Best SR&ED Platforms for Tech Startups 2026: GrantOps vs Boast vs Hello Darwin

What Is the Best SR&ED Platform for a Canadian Tech Startup in 2026?

For most Canadian tech startups in 2026, the best SR&ED platform is the one that fits the startup's operating reality: small senior engineering team, evidence living in developer tools, claim sizes scaling fast with hiring, and a strong preference for predictable cost over contingency cost-share. By those criteria, GrantOps is the strongest fit for the majority of Canadian tech startups. Boast.ai is the strongest alternative for startups that also file US R&D tax credits or specifically want in-house expert review of every claim. Hello Darwin is the strongest alternative for startups that want a marketplace-style match to an independent SR&ED consultant rather than a platform or firm relationship.

This guide is a head-to-head deep dive on those three platforms, written for Canadian tech startup founders, CTOs, and operating partners evaluating SR&ED preparation options for the 2026 filing cycle. Each platform gets a full breakdown of pricing model, who reviews the claim, integrations, time-to-claim, ideal customer profile, and honest trade-offs. The locked pricing figures throughout reflect publicly disclosed or directly observable values as of May 2026.

For a broader comparison across eight SR&ED platforms (adding G6 Consulting, Leyton, SRED.io, ClaimGen, and Granted), see the companion piece Best SR&ED Software for Canadian SaaS Companies (2026).

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Why Tech Startups Have Different SR&ED Needs

Tech startups are not just smaller versions of enterprise R&D claimants. They have three operational characteristics that materially shape which SR&ED platform fits, and getting this wrong creates real money and time waste during the first two to three claim cycles when the business can least afford it.

Characteristic 1: Eligible work is entirely software, and evidence lives in dev tools. A Canadian SaaS or AI startup conducting experimental development is producing the SR&ED evidence as a side effect of normal engineering work. Commits and pull requests show the iterative cycles of hypothesis testing. Tickets show the technological uncertainty being investigated. Slack threads show design rationale and architecture decisions. Sprint retrospectives capture systematic-investigation language. A platform that ignores this evidence stream and asks engineers to reconstruct everything through interviews is paying the same engineers twice: once to do the work, again to write down what they did.

Characteristic 2: Senior engineering time is the binding constraint. In a 10-person startup, the CTO and senior engineers are the most expensive resource, and pulling them into 20 hours of consultant interviews has a hard product cost. The opportunity cost of a 6-to-12-week traditional consultant engagement is meaningful. Platforms that automate evidence capture from existing tools preserve senior engineering time for product work.

Characteristic 3: Claim sizes scale fast with hiring. A pre-seed startup with three engineers might file a $90K claim. The same startup at Series A with 15 engineers might file a $450K claim. At Series B with 50 engineers it could file $1.5M plus. Contingency pricing scales linearly with claim size; platform pricing largely does not. The compound cost difference over three years of hiring growth between an 8 percent success fee and a 25 percent contingency is regularly $100,000 to $300,000.

These three characteristics are why platform-led SR&ED preparation has displaced traditional contingency consulting as the default choice for tech startups in 2026. The platforms that win this segment are the ones that explicitly architect around dev-tool integration, engineering-time minimisation, and pricing that does not penalise growth.

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Evaluation Criteria

Six criteria are applied in each platform breakdown below:

1. Pricing model. Published versus quote-only; flat fee, success fee, or contingency.
2. Who reviews the claim. Platform quality gates, in-house SR&ED expert, marketplace consultant, your CPA.
3. Integrations. Direct OAuth into dev tools versus document-upload and interview-based capture.
4. Time-to-first-claim. Calendar days from kickoff to a complete first-draft T661 package.
5. Success-fee model. Whether the platform participates in claim outcomes financially and how that aligns incentives.
6. Ideal customer profile. The startup stage, team size, and claim size where the platform is genuinely best.

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At-a-Glance: GrantOps vs Boast.ai vs Hello Darwin

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GrantOps: Deep Dive

Verdict: GrantOps is the strongest fit for Canadian tech startups whose engineering teams already work in modern dev tools (GitHub, Jira, Linear, Slack), value time-to-first-claim measured in days rather than weeks, and prefer transparent published pricing over contingency cost-share.

GrantOps is a purpose-built SR&ED automation platform designed around the architectural premise that the evidence required for a defensible SR&ED claim is already being produced by the engineering team's normal work. The platform connects directly via OAuth to the dev tools the startup is using and continuously assembles evidence into a structured artifact chain.

