Every business needs an application to handle most of its processes and manage clients. Tasks, such as sending emails and invoices, or scheduling meetings are time consuming, but applications like HoneyBook and 17hats can reduce the amount of time needed to execute such tasks.
Using an all-in-one business management app, such as 17hats and HoneyBook, allows you to automate most processes, from sending invoices to lead generation. As a result, you can spend most of the time attending to other essential aspects of the business.
More importantly, business management applications come with a CRM (customer relationship management) tool that makes communication with customers a breeze.
Besides, the business and client management software integrate well with tons of communication, payment, and social apps.
This integration enhances lead generation, seamless payment, meeting scheduling, and customer communication. They also come with templates that make creating and sending emails a walk in the park.
Are you looking for software that can help you streamline business processes, from managing projects to sending invoices? 17hats and HoneyBook can handle that. But which one between the two should you choose?
In this article, I’ll simplify the HoneyBook vs 17hats debate, making it easy for you to choose one that suits your needs.
Let’s dive in.
What is 17hats?
17hats is a cloud-based management application that makes automation of business processes a breeze. It addresses the needs of small businesses by providing useful tools to help them manage operations, such as billing, meetings, and scheduling.
With its wide range of features from time tracking, online scheduling, client communication, and limitless automation, 17hats will have business people feeling self-assured and can easily cater to the client’s needs each day.
This software is made for everyone in business whether a small event photographer, freelance accountant, or virtual assistant.
It helps small businesses in marketing, managing projects, and even monitoring online payments among others.
Event planners and photographers highly prefer this software due to its fantastic features. To begin with, invoicing enables you to automatically send invoices to your clients for any recurring services. This can be done weekly, monthly, or annually.
17hats has templates that you can use to customize a logo for a more professional look. You can also create a subdomain, fonts, and colors of your choice to make sure your business is well represented.
Besides, this platform allows you to efficiently monitor your time through the tools available. These include; mobile app, calendar, to-do workflows, and many more.
Plus, the reporting allows you to access any information you need, from a report of all client sales to the profits and losses made for a certain period.
Check out the best alternatives to 17hats.
What is HoneyBook?
HoneyBook is a user-friendly cloud-based app that allows small business owners to easily streamline most of their business processes, such as inquiry, proposal creation, invoicing, scheduling, project tracking, and more.
One of the key features that make HoneyBook a popular business management app is automation. This helps you to cue up message sequences, tasks, and files to work according to your rules and send them at an appropriate time.
HoneyBook lets you make custom branded emails in under 30 seconds. Through this, you can easily receive payments and set reminders for payment schedules.
That’s not all. This app allows scheduling too. You can send a meeting link to clients and get booked. Through this, you also make confirmations for bookings and set reminders.
HoneyBook can easily integrate with Gmail, Quickbooks, Calendly, Zapier, and Facebook to make connections with clients more efficient.
As someone who values time management, I find HoneyBook useful. I can easily track the time spent working on projects for trouble-free billing.
Not to mention, the templates let me create new contracts and access all other contracts dealt with from my library, making it possible to either modify or reuse them.
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Invoicing
17hats
You can use this tool to create and send a professional invoice easily and quickly to your contacts. It’s also possible to include a logo and a personalized message to the invoice.
The invoice integrates with popular payment methods, such as Stripe, PayPal, and Square, making it possible for clients to pay you online. What if a client chooses to pay by check or cash instead? Well, 17hats lets you manually mark the invoice as paid.
Since you’ll be sending invoices for services or products provided, this app lets you add a description for each product or service.
The invoice lets you access an array of features, including due dates, discounts, sales tax, recurring payments, tips, and payment plans.
17hats provides invoices at four levels: Free CRM, Level One, Two, and Three. The free option lets you send four invoices per 90 days, Level one allows 20 invoices per month, Level Two allows 35 per month, and Level Three is unlimited.
HoneyBook
The invoice feature allows for easy and secure online payments. To create a new invoice, you can use a template or a recent invoice. There’s also an option to add a description for your services or items.
Do you prefer to accept recurring payments or scheduled ones? HoneyBook allows both. It comes with a built-in feature for automatic tax and discount calculation.
Additionally, the app supports several devices, meaning clients can pay you from an iOS or Android device.
The invoice feature integrates with major credit cards and banking services, making bank transfers possible.
What’s more, clients receive automatic payment reminders, and you also get notifications as soon as the invoice is paid.
Verdict
HoneyBook is a winner because it has more features, such as reminders, notifications, and integration with banking systems and credit cards.
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Time Management
17hats
The platform features several time management tools that their iOS and Android apps keep in control and in touch.
You receive push notifications whenever a client pays an invoice, a prospect completes a lead capture form, a client signs a contract or accepts a quote, or when someone schedules or cancels an online booking. These notifications save you the time needed to check or respond to any of these activities manually.
The other tool is the 17hats Calendar, which lets you add, remove, or edit unlimited entries to keep your life and business in order. Interestingly, you may also import the 17hats Calendar into Outlook Calendars, Apple Calendars, and other types of calendars.
