Comparison · HoneyBook vs. Custom

HoneyBook or a custom client portal?

If you're a photographer, planner, designer or consultant, HoneyBook probably runs your inquiries, proposals, contracts and invoices. Over five years with two people, comparing Premium with a basic custom portal, the subscription costs less. Here's what the plans limit, what the payment fees add, and when your own system makes sense.

See the five-year math See a custom CRM in practice

HoneyBook vs. a custom system: side by side

HoneyBook bundles a CRM, proposals, contracts, invoicing and payments, a calendar, and a client portal on every plan, with a scheduler and automations from Essentials up¹. Where it has the edge, the table says so.

HoneyBook vs. custom CRM and portal, compared factor by factor
Factor	HoneyBook	Custom (ArdinGate)
Upfront cost	None	Basic portal $5,500–$10,000; CRM $6,000–$11,000; full portal $16,000–$30,000
Monthly cost	$29, $49 or $109/mo billed yearly¹	$60/mo hosting
Payment fees	HoneyBook's processing fees on each payment	Your own processor's fees, paid directly
Time to start	Same day, with ready-made templates	Weeks, after a discovery call and written scope
Inquiry → proposal → contract → invoice	Excellent out of the box	Built to your steps, including ones HoneyBook doesn't have
Branding	"Powered by HoneyBook" removable from Essentials	Your design on your domain throughout
Your data	Contacts download as a spreadsheet; the rest stays on the platform	Your database and your code, portable to any host

The five-year math for a two-person business

Each plan at its yearly-billing rate. The custom side is a basic portal ($5,500–$10,000: client logins, documents and status) plus $60/mo Core hosting. Change the team size to see yours; a plan shows "not offered" once your team passes its member limit.

Team size Years

HoneyBook vs. a basic custom client portal for 2 users over 5 years
Option	How it's priced	Total	Verdict
HoneyBook Starter¹	$29 / mo (client portal, 1 user)	Not offered at this size	—
HoneyBook Essentials¹	$49 / mo (client portal, up to 2 team members)	$2,940	Subscription costs less
HoneyBook Premium¹	$109 / mo (client portal, unlimited team members)	$6,540	Subscription costs less
Custom build (ArdinGate)	$5,500–$10,000 once + $60/mo hosting	$9,100–$13,600	You own it

Each plan at its cheapest published rate (usually billed annually), plus required onboarding fees. Prices checked October 2026; vendors change them, so confirm on their pricing page. Your quote is fixed after a short discovery call.

With two people, Essentials comes to $2,940 over five years and Premium to $6,540, against $9,100–$13,600 for a basic custom portal. At this size, the subscription costs less. And the custom row is only a basic portal; a CRM plus portal, or a full portal with invoicing and payments ($16,000–$30,000), widens the gap. If HoneyBook does what you need, stay on it. Premium's price doesn't rise with headcount, so even with five people it's still $6,540.

Plan limits: team members and lead forms

Starter is for one person and allows two live lead forms¹. Essentials allows up to two team members and ten live lead forms, and it's the first plan with the scheduler, automations, QuickBooks Online sync and the option to remove "Powered by HoneyBook" branding. Premium has unlimited team members and lead forms, plus multiple companies and advanced reports.

So the real jump comes when your third person, such as an associate photographer or an assistant, moves you from Essentials to Premium. That's still inexpensive. What it doesn't change is the shape of the system. Every plan follows HoneyBook's flow, and the limits decide how many people and forms can use it, not what it can do.

Payment fees: compare the rates

HoneyBook processes your client payments, and each one carries a fee. Card payments start at 2.9% + 25¢ per transaction on every plan, and bank transfers cost 1.5%¹.

Those fees don't show up in the cost table, because they depend on your revenue rather than your team. A custom system pays card processing too: it takes payments through your own processor account, such as Stripe or Square, connected during the build for $700–$1,200, at that processor's standard rate. HoneyBook's rate is close to a standard processor's, so processing fees rarely justify a build on their own. What changes is that you keep the merchant relationship yourself. Compare the two rates for your volume before you decide.