Pricing

GrantOps has two publicly listed plans plus a custom Expert/Enterprise tier for CPA firms and high-volume use cases.

• Starter — $99/month plus a flat 8% success fee on awarded SR&ED refunds. Free trial available.
• Professional — $499/month month-to-month, or $3,594/year ($299/month billed annually, 40 percent off) plus the same flat 8% success fee on awarded refunds. Free trial available.
• Expert/Enterprise — contact sales, designed for CPA firms via the GrantOps Partner Program.

On a representative $200,000 SR&ED claim, total annual cost on Starter is approximately $8,000 to $9,000 ($99 x 12 = $1,188 platform fee plus a flat 8 percent success fee on the awarded refund). On Professional, total annual cost is approximately $10,400 to $14,000 ($3,594 to $5,988 platform fee plus the same flat 8 percent success fee). Starter is the lower-cost option on a single claim of this size; Professional pays off once you file multiple claims a year, since it includes unlimited claims at the same flat success fee.

Who reviews the claim

GrantOps uses in-platform quality gates that validate completeness at each artifact stage: risk analysis, cost ledger, calculations methodology, science narrative, evidence package, and hour validation. Each gate enforces compliance checkpoints before the artifact moves to the next stage. Professional and Expert tiers include access to GrantOps-vetted senior reviewers for a pre-filing sanity check on edge cases.

The final T661 schedules attach to the T2 corporate tax return, which is signed and filed by the startup's CPA, in-house controller, or tax preparer. GrantOps does not file the T2 directly with CRA; no SR&ED platform does, because SR&ED is a schedule on the corporate tax return rather than a standalone filing.

Integrations

Direct OAuth into the developer tools most Canadian tech startups already use:

• Source control: GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket
• Project management: Jira, Linear, Asana, ClickUp, Monday.com, Trello
• Communication: Slack
• Payroll: Wagepoint, Payworks, ADP, Gusto, Deel (for contractors)
• Accounting: QuickBooks Online, Xero, FreshBooks

The integration model captures commits, pull requests, branches, code review threads, ticket-level technical narratives, sprint retrospectives, and design discussions as evidence supporting the three SR&ED criteria. This is materially different from the consultant-interview model used by Boast.ai and most Hello Darwin marketplace consultants.

Time-to-first-claim

Typically 5 to 10 business days from connecting integrations to a complete first-draft package. Year-two onward is faster because the evidence pipeline is already running continuously throughout the year, eliminating the annual reconstruction phase that dominates traditional engagements.

Success-fee model

GrantOps charges a single, flat 8 percent success fee on awarded refunds across every plan — materially lower than the 15 to 25 percent typical for marketplace platforms and the 25 to 30 percent typical for traditional contingency consultants, and far simpler than the tiered or stacked fee structures some platforms use. You only pay it when the CRA approves your claim. Starter and Professional differ on monthly subscription and claim volume, not on the success fee.

Ideal customer profile

Canadian tech startups with 5 to 50 engineers, claim sizes between $150K and $750K, working in modern dev tools, who value engineering velocity and want SR&ED preparation that does not consume senior engineering time. Pre-seed and seed-stage startups typically choose Starter; Series A and later typically choose Professional.

Key trade-offs

GrantOps is Canada-only. Tech startups with material US-based engineering (US-incorporated entities, US subsidiaries, or US-based contractors performing R&D) that want US R&D tax credit coverage in the same platform should evaluate Boast.ai. The hybrid alternative is GrantOps for SR&ED plus a separate US-focused platform for the Section 174 / Section 41 side.

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Boast.ai: Deep Dive

Verdict: Boast.ai is the strongest fit for Canadian tech startups that also file US R&D tax credits and want a single vendor relationship covering both jurisdictions, plus startups that specifically prefer an in-house SR&ED expert reviewing every claim before filing.

Boast.ai is the most established cross-border R&D tax credit platform in the tech startup market. The company has raised significant venture funding (Series A in 2021), built a recognisable brand among Canadian tech founders, and developed deep in-house SR&ED expertise. Its primary differentiator is the combination of dual-jurisdiction coverage (Canadian SR&ED + US R&D tax credits) and the in-house-expert-review engagement model.

Pricing

Boast.ai uses a success-fee model commonly cited at approximately 20 percent of the awarded refund. Specific rates are quote-based and negotiated per engagement; published list pricing is not publicly available on the Boast website as of May 2026. Free trials are not part of the engagement model; the entry point is a sales conversation followed by a custom quote.

