What you get here that the usual tools leave out.
Most software for a small business is either a free invoicing app that stops at the invoice, or an accounting suite built for the accountant. Hakkuu was built for the person actually running the business, in Canada, with the parts those tools charge extra for or skip.
Side by side with the two kinds of tool you are probably weighing
| Hakkuu | Free invoicing apps | Accounting suites | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free forever, then $19, $39 or $79 CAD a month with seats included | Usually free, with the useful parts sold as add-ons or a paid tier | Priced by plan and often by seat, with a trial instead of a free plan |
| Inventory with live stock counts | Every plan, including Free; stock falls when you invoice, with reorder points | Rarely tracked at all; items have a price but no count | Usually reserved for the higher tiers |
| Receipt scanning | Included from Libro; the tax is kept separate from the subtotal | Often a monthly add-on on top of the plan | Included, but filed into a ledger you have to understand |
| Canadian sales tax | Built in: GST, HST, PST and QST applied by province on invoices, quotes and receipts | Rates you set up and maintain yourself | Supported, in products designed for another country first |
| Quotes | A link your customer opens on a phone and taps Accept; one click to an invoice | Estimates as PDFs; acceptance online is uneven | Estimates exist; the customer-facing part is an afterthought |
| Payment reminders | Your schedule, sent only during your business hours | Fixed schedule after the due date, often on the paid tier | Available, configured deep in settings |
| Who it is built for | The person at the counter: shops, studios and services with one owner or a small team | Freelancers who need an invoice and nothing else | Accountants first, owners second |
| Made for Canada | Yes, by a team in Toronto | Sometimes | Canadian editions of products built elsewhere |
The two right-hand columns describe what is typical of each category, not any one product. Products change; check the one you are considering.
Seven things Hakkuu does that most tools do not
The Free plan has no end date. It is capped by volume, 5 invoices and 5 quotes a month, not by a 30-day clock. A business that bills a few customers can stay on it.
Counts that fall when you invoice, reorder points, low-stock alerts and item values, included on Free. Elsewhere this is the feature that pushes you up two tiers.
GST, HST, PST and QST applied by province, shown as its own line, kept separate on receipts. Nova Scotia's 14% is already in the table. Not a setting you maintain.
A link, not a PDF. You see when it is opened and when it is accepted, and the accepted quote becomes an invoice with stock deducted in one click.
You set the cadence. Hakkuu sends during your business hours only, so a reminder never lands at two in the morning on a Sunday.
Photograph a receipt and the vendor, date, tax and total are filed with a suggested category. The tax stays separate from the subtotal, which is what filing time needs.
CSV export of everything on every plan, daily off-site backups from Conto, an audit log of every change, and account deletion you can do yourself.
Where Hakkuu is not the right choice
Hakkuu is not accounting software. There is no general ledger, no double-entry bookkeeping, no bank feed and no payroll. If you need those inside one product, you need an accounting suite. Many Hakkuu customers pair it with an accountant who works from the CSV exports.
Hakkuu does not take card payments from your customers. You record payments as they arrive by e-transfer, cheque or cash. There is no Pay Now button on the invoice today.
The mobile apps are still in development. Hakkuu works in a phone browser now; native iOS and Android apps are coming.
Try the Canadian one free.
Free plan, no card. Import your customers from a spreadsheet and send a real invoice today.