Honeybook and Dubsado are two popular business management platforms that allow you to create an event website, manage your guest list, and send out professional-looking invoices.
In this article, we will compare the features of both platforms so you can decide which one is best for your business needs.
We’ll also talk about how they work with different payment processors, as well as what social media integrations each offers.
What is Honeybook?
Honeybook is an all-inclusive, recurring revenue tool for business management.
It saves you time and money by automating your invoice process, payment collection management, task tracking, client billing, and transparency.
Honeybook helps users to manage clients and send proposals and quotes. The tool also manages invoice generation and payment collection processes.
With this solution, you can also respond to the client’s needs and requests.
You can collaborate with your team, follow the project status, and track time spent on every task to make sure your bill accurately for each milestone beyond work completed.
What is Dubsado?
Dubsado offers a full suite of tools for business and client management including an automated invoice process, payment collection management, and task tracking.
It even allows you to track your team’s progress on multiple projects at once.
You can even upload files from various cloud services like Dropbox or Google Drive directly into the platform.
Dubsado is a great option for small business owners who need an all-in-one solution to manage their contacts, invoices/invoicing, quotes and proposals, as well as time tracking.
The app also helps you with your billing process and many more features that help businesses grow exponentially.
Ease of Use
Honeybook
Honeybook has an extremely easy-to-use interface. Everything is clearly labeled and easy to find. Creating invoices, estimates, and proposals is a breeze.
You will also receive onboarding assistance from Honeybook as soon as you sign up for an account.
During that period, a Honeybook rep will ensure that your subscription matches your brand needs.
Dubsado
While Dubsado is also very user-friendly, I found it wasn’t quite as intuitive as Honeybook. There were a few times where I had to search for how to do something or where to find a specific function.
It also took me a little longer to get used to the interface. However, it’s still much easier than many other software programs out there.
Verdict
The ease of use for Honeybook is what gives it the win in this category. It’s super easy to navigate and everything is clearly specified. This makes creating invoices, setting up clients, and creating proposals simple and easy.
Features
Honeybook
Contract Templates
Honeybook contract templates are great for people who want to keep everything in one place.
There’s no need to spend time scrolling through endless pages of forms, and it is easy to find what you’re looking for because Honeybook has clearly labeled all your options into categories.
You can also create new templates from scratch or customize existing ones with label colors that make them stand out.
Proposals
Proposals are a great way to engage with your prospects and get more business. Honeybook helps you take the next step by making proposals easy for everyone.
You can create custom templates, send them out after events or during meetings, track their status in one place, and even allow clients to view changes as they’re happening; all from within Honeybook’s sleek, intuitive platform.
Honeybook allows you to create beautiful proposals with ease, and track their status in one place.
Automation
Honeybook has a number of automation tools to make planning and running your tasks and events much easier.
- Paste in a Google Spreadsheet with the event information, like speakers or topics, and Honeybook will turn it into an interactive schedule complete with time slots that you can then share as well as embed on your website.
- When signing up for slots via email, Honeybook will automatically add them to your event. You can also set up custom email templates so you never have to type the same thing twice and all their replies go right back into your event information as a new participant.
- Manage payments and invoicing with ease by integrating Stripe or PayPal into Honeybook – no more manual entry of payments.
- With Honeybook, you can manage event speakers and presenters. You can also see where everyone is in the room with real-time floor plans which are automatically generated from the event information on your sheet. There’s nothing to set up or install. Just link it to Google Drive or Dropbox and enjoy.
Integrations
Honeybook works with a couple of apps and integrations to help you get the most out of your business reporting. You can connect accounts from these platforms:
Zapier, Gmail, Quickbooks, and Google Calendar.
Scheduling
If you are a fan of Calendly, then you will love Honeybook. This is because both tools are designed for the same purpose; to help with scheduling meetings and events more efficiently.
You can use Honeybook to schedule appointments, events, conferences, or networking sessions.
You can also connect your calendar in order to share it with other users, which is ideal if you are the administrator.
The calendars will automatically sync with each other so that everyone can see, edit, and create events at any time.
This means that your team members won’t need to send out emails or texts in order to update their schedules; they’ll be able to do it from within Honeybook instead.
Professional branding
Honeybook Professional branding allows you to create an amazing-looking branded website that is fully integrated with all aspects of Honeybook.
You also get unlimited pages and custom images.
You can add your own logo and brand colors to make your book look beautiful and professional. You also get unlimited pages and custom images (logo and branding are not included in this).
Dubsado
Client management
You can create a Dubsado page for each of your customers, set it apart from the rest, and give them access to their own accounts.