What you'd give up, and what you'd gain

You'd give up the ready-made templates, a same-day start, and a tool that a lot of people in your industry already know. You'd also give up HoneyBook updating the product for you; a custom system changes when you ask for it. Care hosting ($100/mo) adds an hour of content edits a month after launch; new features are quoted separately.

You'd gain a system built around your steps. Wedding packages with their own payment schedules, design projects with rounds of revisions, retainers that bill differently every month, or a second brand with its own pipeline: if HoneyBook makes you work around any of these, a custom CRM doesn't. You'd gain your own branding on your own domain from inquiry form to client portal, your own payment processor, and your client data in a database you own and can move to any host or developer.

A custom CRM runs $6,000–$11,000, a basic client portal $5,500–$10,000, and a full portal with invoices, messaging and payments $16,000–$30,000. See how a custom CRM build works →

When HoneyBook is the right call

For most solo and small client-service businesses, it is:

Your work follows inquiry, proposal, contract, invoice. That's exactly HoneyBook's flow, and it does it well.
You're one to a handful of people. With two people on Premium, the subscription costs less over five years.
You want to start this week. Templates and a working client portal on day one.
You don't want to manage a payment setup. HoneyBook handles processing for you, at a rate close to a standard processor's.
You're still shaping your process. Use HoneyBook to learn what you need. Build once you know.

Custom pays off when your process stops fitting the template, you need the CRM to share data with other systems, or you want the brand, the payments and the data fully your own. Compare HoneyBook with other portal tools →

Moving off HoneyBook

HoneyBook lets you download your contact list as a spreadsheet from Clients > Contacts. The file includes each contact's name, email, phone, address, notes and the date they were added. It gets mapped into the new CRM during the build, so your clients are there on launch day.

Projects, signed contracts, invoices and files aren't part of that spreadsheet. Save the documents you need to keep (signed contracts above all) before you cancel, and they can be attached to the right clients in the new system. Proposal templates, questionnaires and automations get rebuilt to match how you work. Run both side by side while open projects finish in HoneyBook, then start new inquiries in the new system.

The verdict

Bottom line on HoneyBook vs. custom

For a small team, the subscription costs less over five years: HoneyBook Premium comes to $6,540 against $9,100–$13,600 for even a basic custom portal. If its flow fits your work, stay on it.

Build when the business has outgrown the template: your own steps, your own brand and payment processor, and client data you own, in one system that can grow with you.

Questions about HoneyBook vs. custom

Is a custom portal or CRM cheaper than HoneyBook?

No, not for a small team. With two people over five years, HoneyBook Essentials comes to $2,940 and Premium to $6,540, against $9,100–$13,600 for a basic custom portal on Core hosting. The subscription costs less. A custom CRM with a portal costs more than that. Both options pay card processing; HoneyBook's rate is close to a standard processor's.

Can I bring my HoneyBook data over?

Your contact list, yes. HoneyBook lets you download it as a spreadsheet (CSV) from Clients > Contacts, with each contact's name, email, phone, address, notes and created date. That file gets mapped into the new CRM during the build. Projects, signed contracts, invoices and files aren't in that spreadsheet, so save the documents you need to keep before you cancel. Templates and automations get rebuilt to match how you work.

Do I have to stop taking payments through HoneyBook?

Not until you switch. A custom system takes payments through your own processor account, such as Stripe or Square, connected during the build ($700–$1,200). You pay that processor's fees directly, and the money lands in your own account.

Is HoneyBook a good fit for a photographer or planner?

Very often, yes. It's built for client-service businesses: inquiry, proposal, contract, invoice and payment in one flow, with a client portal included. If that flow matches how you work, it's inexpensive and ready today. Custom makes sense once your process stops fitting it or you need it to share data with other systems.

Can AI be added to a custom CRM?

Yes. If you already use an AI service (OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, or any provider with an API), it can be connected to your CRM to summarize notes, draft emails and replies, or answer questions about your records. You keep your own account and pay the provider directly for usage, and nothing it suggests changes your data until someone on your team approves it. Adding it runs $2,500–$6,000.

Compare every subscription CRM →

HoneyBook is a trademark of its owner. ArdinGate isn't affiliated with HoneyBook.