When you add to-dos to your project, they automatically filter to the To Do Manager. The To Do Manager populates three types of lists: project lists, due and upcoming lists, and custom lists. This tool ensures you don’t miss a thing.
With Advanced Workflows, you can automatically send emails and documents to clients and therefore, not miss sending important information.
The Client Portal cuts down on time-consuming phone calls. You can create a private spot where clients can access useful information and complete crucial documentation.
More importantly, 17hats has a time tracker that lets you set your hourly rate to keep track of the duration spent working, so you can bill clients accordingly.
HoneyBook
HoneyBook’s time tracker lets you keep tabs on the way you spend time, whether it’s on brainstorming, design, or coffee with clients. Tracking time is essential for a project’s elements that are included in the invoice.
HoneyBook logs time in two ways. First, from the desktop, you manually add time recorded for a particular project. This option comes in handy after you’ve already tracked time for a specific project, and only need to add the time to a project’s time log.
The other option is through their mobile application, which contains a stopwatch that allows to start and end the time worked.
Whether you choose to track time manually or via the stopwatch, the tracked hours will reflect in your project’s time tracker section of the invoice, and automatically calculate the entire billable amount to let you see the number of extra hours you should account for, before sending an invoice.
Verdict
17hats wins hands down because it has numerous time management tools that help you save more time than HoneyBook.
Interesting Comparison: HoneyBook vs QuickBooks
Automation
17hats
The platform allows you to automate client experience and save time so you can focus on the most essential tasks. Specifically, you can automate lead management, onboarding, booking, and fulfillment.
Automating the lead management process ensures you don’t miss a new client. First, you use the lead capture form to capture a potential client. Next, you use a questionnaire and email to quickly respond and know more about the lead. Lastly, you can follow up with a call.
To automate the booking process, send a contract, invoice, and quote in one email to let the lead complete the booking within minutes.
Onboarding starts once the client books, pays, and goes to the project date. This process involves familiarizing the client with yourself and the brand and also getting to know them better. It eliminates random questions that lead up to the project and increases the client’s confidence in you and the services you offer.
After creating these processes, there’s the fulfillment process where you go to 17hats every day and know what needs to be done for that day, week, and even month.
HoneyBook
HoneyBook offers excellent automations for most business processes. To begin with, you can automate sending files and emails to clients, or creating tasks. You can also set triggers based on the clients’ behavior, dates, or other criteria.
If you have a task due or want to send one for approval, you can set up reminders so you don’t miss anything. You can also send automatic follow-ups to help win more clients. This process includes automatically responding to any inquiries from prospects.
The follow-up may include sending marketing materials, questionnaires, or a scheduling link. More importantly, you can offboard clients using surveys, thank you messages, or request them to leave a review.
The automation gives you control as well. You can integrate branded templates, direct leads to particular automations depending on their interests, approve before you send, or delay action by weeks, days, hours, or minutes.
Verdict
It’s a tie. Both 17hats and HoneyBook have powerful automation features.
Also Read: HoneyBook vs Dubsado
Online Scheduling
17hats
The Online Scheduling feature in this app saves you a lot of time that was previously wasted on the back and forth of emails and calls. Contacts can choose a suitable date and time and book a meeting with you in a matter of minutes.
17hats can automatically send email reminders every hour, once a day, or every couple of days prior to the scheduled booking. What I like about this platform’s scheduling feature is that it lets you embed the booking calendar on your site.
The Advanced Online Scheduling tool takes it a notch higher. With this feature, the booking may trigger workflows, a Zoom link can be auto-generated, and clients can pay via Stripe or Square while booking.
HoneyBook
The application lets you schedule meetings without back and forth. And scheduling a meeting is a piece of cake; set your availability, share the availability link with clients, and get scheduled. The process is so intuitive that anyone can do it.
The scheduling allows you to provide session details, such as how you’d like to meet: phone call, video, in person, or other. You can tweak the name to fit your needs. For example, you may call it consultation, tasting, trial, or mini session.
You also define the days and hours you’re available for the meeting. It’s also possible to remove availability for those days you aren’t ready for booking and allow windows of time for those days you’re available.
There’s room for time buffers where you block off a specific time before or after a scheduled lesson to avoid last-minute surprises.
Moreover, you can sync the sessions with Google Calendar to update your availability in real time and avoid being double booked.
The scheduling platform becomes the portal for all client communication. That means they can message you, schedule meetings, select services, pay invoices, and sign contracts. Besides, automated reminders keep the clients on track, making them show up for the meeting as expected. If they can’t make it, rescheduling is easy.
Verdict
Both platforms have elaborate scheduling tools, but 17hats carries the day due to their ability to automatically generate and send a Zoom link to clients. It also lets clients pay during booking.
Check Out: Alternative tools to Dubsado.
Integration
17hats
17hats can easily integrate with your bank account, Stripe, and Square to make accepting online payments seamless.
The software also integrates with a plethora of other applications, including Apple Calendars, Google Calendars, Email Providers, Zoom, Fundy, N-Vu, ShootProof, ProSelect, Quickbooks, Zapier, The Knot, and WeddingWire.
These integrations enhance communication, payment, lead generation, and meeting scheduling.
