Dubsado vs HoneyBook: Which One Should You Use? [2025]

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In today's digital age, running an online business comes with its own set of challenges. One of the biggest challenges is finding the right software to manage your clients and streamline your business processes.

With so many options available, it can be overwhelming to choose the right one. In this blog post, I’ll be comparing two popular client management software - Dubsado and HoneyBook.

I'll list the pros and cons of each software, so you can make an informed decision on which one is best suited for your business needs. Whether you're a new entrepreneur or a seasoned business owner, read on to learn more about Dubsado vs. HoneyBook.

Before we start, I want to address something I see online. I see a lot of business owners getting caught up in FOMO (fear of missing out) around software which makes it difficult to make a decision.

When it comes to choosing a software, there is no absolute right or wrong answer. The best software is the one that works best for your business needs. Test a few options and pick a software that works best for you now and don’t worry about having to make a change a few years down the road.

When it comes to these two CRMs - Dubsado and HoneyBook - if you’re using HoneyBook and it’s working for you… that’s awesome! Or if you’re using Dubsado and love it… yay! that’s great!

Full disclosure, I personally use Dubsado in my business but will do my best to remain unbiased in my comparison.

HoneyBook vs Dubsado

Pricing

Both platforms offer different tiered subscriptions and what is included in each plan is somewhat similar between companies. Both have deals every so often and offer discounts when signing up with a yearly plan.

HoneyBook does have an additional plan that is geared towards teams and multiple companies.

HoneyBook Pricing (Updated December 2024)

HoneyBook recently sent out an email to its user base letting them know that the cost of the subscription will be increasing from $384/year to $588/year. If you’re a current user you will get 20% off the first year of the price increase for a total of $470/year.

Below are the prices listed on their website:

• HoneyBook Starter plan: $16/month if billed annually or $19/month if billed monthly.

• HoneyBook Essentials plan: $32/month if billed annually or $39/month if billed monthly.

• HoneyBook Premium plan: $66/month if billed annually or $79/month if billed monthly.

HoneyBook plan pricing

Dubsado Pricing

• Dubsado Starter plan: $16.67/month if billed annually or $20/month if billed monthly.

• Dubsado Premier plan: $33.33/month if billed annually or $40/month if billed monthly.

Dubsado plan pricing

Integrations

Both HoneyBook and Dubsado integrate with several different software

Dubsado integrations:

• Email integration

• Calendar integration

• Video conferencing: Google Meet, Zoom, 8x8

• Quickbooks

• Xero

• Zapier

Dubsado integrations (email & calendar are on a different page)

HoneyBook integrations:

• Email integration

• Calendar integration

• Zoom

• Quickbooks

• Zapier

• Chrome Extension for Gmail - to manage your email via Gmail but keep track of things in HoneyBook

• Calendly

• Pic-Time

• Meta leads (for ad leads)

• Prismm

• Slack

• Monday

• Asana

Honeybook integrations

HoneyBook wins:

• HoneyBook has a guided setup

When you sign up for HoneyBook, they take you through a guided setup process to get you started. With a few steps, you can add your branding and industry. Based on your selection HoneyBook will add relevant templates to your account.

They keep a clear checklist displayed when you log in to remind you of the steps you have completed and the steps you are still missing in your setup to get your account to a place where you can start bringing in clients and taking payment.

HoneyBook dashboard

• HoneyBook has smart files

HoneyBook recently launched smart files where you can design the file you need based on what you want your clients to do - you’re not limited to a proposal / contract / invoice or scheduler / form / invoice which are the two options available in Dubsado.

You can combine any of the following to create a smart file: service selection (equivalent to a proposal in Dubsado), contracts, invoice, scheduler, questionnaire, and add pages with text, images and videos - much like a website or presentation.

You have the flexibility to create forms that are geared to a specific client process. You can split up your proposal into several pages or add a scheduler for people to book their first session after submitting their proposal, signing their contract and paying their invoice.

They also have a long list of beautiful templates you can use for free.

HoneyBook has many templates to speed up your smart file creation

• You can batch emails with HoneyBook

  This is a great time saving feature that allows you to send a single emails to many clients at once. Good for announcing something to all of your current and past clients without having to individually email each one of them.

  It’s not a feature that everyone will use frequently, but it’s a nice to have.

• Multiple clients when using automation

In HoneyBook you can add multiple participants on a project so all project communication is shared with all of them - even when sending forms and email via automation. This is really important to photographers, wedding planners, and others in the wedding industry.

In Dubsado this is only an option when manually sending out forms and emails, so if you’re using workflows - the emails and forms will only be sent to the main contact on the project.

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Dubsado wins:

If you’re looking for more information on Dubsado, go to this blog post to learn more.

• Dubsado workflows & automation

This is where Dubsado shines. Dubsado provides many more automation options when creating workflows vs. HoneyBook.

