Honest comparison · July 2026
Vela vs. hiring a bookkeeper
We sell one of these, so you should trust this page exactly as far as the reasoning holds up. Short version: it's a different job, and sometimes the bookkeeper is the right answer.
Side by side
| What you need | A bookkeeper | Vela Harbor |
|---|---|---|
| Records transactions in your books of record | ✓ Their core job | ✗ Not what we do |
| Reconciles bank accounts | ✓ Yes | ✗ No |
| Runs payroll and GST/HST filings | ✓ Usually | ✗ No, deliberately |
| Monthly P&L summary in plain English | Sometimes, if asked | ✓ The core deliverable |
| Explains what changed and why | Rarely, not the job | ✓ Every month |
| Flags what it doesn't understand | Varies by person | ✓ Built into the process |
| Typical monthly cost | $200–$800+ | $395 flat |
Hire the bookkeeper when…
- You run payroll: that needs hands in the books, weekly
- You process hundreds of transactions a month across accounts
- Your books of record are behind and need genuine reconstruction
- You're regulated in a way that demands full-service bookkeeping
Vela wins when…
- Your volume is modest but month-end still eats your evenings
- You have records (bank exports, software) but no monthly insight from them
- You want plain-English answers: what changed, why, what to watch
- You want a fixed $395 instead of hourly billing that varies
The quiet third option: both
This is the setup Harbor was designed to slot into: a bookkeeper keeps the books of record, and Vela adds the monthly translation layer. Their output becomes our input, and you finally read your own numbers. Your bookkeeper is unlikely to be offended; writing plain-English summaries is rarely anyone's favourite part of the job.
Run your own numbers with the busywork calculator, or see exactly what a Harbor report looks like.
Cost ranges are typical Canadian market figures and vary by region and complexity. General information, not accounting advice.