Grants for your website in Québec in 2026: what still exists (and what has closed)

Search for "website grant Québec" and you will land on articles still recommending CDAP. A federal program that stopped accepting applications in 2024. That is the problem with this topic: the programs change every year; the blog posts don't.

Here is the real state of play in 2026, what each program actually covers, and a question nobody else will ask you: do you still need a grant for a website at all?

The short answer

As of this writing, here is the map:

Program	For whom	Ballpark
ESSOR (Investissement Québec)	Established SMEs, structural projects	audits, digital plans, larger projects
Productivité innovation (Investissement Québec)	Established SMEs	loans, not grants
Productivité manufacturière (Prompt, formerly SIPEM)	Manufacturers and businesses that serve them	50% of fees, up to $5,000 (technology specifications)
BDC LIFT	SMEs	advisory + financing (not a grant)
Local funds (MRC, SADC, chambers)	Businesses in the region	small amounts, local criteria
Trans Num (ADRIQ)	manufacturing / value-added services SMEs	closed to new applications
CDAP (including the $2,400 "Grow Your Business Online" grant)	closed since 2024	.

Three honest warnings before going further:

1. These programs change constantly. Limited envelopes, regional criteria, end dates extended or not: always verify at the official source before planning anything. The reliable starting point is the Québec government's list of financial assistance for businesses and your regional office.
2. A grant is never "free money." It covers a fraction of costs (often 50% or less), after an application file, criteria, and delays.
3. None of the programs still open is aimed at your brochure site. They fund transformation: diagnostics, digital plans, automation, production. A website can be part of such a project. It is rarely its core.

First, the bad news: CDAP is over

The Canada Digital Adoption Program (the most generous and most-cited federal grant) has not accepted new applications since 2024. Its "Boost Your Business Technology" stream closed in February 2024; the rest followed, including the $2,400 "Grow Your Business Online" micro-grant, the one most often quoted for websites.

Why mention it, then? Because a good share of the articles ranking for "website grant Québec" predate its closure and still recommend it. If an article (or an agency) points you to CDAP in 2026, you just learned something important about how fresh their information is.

No federal grant has replaced it. BDC now points businesses to LIFT, which is financing and advice, not a grant. Today's other options are provincial, sector-specific, or local. Here they are.

What still exists in 2026

ESSOR (Investissement Québec). The program that absorbed the old Industry 4.0 audits. It supports established SMEs' structural projects: audits, digital plans, then larger investments. If your project goes well beyond the website (inventory, production, data) this is a serious door.

Productivité innovation (Investissement Québec). Financing for productivity projects. Note: these are loans, not grants.

Productivité manufacturière (Prompt, formerly SIPEM). For manufacturers and businesses that serve them. The stream open right now covers 50% of professional fees, up to $5,000, to write the specifications of a technology project, until January 31, 2027 or until the envelope runs out.

BDC LIFT. Not a grant, but advice and financing for digital and AI adoption. You don't need to already be a BDC client. Useful when the project is real and cash flow is the brake.

Local funds. MRCs, SADCs, chambers of commerce and economic-development organizations manage local envelopes. Small amounts, flexible criteria, real proximity. One hour with your local development officer is often worth ten hours of online research.

And what closed recently. ADRIQ's Trans Num program (50% of professional fees, up to $25,000 per company, for manufacturing and value-added-services SMEs) now shows as closed to new applications. If an article still presents it as open, it's dated.

The real math before you fill out a form

Here is the calculation grant articles never do.

A serious application costs time: understanding the criteria, building the file, collecting quotes, waiting for the answer, producing the reports. Depending on the program, count hours to tens of hours, spread over weeks or months.

Then, the grant covers a fraction of the project. At 50%, a $5,000 agency website would still cost you $2,500, plus your application time, plus the delay. And that assumes a program covers it at all.

That math makes sense when the project is big. For a $30,000 or $50,000 transformation (automation, production, structural e-commerce) the programs above can change the game, and you should look at them seriously.

An example. A salon owner wants a site: services, prices, appointment requests. The grant route: search for a program (a few hours), discover that the open ones target manufacturing or larger projects, then ask her local office whether a small local fund exists. Weeks, for an uncertain answer. The direct route: the site is live today, from $9 USD/month. The grant wasn't help; it was a detour.

For a business website? Do the math honestly. That is exactly where 2026 changed something.

The 2026 paradox: the website no longer needs the grant

Digital-grant programs were designed in an era when "having a website" cost several thousand dollars. That was the barrier they existed to remove.

That era is over. Today, you describe your business in one sentence to Xevoni, and the AI designs, writes and ships a complete site (bookings, forms, analytics, a store if you need one, hosting and SSL included, eligible domains free the first year) in minutes, from $9 USD/month. French first, with English alongside.

In other words: a website now costs less per month than the parking for a single grant-hunting meeting. The problem the grant was designed to solve no longer exists at that scale. (The detailed numbers are here.)

The right choice when: you run a business (a shop, a clinic, a restaurant, a workshop, a service, or absolutely anything else) and you want the site live this week, not next budget quarter.

And keep the grants for what they do well: real transformation. If your project includes automation, connected equipment, production or training, the programs above exist for that, and your website won't have had to wait for the committee's answer.

How to check what applies to you (in one hour)

1. The official list. The Québec government publishes a "partial list of financial assistance for businesses and organizations" on quebec.ca. Search it by sector and region. That is the source, not a blog post (including this one: the programs will have changed again after this article is published).
2. Your local office. Your MRC, SADC or regional economic-development organization: one call, your situation, their current programs.
3. The three questions to ask for every program: is my project eligible as is? What share of costs is covered, with what ceiling? What is the real delay between application and money?

If the answers justify the file, go for it. If not, you just saved yourself weeks.

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