What does an AI receptionist
cost in Montreal?

Monthly fee, included minutes, and a one-time setup.

Almost every AI receptionist in the Montreal market is priced on the same three components, and once you can see them clearly the quotes stop feeling like a black box. The first is a monthly subscription, which buys the agent itself plus a block of included talk time. The second is a per-minute rate for any usage beyond that block — this is how providers handle a busy month without forcing you onto a bigger plan. The third is a one-time setup fee that pays for configuring the agent to your business before it ever answers a call.

Some providers bury the per-minute or setup component, or quote a low headline price that only covers a tiny pool of minutes. The honest way to compare two quotes is to ask three questions: what is the monthly fee, how many minutes are included, and what is the overage rate. Everything else is detail.

Three tiers, every price on the table.

Anova publishes its pricing rather than hiding it behind a sales call. All tiers include the full stack — bilingual EN/FR voice, live calendar booking, CRM logging, warm transfer, and post-call analysis — and setup starts at $0 on Reception, with a one-time onboarding fee on the higher tiers. The difference between tiers is included talk time and the depth of integrations.

See the full pricing page

Four things move the number.

Call volume is the biggest lever. The more calls you take and the longer they run, the more talk time you need, which is what separates a $379 plan from a $1,699 one. A clinic fielding a steady stream of booking calls will use far more minutes than a boutique studio with a handful of inquiries a day.

Integrations are the second. Logging leads to a spreadsheet is straightforward; syncing live into a CRM, scoring leads, and pushing bookings into a shared calendar is more capable and sits on higher tiers. Languages matter in Montreal — native English and French handling is standard with Anova, but additional languages can be added. And lines and locations drive cost too: a single number on one calendar is simpler than several lines routed across multiple branches, which is where the Signature tier earns its keep.

The honest cost comparison.

A full-time bilingual receptionist in Montreal is a meaningful investment once you add salary, payroll taxes, benefits, paid vacation, sick days, and the cost of recruiting and training a replacement when they leave. And even then, one person covers roughly 40 hours a week — not the evenings, weekends, and lunch hours when a surprising share of calls actually arrive.

An AI receptionist answers every call 24/7, in English or French, for a fixed and predictable monthly fee, and it does not call in sick or take a vacation. The point is not that AI replaces a great front-desk person — many businesses pair the two, letting the AI catch overflow and after-hours calls while the human handles in-person work. The point is that the math usually favours AI for coverage you could not otherwise afford.

How to pick without overpaying.

Start with your monthly call volume and how long a typical call runs — that tells you which minute block you need. Then look at integrations: if logging leads to a spreadsheet is enough, Reception fits; if you want native CRM sync, warm transfer, and post-call analysis, Front Desk is the natural home; if you want outbound speed-to-lead, WhatsApp, AI web chat, and lead scoring, Growth covers the full loop; and if you run multiple locations or need custom integrations and an SLA, Signature is built for that. When in doubt, start one tier down — additional minutes are available as you grow, so you can move up any time.

Talk to us about the right tier

Pricing, answered.