This will allow you to easily see any information they have given you about themselves that has helped create a more effective marketing campaign for them.
You can also track how much time each customer spends on certain pages – which is essential for keeping track of engagement.
Contracts and forms
Dubsado contract templates are extremely easy to customize and they provide a great deal of flexibility.
They also come with helpful integration guides, so you can get your forms integrated into other software services such as QuickBooks, Slack, or Gmail.
You can either use their template-based approach for simple contracts or upload custom .pdf files that are editable in the cloud.
The custom contracts are great for when you need to use specific clauses or modify language that violates the terms of service.
Custom file uploads also allow you to create, sign and send documents like NDAs directly from your Dubsado account – no need for email attachments.
Just be sure any custom files follow their guidelines before uploading them so they don’t get rejected or blocked.
One of the best features is automated contract reminders so you know when it’s time to send out renewal notices, collect signatures, and more.
If that wasn’t enough, they also have an extensive library of templates for everything from branding assets to website contracts, all editable, in Word Online.
Automation
You can have Dubsado automatically send your clients a series of emails.
This is great for following up with past, current, or potential customers to move them through the sales process and towards becoming actual paying customers.
You can set up an automation that sends out these reminder emails on specific dates after their first purchase has been made, which could be helpful to remind them of their existing subscription or to offer discounts for renewals.
You can also have your team members send out these reminders through email, SMS text messages, and even Facebook Messenger, which means that they are easily able to reach past customers if needed.
For example, you might want one member of staff who is particularly good with clients sending out monthly or bi-monthly emails to everyone on the list, while another member of staff who is particularly good with technology sends out weekly texts to active subscribers.
This automation can help you increase your sales and improve customer retention rates by reaching out to customers more efficiently than before.
A lot of people will struggle with this as it seems like a lot of work, but it’s actually very easy to set up and can save you time in the long run.
Integration
You can also integrate Dubsado with other apps. Some of the popular integrations include Mailchimp, Slack, and Zapier.
Scheduling
Dubsado allows you to schedule meetings with potential or existing customers. You can choose to book a call at the time that is most convenient for the client and then send them an email reminder of your scheduled meeting.
This feature works great if you are trying to set up last-minute meetings as well as recurring appointments throughout the year.
Dubsado also has its own calendar system where you can see all of your appointments and meetings in one place. You can even send out appointment reminders to customers using Dubsado’s email marketing platform.
Accounting and Reporting
Dubsado allows you to track where your leads are coming from, how many of them are converting and check your sales reports. It is a great tool for tracking all the necessary information in one place.
This program was created to make business management easier for small businesses.
Dubsado eliminates the need for double-entry bookkeeping by allowing you to connect all of your financial accounts with their platform through one login.
It is great for invoicing and making sure you always have your financials in order.
Verdict
In terms of features, Dubsado doesn’t come close to Honeybook because there are hardly any functions available at all on this platform.
However, if what you need is something simple that allows for basic features, then you might want to consider it as an option.
If you’re looking for a more powerful tool with lots of features and integrations, Honeybook is the way to go.
Customer Service
Honeybook
The first thing I noticed when calling Honeybook’s support team was that they answered the phone on the second ring.
They were both very knowledgeable and helpful. The woman I talked to had some great suggestions and walked me through the process of setting up my account.
Dubsado
First of all, Dubsado is one of the only online accounting software companies I’ve come across that actually has phone support (many other smaller SAAS companies don’t).
And they have very knowledgeable reps who are able to answer most questions you might have. They also have a ticket system, which is another way to get in touch with them.
Verdict
Honeybook wins this bout because of its great customer service. They not only have knowledgeable reps, but they also answer the phone quickly.
Dubsado does offer email support, which is good, but it doesn’t compare to Honeybook’s live support.
Similarities and Differences
Similarities
While there are some key differences between Honeybook and Dubsado, there are also some important similarities.
Both Honeybook and Dubsado have simple lead capture tools to help you market your business.
Also, both platforms are known for their excellent customer service. If you have any questions or problems with either platform, you can easily get help from the team behind it.
Their contracts are nearly identical, both allowing for automatic billing and easy creation of invoices.
Differences
There are some key differences between the two platforms:
- Honeybook is designed specifically for creative professionals, while Dubsado is a more general business management platform
- Honeybook offers more features for tracking time and project expenses, while Dubsado offers more features for creating and managing contracts
Also, Honeybook is a bit more expensive than Dubsado, has a built-in CRM, and offers more features, such as automatic invoicing and project management
On the other hand, Dubsado is less expensive than Honeybook, does not have a built-in CRM, and offers fewer features.