On a representative $200,000 SR&ED claim yielding $70,000 federal investment tax credit plus provincial credit, the Boast success fee is approximately $14,000 to $25,000 depending on whether the 20 percent is applied to the federal-only refund or the combined federal-and-provincial refund. The cost is materially below traditional 25 to 30 percent contingency consultants but above platform pricing.

Who reviews the claim

In-house SR&ED experts review every claim before filing as a standard part of every engagement. This is a genuine strength of the Boast model. A senior in-house expert looks at the draft claim, pushes back on weak narratives, flags eligibility edge cases, and ensures the package meets the firm's quality bar before the schedules are released to the client for filing. For founders who specifically want a human SR&ED expert in the workflow rather than relying on platform quality gates, this is the defining value proposition.

The trade-off is that human review is the bottleneck driving the 4-to-8-week timeline and the success-fee economics. Boast's pricing reflects the cost of maintaining an in-house SR&ED expert team.

Integrations

Boast does not offer the same depth of direct dev-tool OAuth integration as GrantOps. Evidence collection relies primarily on structured interviews, document upload, and analyst-led reconstruction by the in-house team. This is a deliberate model choice: the workflow is designed around human expert review of evidence the analyst has structured, rather than continuous machine capture from connected tools.

For tech startups whose evidence already lives in GitHub, Jira, and Slack and who specifically want to avoid 10 to 20 hours of CTO interview time, this is a meaningful trade-off versus GrantOps. For startups that prefer a high-touch analyst engagement and view the interview time as a feature (because it surfaces eligible work the founders might otherwise miss), the model is well-aligned.

Time-to-first-claim

Typically 4 to 8 weeks from kickoff to filing. Year-two engagements are moderately faster because the Boast analyst has institutional knowledge of the client's R&D portfolio.

Success-fee model

The ~20 percent success fee aligns Boast's economics with claim outcomes: the firm only earns when the client receives a refund. For startups uncertain about eligibility, this risk-sharing is genuinely valuable. The trade-off is cost on larger claims: a 20 percent fee on a $500,000 claim is approximately $35,000 to $70,000, which approaches traditional consultant economics on a smaller base.

Ideal customer profile

Canadian tech startups with US R&D operations (US-incorporated entities, US subsidiaries, or material US-based engineering work) that benefit from a single vendor covering both jurisdictions. Canadian-only startups that specifically want in-house expert review and are comfortable with the 20 percent success fee.

Key trade-offs

Pricing scales with claim size in a way that compounds over multiple years of hiring growth. A startup that files $200K in year one, $400K in year two, and $700K in year three pays approximately $14K + $28K + $49K = $91,000 in Boast fees over three years on the lower end of the 20 percent range. The same startup on GrantOps Professional pays approximately $18,000 total over three years (3 x $5,988).

For a more detailed head-to-head, see GrantOps vs Boast.ai.

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Hello Darwin: Deep Dive

Verdict: Hello Darwin is the strongest fit for Canadian tech startup founders who specifically want a marketplace-style match to an independent SR&ED consultant rather than a platform or traditional firm relationship, and who value vendor choice over standardised process.

Hello Darwin operates a marketplace model that matches Canadian businesses with vetted SR&ED consultants from a network of independent practitioners and small consulting firms. The platform handles intake, qualification, and matching; the actual claim preparation is performed by the matched consultant under their own engagement terms. Hello Darwin's value-add is the curation and matching layer rather than the underlying claim work.

Pricing

Marketplace commission of approximately 15 to 25 percent of the awarded refund, with the exact rate determined by the matched consultant. Hello Darwin does not publish a fixed price because the engagement contract is between the client and the matched consultant, not Hello Darwin itself. Free trials are not part of the marketplace model.

On a representative $200,000 SR&ED claim, total consultant cost is approximately $15,000 to $50,000 depending on the matched consultant and whether the percentage is applied to the federal-only or combined refund.

Who reviews the claim

The matched independent consultant prepares and reviews the claim. Quality varies by consultant. Some consultants on the network are senior practitioners with two decades of experience; others are newer entrants. Hello Darwin's vetting layer aims to filter for credible practitioners, but the variance across the network is materially higher than the variance within a single firm like Boast or G6.

Integrations

Depends entirely on the matched consultant. Most independent practitioners on the network use document upload and interview-based evidence collection rather than direct dev-tool integration. Founders should ask the matched consultant directly about their evidence-capture process during the matching call.

