Guide · Funding

Website grants in Ontario,
what is still open.

Search for website grants in Ontario and most of what comes up describes programs that closed in 2024. This guide sorts it out as of September 2026: which programs are gone, what is still accepting applications, and what that means for how you pay for a website.

Published 2026-09-21 · Formory Group

The short answer.

As of September 2026 we could not find an open government grant in Ontario whose purpose is paying for a small business website. The two programs most articles still describe, the Canada Digital Adoption Program and the Digital Main Street grant, no longer accept applications.

What is open is more general: Starter Company Plus, a grant of up to $5,000 with training and mentoring, delivered through local Small Business Enterprise Centres; Futurpreneur startup loans for owners aged 18 to 39; and ordinary BDC small business loans. None of them is a website program, but a website can be part of the plan you put forward.

What has closed.

Canada Digital Adoption Program, Boost Your Business Technology stream. This was the grant of up to $15,000 to hire a digital advisor and build a digital adoption plan, followed by an interest-free BDC loan of up to $100,000 to carry it out. BDC's program page states it stopped accepting new applications on February 19, 2024. Only businesses with a grant agreement signed before that date were eligible for the grant and the 0% loan.

Canada Digital Adoption Program, Grow Your Business Online stream. The grant of up to $2,400 for e-commerce tools, delivered in Ontario by Digital Main Street. Digital Main Street's page says applications are closed, that new applications stopped on September 30, 2024, and that CDAP was scheduled to end on March 31, 2025.

Digital Main Street Digital Transformation Grant. The $2,500 grant for main street businesses. The Ontario program page says the portal is closed. The free digital assessment and online training modules remain available.

If a vendor tells you a website is covered by CDAP, ask them to show you an open application page. We could not find one.

Starter Company Plus.

This is the closest thing to a small grant you can still apply for. Ontario's program page describes one-on-one advice from a Small Business Enterprise Centre, workshops, mentorship and a grant of up to $5,000. You must contribute at least 25 percent in cash or in kind. Applicants must be 18 or older, Ontario residents, Canadian citizens or permanent residents, and not in school full-time. The 2026 Ontario Budget committed $9.4 million over three years, starting in 2026-27, to renew the grants.

You apply through your local centre, and each one runs its own intake. The City of Toronto's Starter Company Plus page shows an intake open until October 9, 2026 at 4:29 p.m. Toronto's version adds conditions: a registered Toronto business between six months and five years old, at least 35 hours a week spent on it, and $1,250 already invested. Franchises and online resellers are among the excluded business types.

Toronto's page does not list which expenses the grant covers. If your plan includes a website, ask the centre directly whether it counts.

A word on timing. A grant is only money once you are accepted, and each intake has its own dates. Do not hold back a website your business needs today while you wait for a decision, and do not sign a contract that only makes sense if the grant arrives. If the website fits your plan, write it in with a real quote attached, so the centre can see exactly what the money would buy.

Loans that can pay for it.

Futurpreneur. For owners aged 18 to 39, Futurpreneur offers an equity-free startup loan of up to $75,000 with up to two years of mentorship. You must be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and show training or experience in your field.

BDC Small Business Loan. BDC's online loan goes up to $350,000. For amounts up to $100,000, BDC asks for at least $100,000 in annual revenue, at least 24 months in business, current profitability and a personal credit score of 600 or more. Marketing campaigns are among the listed uses.

A loan is not free money, and a $3,000 website rarely justifies one on its own. It makes more sense when the website is part of a larger change, such as a new location or a new service line.

Why the outdated articles keep ranking.

CDAP was a large, heavily promoted program, and many of the pages written about it in 2022 and 2023 were never updated. Some grant directories still list closed programs next to a 2026 date. Check the date on anything you read, and check the program's own page before you plan around it.

The honest position for most small businesses in 2026: the website is a business expense you pay from revenue. Plan for a price that fits, and see what a website actually costs in Toronto before you decide how to fund it.

When someone offers to help you get a grant for a website, three questions sort out most of it. What is the program's official name? Is its application page open today? Who pays if the application is refused? A legitimate answer to all three takes a minute.

What you can still get for free.

Some of the useful parts of the closed programs survive without the money. Digital Main Street keeps its free Digital Roadmap assessment and training modules online. Ontario's Small Business Enterprise Centres offer free consultations with a business consultant, plus workshops, whether or not you apply for a grant.

The other free step is a Google Business Profile. Our guide on whether you need a website if you have a profile covers when a profile alone is enough and when it is not. If you are already paying for a site, a free website check shows what it is missing before you spend more.

Sources.

Before you ask.

Is the Canada Digital Adoption Program still open?

No. The Boost Your Business Technology stream stopped accepting applications on February 19, 2024, and Grow Your Business Online stopped on September 30, 2024. The program was scheduled to end on March 31, 2025.

Is the Digital Main Street grant still available?

No. The application portal is closed. The free digital assessment and online training modules remain available.

Is there any grant I can use for a website in Ontario?

As of September 2026, the closest is Starter Company Plus, up to $5,000 through a Small Business Enterprise Centre. It is not website-specific, so ask your centre whether website costs count.

Can I get an interest-free loan for a website from BDC?

The 0% BDC loan belonged to CDAP and required a grant agreement signed before February 19, 2024. BDC's regular small business loans are still available at normal interest rates.

Two minutes

Where does your
own site land?

Everything above came from opening real websites. Yours takes ten seconds: we load it the way a customer would and say what we find, including when the honest answer is that nothing needs doing.

Check my website free Read the full GTA report

Start with a
straight answer.

Describe the business and where it works. We come back with what we would change, what it would cost and how long it takes — or with a reason not to bother.

Start a project See our work

Website grants in Ontario,what is still open.