The Canopy alternative with every module included at one price
Canopy sells a client platform and charges per user for workflow, documents and time and billing on top. Firms leave when the bill reaches $100 to $175 per user, or when they realise they are paying for US tax tooling they never use. ZenWorkflow includes everything from €39.
When firms start looking for a Canopy alternative
Canopy reviewers like the portal and the IRS tooling. The invoice is what sends them looking.
The modules add up
Workflow (around $32), documents ($36) and time and billing ($22) are each per user per month on top of the $74 base. Most firms land at $100 to $175 per user.
Built for US tax
IRS transcripts, notices and tax resolution are the standout features, and irrelevant for a firm in Europe or anywhere outside the US.
No AML/KYC
There is no screening or risk assessment, so regulated firms keep compliance in a second tool.
No staff leave or capacity
Canopy manages work, not people. Leave and workload planning stay in spreadsheets.
What you keep, what you gain
Most of what your team does in Canopy carries straight across. The rest is what they have been doing in other tools.
You keep: tasks as workflows
Canopy task templates become workflow templates with sections, owners, budgets and due dates, launched on schedule.
You keep: time and billing
Time entries, fixed fees and expenses roll onto invoices, with estimates, credit notes and receipts in the same ledger, no module fee.
You gain: KYC at onboarding
Identity documents, PEP and sanctions screening and a structured risk assessment before the engagement starts.
You gain: multi-entity and leave
Several firms or entities from one login, and staff leave and capacity next to the work.
What you give up when you leave Canopy
What you give up is Canopy's client portal and mobile app, Canopy Payments, and the US tax resolution tooling. ZenWorkflow shares documents through secure links rather than a portal. US tax practices that rely on transcripts and notices should stay on Canopy.
What to export from Canopy before you switch
Export from each module you pay for before the subscription ends; module access goes with it.
- Contacts and client records to CSV from the CRM
- Client files from the document management module, downloaded per client folder
- Open tasks with assignee, status and due date
- Task templates, exported or documented, to rebuild as workflow templates
- Time entries and invoices from the time and billing module
- Signed engagement letters and portal uploads as PDFs
Switching from Canopy in four steps
Guided onboarding imports your data and validates it with you before go-live.
Export clients, tasks and files
Pull contacts, open tasks and client files out of each Canopy module while you still have access to it.
Import into ZenWorkflow
Load clients, contacts and jobs from the spreadsheet; connect Google Drive so client files land in the right folders.
Templates, then go live
Turn your recurring services into templates and launch the next cycle from ZenWorkflow.
Run one cycle side by side
Keep Canopy for the current billing period while the team works in ZenWorkflow, then cancel the modules.
Switching from Canopy: questions firms ask
Straight answers on data, timing and what changes for the team.
For firms outside the US, or US firms that do not need IRS tooling, ZenWorkflow: one price with workflow, time, billing, documents, leave and AML/KYC included. Firms that need a client portal and payments above all should also look at TaxDome.
Yes. Contacts and tasks import from Canopy's CSV exports and documents go into connected Google Drive folders. Onboarding specialists validate the import with you.
No. Workflows, time, invoicing, documents, leave and reporting are all in the Practice plan at €39 per user per month. AML/KYC is the only addition, on the Practice + AML plan at €58.
No. ZenWorkflow is built for EU and international firms doing regulated, deadline-driven work. If US tax resolution is core to your practice, Canopy remains the right tool.
A firm with a few hundred clients is usually live within two to three weeks: a week to export and import, a week to rebuild templates and check the first cycle, and a few days of running the two systems side by side. Larger firms with invoicing history to bring across take longer, and we plan that with you.
Most teams are working in ZenWorkflow after one onboarding session. Workflows, timesheets and invoices follow the way firms already work, and the knowledge center covers every screen. Partners usually need the reporting walkthrough only.
Yes. ZenWorkflow is built in the EU and is used by accounting, audit, tax, legal and corporate-services firms across Europe and beyond. It bills in EUR or USD, supports multiple entities from one login and includes the AML/KYC due-diligence that EU and UK regulated firms need, without a US-tax or Companies-House-only focus.
Yes. Start a free trial with no credit card, import a handful of clients and run one real engagement end to end. Book a demo if you would rather see your own workflows set up first.
Leaving Canopy? Bring one engagement across and see
Start a free trial, or book a demo and we will import a handful of your clients and run one real job end to end.
No credit card required. Free 14-day trial.