Best 5 Canopy alternatives to consider for accounting practice management | Karbon Magazine
Best 5 Canopy alternatives to consider for accounting practice management
Summary
Canopy is a cloud-based practice management solution for mid-sized tax and accounting firms. Canopy users can manage emails, tasks and jobs, documents, time, billing, and payments all within the platform.
Initially founded as a tax resolution tool, Canopy’s strengths lie in its robust tax workflow features, such as pre-built client organizers, IRS transcript auto-retrieval and notice creation, and tax resolution. For tax firms that frequently handle complex client issues, Canopy can significantly reduce the amount of client chasing and manual work in the resolution process.
Canopy also integrates with leading accounting software such as QuickBooks Online and ProConnect Tax—an advantage that’s unavailable to general project management software such as Asana or Trello.
Although Canopy is an all-in-one platform with plenty to offer, its heavy focus on tax also makes the product less desirable for full-service accounting firms.
Why you should consider Canopy alternatives for your practice management solution
1. Canopy has a complicated pricing model
Canopy charges by each feature, client, and user you add to the platform. It may seem cost-effective at first because you only ‘pay for what you need’, but in reality, accounting firms that want to operate efficiently will need almost every paid add-on, which can quickly become expensive.
Say your five-person accounting firm is looking into Canopy as a potential practice management tool, and specifically looking at their Standard package. Right off the bat, you get up to 250 contacts for free. Trouble is, this is only for the Client Engagement module.
Naturally, you would need more functionality to run your firm, so you would need to add Document Management, Workflow, and Time & Billing modules, all of which costs additional per user, per module.
For your team of five, you're now looking at $445 per user, per month (billed annually).
Example of Canopy's monthly cost for 5 users and 250 contacts
However, the elements that make Canopy an attractive solution—the Tax Resolution add-on—still aren't included yet. That's an additional $50 per user, per month.
Canopy's add-on and standalone features and pricing
Now we're up to $695 per user, per month. This is significantly more expensive than you likely first thought.
To complicate matters further, that's just one pricing option that Canopy offers—they also have a Pro package, a Starter package, and an Essentials package.
2. Canopy’s workflow features can be underwhelming for non-tax work
Because Canopy is so focused on tax and compliance work, its actual project management and workflow features are not as robust as what’s required for full-service accounting firms.
For example, Canopy users can only view tasks as lists with no option to gain a high-level overview in either a Kanban board or timeline view (features that many Canopy alternatives offer).
A Kanban board view is particularly useful in visualizing your firm’s capacity because it enables you to group your work by different variables, like status, assignee, due date, etc.
Work/task view in Canopy
On top of that, the workflow module is a paid add-on. This means that if you don’t purchase it in conjunction with other modules, your user experience is disjointed and actually hinders productivity, rather than boosting it.
3. Limited native reporting and analytics capabilities
Canopy has some out-of-the-box reporting and analytics capabilities, but they are relatively basic.
Users can create Productivity, Time, Billing, and Work-in-Progress (WIP) reports and export them as Excel or CSV files for further analysis outside of the platform. Some pre-built dashboards also exist to give insights into revenue, invoice statuses, and payment methods.
However, users have limited options in building customizable dashboards and reports outside of what’s been made available. Larger firms with more sophisticated reporting needs might struggle with Canopy’s reporting capabilities.
5 best Canopy alternatives for accounting, tax, and bookkeeping firms
While overall, Canopy is a strong practice management tool, its limitations might drive you to look for competitors that better meet your needs. If you’re on the fence about Canopy, here are the 5 best alternatives to consider for your accounting, tax, or bookkeeping firm.
1. Karbon
Karbon is a robust practice management platform for accounting, tax, and bookkeeping firms. It offers similar core functionalities to Canopy’s practice management suite, but Karbon’s features are fully integrated and not packaged and sold by modules.
As a result, you’ll benefit from a more holistic product with better ease of use. This is one of the reasons why thousands of firms across the globe choose Karbon.
Karbon is the only accounting practice management solution that allows you to @mention colleagues and comment on emails, turn emails into tasks, and assign emails to colleagues, client and project timelines
Karbon AI: GPT-powered artificial intelligence built into email and workflows (currently in beta)
Simple and comprehensive pricing
Holistic and powerful user experience
Open API so you can integrate apps, build custom solutions, and optimize workflows
Highly customizable to match your practice’s workflow
Unite your team and collaborate with a single source of truth for all communication and client information
CRM capabilities allow you to track your firm’s relationship with every client and deliver the service you promise
Reveal insights to guide critical firm decisions and improve efficiency with Karbon Analytics
Built by a team of accounting professionals and those with experience in the accounting space
Cons
Requires a more hands-on implementation and onboarding, because it is a more robust solution
Not the cheapest option on the market
Who is Karbon best suited for?
