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The freelancer suite where proposals, contracts, time and invoices live together — books-relevant from Essentials at $25, because Basic has no invoicing at all.
The polished client-work suite for freelancers whose books are simple — budget for Essentials at $19 billed annually to invoice at all, and expect your real ledger to stay in QuickBooks, Xero or a ledger-first rival.
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Bonsai is a freelancer business suite priced per user — Basic $15/month billed monthly ($9 annually) cannot invoice, Essentials $25 ($19 annually) adds invoices, payments and expense/income tracking, and Premium $39 ($29 annually) adds profit reports and QuickBooks/Xero integrations.
Your work is client-billed services and you want proposals, contracts, scheduling, time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking in one tool, with simple books or a separate ledger for the formal accounts.
You need a real ledger as the core product — reconciliation, double-entry reports and tax-ready statements are not what Bonsai sells — or you need a free tier.
Workflows are built only from verified capabilities in our listing research — no vendor copy, nothing invented.
Starts A client accepts your proposal
You get A paid invoice built from the agreed work, not re-typed
The admin chain from winning work to banking it stops leaking hours
Starts You work on a client project
You get Invoices that reflect the hours actually worked
Unbilled time is the classic freelancer leak — this closes it structurally
Starts You spend on a client or the business
You get A current expense record beside your income tracking
Deductions are recorded during the year, not reconstructed at tax time
Starts Your accountant or your QuickBooks/Xero file needs the numbers
You get Client billing in Bonsai, formal books in your ledger
You keep the friendly front office without pretending it is the ledger
The trial gives full, unlimited access for 7 days; afterwards you choose a plan and enter card details if you have not already.
Basic covers time, tasks and CRM only. Essentials is the first tier with invoices, payments, proposals, contracts and expense/income tracking.
Load your clients and service library, then use the templates for proposals and contracts so each new engagement starts from a proven shape.
QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly and Google integrations, plus profit and productivity reports, start on Premium at $29/month billed annually.
Time to first useful result: Under 1 hour · no-code 5/5
Per user per month. Basic $15/month billed monthly ($9 billed annually), Essentials $25 ($19 annually), Premium $39 ($29 annually), Elite $59 ($49 annually, 3-user minimum). Yearly billing offers up to 4 months free. The books-relevant entry is Essentials — Basic has no invoices or payments. Online payment processing fees are charged separately and vary by payment method.
$15/user/month billed monthly ($9/user/month billed annually)
Per seat / month · $9/mo for one person
$25/user/month billed monthly ($19/user/month billed annually)
Per seat / month · $19/mo for one person
$39/user/month billed monthly ($29/user/month billed annually)
Per seat / month · $29/mo for one person
$59/user/month billed monthly ($49/user/month billed annually) — 3 users minimum
Per seat / month · $49/mo for one person
| Plan | Published price | Solo monthly | Billed by | Limits & overage |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $15/user/month billed monthly ($9/user/month billed annually) | $9/mo | Per seat / month | No invoices or payments on this tier — it cannot bill clients |
| EssentialsSolo pick | $25/user/month billed monthly ($19/user/month billed annually) | $19/mo | Per seat / month | QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly and Google integrations start on Premium |
| Premium | $39/user/month billed monthly ($29/user/month billed annually) | $29/mo | Per seat / month | Per-user pricing — each additional team member adds a seat |
| Elite | $59/user/month billed monthly ($49/user/month billed annually) — 3 users minimum | $49/mo | Per seat / month | 3-user minimum makes Elite a team tier, not a solo route |
Tier shape, not usage: the jump from Basic to Essentials ($9 to $19 billed annually) is forced the moment you need to invoice, and the QuickBooks/Xero integrations push you to Premium ($29 billed annually). Per-user pricing means a second team member doubles the seat bill, and Elite imposes a 3-user minimum.
