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Before you compare cloud accounting packages, know the one rule that decides whether a package is usable for a Canadian business: the CRA wants your records kept for at least six years from the end of the latest year they relate to, in a readable form you can hand over. Any package that can’t export your books when you leave it fails that test, whatever its price.
What should a cloud accounting package do for a Canadian business?
Nobody can honestly name the best product for every business, and this page won’t pretend to. Prices, plans and feature lists change often, and none of them could be confirmed here. What you can do is test any package yourself, using the CRA’s own record-keeping rules as the yardstick.
Start with the boring questions. Does it handle GST or HST and the provincial taxes where you sell? Can it produce a report you’d be happy to give an accountant at year end? Can it run payroll, or does it connect to something that does? A package that’s weak on the first one will cost you every quarter.
The CRA record-keeping tests
These come from the CRA’s pages on electronic record keeping and its guide to keeping records. They apply to you, not to the software company.
| CRA point | What to check in a package |
|---|---|
| Keep records at least six years | What happens to your data if you stop paying |
| Readable, usable copy | Export in a common format that isn’t locked to one vendor |
| Backups must restore to a usable state | Whether you hold your own copy, and whether you’ve tested it |
| Records kept outside Canada | Where the data sits, and whether copies can be made available in Canada |
The CRA says using an outside provider doesn’t relieve you of your record-keeping, readability, retention and access duties. So if the vendor closes your account, the problem is yours.
A quick worked example on sales tax
Try a package with a sale you can check by hand. Invoice $100 in Ontario and the GST/HST calculator shows 13% HST, $13.00, for a total of $113.00. A $2,500 invoice should come out at $325.00 of HST and $2,825.00 in all. If the package shows something else on the same invoice, its tax setup is wrong or you’ve chosen a different province. Do the same for a customer in another province before you trust it. Quebec and BC have different tax structures, and a tool that treats every province alike is a warning sign. (Our own BC GST and PST tool has that flaw too, so we’re not exempt from the advice.)
It’s a five-minute test, a ballpark check really, and it catches more than a demo does.
How do you test a package in one afternoon?
Don’t rely on the sales demo. Open a trial and run the same small job through it that you’d run in real life. Enter ten invoices, three of them to customers in other provinces. Connect one bank account and see how it handles a duplicate. Run the sales tax report and compare it to your hand count. Then export everything, open the file on a different computer, and check that the dates and amounts are all there. If any step is awkward in the trial, it will be worse in March with a year of transactions. Imagine Dana, who runs a small landscaping outfit in Halifax and tried this on a Sunday. The export was the step that told her which of two packages to drop.
Which questions are worth asking before you sign up?
Can you export everything, including past years, without paying an extra fee? Ask that in writing if you can. Where is the data stored? Who else can see it? What does the cancellation page say, and does it give you time to download?
Ask how the package connects to your bank, and what you’ll do if the connection breaks for a week. Ask what support looks like at 4 p.m. on the last day of a filing month. And ask an accountant who’ll work with your file which packages they already know. That last question saves more money than any feature chart.
What to do with the numbers once they’re in
The package gives you a profit figure, not a tax bill. To turn one into the other, use the self-employed tax calculator if you’re a sole proprietor, or the corporate tax calculator if you’ve incorporated. If you have staff, the payroll remittance calculator estimates what you send the CRA each pay period.
Two limits apply. The self-employed tool leaves out EI, and the Ontario small-business rate for 2026 in the corporate tool is a blend we derived, not a published rate.
Mistakes to avoid
Choosing on the free trial is the common one. A trial shows you the pretty part. The mess comes later, when you have three years of transactions and a bookkeeper who wants them in a different layout.
Another is treating the package as the backup. It’s a service you rent. Export a full copy yourself on a schedule, and open it once to check that it’s readable.
Where this information comes from
The record-keeping rules come from the Canada Revenue Agency’s Information Circular on electronic record keeping (IC05-1) and its general guidance on keeping records. The example figures come from our 2026 calculators. No claims are made about any product, price or ranking. No government body has reviewed or endorsed what you read here.
Frequently asked questions
How long must I keep my accounting records?
The CRA says at least six years from the end of the latest year they relate to, in electronic or paper form.
Can I rely on the software company to keep my records?
No. The CRA says using an outside provider doesn't relieve you of your record-keeping, readability, retention and access duties.
What format should exports be in?
A common, non-proprietary data format compatible with CRA software.
Can records be kept outside Canada?
Copies must be made available in Canada in a readable, usable form for CRA officials.
Which package is cheapest or best?
We couldn't confirm prices or rankings, so we make no claim. Test any package on a sample invoice and an export.
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