HoneyBook
This app is integrated with other apps like Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Meet, Facebook, Zoom, Instagram, Calendly, Quickbooks, and Zapier which are meant to make operations easier.
The integration with Quickbooks makes it easy to send invoices. On the other hand, integration with Gmail, Facebook, and Instagram makes lead collection easy.
The syncing with Google Calendar and Google Meet eases the process of scheduled booking.
With Zapier, HoneyBook can connect with other tools and services you might find necessary, broadening the likelihood of lead generation.
Verdict
17hats’ integrations seem to address most of the needs of a business compared to HoneyBook.
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Cost
In both apps, there is a free trial period for every beginner. This allows you to gauge which is the best and the one that fully meets your needs.
17hats
The app is available at three levels that have different costs. Level One is for business owners looking to switch from pen and paper to online operation. It costs $13 a month paid annually at $150.
The Level Two Plan is for those seeking to automate and streamline business operations to save time. It costs $25 a month paid annually at $300. Finally, Level Three costs $50 a month and requires an annual payment of $600. It suits business owners looking for an integrated platform to optimize their operations.
17hats offers a free trial on any of the three levels and a credit card isn’t required.
HoneyBook
The application has three pricing plans. The Starter Plan costs $9 per month. With this plan, you can access all the features, but can’t make transactions above $10,000. Besides, you enjoy up to six months of concierge support.
The Unlimited Monthly Plan provides access to all features, no limit to the transaction amount, unlimited concierge support, and unlimited team members. It costs $39 per month.
The unlimited annual option costs $390. It offers all features as the Unlimited Monthly Plan but you save 17% by making the annual payment. There’s a seven-day free trial.
Verdict
HoneyBook is the winner in terms of pricing because its Starter Plan is only $9/month and gives you access to all features. Plus, the six months concierge support is super valuable.
Availability
17hats
This platform is globally accessible and supports a wide range of currencies. This makes it easier to use no matter where you are and also deals with clients globally since it accepts a wide range of currencies.
HoneyBook
Unfortunately, this platform is only available in the U.S and Canada currently. With the plans to expand, any business owners outside these two countries who would love to use this app are not in luck.
Verdict
For a business that is operating globally, 17hats is a better option in this case, but if your small business is only located in the U.S or Canada then HoneyBook is the best.
17hats vs HoneyBook: Pros and Cons
17hats Pros
- The app is generally easy to use and navigate. This is evident in its invoicing templates.
- 17hats makes it easier to manage multiple projects. It helps you easily get an overview of each project’s status and also filter the project dashboard depending on the leads, archived projects, and the active ones.
- 17hats also has an in-app time tracker that helps you easily note the time set for specific tasks. This helps you issue the right invoices to your clients and also keep track of all profits and losses made.
- I like that you can conveniently obtain financial information from the app.
- I also like that this platform enables you to run your business smoothly and do it professionally.
- It integrates with Stripe, PayPal, and your bank for quick online payments.
17hats Cons
- Most of the features are not updated but it still works well.
- It lacks accounting which is not a big deal since one can monitor invoice payments through Quickbooks.
HoneyBook Pros
- Clients can easily sign contracts online.
- Helps keep your schedule organized.
- Any issues associated with new features are quickly dealt with.
- This platform allows you to educate users on how to operate the system in the best way possible. This is very informative, especially for beginners.
- I love that the billing system is very easy to operate and automate. The fact that I can also see the engagement rate my clients make with the bills is amazing.
- The app builds a certain connection with your leads and data even while away.
HoneyBook cons
- Their regular updates are perfect but can be a bother, especially if you have a busy schedule.
- The application is only available in the USA and Canada.
- I don’t like that the notes section for client projects has limited space and does not allow any custom formatting such as highlighting texts, bold texts, and hyperlinks.
- Many features in HoneyBook are yet to be updated and thus you have to use other apps such as Google Drive, Calendar, and Gmail where necessary.
HoneyBook vs 17hats: Similarities and Differences
Similarities
- 17hats enables you to automatically generate responses to client inquiries through website forms. It also allows you to automatically send reminders of reservations and invoices.
- HoneyBook also enables you to automatically send requests for payments and also follow-up and thank you emails to clients.
- Both apps have client portals that enable your clients to easily communicate their needs and make inquiries.
- Both apps also have excellent customer service. This helps build customer loyalty and therefore the business gets more revenue.
Differences
- 17hats is accessible worldwide and offers a wide range of currencies which makes it easy for a business to deal with clients from all over the world. HoneyBook, on the other hand, is only available in the US and Canada, limiting it to users from these countries.
- 17hats does not offer a feature for tracking the origin of your clients which might limit a business that operates online from knowing which platform to focus on. HoneyBook on the other hand allows you to track where your clients are coming from.
- 17hats allows clients to pay during scheduling and automatically generates and sends a Zoom URL to them, but HoneyBook doesn’t do that.
17hats vs HoneyBook – Wrap Up
When choosing an all-in-one business and client management software, both 17hats and HoneyBook have a lot to offer.
But I would choose 17hats because it offers more integrations that increase lead generation opportunities. It also has many time management tools, is available globally, offers flexible pricing (monthly and annually), and is easy to use.
