Most software reviews are written for American businesses. We review for Canadian ones, which means checking things US sites rarely look at: sales tax handling, what you actually pay in Canadian dollars, and whether a tool works with Canadian banks, payroll, and regulations. This page explains exactly how we do it.
Two kinds of evaluation, always labelled
Every article states near the top which of these it is. We never imply hands-on testing we did not do. As of today, every article on NorthVetted is a research-based evaluation.
- Tested hands-on. We create an account on each tool, using a free trial or free plan where one exists, and run the same set of real tasks through every product in the comparison. The article lists those tasks.
- Research-based evaluation. We compare tools using vendor pricing pages, plan comparison tables, help-centre documentation, and published policies. Research-based articles compare what each vendor offers and charges; they do not make claims about how a product feels to use.
What we check for Canadian businesses
Depending on the category, every review looks at some or all of these:
- Sales tax. Can you set GST, HST, PST, and QST rates per invoice line or per client, and do reports separate the taxes you collected?
- Currency. Is the tool billed in CAD or USD? For USD-billed tools we say so, because exchange rates and card foreign-transaction fees change what you pay.
- Canadian fit. Canadian bank and payment support, Canadian payroll, French-language support for Quebec clients, and whether the company is Canadian.
- Cost as you grow. What the first paid tier actually includes, and how pricing changes as you add users, clients, or contacts.
- Fit for the reader. A solo contractor and a ten-person team need different things. Each article names who it is for and ranks tools for that reader.
How we handle pricing
- We quote regular list prices, not first-term promotional discounts.
- We show the month we last checked prices at the top of every article.
- We note mandatory extra costs we know about, such as per-user fees or payment processing fees, alongside the headline price.
- We do not repeat a vendor's discount claim unless we have checked it.
How ratings work
Ratings are out of 5 and reflect our editorial judgment against the criteria above, for the reader the article is written for. A tool that is excellent for a growing team can rate lower in a guide for solo operators. Affiliate commissions play no part in ratings or rankings.
Keeping reviews current
Software pricing and features change often. We re-check articles regularly, update the date shown at the top when we do, and record significant corrections in our corrections log.
Our own products
NorthVetted is published by Methodical Studio, which also builds GetMarkup. When GetMarkup is included in a comparison, we label it as ours, evaluate it against the same criteria, and say plainly that we are biased. Read the full editorial policy.