Time-to-first-claim

Typically 4 to 8 weeks from match to filed package, depending on the matched consultant's workload and engagement model.

Success-fee model

15 to 25 percent marketplace commission is materially below traditional 25 to 30 percent contingency consultants but above platform pricing. The model shifts filing risk to the consultant.

Ideal customer profile

Canadian tech startup founders who specifically want consultant choice and matching rather than a platform-driven engagement, particularly in cases where founders prefer working with a named individual practitioner rather than a firm or platform.

Key trade-offs

Variance. Because the actual work is performed by a network of independent consultants, the experience can differ significantly between engagements. Startups that want consistent, repeatable preparation across multiple years (or across multiple portfolio companies, in the case of a VC's portfolio operations team) typically get better outcomes from a single platform than from rotating through marketplace consultants.

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Three Mini Case Study Scenarios

The fastest way to evaluate platform fit is to project the cost and operational reality against your actual startup profile. Here are three representative scenarios.

Scenario 1: Pre-seed SaaS startup, 5-person team, $200K dev spend

Profile: Canadian-controlled private corporation. Five engineers (CTO plus four full-time engineers). Pre-revenue or early revenue. $200,000 in total qualified engineering salaries during the fiscal year, all working on eligible experimental development (novel multi-tenant data isolation architecture; technological uncertainty around horizontal scaling at low cost). Expected SR&ED refund approximately $70,000 federal ITC plus approximately $14,000 Ontario OITC, total approximately $84,000.

GrantOps Starter. $99/month x 12 = $1,188 platform fee + a flat 8% success fee on the ~$84,000 refund = approximately $6,720. Total approximately $7,900. Net refund to startup: approximately $76,100. Time-to-first-claim: 5 to 10 business days.

Boast.ai. Approximately 20 percent success fee on federal-only or combined refund. On a combined $84,000 refund at 20 percent: approximately $16,000. Net refund: approximately $67,200. Time-to-first-claim: 4 to 8 weeks. The CTO contributes approximately 10 to 15 hours of interview time.

Hello Darwin. Marketplace commission 15 to 25 percent depending on matched consultant. At 20 percent of combined refund: approximately $16,000. Net refund: approximately $67,200. Time-to-first-claim: 4 to 8 weeks. CTO interview time depends on matched consultant.

Cost gap on this claim: GrantOps Starter is approximately $8,900 cheaper than Boast or Hello Darwin at 20 percent commission. For a pre-seed startup where every $10K of runway matters, this gap is operationally meaningful.

Scenario 2: Series A SaaS startup, 20-person team, $1.8M dev spend

Profile: CCPC at Series A. Twenty engineers (CTO, two engineering managers, 17 full-time engineers). $1,800,000 in total qualified engineering salaries and contractor costs. Mixed work; approximately $1,500,000 is genuinely eligible experimental development across three identifiable SR&ED projects. Expected SR&ED refund approximately $525,000 federal ITC (35 percent CCPC rate on the first $6M) plus approximately $105,000 provincial credit, total approximately $630,000.

GrantOps Professional. $499/month x 12 = $5,988 (or $3,594/year billed annually) plus a flat 8% success fee on the ~$630,000 refund = approximately $50,400. Total approximately $54,000 to $56,400. Net refund: approximately $573,600 to $576,000. Time-to-first-claim: 5 to 10 business days. Engineering time: minimal because evidence is captured continuously.

Boast.ai. Approximately 20 percent success fee. On a combined $630,000 refund at 20 percent: approximately $126,000. Net refund: approximately $504,000. Time-to-first-claim: 4 to 8 weeks. Engineering time: approximately 20 to 30 hours of senior engineering interview time across the three projects.

Hello Darwin. Marketplace commission 15 to 25 percent. At 20 percent: approximately $126,000. Net refund: approximately $504,000.

Cost gap on this claim: GrantOps Professional is approximately $70,000 cheaper than Boast or Hello Darwin at 20 percent commission. For a Series A startup raising $10M to $20M, that $70K is roughly one engineering hire's annual fully-loaded cost.

Scenario 3: Cross-border startup, Canadian + US R&D operations, $1.2M total dev spend

Profile: Canadian parent company with a US subsidiary. Twelve engineers total: seven in Canada (CCPC parent), five in the US (subsidiary). Approximately $700,000 in Canadian-eligible R&D salaries, $500,000 in US-eligible R&D wages. Eligible for both Canadian SR&ED and US Section 41 R&D tax credit.

