HoneyBook Alternatives for Coaches and Solopreneurs
If you’re here because HoneyBook just raised its prices, you’re not alone.
In February 2025, HoneyBook increased prices across all plans by approximately 89.5%. The Starter plan went from around $19/month to $36/month. For users who had been on the platform for years at the old rate, the jump was significant - and it sent a lot of people looking for alternatives.
This guide covers five genuine options: what each one was built for, what it costs in 2026, and which reader type it suits. No platform paid for a recommendation. The guide ends at ESC Hub because that’s where the argument leads for coaches building a full online business - not because it was set up from paragraph one.
What HoneyBook Alternatives Are Actually Fixing
Before covering alternatives, it’s worth being honest about what HoneyBook actually does well - because the right alternative depends on understanding why HoneyBook worked in the first place.
HoneyBook was built for creative service businesses: photographers, event planners, designers, and similar freelancers who need a polished, branded client experience. The Smart Files feature — combining a proposal, contract, and invoice into one client-facing document — is well-built for service businesses that send these regularly. The client portal is clean.
The limitations for coaches and solopreneurs are more specific. HoneyBook is a client management platform. It handles the administrative layer between you and your clients well. It doesn’t replace email marketing, funnels, landing pages, course hosting, or community - which means a coaching business running on HoneyBook is still missing most of its business infrastructure alongside it.
The price increase compounds this. At $49/month annually for the Essentials plan (the tier that includes workflow automations - which most coaches actually need), HoneyBook is harder to justify when alternatives exist that cover client management and the rest of the business for a comparable price.
For more on how to evaluate CRM tools specifically for coaching businesses, the guide to the best CRM for coaches covers what to look for before committing.
Dubsado - The Most Direct Comparison
Dubsado is the most frequent HoneyBook comparison because they cover almost identical ground: proposals, contracts, invoicing, scheduling, client portals, and workflow automations.
The main differences are aesthetic and operational. HoneyBook has a more polished, consumer-friendly interface. Dubsado has more flexibility and customisation in how workflows are built, which experienced users value - but which also means a steeper learning curve. Dubsado offers a longer free trial (up to 3 clients with no time limit) compared to HoneyBook’s 7-day trial.
Dubsado also had its own pricing adjustments - though less dramatic than HoneyBook’s. The full Dubsado pricing breakdown including what’s locked behind each plan is covered in the ESC Hub Dubsado pricing post, which is worth reading before making a direct comparison between the two platforms.
The limitation is the same as HoneyBook: Dubsado is a client management and CRM tool. It doesn’t cover email marketing, funnels, landing pages, or course hosting. You’re still building a separate stack alongside it.
Best for: Coaches and freelancers who want more workflow flexibility than HoneyBook offers and are willing to invest time in the setup. Not the right fit if you need the broader business platform covered.
17hats - The Budget-Friendly All-Rounder
17hats simplified its pricing in 2025 to a single all-inclusive plan: $60/month, or $600/year ($50/month equivalent), or $800/two years (roughly $33/month). A 7-day free trial is available with a 30-day money-back guarantee. A free limited CRM tier is also available with unlimited contacts but restricted to 4 invoices per quarter.
The “all-inclusive” structure means every subscriber gets the same features regardless of billing cycle - you’re only choosing how long you commit, not what you access. The trade-off is that features worth calling out as add-ons - extra users ($5/month each), bank account connection ($5/month) - cost extra on top.
17hats covers proposals, contracts, invoicing, scheduling, and basic CRM in one place. The interface is functional rather than beautiful - users consistently note it’s less polished than HoneyBook. The calendar and scheduling features are limited enough that some users still run Calendly alongside it. Reporting and analytics are minimal.
At $50/month annually, 17hats is marginally more expensive than HoneyBook Essentials at $49/month - but the all-inclusive structure means there’s no tier confusion about which features you’re getting.
Best for: Solo service providers who want a complete client management setup at a predictable all-in price and aren’t concerned about a premium interface experience.
Bloom - For Photographers and Creative Freelancers
Bloom is a newer platform built specifically for photographers and creative freelancers. It’s worth covering here because it’s frequently recommended as a HoneyBook alternative in creative professional communities.
Pricing: Starter at $14/month ($7 annual) - but this plan charges a 1.5% transaction fee on every payment, which effectively makes it more expensive than it looks at any real revenue volume. Standard at $34/month ($17 annual) - removes the transaction fee and unlocks unlimited projects and automations. Plus at $66/month ($33 annual) - adds team members and priority support. 7-day free trial available.
Bloom’s standout feature is its integrated client gallery - a polished photo delivery experience built into the CRM. For photographers this is genuinely valuable. For coaches it’s irrelevant.
The platform is well-designed and the Standard plan at $17/month annually is the most affordable fully-functional option on this list. The limitations are scope: Bloom covers client management and galleries for creative freelancers. It doesn’t cover email marketing, funnels, or course hosting.
Best for: Photographers and creative freelancers who want a polished, affordable client management tool with built-in gallery delivery. Not the right fit for coaches who need broader business infrastructure.
Practice - Built Specifically for Coaches
Practice is worth including on this list specifically because it was built for coaching professionals rather than creative freelancers - which gives it a different shape from every other tool covered here.
Practice covers scheduling, payments, forms, client records, a client portal, session notes, and document management. The client-facing experience is designed around the coaching relationship rather than the creative project workflow. Pricing starts at approximately $28/month on monthly billing, with more affordable annual options available. A free trial is available.
The limitation is the same as every dedicated CRM on this list: Practice covers the client management side of a coaching business. Email marketing, funnels, landing pages, and community hosting are not part of it.
A well-built client onboarding process starts the moment a new client books their first session - and for coaches using a specialist tool like Practice, that sequence needs to connect to their broader email and automation setup to work properly.
Best for: Coaches who want a CRM designed specifically around the coaching client relationship and are happy managing their email marketing and funnels in a separate tool.
ESC Hub - For Coaches Who Need Everything Connected
Every platform covered above solves the client management problem. None of them solve the whole picture.
A solopreneur coach building an online business needs more than a client portal and an invoicing tool. They need the client management alongside email marketing, funnels, landing pages, booking, automations, course hosting, and community - all connected, all in one place, so that when someone books a call, they automatically receive a welcome sequence, get added to the right course, and appear in the CRM - without manual work at each step.
ESC Hub was built specifically for that. It replaces up to 20 separate tools in one platform at $97/month - including the functions covered by HoneyBook, Dubsado, and Practice, plus the email marketing, funnels, and course hosting none of them cover.
The support difference is also significant. ESC Hub includes daily coaching calls and a team that genuinely helps members get the platform working for their business. For a solopreneur who doesn’t have an IT background, that’s a meaningful distinction from a platform you configure alone.
At $97/month, ESC Hub is priced above HoneyBook Essentials at $49/month - but below what a coaching business currently paying for HoneyBook plus a separate email platform plus a course tool would pay in total. For coaches who are building a full online business - not just managing client paperwork - it’s a different category of platform. For more on how to evaluate whether an all-in-one platform makes sense for your situation, the guide to all-in-one software for small businesses covers the key questions.
Best for: Solopreneurs and coaches building a full online coaching business who want client management, email marketing, funnels, courses, and community in one connected platform - with a real support team behind it.
The right HoneyBook alternative depends on what you actually need. If client management is the only gap and the rest of your stack is working, Dubsado or Practice are the most direct comparisons. If you're paying for five disconnected tools and want to bring them together, ESC Hub was built for that.
Start your free 14-day ESC Hub trial at eschub.com
