AlternativesUpdated

Best HoneyBook Alternatives in 2026

HoneyBook runs client work from proposal to contract to invoice, with a client portal and unlimited clients. There is no free plan: Starter is $29 a month billed yearly, and Essentials $59 billed monthly for up to 2 team members. If you want a yearly price, one price for everything, or a portal shaped around your service, here are four alternatives.

By the Fabricate teamWe make Fabricate5 min readPrices checked
Build this portal freePublish on Pro
Client portal
A client portal made with Fabricate: client workspaces with milestones, a project roadmap and a deliverables checklist
A client portal made with Fabricate, shown with sample data.

Key takeaways

  • HoneyBook has no free plan: Starter is $29 a month billed yearly, Essentials $59 billed monthly for up to 2 team members.
  • Dubsado is billed by the year, from $335, with unlimited clients and client portals.
  • SuiteDash sells a portal, contracts and projects at one price for unlimited users, from $19 a month.
  • Fabricate builds a client portal around your own service, where each client sees only their own; contract e-signatures are not built in. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Why Are People Looking for HoneyBook Alternatives?

  • No Free Plan

    There is a free trial and no free plan. Starter is $29 a month billed yearly, and Essentials $59 billed monthly.

  • A Yearly Price

    Dubsado is billed by the year, from $335, with unlimited clients.

    Fits: Dubsado

  • One Price for Everything

    SuiteDash sells a portal, contracts, onboarding and projects at one price for unlimited users, from $19 a month.

    Fits: SuiteDash

  • A Portal Shaped Around Your Service

    Each client signs in to see their own updates, approvals and invoices, in a portal you describe, with no price per client.

    Fits: Fabricate

Compare at a glance

Fabricate beside HoneyBook, feature by feature.

  • Builds From a Description
    Fabricate
    Yes
    HoneyBook
    No, ready-made software
  • Free Plan
    Fabricate
    Build and preview
    HoneyBook
    None; a free trial
  • Client Portal
    Fabricate
    Each client sees only their own
    HoneyBook
    Yes
  • Contracts and E-signatures
    Fabricate
    Not built in
    HoneyBook
    Yes
  • Invoices and Payments
    Fabricate
    Stripe Checkout into your own account, on Pro and Max
    HoneyBook
    Yes
  • Paid Plans From
    Fabricate
    $25 a month
    HoneyBook
    $29 a month, billed yearly
Number 1

Fabricate

We make this

Best for: A portal shaped around your service

Describe your service and what each client needs to see and send you, and Fabricate builds the portal: updates and milestones, approvals, uploads, and invoices with a pay button, behind a sign-in where each client sees only their own. Clients join with an invite code you give them, and the people who sign in to a published portal are not counted as seats. Contract templates with e-signatures and emails to clients about updates are not built in. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.

Checks before you publish

Fabricate's security check on an app: one problem to fix and two quality warnings, each with a Fix in chat button
Each finding comes with a Fix in chat button. A real Fabricate screen, shown with sample data.

What it does well

  • Built around your own service
  • Each client sees only their own
  • No price per client who signs in
Paid plans from
$25 a month
350 credits a month on Pro
Free plan
60 credits
A month, to build and preview
A live app
Pro and Max
Publishing is on paid plans

See the plans

How to Move from HoneyBook to Fabricate

  1. 1

    Export your clients

    Save your client list from HoneyBook as a CSV file.

  2. 2

    Describe your portal

    What each client sees and sends you, the stages a project goes through, and how they pay.

  3. 3

    Ask for an import page

    Ask for a page, behind your own sign-in, that adds the rows of your CSV file to the app's own database.

  4. 4

    Sign in as two test clients

    Check in the preview that each client sees only their own work and invoices.

  5. 5

    Put it online

    On Pro, one press of Publish gives it its own address to share, after the same browser check.

Chat

Fabricate's chat on a phone: the owner asks for opening hours and a note about cardamom buns, and Fabricate says what it changed and that it used 5 credits

Your app

The same bakery app in Fabricate's Your app view on a phone, now showing Open today 7am - 3pm above its menu
Asking for a change in chat, then trying the app. Real Fabricate screens on a phone, shown with sample data.

The other HoneyBook alternatives

What each one does well, and the kind of project it suits best.

  1. Number 2

    Dubsado

    Best for: Service businesses that bill by the project

    Invoices, payments, contracts, proposals, forms, scheduling and client portals for service businesses, billed by the year: Starter is $335 a year and Premier $525, both with unlimited clients, after a 21-day free trial of Premier.

