QuickBooks Desktop alternatives for Canada

What changed in Canada

Intuit stopped selling QuickBooks Desktop Pro, Premier and Desktop Payroll to new Canadian subscribers on April 15, 2025. Existing subscribers can keep using their version while their subscription stays active. Intuit says QuickBooks Enterprise is not affected and remains available.

The US stop-sell came earlier, after September 30, 2024. For Canadians the effect is the same: a new business cannot start on Desktop Pro or Premier, and an existing one that lets its subscription lapse cannot come back to it.

What a Canadian replacement must do

Many accounting programs are built for the US and adapted for Canada later. Check that a replacement handles these properly, not as a workaround:

• GST/HST with input tax credits tracked on every purchase, and a return by period that nets ITCs against tax collected. See the GST/HST filing guide.
• PST and QST if you sell in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba or Quebec.
• Payroll: CPP and CPP2 (QPP in Quebec), EI, federal and provincial income tax, vacation pay, and the monthly or quarterly remittance on form PD7A.
• Year-end slips: T4 and T4A by the end of February, and a Record of Employment when someone leaves. See T4 and T4A deadlines.
• Canadian dollars as the home currency, Canadian cheque layouts and date formats.
• Records you can keep: the CRA generally requires six years. Make sure you can still read your books if you stop paying for the program.

The options

Prices change often, and several vendors price in US dollars or by quote, so check each vendor's Canadian page for your number of users and employees. Our comparison pages date every price they show.

Where AcboBooks fits

AcboBooks is a Windows desktop program for small businesses in Canada and the US. When you create a company you choose Canada, and the file works in Canadian dollars with:

• GST/HST with input tax credits, PST and QST, and tax groups for provinces that charge two taxes;
• payroll with CPP and CPP2, EI, federal and provincial tax, QPP and QPIP for Quebec employees, vacation pay and Canadian direct deposit files;
• a PD7A remittance report, T4 slips and summary, and a Record of Employment worksheet;
• an encrypted company file that stays on your own computer.

The honest limits: it runs on Windows only, with no phone app. It imports your bank's statement files rather than connecting live to the bank. It prints T4 slips and gives you the summary figures, which you enter in CRA My Business Account web forms; it is not a certified electronic filer. Revenu Québec electronic filing is not built in. The price is in US dollars, charged once.

It imports QuickBooks Desktop lists and open balances. Bring them across at a clean break, such as the end of a quarter, so GST/HST and payroll remittances start fresh. See moving from QuickBooks.

How to choose

• Stay on Desktop if your subscription is active, the renewal price is acceptable, and you rely on Intuit payroll or payments.
• Choose Enterprise if you need its inventory, user permissions or industry editions and can carry the cost.
• Choose a cloud program if you need to work from anywhere and are comfortable with a monthly fee and your data on the vendor's servers.
• Choose Sage 50 if your accountant works in it or you need its inventory costing.
• Choose AcboBooks if you want the desktop way of working, Canadian payroll and sales tax included, and no subscription.

Whichever you choose, ask your accountant first. The best program is often the one they can open.

QuickBooks® is a registered trademark of Intuit Inc. Sage and Sage 50 are trademarks of The Sage Group plc or its licensors. Xero is a trademark of Xero Limited. AcboBooks is not affiliated with any of them.