How Much Money Are You Sending to US Software Companies?

Here's a challenge: open your last three credit card and bank statements and add up every recurring payment to a US software company. Most Canadian businesses have never done this calculation. The number is usually larger — and more concentrated — than people expect.

The Average Canadian Business Software Audit

Let's build a realistic example. A 10-person Canadian professional services firm running a typical US software stack:

Software	USD/month	CAD/month (~1.37)
QuickBooks Online Plus	$85	$116
HubSpot Starter (5 users)	$225	$308
Asana Business (10 users)	$249	$341
Slack Pro (10 users)	$87	$119
Gusto (payroll, 10 employees)	$179	$245
Zoom Pro (5 seats)	$75	$103
DocuSign Business Pro	$40	$55
Dropbox Business	$120	$164
Mailchimp Standard	$75	$103
Stripe processing (2.9% on $30K/mo)	$870	$1,192
Total	$2,005	$2,746

That's $32,952 CAD per year flowing to US companies from a 10-person firm. Annualized, this 10-person company is sending over $30,000 out of the Canadian economy every year just on software subscriptions.

Scale It Up

For a 50-person company with more sophisticated tooling, the number climbs dramatically:

• Add Salesforce Enterprise (50 users): ~$7,500 USD/month = ~$10,275 CAD/month
• Add Workday HR: ~$2,000/month base = ~$2,740 CAD/month
• Add AWS: ~$3,000/month = ~$4,110 CAD/month
• Add Microsoft 365 (50 users): ~$1,500 USD/month = ~$2,055 CAD/month

A 50-person company could easily be spending $200,000–$400,000 CAD per year on US software. Every year. Recurring. Growing with every feature upgrade and seat expansion.

The Hidden Exchange Rate Tax

The exchange rate isn't just a line item — it's a compounding cost. When the CAD is at 73 cents USD (as it has been during recent trade tensions), every US software dollar costs you 37% more than its USD sticker price. Software vendors don't adjust their USD prices when the CAD weakens. You absorb the entire exchange rate risk.

Canadian software priced in CAD eliminates this risk entirely. FreshBooks, Humi, Wagepoint, Helcim, and dozens of other Canadian tools charge in CAD. You know exactly what you'll pay, month after month, regardless of what happens to the exchange rate.

How to Audit Your Own Stack

1. Export 12 months of credit card statements and filter for recurring software charges. Look for US companies billing in USD.
2. Check your bank for wire transfers or USD charges — larger enterprise software is often invoiced separately from credit card subscriptions.
3. Add up the USD totals, then convert to CAD at the current rate.
4. For each line item, check EhList.ca for a Canadian alternative.
5. Prioritize migrations by annual spend. The highest-cost US tools with the best Canadian alternatives go first.

What the Canadian Stack Costs Instead

Using the same 10-person example with Canadian alternatives:

• FreshBooks Essentials: ~$33 CAD/month (vs. $116 CAD for QuickBooks USD)
• Humi HR & Payroll: ~$150 CAD/month (vs. $245 CAD for Gusto USD)
• Helcim Payments: interchange-plus (often 15-20% lower effective rate than Stripe)
• Cakemail or Campaign Monitor (Canadian): ~$50-80 CAD/month (vs. $103 CAD for Mailchimp USD)

The savings vary by category and company size, but switching the highest-spend categories to Canadian tools typically yields 15–30% reduction in total software costs — before accounting for exchange rate elimination.

Your Action Item

Open your statements. Do the math. Then browse EhList.ca to find what you can switch. You might be surprised how much you're sending south of the border — and how many excellent Canadian alternatives are waiting.