    • Unlimited clients
    • Workflows on Premier
    • A 21-day free trial

    Where Dubsado beats Fabricate

    If you would rather pay once a year for client management with portals included, Dubsado starts at $335 a year with unlimited clients.

    From $335 a yearDubsado alternatives

    Source: dubsado.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  2. Number 3

    SuiteDash

    Best for: Everything for a service business in one place

    An all-in-one business platform with a client portal, contracts and e-signatures, client onboarding, projects and white label, sold at one price rather than per user. START is $19 a month, THRIVE $49 and PINNACLE $99, after a 14-day free trial.

    • One price, not per user
    • Contracts, onboarding and projects too
    • White label

    Where SuiteDash beats Fabricate

    If you want a portal, contracts, onboarding and projects from one company at one flat price, SuiteDash has them ready to switch on.

    From $19 a month

    Source: suitedash.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked

  3. Number 4

    Softr

    Best for: A portal on data you already keep

    Builds client portals and internal tools from a description with its AI Co-Builder, on Softr's own databases or on data you keep in Airtable or Google Sheets. Its Free plan covers up to 3 builders and 5 app users; Basic is $25 a month, and each plan caps the app users who sign in.

    • Client portals on your own data
    • Sits on Airtable or Google Sheets
    • Builds from a description

    Where Softr beats Fabricate

    If your client records already live in Airtable or Google Sheets, a Softr portal can sit on them directly.

    From $25 a monthFabricate vs Softr

    Sources: softr.io/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked ; Softr docs: AI Co-Builder (opens in a new tab), checked

HoneyBook and its alternatives: proposal to payment, or a portal of your own

HoneyBook is client management for service businesses: proposals, contracts, invoices and payments, scheduling and a client portal, with unlimited clients. Starter is $29 a month billed yearly; Essentials is $59 billed monthly for up to 2 team members.

Dubsado covers the same path billed by the year, from $335 with unlimited clients. SuiteDash sells a portal, contracts, onboarding and projects at one price for unlimited users, from $19 a month. Softr builds portals on data you keep in Airtable or Google Sheets.

A freelancer whose work runs from proposal to contract to invoice is the one HoneyBook and Dubsado are built for. A business whose clients mainly need to see where their work stands, send files and pay needs a portal shaped around that.

A client portal built with Fabricate is your own web app. Each client signs in with an invite code you give them and sees only their own updates, approvals, uploads and invoices. On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Contract templates with e-signatures, emails to clients about updates, and documents for clients to download are not built in.

Frequently asked questions

Does HoneyBook have a free plan?
No. There is a free trial. Starter is $29 a month billed yearly; Essentials is $59 billed monthly, or $49 yearly, for up to 2 team members; and Premium, with unlimited team members, is $129 billed monthly.
What is the best HoneyBook alternative?
For a yearly price with unlimited clients, Dubsado. For everything in one place at one flat price, SuiteDash. For a portal on records you keep in Airtable or Google Sheets, Softr. For a portal shaped around your own service, with no price per client, Fabricate, which we make. Building and previewing are free; publishing is on Pro and Max.
Can I build my own client portal?
Yes. Describe your service, what each client needs to see and send you, and who signs in, and Fabricate builds the client portal and shows it working in a preview. To change something, you ask in the chat. There is no code to write or read.
Can clients pay invoices in the portal?
On Pro and Max, the app can take card payments through Stripe Checkout, paid into your own Stripe account, which you connect under More > Payments. Ask for a pay button on each invoice; once Stripe confirms the payment, the invoice is marked paid. Fabricate takes no share of what you are paid; Stripe charges its own card fees.
Can clients sign contracts in a portal built with Fabricate?
Contract templates with e-signatures are not built in. Clients can approve work in the portal, and for a signed contract, use the e-signature tool you have today.

Sources

The pages this guide quotes, each with the day it was read.

  1. honeybook.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  2. dubsado.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  3. suitedash.com/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  4. softr.io/pricing (opens in a new tab), checked
  5. Softr docs: AI Co-Builder (opens in a new tab), checked
  6. fabricate.build/pricing, from our live plans

About this guide

Written by the Fabricate team. Fabricate is our product, so it is first on this page and marked "We make this". Where a reason to switch fits another tool better, the reason says which.

Each tool's card lists the pages we read about it and the day we read them. We compared the tools from their own pricing pages and documentation, not by signing up for them. Spotted something out of date? Write to info@fabricate.build.

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