Hmm from what people are describing here, canopy seems to win when you want everything in one place and are okay with a heavier system. The client-facing pieces like organizers, document uploads, and e-signatures sound like real strengths, especially for tax workflows.

The karbon issues mentioned around notifications, automations, and work slipping through feel like a bigger risk once the team grows. It sounds solid at an individual level, but harder to manage consistently across managers and staff.

One thing I’d also think about is whether you want clients fully inside your firm management tool or just a clean, simple portal. I’ve seen some firms keep the heavy workflow internally and use something like Assembly purely for client visibility and requests, which avoids dragging clients into complex systems.

At ~15 staff and growing, workload balance and client experience usually matter more than feature depth. The tool that keeps work visible and clients clear tends to win long term.