Bonsai
INVOICING
All-in-one for freelancers and agencies.
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Overview
Bonsai bundles proposals, contracts, invoicing, and light CRM for freelancers and small agencies. A tidy business-in-a-box for solo service providers.
Key features
- Proposals and contracts
- Invoicing and payments
- Client CRM
- Time and task tracking
Bonsai pricing: four tiers, and the annual discount is unusually large
Bonsai charges per user per month, with four plans and a genuinely big gap between monthly and annual billing.
Billed annually: Basic $9, Essentials $19, Premium $29, Elite $49 per user per month.
Billed monthly: Basic $15, Essentials $25, Premium $39, Elite $59 per user per month.
That is a saving of roughly a third, which Bonsai describes as up to four months free. On Essentials it is $72 a year; on Elite it is $120. Few tools in this category discount that hard, and it tells you they expect freelancers to churn monthly.
What the tiers are for. Basic is time tracking and the occasional project - genuinely minimal. Essentials is the end-to-end client and project management most freelancers actually want, with unlimited clients. Premium adds reporting. Elite is team management with onboarding, which only matters once you have people.
The honest read for a solo freelancer: the real choice is Basic at $9 or Essentials at $19 on annual billing. If you send proposals and contracts as well as invoices, that $10 difference is the whole product and Essentials is the answer. Basic is for someone who only needs to log hours.
// Plans checked on hellobonsai.com/pricing on 27 August 2026.
Bonsai pricing
From $9/user/mo billed annually (Basic). Essentials $19, Premium $29, Elite $49, all per user per month on annual billing. Month-to-month costs more.
See live pricing ↗// Pricing is set by Bonsai and can change. We track entry pricing; verify the latest on their site.
Pros & cons
＋ PROS
- All-in-one for freelancers
- Contracts and proposals included
－ CONS
- Not full accounting
- Best for solos/agencies
Bonsai alternatives
Other invoicing tools for accounting worth comparing:
Frequently asked
How much does Bonsai cost?
From $9/user/mo billed annually (Basic). Essentials $19, Premium $29, Elite $49, all per user per month on annual billing. Month-to-month costs more.
What is Bonsai best for?
Bonsai is an invoicing tool for accounting professionals. All-in-one for freelancers and agencies.
What are the best Bonsai alternatives?
Popular invoicing alternatives to Bonsai include BillingNow, FreshBooks, Invoice Ninja. Compare them in our Accounting index.
Is Bonsai free?
No. Bonsai has no free plan; paid access starts at $9 per month. From $9/user/mo billed annually (Basic). Essentials $19, Premium $29, Elite $49, all per user per month on annual billing. Month-to-month costs more.
Is Bonsai worth it?
Bonsai's main strengths are all-in-one for freelancers and contracts and proposals included. The trade-offs to weigh are not full accounting and best for solos/agencies. For most accounting professionals it is worth trying if those strengths match your priorities.