Karbon is most effective for full-service accounting, tax, and bookkeeping firms with teams of 5 staff members or more. Karbon is also worth considering for a sole practitioner who’s looking to rapidly grow within a short period of time.
Reviews
Here’s how Karbon and Canopy stack up against each other on popular software review sites:
Firms under 50 users can choose either a Team or Business plan and the total cost is simply the number of users multiplied by the subscription per month (paid monthly or annually).
It’s hard to say which platform is cheaper due to Canopy’s complex pricing model.
But for a 5-user firm with 2,000 contacts:
Karbon’s Business plan would cost $395 USD/month
Canopy's Pro plan would cost $1,016 USD/month ($460 USD/month for 1,950 contacts, $180 USD/month for Document Management, $205 USD/month for Workflow, and $158 USD/month for Time & Billing).
Karbon or Canopy?
Karbon and Canopy are comparable in terms of key practice management features for accounting and tax firms. The biggest difference lies in their product design philosophy, tax workflow and project management capabilities, and the pricing model.
Canopy’s direct integration with the IRS and its tax compliance solution are unique features that streamlines tax resolution workflows and saves time.
But Karbon is more holistically built and has some of the strongest project and workflow management capabilities in the practice management software market. It also weaves collaboration and cross-team visibility into every part of the platform.
Ready to give Karbon a try?Book a demoto learn how your firm can benefit from Karbon.
2. TaxDome
TaxDome is another popular practice management solution for accounting and tax professionals. It offers a wide range of features—from a client app to a native website builder.
Task view in TaxDome
TaxDome's top features
Client portal and mobile app
CRM
Unlimited clients, documents, and projects
Project and task management
Workflow automation
Customizable organizers
eSignatures and KBA (Knowledge-based Authentication)
Notification center
Time tracking
Invoicing and payments
Integrations with popular accounting software
Website builder
TaxDome pros and cons
Pros
Wide range of features give you access to more functionality than other practice management solutions
Highly customizable client portal
A client mobile app helps clients gain easy access to the portal
Offers a PDF editor with unlimited document storage
Affordable pricing (however, the primary user is required to sign up for an annual subscription on its lower-tier plan)
Cons
TaxDome offers many features, making it difficult to do them all well—this means many features generally feel underdeveloped
Steep learning curve to get used to the platform
No high-level visibility across your entire firm’s work (limited to each ‘pipeline’)
No native reporting or analytics capabilities
No free trial
Who is TaxDome best suited for?
TaxDome is best suited for sole tax practitioners or startup CPA firms that are looking for functionality across a wide range of features, but don’t require depth to these features.
Reviews
Here’s how Canopy and TaxDome stack up against each other on popular software review sites:
TaxDome offers three pricing tiers. Pricing depends on how many years you sign up for and payment is required upfront (only billed annually).
The pricing below is based on a one year subscription:
Solo: $800 USD/year per user
Pro: $1,000 USD/year per user
Business: $1,200 USD/year per user
For a 5-user firm on a 1-year contract on the Pro plan, the total price would be $5,000 per year.
Pricing and tiers change for those in other countries, including Australia and the UK.
TaxDome or Canopy?
TaxDome and Canopy are a close match on practice management software features. But the devil is in the details:
TaxDome offers many features, but because of the sheer quantity, they lack depth.
Canopy has more depth and a unique tax resolution suite, but it’s also significantly more expensive. If your firm is weighing these tradeoffs, exploring other tax practice management software options can help you find the right balance of functionality, cost, and scalability.
For sole practitioners who simply need a system to consolidate their different apps and Excel project trackers, TaxDome may suffice. But if your team is larger and distributed, it’s worth considering the alternatives mentioned in this guide.
3. Financial Cents
Started in 2020, Financial Cents is a practice management solution for accounting firms, designed for small to mid-sized accounting firms.
Quick to implement (however this might be a drawback for some firms looking for a more powerful solution)
Responsive support
Cons
Basic workflow features (tasks and projects are only available in a list view or a calendar view, not as Kanban boards or customizable work dashboards)
No Kanban board work dashboards
Lacks deep and customizable reporting, insights, and business intelligence analysis capabilities
Who is Financial Cents best suited for?
Financial Cents is best suited for small and mid-sized accounting firms who want to start off with an accounting practice management solution to help them deliver work efficiently. As these firms start to grow, however, they may find the platform lacks the advanced functionality needed to support a scalable business.
Reviews
Here’s how Canopy and Financial Cents stack up against each other on popular software review sites:
Financial Cents offers three separate pricing plans. The following prices are based on a monthly billing structure:
Solo: $19 USD/month, per user
Team: $49 USD/month, per user
Scale: $69 USD/month, per user
All three plans are available as 14-day free trials.
