Accounting software for landscaping businesses
Built for the way you actually bill: deposits, materials, and seasonal cashflow, without the bookkeeping headache.
Free desktop app for Windows, Mac, and Linux. No account, no credit card.
Argo Books
Opening Argo Books on Windows
Windows may warn you because Argo Books is a newer app, not because it is unsafe. After the download finishes, here is the last step to open it:
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Open the installer. If Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info, then Run anyway.
We built this for the way landscapers actually work
Landscaping isn't one job at a time. It's a deposit on the install, a draw mid-project, a final balance, a stack of fuel and material receipts, and a winter slowdown that hits every year. Argo Books handles the books so you can stay outside.
Invoice with a deposit, a draw, and a final balance
Set a deposit up front, send a draw invoice when site prep or planting is done, and a final balance when the job's signed off. Argo Books tracks what's been paid on each so you don't have to keep a separate spreadsheet of who owes what.
Snap a receipt at the gas pump, the nursery, or Home Depot
Take a photo, and Argo Books pulls the vendor, date, and amount automatically. Tag it Fuel, Materials, or Equipment so when you look back in March, you actually know where the money went.
Pay the crew without a separate payroll service
Enter the hours and Argo Books works out CPP, EI and income tax from the CRA's own tables, prints the pay stubs, and puts the wages straight into your books. Seasonal staff coming and going is handled, including the Record of Employment worksheet when someone finishes for the year. Payroll is on Premium and covers Canadian staff.
Invoice the same day you finished the job
Wrap up a property, open Argo Books at the truck or the kitchen table, hit send. Customers can pay through Stripe or Square, and the deposit on the next job can come in before you start it.
What Argo Books isn't
Argo Books is bookkeeping software, not field-service software. It does not do crew scheduling, route optimization, or per-property job costing. If you're trying to replace Jobber for those, run them side by side: Jobber for scheduling, Argo Books for your books. Payroll covers Canadian staff only, so a crew outside Canada needs a separate payroll service. If those are dealbreakers, that's fair. If they're not, the desktop app is free, it works without internet, and your data stays on your computer.
Download FreeStart free, upgrade only if you need more
Most landscaping businesses stay on the free tier. Premium adds predictive analytics for seasonal cashflow planning, unlimited invoicing, and priority support.
FREE Plan
Just starting out, or you only need the basics? This is the place.
Free forever
- Unlimited products, customers, and sales
- See your numbers update in real time
- Keep every receipt in one place
- Send 25 invoices a month
- Scan 10 receipts a month, no typing
- Import 100 spreadsheets a month
- Import 25 bank statements a month
PREMIUM Plan
Want unlimited invoicing, bigger monthly limits, and forecasts you can act on? Go Premium.
Billed monthly
Billed annually at $150 CAD
Everything in Free, plus…
- Unlimited invoices and online payments
- Scan 500 receipts a month, no typing
- Import 500 spreadsheets a month
- Import 500 bank statements a month
- Run Canadian payroll and produce T4s
- Forecast revenue and spot trends early
- Sign in with your fingerprint or face
- Priority support when you need it
Argo Books for your line of work
Frequently Asked Questions
Year-round. Winter is when you sort through receipts, set your next-season prices, and see where last year went.
The free tier covers winter use with no monthly fee.
You can record equipment purchases and categorize them, and Argo Books will show you the spend in your reports.
It does not run a depreciation schedule the way a tax filing software would. Check with your accountant on the tax side.
Yes. The desktop app runs natively on your computer and does not need an internet connection to record expenses or build an invoice.
You only need internet when you actually send an invoice or take a payment.
Two ways: send a single invoice with the deposit listed at the top and a balance due, or send a deposit invoice now and a balance invoice when the job's done.
Both work. The second is what most landscapers use for multi-week installs.
Not yet. Argo Books is a desktop application for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
If you need to send an invoice in the field, you can take receipt photos on your phone and import them when you're back at the laptop.
Yes, for Canadian staff. Enter each person's hours and Argo Books works out CPP, EI and federal and provincial income tax from the CRA's own tables, for every province and territory, then prints the pay stubs and records the wages in your books.
Seasonal crews coming and going are handled, including the Record of Employment worksheet when someone finishes for the year, and at year end it prepares your T4 slips and the file the CRA needs. Payroll is part of Premium at $15 CAD/month, with no per-employee fee. It does not cover staff outside Canada.
Yes, forever. The free tier covers all core features and 25 invoices per month.
Premium ($15 CAD/month) adds predictive analytics, unlimited invoicing, and priority support. No credit card to start.
Want the bookkeeping side in plain language? Read our guide to bookkeeping for landscapers.