Dubsado vs. Honeybook vs. 17Hats vs. Sprout Studio

For Photographers

Which CRM is right for you?

Spoiler: I have chosen Dubsado for my business and absolutely love it.

To try a free, unlimited time trial of Dubsado, click here!

I spent weeks and weeks looking for the perfect CRM for me.

A bit of backstory, I am a wedding and portrait photographer and at the beginning of my business I was using gmail and google sheets to keep track of all my clients. With my wedding clients I have about 10 emails that I send out throughout their journey with me, this includes questionnaires, check-ins, helpful tips, etc. And I was doing all of this manually– which meant, things fell through the cracks.

After one year of photographing over 150 clients, I knew I needed some help. So I tried every single trial of every single CRM and after over 2 weeks of testing, I came to my conclusion. Dubsado was the CRM for me.

What made Dubsado such a standout? For me it was the vast amount of features yet wonderfully built and designed. I wanted a CRM that I could build out and customize to do exactly what I had in my head. And with the help of the fantastic customer support team, I finally have the perfect workflow.

With all CRMs, there is an onboarding period. And during this time you’re going to feel overwhelmed and frustrated. But just stick with it. I promise it’s worth it. A couple of top tips? 1. Write out your entire desired workflow on paper. 2. Write all of your templated emails first, then add them into your workflow. 3. Don’t be afraid to reach out for help!

Now let’s get into some pros and cons of Dubsado, HoneyBook, 17Hats and Sprout Studio!

Dubsado

According to Dubsado’s website, “Dubsado is a business management solution designed to cut out the busywork. Build relationships, schedule appointments, and create workflows to streamline your projects from start to finish.”

Price: $35/month or $350/year

Free Trial: Unlimited time with 3 clients

Pros:

Flexible and detailed workflows to automate major aspects of your business
Templated emails
Custom portal
Beautiful and branded emails
Contracts, invoices, questionnaires
Calendar integration so you never double book yourself
Scheduler, book appointments, consultations and meetings.
Detailed project pipeline to tag and organize clients
Awesome customer service

If you want to learn more about Dubsado and why I love it, view this post about more in depth features!

To start your free trial of Dubsado, click here!

Cons

Can be overwhelming at setup since there are so many features (but they offer 2 free 1:1 set up calls a month to get you up and running)
The finance tracking leaves something to be desired, it’s not quite detailed enough to replace my quickbooks.
Conditional logic is not yet availble (ex: If I do X, it triggers X)

Honeybook

According to Honeybooks website, “HoneyBook was established in 2013 by four friends with a shared vision for helping freelancers and creative business owners live a life built on passion and purpose.”

Price: $39/month or $390/year

Free trial: 7 days

Pros:

Less features, so less overwhelming, but very hard to find resources and help for setting up.
Templated emails
Custom portal
Branded emails but less customizable than Dubsado.
Contracts, invoices, questionnaires
Calendar integration so you never double book yourself.
Scheduler, book appointments, consultations and meetings.
Detailed project pipeline to tag and organize clients

Cons

Their contact form has been known to slow down your website.
The weakest workflows of the bunch. Simple triggers aren’t possible.

17Hats

According to 17Hats website, “As budding entrepreneurs, we had a vision for what life would be like. Calling the shots. Balancing life and work. But soon reality set in […] We looked around for something that would streamline administrative tasks and make business easier. Nothing was elegant. Simple. All-in-one. So, four years ago, we created 17hats – and never looked back.”

Pricing: $45/month or $295/year

Free trial: 7 days

Pros:

Awesome finance tracking, let’s you sync directly with your bank.
Branded emails but much less customizable than Dubsado.
Contracts, invoices, questionnaires
Calendar integration so you never double book yourself.
Scheduler, book appointments, consultations and meetings.

Cons

Their interface feels clunkier than the others, but it is very simple and straightforward.
Very little brand design or customization with contracts and templates.
Less customization on workflows and scheduled reminders than Dubsado.