Financial Cents or Canopy?
Financial Cents is a viable alternative to Canopy for smaller CPA firms that don’t handle too many complex tax clients. It’s reasonably priced and has an adequate amount of features that can help smaller teams get started relatively quickly.
But if you’re looking for a more comprehensive tax resolution suite, Canopy may be the way to go.
4. Pixie
Pixie is a practice management solution that primarily focuses on smaller firms across the UK. They market themselves as providing ‘everything you need to manage your practice and get things done faster in one simple, flexible practice management tool’.
Work view in Pixie
Pixie’s top features
CRM with custom fields
Workflow management
Email management
Workflow template library
eSignatures
Client reminders
Pixie pros and cons
Pros:
Modern, clean user interface
Affordable solution for small firms with 1-3 employees
Flexible recurring work functionality
Best-practice template library
Cons:
Limited collaboration functionality (unable to @mention colleagues in comments or notes, making teamwork difficult)
No time and budget tracking means that productivity and profitability insights are limited
No Kanban board view, which makes it difficult to get a high-level view of your firm
No ability to assign work subtasks to different team members
Limited to mostly UK-specific integrations
Who is Pixie best suited for?
Pixie is a solution to consider if your firm is small (1-3 employees), based in the UK, and you don’t have a high volume of clients or complex projects.
Reviews
Here’s how Canopy and Pixie stack up against each other on popular software review sites:
Pixie’s pricing is based on the number of clients you have and includes an unlimited number of users:
Less than 50 clients: $69 USD per month
51-250 clients: $129 USD per month
251-500 clients: $199 USD per month
501-750 clients: $249 USD per month
751-1,000 clients: $329 USD per month
More than 1,000 clients: Custom pricing
Pixie or Canopy?
Pixie is an option to consider if you’re a small UK-based accounting firm with 1-3 staff members and you’re looking for a simple practice management tool to manage your day-to-day tasks. Its UK-specific integrations with partners like Companies House and Xama may make it even more enticing.
But if you’re based in the US, Australia and other countries—you won’t find all that you need in Pixie.
And if you’re a larger UK firm looking for a more robust practice management solution, Pixie may not offer the functionality you truly require.
5. Jetpack Workflow
As its name suggests, Jetpack Workflow is a workflow management tool for accounting firms. It’s not a practice management solution.
But, it still makes this list as an alternative to Canopy’s workflow management offering. It’s important to note that you won’t find typical practice management features such as a client portal or invoicing in Jetpack Workflow.
Jetpack Workflow dashboard view
Jetpack Workflow’s top features
Work dashboard
Job and task management
Workflow automation
Calendar view
Jobs and progress report
Client management
Time tracking and budgets
QuickBooks Online and Zapier integration
Jetpack Workflow pros and cons
Pros
Affordable pricing for simple workflow management
Time tracking capabilities
Useful dashboard with a high-level overview of work
Cons
Dated user interface
Limited collaboration features (no ability to comment on or @mention or team members on tasks or subtasks)
No integrated email inbox, which means you have to constantly switch between Jetpack Workflow and your email provider
No client portal
Basic CRM
No invoicing or payments
Who is Jetpack Workflow best suited for?
Jetpack Workflow may be a good option for accounting, bookkeeping or tax firms that are simply looking for a tool to manage their tasks/jobs/projects.
Because it’s not a practice management system, firms will need to use Jetpack Workflow alongside other software such as a client portal, a CRM, or a billing and payment app to fulfill their needs.
Reviews
Here’s how Canopy and Jetpack Workflow stack up against each other on popular software review sites:
Jetpack workflow has two pricing plans: Organize and Scale.
The Organize plan costs $45 USD per month, per user on a monthly subscription ($36 USD annually).
The Scale plan costs $50 USD per month, per user on a monthly subscription ($39 USD annually).
Jetpack Workflow or Canopy?
Jetpack Workflow and Canopy are both built for the accounting industry, but they are intended for different use cases, which is reflected in their key features and prices.
Depending on your firm’s needs, budget, and tech stack configuration, Jetpack Workflow might be a good alternative to Canopy. But if you’re a larger firm or expecting to grow steadily over time, a full practice management platform will give you better return on investment in the long run.
Try Karbon for free
Now that you have a clear overview of the top alternatives to Canopy, you should have an idea about which options best-suit your practice.
To see how professional services firms save an average of 19.9 hours per employee each week, you can explore the Karbon Effect. Or you can use the Karbon ROI calculator to see your return on investment by implementing Karbon.
Learn about the pros and cons of Asana for accounting firms, determine if it's right for your needs, and explore other solutions that might be a better fit.
Find the best solution for your tax accounting firm by comparing TaxDome with the features and capabilities of the other leading practice management platforms.
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