Since Donald Trump launched a trade war against Canada, many citizens have been wondering how they can support local consumption to offset the losses of Canadian exporters or simply protest this political decision. Web professionals can also do their part by opting for Canadian based alternatives to popular American platforms. Here’s a guide to help navigate these options.
Let’s recall that we conducted a similar exercise in May 2020, at the very beginning of the pandemic, when local purchasing was also a major topic. At that time, we called upon Canadian-based companies such as the email campaign platform Cyberimpact, headquartered in Terrebonne, to replace Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, Klaviyo, or Mailerlite, all of which are American.
We also highlighted Quebec-based CRMs such as LeadFox, an all-in-one application; Dialog Insight, an email campaign personalization tool based in Montreal; and ebCard, which serves as an alternative to popular platforms like Zoho, HubSpot, and Salesforce. These options are still relevant today.
However, since then, some of our suggested alternatives have shut down, including the tracker Lickstats (an alternative to Bitly) and the social media comment management app Meet Sentinel.
With this in mind, we have updated our list while also expanding it to include Canadian developers.
1. Online Store Platforms
Starting with the most obvious and accessible alternative to platforms like WooCommerce or Squarespace: the Canadian company Shopify, based in Ottawa, which hardly needs an introduction. According to Statista, it is “the largest e-commerce platform in Canada,” holding 30% of the market share.
For a “100% Quebec” flavor, you can turn to Panierdachat, which offers similar services to the previously mentioned platforms. Alternatively, if you want to refine customer segmentation using AI on Shopify, you can explore the application Kuma, developed by brothers Benoit and Michel Domingue from Ursa Marketing, based in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.
2. Website Creation
Webself, headquartered in Montreal, promises the same benefits as popular American platforms like Squarespace or Wix: “automatic setup in minutes,” “no technical knowledge required,” and “hosting and domain name included.”
3. Email Campaign Management
Goodbye Mailchimp, hello Activity Messenger or Le Courrielleur. The former aims to simplify operations for SMEs and non-profits by replacing American tools such as Mailchimp, Jotform, SurveyMonkey, Eventbrite, and Smartwaiver at a lower cost.
“In the past 18 months, we have grown from three founders to a team of 15 employees, all based in Canada,” says Olivier Rousseau, co-founder of the platform. “We currently generate over a million dollars in annual recurring revenue, with growth doubling every year.”
The second option, Le Courrielleur, focuses on email campaign management, offering services in French and discounts for non-profits.
4. Social Media Management
In English-speaking Canada, the platform SocialOomph presents itself as a content management tool for social media. With its AI-powered features, it helps content creators draft posts and schedule their publication.
5. Event Planning
Goodbye Eventbrite, hello Lepointdevente, already well known to the public, or Montreal-based Zeffy, which specializes in managing subscriptions, donations, and ticketing for non-profits!
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