All of the following are actions you can take inside of a Dubsado workflow:

• change project status

• add tag

• send email

• send form

• create to-do

• send contract

• send primary invoice

• create invoice

• activate/deactivate client portal

• pause workflow

• hold actions until

• send appointment scheduler

• start a workflow

• archive project

Dubsado workflow actions

These options allow for more flexibility when building workflows.

It also means a more automated or hands off approach when working with clients, eliminating the need to pop in to check if clients have completed a form or not before sending them a follow up - Dubsado will take care of it for you. But you also have the option of adding to-dos to hold tasks, to then edit emails or forms to adapt them to a specific client.

HoneyBook Automations

HoneyBook upgraded their automations in 2024, and now you have the following triggers - that start an automation - and actions you can take once the automation begins.

These are the triggers to start an automation in HoneyBook:

• Meeting scheduled (Calendly)

• Contact form submitted

• Lead form submitted

• Session scheduled

• Session starts

• Session ends

• File is completed

• Questionnaire submitted

• First payment paid

• Invoice paid in full

• Contract signed

• All signatures signed

• Project date

• Project end date

• Project moved to completed

These are the actions you can take inside of a HoneyBook automation once the trigger has happened:

• Send email

• Send file via email

• Create task

• Move pipeline stage

• Wait for (number of minutes, hours, days, weeks or months)

• Condition - to set a yes and no path

These triggers and actions allow for more options when building automations in HoneyBook. Because you can only have one trigger per automation - it means that you’ll have to build more automations that are shorter to accomplish the same thing in HoneyBook that you would with a Dubsado workflow.

With the upgrades, HoneyBook has included conditional logic options - where the automation goes down a different path depending on what action the client takes (i.e. books a call or doesn’t book a call). This is an amazing feature that Dubsado doesn’t have yet.

One important thing to point out is that in HoneyBook you don’t have the option of editing automations once they start. You can’t edit emails or forms in an automation to adapt them to a specific client project. You’re either all in or you have to do things manually.

You also can’t manually apply an automation to a project, it HAS to be triggered by an action - payment completed, contract signed, appointment ended, etc. And while you can add an approval button on the first action to decide whether to trigger the automation or not, it’s still frustrating to not be able to manually apply one.

• Dubsado is available in more locations

HoneyBook is only available in the US and Canada, meaning that you need to have a US or Canada based bank account to receive payment.

Dubsado works in the US, Canada and other countries too - any country where you can use Stripe, Square or PayPal. If your bank account is based in the UK, Australia or someplace else - Dubsado is currently your only choice between these two CRM.

• Dubsado connects to payment processors

Dubsado integrates with Dubsado Payments powered By Stripe, PayPal or Square to receive online payment from clients.

Dubsado uses Dubsado Payments Powered by Stripe, Square and PayPal as payment processors

HoneyBook has it’s own in-house payment processor and charges a 2.9% + 25¢ for credit card transactions and 1.5% fee for ACH bank transfers. These fees are very similar to what the payment processors charge.

Dubsado also offers autopay as a feature and does not charge more for it. With HoneyBook, if you keep clients card on file to use for autopay the processing fee increases to 3.4% + 9¢.

HoneyBook charges a higher processing fee for using autopay

• Dubsado offers a better free trial

Dubsado allows you to have a free trial with 3 clients with no time limit vs. HoneyBook which has a 7 day trial plus two months using the starter plan at $1/month.

Dubsado’s trial allows you to test the software and take your time to complete the setup before you start to pay for anything.

Video: Dubsado vs. Honeybook

Watch this video where I go through the strengths of both Honeybook and Dubsado to help you make a decision on which CRM is the best fit for you.

Wrap up (TLDR) - Comparing Dubsado & HoneyBook

Based on the comparison between HoneyBook and Dubsado:

HoneyBook is best if:

• you want a software that is simple to setup and get started.

• you have simple workflows in your business and don’t need much automation or want to do things manually.

Dubsado is best if:

• you have a more detailed workflows and want a more automation in your business that still allows you to personalize tasks for each client.

• you need to use payment processors like Stripe, Square or PayPal to receive payment and want to maintain lower transaction fees when using autopay.

• you have a bank account outside of the US and Canada.

Want me to help you setup Dubsado or HoneyBook?

Want to work with a systems expert to setup HoneyBook or Dubsado for your business? book a free discovery call and let’s see if a Dubsado setup is right for you.

If you decide that Dubsado is the best option for you - sign up for Dubsado using my link and save 30% on your first month or year with Dubsado.

• If you have a free Dubsado account and want to upgrade to a Premier or Starter account, use my code ‘emakatiraee’ and save 30% on your first month or year with Dubsado.

If you decide that HoneyBook is the best option for you - sign up for HoneyBook using my link and save 30% on your first two months or year with HoneyBook.