GrantOps Professional (Canada only) + separate US R&D platform. GrantOps runs roughly $23,000 to $25,500 all-in on the Canadian side ($3,594 to $5,988 platform fee plus a flat 8% success fee on the ~$245,000 Canadian refund). The startup separately procures a US-focused R&D credit platform for the US side. Two vendor relationships, but each is purpose-built for its jurisdiction.

Boast.ai (dual jurisdiction). Approximately 20 percent success fee on both refunds in a single engagement. On a combined Canadian refund of approximately $245,000 plus a US R&D credit of approximately $50,000 to $75,000, total fee: approximately $59,000 to $64,000. Single vendor relationship, in-house experts coordinating both filings.

Hello Darwin. Canadian SR&ED only. The startup would need a separate US R&D platform for the US side.

Trade-off on this claim: Boast's dual-jurisdiction coverage is genuinely valuable for cross-border startups. The total fee is higher than the hybrid GrantOps + US platform approach, but the single-vendor coordination has operational value, especially for companies where the same engineering teams produce work claimable under both programs and consistent narrative framing across jurisdictions matters.

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Decision Framework: Which Platform for Which Startup Profile

Synthesising the scenarios above and the platform deep-dives, here is the decision framework for Canadian tech startups in 2026.

Choose GrantOps if: Your engineering team works in modern dev tools, your claim size is between $100K and $1M plus, you prefer transparent published pricing over contingency, you value 5-to-10-day time-to-first-claim, you want a free trial before commitment, and you operate primarily in Canada. GrantOps Starter fits pre-seed and seed; Professional fits Series A and later.

Choose Boast.ai if: You file both Canadian SR&ED and US R&D tax credits and want a single vendor covering both, OR you specifically want in-house SR&ED expert review of every claim and are comfortable with a 4-to-8-week timeline and a ~20 percent success fee.

Choose Hello Darwin if: You specifically want marketplace-style consultant choice and matching rather than a platform or firm relationship, you value working with a named individual practitioner, and you accept the variance inherent in a marketplace model.

A fourth path worth naming: CPA firms preparing SR&ED for multiple startup clients. The GrantOps Partner Program provides multi-client management with white-label options and per-FTE utilisation economics designed for advisory practices scaling SR&ED services across a startup portfolio. Boast.ai offers enterprise-tier engagements; Hello Darwin does not have an analogous program.

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How Claims Actually Get Filed

A point of confusion worth clearing up: none of these platforms files your corporate tax return with CRA. SR&ED is claimed via Form T661 attached to the T2 corporate tax return, and the T2 is signed and filed by a tax preparer (your CPA, in-house controller, or yourself if you self-file).

What each platform produces:

• GrantOps: Complete T661 schedules, project narratives (Section B), expenditure calculations, supporting evidence package with traceability from claim to underlying source (commits, tickets, payroll records), risk analysis flagging potential CRA audit triggers
• Boast.ai: Complete T661 schedules, project narratives, expenditure calculations, expert-reviewed package
• Hello Darwin: Complete T661 schedules, project narratives, and supporting documentation as prepared by the matched consultant

In all three cases, the output is a package your tax preparer attaches to the T2 and files through standard corporate-tax channels. The 18-month filing deadline from fiscal year-end applies regardless of platform.

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CRA and Legislative Source References

For founders, CTOs, and CFOs validating eligibility and process during platform evaluation, the primary CRA and legislative sources are:

• Income Tax Act, Section 248(1) — Statutory definition of scientific research and experimental development (the three criteria: technological uncertainty, systematic investigation, technological advancement)
• SR&ED Glossary — CRA's authoritative terminology reference
• SR&ED Salary or Wages Policy — Eligible salary and wage rules
• Total Qualified SR&ED Expenditures Policy — Aggregate eligible expenditure rules
• Eligibility of Work for SR&ED Investment Tax Credits Policy — Three-criteria evaluation framework
• Form T661 — Primary SR&ED claim form
• Schedule 31 — Investment tax credit schedule for CCPCs (35 percent refundable rate on the first $6M of qualified expenditures)
• Schedule 32 — Investment tax credit schedule for non-CCPCs

Any platform under consideration should produce documentation that aligns with these primary sources, not just internally consistent reports.

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Closing: Where to Go from Here

The right SR&ED platform for a Canadian tech startup depends on three questions: do you operate purely in Canada or also in the US, do you value transparent published pricing or are you comfortable with contingency cost-share, and do you want platform automation or a high-touch human-led engagement.