Pros and Cons
As with most software platforms, there are pros and cons for both Honeybook vs Dubsado.
Overall, the biggest con of Dubsado is that it does not offer a task management system like Honeybook’s “To-Do List.”
However, one benefit to using Dusado is that you can track your team’s progress on multiple projects at once. Plus it allows for more customization than Honeybook.
Find a list of the pros and cons of both tools below:
Honeybook Pros
- The interface of Honeybook is much more intuitive and easy to navigate
- The customer support for this tool offers phone calls, which takes away some stress when trying to find an answer quickly
- The price of Honeybook is much more affordable than Dubsado, and can even be used for free
Honeybook Cons
- The website interface lacks the modern look that many businesses like today’s tools offer
- Some features offered by other platforms are not available on Honeybook, such as CRM and marketing automation
Dubasdo Pros
- Dubsado offers a full suite of tools for event planning, including an automated invoice process and payment collection management
- Dubsado also offers a customizable platform, which means you can add or remove any features that do not meet your needs
- It is great for businesses that manage multiple projects at once
- Hiring new employees is easy with Dubsado’s easy-to-use interface
- A free trial allows users to test the software before purchasing any plans
Dubsado Cons
- Dubsado’s customer support team does not offer phone calls and only responds to email
- The Dusados interface is somewhat confusing and lacks the modern look that is offered by Honeybook
- Dubsado has a higher price point than other tools in its category
Pricing Models
Honeybook price model
- Starter Plan – $9/month
- Unlimited Monthly – $39/Month
- Unlimited Annual – $350/Year
The Annual Plan is a great value if you plan to use Honeybook for more than 11 months out of the year.
This option includes one year of membership and all updates, as well as an extra month of membership for each user on the plan.
Honeybook pricing is affordable and easy to understand, no matter what type of business you have.
Dubsado Pricing Models
- Monthly Plan – $40/month.
- Annual Plan – $400/year.
Both Honeybook and Dubsado offer a free 14-day trial, with a money-back guarantee on the paid plans.
Top Alternatives to Honeybook and Dubsado
1. Calendly
Calendly is a perfect alternative to Dubsado.
This platform offers a wide range of features, including online booking and automated email follow-ups.
In addition, it provides an easy way to create events as well as the option for clients to log in using their Facebook or Google accounts.
Calendly is very similar in design to its competitors which makes the transition very easy.
2. Setmore
Setmore is a great alternative to Honeybook and Dubsado.
It is a web-based appointment booking software that helps you manage your appointments, staff, and customers. It also allows you to send automated reminders and confirmations.
Some of the best features include:
- Ability to add and manage customers
- Send automated confirmation emails for new bookings, reschedules, cancellations.
- Customize your website with booking widgets Setup a widget that allows visitors to easily select their preferred appointment time and get booked in on the go. If you don’t have a website Setmore will provide you with a custom booking page.
- Staff management – Manage your staff’s availability, shift patterns, and time off. Easily assign appointments to specific members of staff and keep track of who is working when.
3. Acuity Scheduling
Acuity Scheduling is another great alternative to Honeybook and Dubsado.
It is a feature-rich online appointment scheduling software that helps you manage your appointments, staff, and customers. It also allows you to send automated reminders and confirmations.
All hours tracked in Acuity are visible via the free iOS app for iPad or iPhone users.
The mobile app syncs with the cloud automatically every 15 minutes so there’s no need to worry about data loss.
4. Booker
Booker is a cloud-based appointment booking software that helps you book appointments with your customers online. It integrates with popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, and more.
It provides features like a real-time appointment availability checker, automated email reminders to keep your customers informed about appointments in advance, SMS notifications for last-minute bookings, etc.
5. Bookly
Bookly is a free cloud-based scheduling software that helps you manage the booking process for your business.
It lets you create, manage, and edit appointments on the go with its mobile app. You can also customize appointment slots, set different availability rules for each employee, and more.
As much as Honeybook and Dubsado, Bookly is easy to use and has a simple interface with fewer features.
Final Words
In summary, Honeybook is an easy-to-use platform that doesn’t require much training to use. It has a wide array of features, which are useful for both small and large businesses.
Dubsado offers more sleek features with low pricing, making it easier for smaller businesses to be able to afford the service, which often requires big budgets.
However, Dubsado is not as intuitive to use or feature-rich as Honeybook, which makes the latter our choice among the two.
That being said, customers who have a budget to work within or have used both platforms before may find one platform better than the other but it’s hard to determine which is best for your business until you try them out yourself.
