RMPG — up to $5,000 for retail technology, with one important catch.
What the Retail Modernization Project Grant covers, who qualifies, and why taking it spends your DMAP eligibility.
The Retail Modernization Project Grant is an Ontario program administered by the Ontario Centre of Innovation through the Digital Competence Centre. As of September 2026 it provides a matched grant of up to $5,000 to Ontario retailers with a physical location open to the public, for technology such as point-of-sale systems, online payments, inventory management, CRM, cybersecurity tools and AI tools. Eligibility requires 1–50 full-time employees, incorporation and operation for at least one year, and at least $100,000 in annual revenue before taxes. The catch: you can apply to RMPG or DMAP — not both. Approval and amounts are decided by OCI, not Vitops.
Source: Ontario Centre of Innovation · verified5 September 2026
At a glance.
- Amount
- Up to $5,000, matched
- Who
- Ontario retailer, open to the public, physical location (not home-based)
- Size
- 1–50 full-time employees
- Trading history
- Incorporated and operating ≥ 1 year
- Revenue
- ≥ $100,000 before taxes
- Funds
- POS, online payments, inventory, CRM, cybersecurity, AI tools
- Excludes
- You cannot also take DMAP
- Decided by
- OCI
The trade nobody explains.
This is the most consequential thing on the page, so it goes near the top rather than the bottom.
RMPG and DMAP are mutually exclusive. Taking the $5,000 closes the door on the $15,000 planning grant.
So the real comparison is $5,000 versus $15,000.
That doesn't make RMPG the wrong choice. If what you need is a point-of-sale system and online payments, the money is straightforward, the scope is small, and the DMAP path would be overkill for the project. But if there's a larger modernisation ahead of you in the next couple of years, spending your eligibility on the small grant is a decision worth making deliberately rather than by accident.
Where this fits for us.
Retail sits a little outside our usual shape — most of our clients are service businesses that have reached the size where back-office administration has become a real cost. Where a client is retail or retail-adjacent, the honest advice is usually the sequencing question above rather than a proposal.
Common questions.
Can we do RMPG now and DMAP later?
No. They're alternatives, not stages.
Does an online-only store qualify?
No. A physical commercial location open to the public is required, and home-based businesses are excluded.
Do restaurants and salons count?
Yes — the program covers direct-to-consumer businesses with a physical location, which includes food service and personal services, not only shops.
Is $5,000 worth the paperwork?
For a defined project like a POS replacement, generally yes. As a reason to skip DMAP, generally no.
Find out in one call whether this applies to you.
Tell us your headcount, roughly your revenue, and what you're trying to change. We'll tell you which program fits, or that none of them do.
Approval and amounts are decided by OCI, not Vitops.