Beanflow vs Wagepoint and Wave
A practical comparison of free core payroll in Beanflow against two paid Canadian tools people often search for: Wagepoint and Wave Payroll.
Last updated August 2026
At a glance
- Beanflow runs core Canadian payroll with no monthly fee and no credit card. It generates CRA-ready T4 XML and remittance summaries; you upload the T4 return and make the source-deduction payment yourself.
- Wagepoint is a paid Canadian payroll product with a free trial. Its public product pages say CRA remittances, T4/T4A filing, ROE submission, and direct deposit are automated or included.
- Wave Payroll is a paid Canadian payroll subscription with a 30-day trial. In Canada outside Quebec, its public help says it supports direct deposit, automatic CRA remittances, and ROE submission after authorization.
- Beanflow automatically applies supported jurisdiction-specific statutory-holiday and vacation-pay rules. Wagepoint also publicly states that it automatically calculates jurisdiction-specific statutory-holiday scenarios and supports vacation accruals.
- Beanflow does not yet do direct deposit. Pay by e-transfer or cheque.
Who this comparison is for
This page is for Canadian small-business owners searching for free payroll software Canada, a Wagepoint alternative, or a Wave payroll alternative. Beanflow publishes it because those queries are how people find us.
Comparison table
| Criteria | Beanflow | Wagepoint | Wave Payroll |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting cost | Core payroll is free. No credit card. | Paid. Free trial. | Paid. 30-day trial. |
| Who it fits | Small teams that want CRA-checked calculations without a subscription. | Teams that want a paid Canadian specialist with deposit and filing extras. | Teams already on Wave bookkeeping that will pay for payroll. |
| Statutory holiday pay by province | Automatic. Eligibility and the provincial formula are applied from the employee's jurisdiction. | Public product documentation says jurisdiction-specific statutory-holiday scenarios are calculated automatically. | Canadian statutory-holiday pay features are available; this review did not verify formula depth jurisdiction by jurisdiction. |
| Vacation pay by province | Automatic rate and service tiers for the jurisdiction — for example Saskatchewan starts at 5.77%, and federally regulated employees reach 8% after ten years. | Vacation accruals are supported. Public documentation reviewed here does not establish the same automatic tenure-tier behavior as Beanflow. | This review did not verify automatic tenure-tier behavior jurisdiction by jurisdiction. |
| Direct deposit | Not yet. E-transfer or cheque. | Yes. | Yes. |
| CRA remittance and T4 filing | T4 XML and remittance summaries generated. You upload the T4 return and make the CRA payment. | Public product pages say CRA remittances and T4/T4A filing are handled automatically. | Automatic CRA remittances and payroll tax filing/payment services with an active Canadian payroll subscription. |
| ROE | Draft extract for supported cases. File in ROE Web. | ROEs can be submitted to Service Canada through Wagepoint. | Can issue and amend supported ROEs; Wave can submit them after employer authorization. |
Holiday pay and vacation pay
This is the comparison that actually differs. CRA tax withholding is table-driven in every serious Canadian payroll product. Provincial statutory holiday pay and vacation pay are not. Each jurisdiction has its own eligibility test, earnings base, and rate or service tier.
Beanflow loads supported employment-standards rules when you set up the employee and applies them on the run. Wagepoint's current public product documentation also says it automatically calculates jurisdiction-specific statutory-holiday scenarios and supports vacation accruals. For Wave, this comparison does not claim jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction formula parity because we have not independently verified that depth. The point of the table is to compare documented capabilities, not infer implementation details that a vendor does not publish.
See the statutory holiday pay and vacation pay guides for the rules Beanflow implements.
When Beanflow is the better fit
Choose Beanflow if you want to run Canadian payroll without a monthly bill, you can pay staff by e-transfer or cheque, and you are willing to upload your T4 return and make source-deduction payments yourself. Catch-up payroll can rebuild the current tax year from prior pay stubs if you are leaving another tool mid-year. See switching to Beanflow.
When Wagepoint or Wave is the better fit
Stay with Wagepoint if you want direct deposit plus automated CRA remittances, year-end filing, and ROE submission in the same paid service. Stay with Wave if payroll has to live next to Wave bookkeeping and you want its direct-deposit, automatic-remittance, and ROE workflow. Beanflow is not trying to match every paid service.
Competitor capabilities were checked against public vendor documentation on August 15, 2026: Wagepoint payroll, Wagepoint pricing, Wave Payroll subscription, and Wave ROE help. Vendor plans and features can change; verify current terms before buying.
Is there free payroll software in Canada?
Yes. Core payroll in Beanflow has no monthly fee and no per-employee charge. That is different from a 30-day trial that later bills. You still have employer duties: remitting source deductions and issuing T4s and ROEs on time. For the wider category — including CanPay's free desktop tier, the CRA's PDOC calculator, PaymentEvolution, Rise, and Wave — see truly free Canadian payroll software.