For Canadian-only startups that prefer transparent pricing and fast platform-driven preparation, GrantOps is the leading choice. Start with the SR&ED automation overview, then the hands-on application walk-through to see the artifact pipeline against your actual repos and tickets. The free trial lets you connect integrations and generate a draft claim before any payment.

For cross-border startups that need both Canadian SR&ED and US R&D tax credits in one vendor, evaluate Boast.ai directly.

For startups that specifically want marketplace consultant choice, evaluate Hello Darwin's matching process directly.

For CPA firms serving multiple startup clients, the GrantOps Partner Program provides white-label multi-client management.

For broader context on SR&ED eligibility and the program itself, see the complete SR&ED guide, SR&ED-eligible project examples, and the eight-platform Best SR&ED Software for Canadian SaaS Companies (2026) comparison.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is the best SR&ED platform for a Canadian tech startup in 2026?

For most Canadian tech startups in 2026, GrantOps is the strongest fit because it offers transparent published pricing ($99/month Starter or $499/month Professional, plus a flat 8% success fee), direct OAuth integration with the developer tools startups already use (GitHub, Jira, Linear, Slack), and a 5-to-10 business day time-to-first-claim. Boast.ai is the best fit for startups that also file US R&D tax credits. Hello Darwin is the best fit for startups that want a marketplace match to an independent consultant.

How does GrantOps pricing compare to Boast.ai and Hello Darwin on a $200K SR&ED claim?

On a representative $200,000 SR&ED claim, total cost is approximately: GrantOps Starter $8,000 to $9,000; GrantOps Professional approximately $10,400 to $14,000 (both include a flat 8% success fee); Boast.ai approximately $14,000 to $25,000 (about 20% success fee); Hello Darwin approximately $15,000 to $50,000 (15 to 25 percent marketplace commission); traditional 25 to 30 percent consultants $30,000 to $60,000.

Who reviews the SR&ED claim before it is filed in each platform?

GrantOps uses in-platform quality gates that validate completeness at each artifact stage, with optional Expert-tier human review for pre-filing sanity checks. Boast.ai uses in-house SR&ED experts who review every claim as a standard part of every engagement. Hello Darwin claims are reviewed by the matched independent consultant; review quality varies by consultant. In all three cases, the final T661 schedules attach to a T2 corporate tax return that is signed and filed by your CPA.

Why do tech startups have different SR&ED needs than other R&D claimants?

Tech startups have three operational characteristics that shape platform fit. First, eligible R&D work is entirely software-based and evidence lives in dev tools rather than lab notebooks. Second, the team is small and senior engineering time is the binding constraint. Third, claim sizes scale fast with hiring, so the difference between an 8 percent success fee and a 25 percent contingency on year-three claims can be $50,000 to $200,000.

Does GrantOps offer a free trial for startups?

Yes. GrantOps offers a free trial on both the Starter ($99/month) and Professional ($499/month, or $3,594/year billed annually) tiers, which share the same flat 8% success fee. Startups can connect dev tool integrations, run the AI evidence-capture pipeline against real repos and tickets, and see a draft artifact chain before any payment. Boast.ai and Hello Darwin both use quote-based engagement models without a self-serve free-trial path.

Can a tech startup at pre-revenue or pre-product stage claim SR&ED?

Yes. SR&ED is claimable from the first dollar of eligible qualified expenditure regardless of revenue. A Canadian-controlled private corporation conducting eligible experimental development (meeting the three criteria from Income Tax Act Section 248(1)) can file SR&ED on engineering salaries, eligible contractor costs, and qualifying materials. The refundable 35 percent federal ITC on the first $6 million of qualified expenditures makes SR&ED particularly valuable to pre-revenue startups because the refund arrives as cash.

What is the time-to-first-claim for each platform?

GrantOps typically reaches a complete first-draft claim within 5 to 10 business days from connecting integrations. Boast.ai typically takes 4 to 8 weeks from kickoff to filing. Hello Darwin marketplace engagements also typically run 4 to 8 weeks depending on the matched consultant. For startups filing close to the 18-month CRA filing deadline, time-to-claim is a hard operational constraint.

Which SR&ED platform is best for a CPA firm serving tech startup clients?

For CPA firms preparing SR&ED claims for multiple tech startup clients, the GrantOps Partner Program is purpose-built with multi-client management, white-label options, and per-FTE utilisation economics that materially change advisory practice scaling. Boast.ai and Hello Darwin offer enterprise-tier engagements but do not publicly promote a CPA partner program with the same depth of multi-client features.