When QuickBooks makes sense
QuickBooks is worth keeping if you already have a bookkeeper or accountant who uses it and your primary need is general ledger, payroll, and year-end tax preparation. Its integration ecosystem is wide, and most Canadian accountants are comfortable with it.
Where QuickBooks falls short for Canadian contractors
QuickBooks is an accounting tool, not a construction-compliance tool. Its invoice templates do not include proper-invoice fields required by the Ontario Construction Act. There is no 28-day payment tracking, no statutory holdback calculation, and no T5018 tracking. If you use it for invoicing, you are almost certainly sending invoices that do not start the payment clock. QuickBooks was also acquired by Intuit and its Canadian localization has historically lagged its US counterpart.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Markup | QuickBooks |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario Construction Act proper-invoice fields | Advantage: Markup.All 7 fields by default, period of work and contract reference required. | Not present. Generic invoice template. |
| 28-day payment clock | Advantage: Markup.Automatic from invoice send date. | Not available. No Construction Act awareness. |
| GST/HST/QST (province-aware) | Advantage: Markup.All 13 provinces, using each jurisdiction's published rate, including QST on pre-GST base. | HST/GST supported. QST configuration requires manual setup. |
| T5018 tracking | Advantage: Markup.Built-in YTD tracker with threshold warnings. | Not built in. Requires manual tracking or a third-party add-on. |
| Statutory holdback | Advantage: Markup.Automatic per province. | Not available. |
| CRA filing deadline reminders | Advantage: Markup.GST/HST remittance and T5018 deadlines tracked in-app. | Not built in. Reminder features are generic. |
| Pricing (CAD) | Free to $89/mo. Solo $49, Plus $89. | Simple Start ~$20/mo, Essentials ~$35/mo, Plus ~$50/mo, Advanced ~$90/mo CAD. |
| General ledger and bookkeeping | Not in scope. Markup focuses on trades-specific cash flow and compliance. | Full double-entry bookkeeping, bank feeds, reconciliation. |
| Accountant integration | Export available. Most accountants can work with exports. | Accountant login, live bank feeds, native integration for year-end. |
| Payroll | Not in scope. | Full Canadian payroll with T4 generation. |
Choose QuickBooks if:
- You have an accountant who actively uses QuickBooks to manage your books, and the bookkeeping integration is more valuable than construction-specific compliance.
- You need payroll, general ledger, and year-end tax support in one tool.
- Your invoicing volume is low and you are willing to manually add proper-invoice fields to QuickBooks templates.
Choose Markup if:
- You want invoices that legally qualify under the Ontario Construction Act without any manual customization.
- You are paying subcontractors and need T5018 tracking to avoid CRA penalties.
- You want the 28-day payment clock tracked automatically rather than in a spreadsheet.
- You want your GST/HST and holdback calculations to be correct by default, not after manual provincial tax setup.
QuickBooks alternative: frequently asked questions
Is Markup a good QuickBooks alternative for contractors?
Markup is a strong complement or alternative for the invoicing and compliance side. QuickBooks is general accounting; it does not produce Construction Act proper invoices, track the 28-day clock, calculate statutory holdback, or generate T5018 slips. Markup handles those. Many contractors keep QuickBooks for bookkeeping and use Markup for compliance.
Does QuickBooks create Construction Act proper invoices?
No. QuickBooks invoice templates are generic and do not include the section 6.1 fields (period of work, contract reference, payment recipient details) required for a proper invoice, so they do not start the 28-day payment clock.
Does QuickBooks track T5018?
Not natively. QuickBooks does not generate T5018 returns; contractors track the $500 threshold manually or with a third-party add-on. Markup tracks each subcontractor's year-to-date total and produces filing-ready figures.
Can I use Markup alongside QuickBooks?
Yes. A common setup is QuickBooks for general ledger and payroll, and Markup for Construction Act invoicing, T5018, holdback, and lien deadlines. On Plus you can give your accountant a read-only view of your books inside Markup, or export clean figures as CSV for your bookkeeper.
Related
Comparison data reflects publicly available information and Markup’s direct testing as of May 2026. Feature sets change. Verify current capabilities on each vendor’s website before making a purchasing decision. Prices shown in CAD where available.