Dubsado or Honeybook
One of the most asked questions that I get as a photography workflow expert is which CRM someone should use for their particular business. Specifically, people are typically looking at two very specific CRMs: Dubsado and Honeybook. Although these two systems are very similar in some ways, in other ways, they have very different capabilities. In this post, I’m going to go through the similarities and differences of these two programs so that you can choose the one that is best for you!
It is important to note, that Honeybook is only available in the United States and Canada, so if you are located outside of these areas you will not be able to use Honeybook for your business at this time.
What is the Point of Using a Program Such as Dubsado or Honeybook?
Using a program like Dubsado or Honeybook is a great way to streamline your business. With a CRM tool such as one of these, you are able to keep your clients organized in one place, send them important documents throughout their journey, and automate things like check-in emails and payment reminders to ensure that every client has the same amazing journey with you. This allows you to see where you might need to make improvements and make those improvements so that you can continue to adjust to make your client experience even better.
What is the Price Point of Each?
Dubsado and Honeybook are pretty competitively priced. When looking at the pricing of each, it is important to remember that some of the things that Honeybook highlights on their website is also included with Dubsado’s plans as well – make sure to look at the plan comparison charts to get an accurate account of what is included in each plan for each program.
How Much is Dubsado?
Starter Plan: $20/month or $200/year
Includes unlimited projects and clients, invoicing and payment plans, calendar, professional templates, client portal, basic reports, forms and email templates.
Premier Plan: $40/Month or $400/year
Includes everything in starter plan plus scheduling, automated workflows, public proposals, multiple lead capture forms and Zapier Integration.
Add Ons:
Additional Brand: $10/Month
Additional Team Member: First 3 Free and then an additional monthly charge after that.
How Much is Honeybook?
Starter: $19/Month or $192/Year
Includes: Unlimited projects and clients, invoicing and payments, proposals and contracts, calendar, professional templates, client portal, and basic reports.
Essentials: $39/Month or $384/year
Includes everything in starter, automations, scheduler, QuickBooks online integration, 2 teams members, more in-depth reporting, white labelling
Premium: $79/Month or $792/year
All of the above plus unlimited team members and multiple companies.
Want to try out the free trial of each? Click the button below to sign up and get a discount should you decide to purchase!
Comparing Invoicing
When looking at invoicing, both programs allow you to invoice your clients professionally, take payments, and provide options for payment plans. Both programs allow you to set up automated payment plans so that you can ensure that payments are never forgotten and paid on time.
Dubsado Invoicing
Dubsado integrates with Stripe, Square, and Paypal. You can select between Stripe or Square, and if you would like, you can also connect paypal along side of them.
Fees for processing with Dubsado are equal to what each processor charges. Dubsado does not take a cut from any payments through their system.
Honeybook Invoicing
Honeybook requires you to go through their in house processing system and does not integrate with any outside processors.
Honeybook’s Fees are as Follows:
Cash/Check – No Fee
ACH/Bank Transfer – 1.5% Flat Fee
Cardholder Entered Payment – 2.9% + 25 Cents
Card on File payment – 3.4% + 9 Cents
Along with invoicing, both systems allow for your clients to enter their card information and subscribe to automatic payments. This allows you to have to worry less about a client forgetting a payment, and also allows your clients to not have to worry about remembering to pay.
Comparing Client Portals for Honeybook and Dubsado
Both programs allow for granting your clients access to their documents via a client portal. This client portal can function as a hub inside your business, showing communications you’ve had with the client, forms they need to fill out, as well as invoicing and scheduling.
When running a photography business, portals are a great way to be able to have everything for your clients all in one place, so that when your client needs something, you can simply direct them to the portal in order to fill out forms, schedule meetings, pay invoices, etc.
Dubsado's Portal
Dubsado’s portal is simple, and can be customized with your logo and colors. You might also opt to add a banner of images at the top instead of a solid color:
Honeybook's Portal
Honeybook’s portal is laid out slightly differently, and allows for both you and the client to log into a similar page. One of Honeybook’s greatest features over Dubsado is that it allows for multiple people to be on the project, so you can manage everyone all at once inside the portal.
Honeybook Smartfiles vs. Dubsado Forms
Both programs allow you to send forms such as contracts, proposals, and questionnaires to your clients. With Honeybook’s recent addition of smart files, you can create beautiful forms natively in either of the programs. Both programs allow you to combine invoices and contracts with your proposals so that you can have everything streamlined together in one place and don’t have to worry about sending multiple emails to get your clients to do things completely separately.
Dubsado Forms
Honeybook Smart Files
Honeybook vs. Dubsado Scheduling
The built-in schedulers of both these programs can come in handy when you are trying to schedule a client meeting or a client photoshoot. Although neither of these programs can be used as availability calendars for scheduling weddings, they work well for mini sessions, engagement/portrait sessions, and other small meetings with clients. Both Schedulers are pretty comparable with how they look and ease of use for the clients.
Dubsado Scheduler
Honeybook Smart Files
Dubsado vs. Honeybook Automations
Automation is one of the driving forces behind a good CRM, and Dubsado and Honeybook both provide options for automating parts of your client journey. As you can see in the images below, Dubsado allows for quite a bit more complex automation in their workflows. Where only some things with Honeybook are automatic, such as opening up the client portal.
Dubsado Workflows
Honeybook Pipeline
Which is Better For Your Business?
Both programs will help you in getting your business organized.
In Conclusion
Both Honeybook and Dubsado serve a purpose in a photographer’s business. As you have seen in this article, they are very similar, but the main differences lie in the overall aesthetics of the program, as well as the customizations that you hope to have in your workflows and pipeline. Which one is better for you? I would say this lies in what specifically you need the program to do for you and whether you have a more complex workflow. Ultimately, the decision of which CRM to go with is a personal one, and there is no completely wrong answer.
I hope this blog has given you some more insight into each of these programs. If you have any further questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out!