Price record · 2026-11-07: Checked 2026-11-07 by reading hellobonsai.com/pricing in full this run, comparison table included, in both toggle states as printed on the page: Basic $15/month billed monthly ($9/month billed annually), Essentials $25 ($19 annually), Premium $39 ($29 annually), Elite $59 ($49 annually), priced per user ('Seat price'), with yearly billing presented as up to 4 months free and Elite carrying a 3 users minimum. The same page confirms invoicing and payments start on Essentials (Basic lists time tracking, tasks, CRM and unlimited projects/clients only), bank sync covers expenses, and a 7-day free trial gives full, unlimited access. Entry tier plus scaling rule (per user, invoicing gated to Essentials, integrations gated to Premium, 3-user minimum on Elite) recorded.
The same fields on every deep listing in this job, so agents compare field by field. “Not verified” means our research has not confirmed it yet — it never means “doesn't have it.”
Bonsai is a freelancer business suite — CRM, proposals, contracts, projects, time tracking, invoicing and expense tracking in one place — and in this books job its honest entry point is not its cheapest tier. As of November 2026, Basic is $15 per user a month billed monthly ($9 billed annually), but Basic covers time tracking, task management, CRM, unlimited projects and unlimited clients without invoicing or payments. Essentials at $25 a month ($19 billed annually) is where the money features start: invoices and payments, proposals and contracts, templates, forms and questionnaires, scheduling, a client portal, and both expense tracking and income tracking, with bank sync for expenses. Premium at $39 ($29 annually) adds project insights, workload management, a deals pipeline, profit and productivity reports, removal of Bonsai branding, and integrations with QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly and Google. Elite at $59 ($49 annually) adds custom permissions, timesheet locking, expense markups and custom data import, with a 3-user minimum. That shape defines the fit: Bonsai is a client-work and billing machine with light bookkeeping attached — income and expense tracking, a financial overview and reports — not a full double-entry ledger, and it files no taxes and includes no bookkeeper. A solo freelancer who wants proposal-to-payment in one tool, and whose formal books are simple or live in QuickBooks or Xero, gets a lot for $19 to $29 a month. A founder who needs reconciliation and tax-ready statements as the core product should look at the ledger-first tools in this job instead. A 7-day free trial with full access softens the start.
Solo Fit stays the public score: the qualitative roll-up of these four published inputs under the How We Rank method. Published per-user prices and a 5/5 no-code, minutes-to-start setup carry it; the watch-outs are the invoicing gate at Essentials and bookkeeping that stays light by design.
The difference: FreshBooks is the invoicing-led ledger with reconciliation and double-entry reports from Plus; Bonsai is the wider client-work suite (proposals, contracts, projects) whose bookkeeping stays at income and expense tracking.
The difference: Wave starts free and charges for its bank feed, as a pure accounting tool; Bonsai starts at $19 billed annually for invoicing but bundles the CRM, proposals and project work around the money.
The difference: Zoho Books is a full ledger inside the Zoho suite at ledger prices; Bonsai is the freelancer front office that integrates out to QuickBooks or Xero for the formal books.
Essentials is the honest starting point at $25 per user a month billed monthly, or $19 billed annually, checked on hellobonsai.com/pricing on 2026-11-07 — it is the first tier with invoices, payments and expense and income tracking. Premium is $39 billed monthly ($29 annually) and adds profit reports and the QuickBooks and Xero integrations. Basic at $15 ($9 annually) cannot invoice at all.
No. Bonsai tracks income and expenses, syncs bank expenses and offers a financial overview and reports, but no double-entry ledger or reconciliation is presented on its pricing page. On Premium it integrates with QuickBooks and Xero, which is the vendor's own shape: Bonsai runs the client work, the ledger keeps the formal books.
There is no free-forever plan. There is a 7-day free trial with full, unlimited access; after the trial you choose a plan and enter card details if you have not already, per the pricing page FAQ checked on 2026-11-07.
Tier gates and seats. Needing to invoice moves you from Basic to Essentials, needing the QuickBooks or Xero integrations moves you to Premium, and pricing is per user, so a second team member doubles the seat cost. Elite adds a 3-user minimum at $49 per user billed annually.
Bonsai is not in a published stack yet — stacks are edited buying guides, and memberships are added only when the combination has been worked through.
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