Karbon is a strong, mature platform — built for larger, highly collaborative firms with the operations resources to run it. Docket is for the smaller Canadian firm that wants most of that power without the per-seat price tag or the setup project. Here is an honest, side-by-side look.
1 Karbon details shown for comparison are drawn from Karbon's public pricing and product pages. Figures are approximate, quoted in US dollars, and may change — verify the current figure on karbon.com before relying on it. Docket is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Karbon. Karbon is a trademark of its respective owner and is used here only for comparative reference.
If you are a large firm with dedicated operations staff, deep existing integrations, and complex multi-office collaboration, Karbon's maturity is worth the investment. Docket is deliberately built for the firm that wants to be running this afternoon — not the firm that wants to run an implementation project. We would rather tell you that plainly than win a customer who is a poor fit.
Yes. Docket's core practice-management platform — clients, workflows, automations, client portal, document requests, deadlines, boards, and time and billing — is free forever, not a trial. There is no per-user fee on the core. The only paid tier is optional AI customization, which you turn on if and when you want it.
Karbon is sold on paid, per-user monthly plans starting at roughly US$59 per user, per month according to its public pricing page. Docket's core is $0 with no per-seat fee. Always confirm Karbon's current pricing on karbon.com, since published figures change.
Yes. Docket is CRA-native: T1, T2 and GST/HST deadlines are tracked automatically, recurring work is fiscal-year-end aware, and dates follow the way the CRA dates them. Karbon is a capable global platform, but it is not purpose-built around the Canadian tax calendar.
With Docket you can adjust the software yourself, or describe the change you want in plain English and Docket builds it — usually in minutes, with no consultant. Karbon typically involves guided onboarding and implementation, which suits larger firms with the operations resources to run it.
Yes. You can export everything. Docket's AI customization edits configuration, never your underlying data, and every change is previewed, approved by you, and reversible.
Full practice management, free forever. Set it up this afternoon; add AI customization only if and when you want it.
Start free — no card →Practice management that shapes itself to your firm. Free for accounting and tax firms.
howard@docket-systems.com