You registered the business, opened the bank account and landed the first client. Now the invoices, the to-do list, the website, the sales tax and the first payroll are all on you. There are hundreds of apps for entrepreneurs that promise to help. This list keeps to eleven that cover the basics of running a small business in Canada, from the CRA's own business account to payments and payroll, with prices checked in November 2026.
Prices change often and some are shown in US dollars, so confirm on each pricing page before you subscribe. Some links in this list are affiliate links, and Canada Talents may earn a commission if you sign up through them. The tax points below are general information, not tax advice; check the CRA pages linked here or an accountant for your situation.
Government and tax
1. CRA My Business Account
Before any paid app, set up the Canada Revenue Agency's free online account for businesses. My Business Account is where you can register for a business number if you don't have one yet, read the CRA's mail about your business online, and pay what you owe on GST/HST, payroll or corporate income tax (CRA, as of November 2026). Your accountant can be given access through the CRA's Represent a Client service, so you don't have to share your sign-in.
Know the GST/HST rule from the start. You can stay a small supplier and skip registration while your taxable sales stay at or under 30,000 dollars over four consecutive calendar quarters; once you go over, you must register and start charging the tax (CRA, as of November 2026). In Quebec, you register for the GST and the QST with Revenu Québec.
Organization and productivity
2. Asana
Asana is a work management tool for teams. Each task has an assignee, a due date, comments, attachments and followers, so everyone can see who is doing what, and by when. Projects can be shown as lists, boards or timelines, and templates let you reuse the same workflow for every new client.
There is a free Personal plan for getting started. Paid plans start with Starter at 10.99 US dollars per user per month, billed annually, and Advanced adds more automation and reporting (Asana pricing).
3. Todoist
Todoist is a simpler alternative that focuses on personal task management more than team coordination. It works on phone, computer and browser, and it understands everyday language: type "send invoice every last Friday" and it creates the recurring task.
The free Beginner plan allows five personal projects and three filter views. Pro costs 5 US dollars a month billed yearly and adds custom reminders, calendar layouts and full activity history. Business costs 8 US dollars per user per month billed yearly and adds shared team projects.
Website and design
4. Webflow
Your business needs a website, and you may not want to write code. Webflow lets you build a fully custom site visually, with more design control than most website builders, and it has built-in tools for collaborating with a designer or a client. This blog runs on it.
You can build for free on the Starter plan and publish to a webflow.io address. To use your own domain, site plans start at 15 US dollars a month billed yearly, plus tax.
5. Canva
Canva is a drag-and-drop design tool for social media posts, flyers, presentations and business cards. It lacks the power of Adobe's software, but its ready-made templates make professional-looking graphics quick to produce. The free plan goes a long way; the paid Pro plan adds a brand kit for your logo, colours and fonts, and a larger library of stock photos and templates.
Selling and getting paid
6. Shopify
Shopify lets you open an online store without coding, and it also handles in-person sales with a card reader. Themes, a large app store and built-in payments get a store running quickly.
In Canada, Basic costs 49 Canadian dollars a month, or 37 dollars a month billed yearly; Grow and Advanced cost more and lower your card rates. If you use a payment provider other than Shopify Payments, Shopify adds its own transaction fee of 2% on Basic, 1% on Grow and 0.6% on Advanced (Shopify Canada pricing).
7. Square
If most of your sales happen face to face, at a market stall, a salon or a client's door, Square is the simpler start. The point-of-sale app is free with no monthly fee, and you pay per transaction: in Canada, 2.5% per in-person credit card payment, 0.75% plus 7 cents per in-person debit payment, and 2.8% plus 30 cents for online payments and invoices paid online (Square Canada pricing, as of November 2026). You can also send invoices from the same app.
8. Hunter.io
If you sell to other businesses, Hunter finds and verifies professional email addresses. Search a company's domain and it lists the public addresses it has found there, which helps you reach the right person instead of a generic inbox.
The free plan includes 50 credits a month, shared between searches and verifications. Starter costs 49 US dollars a month, or 34 dollars a month billed yearly, for 2,000 credits a month (Hunter pricing).
Banking, accounting and payroll
Open a separate business bank account before your first invoice, even as a sole proprietor. Keeping business money apart from your personal spending makes your bookkeeping, your GST/HST returns and any question from the CRA much simpler, and accounting apps work best when they only see business transactions.
9. Wave
Wave is accounting software for owners with no bookkeeping background. The free Starter plan includes unlimited invoices, estimates and bookkeeping records. Pro costs 25 Canadian dollars a month or 250 dollars a year and adds features such as extra user roles and lower card fees on the first transactions each month. Payroll is a paid add-on. Online card payments carry processing fees on every plan (Wave pricing).
Wave suits freelancers and very small businesses. As your team grows, a dedicated payroll tool such as Wagepoint or a bookkeeper may serve you better.
10. Wagepoint
Wagepoint is payroll software built only for small businesses in Canada. It pays employees by direct deposit, calculates deductions such as income tax, CPP and EI, handles remittances, and prepares year-end forms like T4s at no extra cost.
The Lite plan costs 20 dollars a month plus 4 dollars per employee, for one pay run a month. Core and Plus allow unlimited pay runs (Wagepoint pricing).
11. Wise
If you pay suppliers abroad or get paid by foreign clients, Wise is worth a look. Its business account lets you hold, send and receive money in 40+ currencies, with account details in currencies such as CAD, USD, EUR and GBP, and a transparent fee shown before each transfer. Wise says 18.9 million customers, businesses and banks use it.
Compare the total cost, fee plus exchange rate, with your bank on your next transfer before you switch.
The 11 apps at a glance
| App | Category | Free option | Paid from (Nov. 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|
| CRA My Business Account | Tax | Free | None |
| Asana | Team projects | Personal plan | USD 10.99 per user a month, yearly |
| Todoist | Personal tasks | Beginner plan | USD 5 a month, yearly |
| Webflow | Website | Starter, webflow.io address | USD 15 a month, yearly |
| Canva | Design | Free plan | Pro plan |
| Shopify | Online store | No | CAD 37 a month, yearly |
| Square | In-person payments | No monthly fee | 2.5% per in-person credit card sale |
| Hunter.io | B2B prospecting | 50 credits a month | USD 34 a month, yearly |
| Wave | Accounting, invoices | Starter plan | CAD 25 a month |
| Wagepoint | Payroll | No | 20 dollars a month plus 4 per employee |
| Wise | International payments | Fee shown per transfer | Varies by transfer |
A starter stack for your type of business
You do not need all eleven on day one. Start with the stack that matches how you earn money, and add a tool only when it solves a problem you actually have.
- Freelancer or consultant: CRA My Business Account, Wave for invoices and bookkeeping, Todoist for deadlines, Canva for a simple portfolio or proposal. Add Wise if your clients pay from abroad.
- Shop or market stall: Square for in-person sales, or Shopify if most orders come online, plus Wave for the books and Canva for signs and social posts. Add Wagepoint the day you hire your first employee.
- Service business with a small team: Asana to share the work, Square or Wave to invoice, Wagepoint for payroll, a Webflow site so clients can find you, and Hunter.io if you sell to other businesses.
If you hire help on contract rather than as employees, read our guide to the tax side of hiring freelancers instead of employees before you set up payroll.
Start with the tool for your biggest headache
Pick the task that eats most of your week, invoices, scheduling or finding clients, and try the free plan for that one first. Add the next tool only when the first one has earned its place.
If you are still deciding whether to start a business here, read our guide to what to know before starting a small business in BC. To talk through your plans, whether it is a business or a job search, book a 15-minute consultation with our team.
