In February 2025, HoneyBook’s Starter plan jumped from $19 to $36/mo — about an 89% increase — with Essentials and Premium rising too (Fstoppers, Jan 2025). As of 2026, HoneyBook’s own help center still lists monthly billing at $36 / $59 / $129 (Starter / Essentials / Premium), or $29 / $49 / $109 when billed yearly (HoneyBook Help).
If you’re shopping for a HoneyBook alternative because the math changed — or because you mostly need to get paid, not run a full creative-agency OS — this page is a fit check. Not a dunk. When HoneyBook still makes sense, what the real bill looks like, and when Runza — with Ace, an AI co-founder who does the work — is the better path.
Who this comparison is for
- Live inside its proposal → contract → invoice → portal workflow every week
- Use scheduler, automations, and team seats enough to justify Essentials or Premium
- Are a wedding/creative studio where HoneyBook’s templates and client experience are already your brand
- Felt the Feb 2025 hike and started asking whether you’re paying for features you rarely open
- Are a freelancer, coach, consultant, or local service pro who needs to get paid and keep marketing, site, and follow-ups in one place
- Don’t want another tool to configure — you want a partner who helps do the jobs
If that second list sounds like you, keep reading.
What changed: sticker price vs real HoneyBook cost
Fstoppers summarized the Feb 4, 2025 reset like this:
“That’s a bitter pill to swallow for many small business owners who rely on the popular CRM platform to manage their clients and streamline operations.”
— Michelle VanTine, Fstoppers
Their published before/after (monthly):
| Plan | Pre–Feb 2025 | After hike (monthly) |
|---|---|---|
| Starter | $19/mo | $36/mo (~89%) |
| Essentials | $39/mo | $59/mo (~51%) |
| Premium | $79/mo | $129/mo (~63%) |
Billed yearly, Premium drops to $109/mo — check honeybook.com/pricing before you decide; vendors change numbers.
How to read the bill without panic:
- Start from the plan line (Starter vs Essentials vs Premium).
- Add your hours: template tweaks, workflow setup, and chasing clients outside the portal when the rest of the business still lives in other tools.
Community threads after the hike — r/smallbusiness, r/weddingvideography — filled with freelancers comparing notes and shopping alternatives. The pattern isn’t “HoneyBook is bad.” It’s “the price–value equation moved.”
Runza’s honesty rule matches our other compares: we do not win by racing the cheapest DIY stack (a lean Notion + Carrd year can be under $50/mo). We win on time, cognitive load, and done work. See pricing for what one Runza subscription includes today — Pro is currently $69/mo with a 30-day trial.
Client CRM vs co-founder for the whole company
HoneyBook’s job is clear: manage the client lifecycle for service businesses. That is valuable. Many freelancers still need more than that: a site that doesn’t live in a separate builder, marketing that isn’t a third login, and follow-ups that don’t depend on you remembering Thursday.
| Job | HoneyBook | Runza + Ace |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Creatives and service pros managing client projects | One person running the whole business |
| What it does best | Proposals, contracts, invoices, and a client portal | That — plus your website, follow-ups, and marketing |
| How you use it | You build the templates and automations yourself | You tell Ace what you need; it gets done |
| Price | $36–$129/mo, depending on plan | $69/mo, one plan, everything included |
| Best next step | Stay if HoneyBook already is your whole operation | Switch if you're still stitching tools together just to get paid |
Indie Hackers writers have said the quiet part about most “best tools” lists: they assume a team and a procurement budget. Solopreneurs often need something simpler: send the proposal, get the contract signed, get paid, and remember to follow up — without becoming a part-time software operator (Alex Renn, Indie Hackers).
That’s the wedge. Other tools give you more software to run. Runza gives you Ace — an AI co-founder who runs the company with you.
Ace is not a cheaper HoneyBook clone
Three different products get lumped under “HoneyBook alternative”:
- Leaner client CRMs — Bloom, 17hats, Bonsai, Dubsado, and others Fstoppers and Reddit threads name when people shop price. Some are great when you only need proposals/contracts/invoices. Dubsado users often note a steeper learning curve (sometimes a specialist) — trade money for time carefully.
- Another all-in-one dashboard — more logins consolidated, you still configure everything (see also our GoHighLevel and HubSpot fit checks, and the Frankenstack story).
- Ace — built to do the work: get a site live, keep customers from slipping, send invoices and quotes, help with marketing — in one place.
If you left a patchwork of DocuSign + Stripe + Calendly + Mailchimp because of too many moving parts, switching into a prettier client CRM can still leave the rest of the company outside the portal. The goal isn’t a cheaper invoice template. It’s fewer Tuesdays spent being your own ops department. More on that at why Runza and the full stack comparison.
Who should stay on HoneyBook
Stay — happily — if HoneyBook is your operating system for clients and you use the automations, scheduler, and portal enough that Essentials or Premium feels earned. Plenty of photographers, planners, and studios still get real value there. Runza is not trying to out-template every wedding workflow.
Leave the table if you signed up for “send proposals and get paid,” watched the plan line nearly double, and still bounce between HoneyBook and three other tools for site, email, and follow-ups.
Try Ace on your real business
If you’re a freelancer evaluating a HoneyBook alternative after the price hike, skip the feature laundry list. Ask one question: Do I only need a client portal — or a partner who helps run the company with me?
Start free at /start — Pro trial available, no card required on the current offer — and tell Ace what you’re trying to get paid for this week.
Still comparing tools? See the full picture on /compare, the GoHighLevel and HubSpot solopreneur pages, or read /why for the “one partner, not ten logins” argument.