GoRefer vs Canopy
Canopy is an established accounting practice-management suite: CRM, document management, client portal, task workflows, invoicing and payments, sold per user with optional modules for tax workflow, close automation and tax resolution. The two products overlap more than they used to — the rows below say where, and where each one stops.
Pricing model
GoRefer
Flat plan price per firm with seats included (5, 12 or 30), not per user.
Canopy
Per user, per month, billed annually: Standard $74, Plus $109, Premium $149. Enterprise is custom. Add-ons are priced separately (e.g. Tax Resolution $50/user/month).
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Core use case
GoRefer
Growth and firm operations around the return: referral attribution, commissions and preparer incentives, AI-assisted intake, and the documents, portal, tasks and invoicing that the intake feeds into. GoRefer does not prepare or file the return itself.
Canopy
Practice management: client records, documents, portal, tasks and billing for accounting firms.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Document management
GoRefer
Included. A File Manager with folders, search, starred items, in-browser preview and download, and a storage limit for each plan (100 MB on Growth up to 2 GB on Enterprise). Client uploads are identified by document type as they arrive and appear there too, and every intake carries a checklist of what is still outstanding. It is built around the tax engagement rather than as a general practice-management suite.
Canopy
Document management is one of the capabilities the pricing page lists.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Client portal
GoRefer
Included. Clients sign in to see their intakes and cases, upload the documents you asked for, book or cancel an appointment with their preparer, message the firm, export their own data and request its deletion. Referral rewards live in the same portal. Invoices reach the client as a Stripe-hosted invoice and payment link rather than inside the portal.
Canopy
A client portal is one of the capabilities the pricing page lists.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Tasks and workflow automation
GoRefer
Included, with a limit worth knowing before you buy. Tasks carry an assignee, due date and priority. Automations start when something happens in GoRefer — an intake is submitted, a case moves to a new phase, documents are uploaded — and can send email or SMS, raise a notification, create or assign a task, tag a record, update a field, call a webhook, or start a commission or payout run. Steps run one after another; an automation cannot branch. A wait step can last from 1 minute to 30 days, and a matching exit event can stop a sequence before its next step. Workflows require Scale or Enterprise.
Canopy
Task workflow is one of the capabilities the pricing page lists.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
E-signature
GoRefer
Not yet. GoRefer has a signing page built for Form 8879 rather than for arbitrary PDFs. A taxpayer can sign there, and it keeps a tamper-evident record of the signature image, the time, the IP address, browser and device details, and the version of the consent text they agreed to. Two pieces are missing: your firm cannot yet send a signature request from GoRefer, and remote signing needs the identity verification (knowledge-based authentication) that IRS Publication 1345 requires, which GoRefer does not provide yet. Choose Canopy if you need e-signature now.
Canopy
Not verified by us. Check Canopy's site.
Invoicing and payments
GoRefer
Included. Client invoices are issued through your firm's own Stripe Connect account, so the client gets a Stripe-hosted invoice and a payment link and the money lands in your firm's account. There is no general ledger and no accounts-payable side.
Canopy
Invoicing and payments are among the capabilities the pricing page lists.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Tax resolution and IRS transcripts
GoRefer
No resolution case management. GoRefer records third-party authorizations (Forms 2848 and 8821) and tracks the transcript requests made under them, but it does not connect to the IRS Transcript Delivery System: a practitioner pulls each transcript and records it in GoRefer.
Canopy
Tax Resolution is sold as a priced add-on at $50 per user per month on top of a seat.
Source: www.getcanopy.com/pricing · checked September 6, 2026
Tax-software strategy
GoRefer
Works alongside your existing tax software. The AutoFill extension (beta) fills the web version of OLT Pro from approved intake data, for the preparer to review before filing.
Canopy
Not verified by us. Check Canopy's site.
Referral attribution
GoRefer
End-to-end: unique links per referrer, attribution through to conversion, and the commission that follows from it.
Canopy
Not verified by us. Check Canopy's site.
Commissions and preparer incentives
GoRefer
Standard commissions, configurable bonuses, competitions and leaderboards, with Stripe Connect payouts. Progressive tiers and batch payouts start on Scale; bonus counts vary by plan.
Canopy
Not verified by us. Check Canopy's site.
Choose Canopy when
- You are evaluating a practice-management suite and prefer the modules and per-user pricing shown in Canopy’s current offering.
- You need tax resolution case management. GoRefer has none, and Canopy sells it as a priced add-on.
- Your automations need to branch. GoRefer automations run one step after another, with waits of up to 30 days and matching exit events, but they cannot branch.
- You need e-signature today. GoRefer's signing page is built for Form 8879 and due-diligence memos rather than arbitrary documents, and your firm cannot yet send a signature request from GoRefer.
- Automated IRS transcript retrieval matters to you. GoRefer tracks the request and the authorization behind it; the retrieval itself is manual.
Choose GoRefer when
- Your growth depends on referrals and you cannot currently say who referred whom.
- Commissions are calculated in a spreadsheet and disputed at the end of the season.
- You want to keep the tax software you already use rather than move preparation.
- Per-user pricing is painful because you add seasonal preparers.
Can you run both?
These overlap but are not exclusive. Nothing in GoRefer requires you to move documents, billing or workflow off Canopy — a firm can run Canopy as its practice-management system and add GoRefer for referral attribution, commissions, preparer incentives and AI-assisted intake, which is the part with no equivalent on the other side. If you do run both, decide up front which system is the file of record for a client's documents, because both will hold them. Client and preparer lists import from CSV.