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The 7 closest of 7, each with its real monthly cost at 25 clients and what it does that Bonsai does not. See all 14.
Invoice Ninja does everything we verified about Bonsai for $41 a month less at 25 clients, $18 against $59. It is a price cut rather than an upgrade: on the two features checked against the vendors’ own pricing pages the two are level. The trade: Bonsai is built for a one-person business and Invoice Ninja is not, so this is a swap with a cost.
Not an accounting system: no payroll, receipt capture, inventory or tax filing on the page, the tax tool is an unpriced extra for US sole proprietors, invoicing starts at the $25 tier, and per-user pricing with a 3-user Elite minimum climbs quickly for a team.
It runs $59 a month at 25 clients with the add-ons it forces on you included. 5 of the 7 alternatives to Bonsai cost less than that.
Ranked by how much of what we record for Bonsai each platform also does. Invoice Ninja is the nearest, and it is $41 a month cheaper at 25 clients. Nothing we verified is missing; the only gaps are features Bonsai lists and Invoice Ninja does not, which is weaker evidence.
$41 a month cheaper$18 at 5
A freelancer or small studio that wants a full invoicing, quoting and time-tracking tool for $14 a month or less, and the option to run it on its own server for nothing.
Prices are the real monthly cost at 25 clients with the add-ons each platform forces on you included, from the same engine the shortlist quiz uses.
$59 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A freelancer or very small business that wants to invoice, chase payments and log expenses for nothing, and does not mind two users and 500 invoices a year.
$116.56 a month dearer$175.56 at 5
A UK sole trader or one-person limited company that wants free or very cheap bookkeeping software now and a fixed-fee accountant from the same company when the business needs one.
$59 a month cheaper$0 at 5
A US service business that already takes card payments through Square and wants invoices, estimates and contracts with no monthly fee, paying only when an invoice is paid.
$33.54 a month cheaper$25.46 at 5
A UK sole trader, partnership or small limited company that wants VAT, MTD, payroll and Self Assessment handled in one place, especially one banking with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle, where it is free.
$11 a month dearer$70 at 5
A freelancer or small service business whose job is getting invoices out and paid, with time tracking and projects attached.
$40 a month cheaper$19 at 5
A US or Canadian sole trader or very small business that wants to invoice and keep basic books for nothing, paying only when it takes card payments.
A freelancer or small agency that wants proposals, contracts, time tracking, projects and invoicing in one client-facing tool, and is happy to hand the books to QuickBooks or Xero through the integration.
On this site it is the pick for time and project billing and a one-person business. If that is you, read the savings above and then ignore them.
Invoice Ninja. It is $41 a month cheaper at the size we compare on and gives up nothing we verify, though you should read why it exists before swapping: no two of these do exactly the same job.
Bonsai is $59 a month at every size we price, from 5 to 100 clients, read off their own pricing page and re-checked every week.
Not an accounting system: no payroll, receipt capture, inventory or tax filing on the page, the tax tool is an unpriced extra for US sole proprietors, invoicing starts at the $25 tier, and per-user pricing with a 3-user Elite minimum climbs quickly for a team.
We compare 7 of them here, every one priced at the same size off its own pricing page, and the whole list of 14 is on the accounting page.
Should yours be on this list? If you make accounting and invoicing platforms and it is not compared here, ask to be shortlisted. Listings are free and cannot be bought.
Two features were checked against each vendor's own pricing page: a price that does not move with clients and a free plan. Those are the ones written above as does and does not. The other 14 are read out of each vendor's own pricing page, so an absence there means we did not find it listed, not that the product lacks it, and those lines say lists and does not list instead. How all of this gets checked.
This page compares everything to Bonsai. The shortlist asks 7 questions about what you need the books to do and where you are based, and gives you four picks priced at your own numbers, which is a better question than “what is like the one I already have”.
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