Bonsai

RATING:

4.6

(71)

About Bonsai

Bonsai is a cloud-based time tracking solution that helps small to large businesses manage projects, contracts, proposals, accounting processes and more. Key features include customer relationship management (CRM), invoice generation, tax management, task tracking and custom forms.

Bonsai Pricing

Starting price: 

$24.00 per month

Free trial: 

Available

Free version: 

Available

Bonsai Dashboard
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Bonsai Reviews

Overall Rating

4.6

Ratings Breakdown

Secondary Ratings

Ease-of-use

4.5

Customer Support

4.5

Value for money

4.5

Functionality

4.5

Most Helpful Reviews for Bonsai

1 - 5 of 71 Reviews

User Profile

Charles Abraham

Verified reviewer

Graphic Design, 1 employee

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

3

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed May 2023

Why I use Bonsai

Its been a game changer and it helped me scale my bsuiness.

PROS

Bonsai is easy to get started, and I was up and running in no time. I like how easily I am able to create and send invoices to my clients.

CONS

I wish there were a chat widget feature that I could install on my website similar to Sharpspring or HubSpot. Perhaps some collaboration with Webflow.

Jackie

Graphic Design, 1 employee

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed May 2023

Bonsai keeps me a loyal customer!

Bonsai has been very essential to my freelance career when I was part time to now being a full time freelancer. When starting out, I just needed the essential tools - invoicing, accounting, time tracking, contracts and proposals - which Bonsai offered immediately. Down the line, they added new features that boosted what I can also add to my workflow management such as forms, scheduling and now a cool project board view besides the generic list view! It allowed me to have a business debit account while major banks require small businesses to be active for a certain amount of time before qualifying for a business account. Overall - NO FRILLS, but still A GEM.

PROS

Very straightforward, simple and user-friendly. Everything a freelancer or contractor needs to keep their small business financially organized is in Bonsai.

CONS

I hope the mobile and desktop app would be expanded. The browser app is cool, but I would love to just click onto an app icon to access my dashboard without having to get on Chrome. Might also be great to have a client be able to access and view their mini portal on Bonsai without creating an account - this way they can view the active project I'm working on with them and access invoices.

Reasons for switching to Bonsai

Quickbooks didn't have all the other features that Bonsai offered

Brandon

Marketing and Advertising, 2-10 employees

Used weekly for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

3

EASE OF USE

4

VALUE FOR MONEY

2

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

3

FUNCTIONALITY

2

Reviewed February 2024

Great interface, poor quality, money grabbing company

If you’re a freelancer looking for something to get started very quickly, then Bonsai will be great. If you are growing beyond that, I would consider looking elsewhere. They are not scaling to support that type of customer, and it’s too easy for them to find new ways to grab more money for the same or fewer features, some of which don’t work.

PROS

Bonsai makes it easy to get started as a freelancer. Proposals, contracts, and payment processing is made easy.

CONS

In the 5 years I’ve been using Bonsai, they have introduced only two net new product features. One of which is Bonsai Payments, which is a competitor to Stripe, which they already supported. The second, Bonsai Tax, which stripped some existing and included functionality from the original offering and turned it into an add on feature for an extra $100/year. They have revamped some existing features, but they lack execution, and there are very obvious gaps in product requirements that have yet to be filled. I report a new bug almost every single time I log in, and every single time it’s confirmed by the product team. They’ve raised prices by >150% in only a few years and not improved the platform enough to warrant that.

Mike

Internet, 2-10 employees

Used daily for more than 2 years

Review Source: Capterra

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

5

Reviewed March 2023

Bonsai improved my business 100%

Before Bonsai I was using many programs for proposals, CRM, invoicing, and contracts. Since switching to Bonsai I honestly have to say that I have saved several thousand dollars per year and my life has been much easier and more organized. Bonsai has systems that have automation so if a customer does one particular item the Bonsai system will automatically send an email with a form that I would like my customer to submit. Bonsai is definitely a game changer and I would highly recommend any business owner to look at their system and hopefully see the benefits that they can receive by using Bonsai.

PROS

Bonsai makes everything extremely streamlined and very easy and user-friendly. From the time I input a lead to creating the proposal to invoicing the customer and finalizing the project, Bonsai makes everything hassle-free and extremely easy.

CONS

The only suggestion I would have or like to see for Bonsai would be for them to allow me as the business owner to arrange the look and feel of how my customer dashboard is arranged.

Reason for choosing Bonsai

Bonsai is made for the small to medium size business owner and there was no need for the outrageously over priced salesforce CRM.

Reasons for switching to Bonsai

Bonsai offered a free trial for their processor and I was immediately interested because everything was handled through Bonsai and no additional work was needed.

Marley

Design, 1 employee

Used daily for less than 12 months

Review Source: Capterra
This review was submitted organically. No incentive was offered

OVERALL RATING:

5

EASE OF USE

5

VALUE FOR MONEY

5

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

5

FUNCTIONALITY

4

Reviewed March 2023

Great tool business management

PROS

I've experimented with various business apps such as Bonsai, but none of them compare to its CRM and invoicing capabilities. Its combination of reasonable pricing and comprehensive features makes it unbeatable. Additionally, its customer service is exceptional.

CONS

I wish there was a better portal for clients, where we can have conversations within the portal, upload specific files within the portal, assign tasks, etc. As it is now, there's no reason for my clients to even log into the portal because everything just goes to their email. but emails can get messy so i'd prefer the alternative.

Reasons for switching to Bonsai

Notion was great, and I mostly used it to upload design presentations and collect feedback from clients, but ultimately the layout felt disjointed and not catered to my line of work.