Guides · Advertising in Canada
Where to advertise as an independent companion in Canada
If you work independently in Canada, you have four kinds of place to advertise, and each trades something away. This guide names the trade-offs, gives you a short list of things to check before you pay anyone, and says plainly what the law covers. It ends with where Aurora fits, once.
Published November 5, 2026. Written by the Aurora team. General information, not legal advice.
The options
Four kinds of place, four different trades.
01
Classifieds boards
Fast to post, cheap per ad, and full of ads. Most charge per post or per bump, so staying visible costs attention every day. Few check who is posting, which is why clients on them screen you hard and why fake ads sit next to yours. Good for volume in a city where you already know the regulars.
02
Curated directories
A smaller, vetted pool, a polished profile, and clients who expect to pay what you ask. Entry takes a review, sometimes a reference, and a monthly fee. Some keep contact behind their own messaging, which means a second inbox and their rules about what you may say.
03
Your own website
The only place you fully control, and the thing every serious independent eventually builds. It does not bring traffic by itself: a site is where ads send people, not a replacement for them. Hosting and payment companies that accept the content are fewer than they should be, so pick ones that say so in writing.
04
Social accounts
Bluesky and X tolerate adult accounts with limits, and a public account is where many clients check that you are real and current. Treat them as your front window and your proof of life, never as the only way to reach you: an account can be suspended in an afternoon with no appeal.
Most independents in Canada use two or three of these at once: one paid listing that brings new enquiries, a social account that proves the listing is current, and a site or a simple page the listing points to. The question is not which one, but which listing earns its fee.
Before you pay
Seven things to check on any site, in writing.
- Who sees my contact details, and who decides. If the site owns the inbox, it owns the relationship and can change the rules.
- What does their verified badge actually check? ID and a live face, a photo, or nothing. A badge that does not name its method is decoration.
- How do I pay, and what does my bank statement say. A card payment to a named adult company is a record you may not want. Prepaid, non-renewing periods mean no surprise charges and nothing to cancel.
- Can I take the ad down myself, instantly, with no reason given? You will want this on a bad day, and you will want it to work in one click.
- What happens when someone reports my ad? You should get the reason in writing and a way to answer it, not a silent removal.
- Can I delete my account and have the data actually go? Ask what they keep and for how long.
- Are there public reviews of me? Review boards are written by clients, for clients, and you cannot answer them. Decide whether you want that attached to your name.
The law, briefly
Advertising your own services is not prosecuted. Advertising someone else's is.
Since 2014 the Criminal Code has treated the purchase of sexual services as the offence, not the sale. Section 286.4 makes it an offence to knowingly advertise an offer to provide sexual services for consideration, and section 286.5 then provides that no person shall be prosecuted for advertising their own sexual services. In plain terms: an independent who writes and places an ad for herself or himself is not the target of the advertising offence. Placing or managing ads for other people is a different matter and this guide does not cover it.
Cities and provinces add their own layers, mostly about premises and business licences rather than ads. This page is general information. If your situation is unusual, a lawyer who knows this area is worth an hour of their time.
Where Aurora fits
A classifieds board's directness with a directory's verification.
Aurora is an ad board, operated from Canada, built for one trade: your own contact details on the ad, and a badge that names its method. Every advertiser verifies with a government ID and a liveness check, a person reviews every ad and photo before it is shown, and visitors contact you directly, by the lines you chose. There is no messaging in between, no cut of anything you earn, and no public reviews. You pay for the ad, 30 days at a time, in Bitcoin, and nothing renews.
The honest trade-off: it is new, and the first ads in each city are going up now. That is also why the founding offer exists. The full list of cities is on the Canada advertising page.
Questions
Asked before most people choose.
- Is it legal to advertise as an independent companion in Canada?
- The Criminal Code (section 286.4) makes it an offence to knowingly advertise an offer to provide sexual services for consideration, and section 286.5 says that no person shall be prosecuted for advertising their own sexual services. That is the position for an independent advertising herself or himself; it does not cover advertising for someone else. This is general information, not legal advice, and provincial and municipal rules can add conditions.
- Do I need to put my phone number on the ad?
- No. On Aurora you choose which contact lines appear: a phone number and how it may be used (text, call, WhatsApp), a Telegram handle, an email address, a website, or any combination. At least one is needed so people can reach you, since Aurora has no messaging in between.
- What does a verified badge mean?
- On Aurora it means one specific thing, and the badge says so: the advertiser proved their identity with a government ID and a liveness check, through Didit, and a person reviewed the ad before it went live. Aurora keeps the result, never the document. Elsewhere, 'verified' can mean anything from a photo check to nothing, so ask.
- How much does advertising on Aurora cost?
- Pro is 39 euros and Elite 129 euros, each for 30 days, paid in Bitcoin and never auto-renewed. Until 31 January 2027, the first 25 advertisers approved in each city get 60 days of Pro free, with no card and nothing charged afterwards.
- Can I advertise in more than one city?
- Your ad has a home city, and you can list the cities you tour. Aurora has 18 Canadian cities, from Toronto and Montreal to Halifax and Victoria, and 42 in the United States.
Next
Advertise with your own contact details on the ad.
Aurora is an ad board for independent companions, operated from Canada. Every advertiser verifies with a government ID, a person reviews every ad, and the people who read it contact you directly. Aurora charges for the ad and nothing else.
More guides
Writing an ad that gets the right replies
How to write a companion ad that attracts the clients you want and screens out the ones you don't: the first line, what to include, photos that pass verification, and the contact lines that work.
Screening clients: a practical checklist
A plain checklist independent companions use to screen new clients: what to ask, what to verify, the warning signs, and the records worth keeping. Written for Canada and the US.
Moving your ad from a classifieds board to Aurora
If you advertise on a classifieds board such as LeoList or Tryst today, here is what changes on Aurora, what you keep, and how to move your ad in an afternoon without leaving anything behind.