-party providers, so if you operate under Quebec's Law 25 you should ask any vendor (including us) where data lives, how long it is kept, and who can access it.
Do I need to change my phone number?
No. You can forward your existing business line to AlmaTalk, or get a new number. Forwarding means you keep the number your customers already have.
What happens to calls it cannot handle?
It transfers to a person if you have set that up, 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).