Bonsai

Bonsai has quietly outgrown its freelancer roots. What started as a contract-and-invoice tool for solopreneurs now targets agencies and consultancies with teams of 30+, competing directly with tools like Scoro and Teamwork on project profitability and resource management. Over 5,000 agencies use it today, and the product reflects that shift — though the pricing still starts low enough to serve independent professionals.

What's in the Platform

Bonsai is organized around three pillars: client management, project management, and finance management. The client side covers everything from initial lead capture through a CRM pipeline, to estimates and proposals, to signed contracts, to an ongoing client portal where clients can review documents and track project status. The project side includes Kanban boards, Gantt charts, task dependencies, project budgets (both fee-based and hourly), and timesheets. The finance side handles invoicing, online payments, retainers, expense tracking with bank sync, and reporting on profitability and team utilization.

That breadth is the pitch: one login for the entire client lifecycle, with data flowing between stages rather than being siloed across tools.

Client Portal Specifically

The client portal is functional but not the product's centerpiece. Clients get a dedicated space to view shared documents, project updates, and invoices. Higher-tier plans unlock whitelabel branding and a custom domain — important if you're presenting this as a branded experience rather than an obvious Bonsai interface. Scheduling (with configurable event types) and intake forms round out the client-facing side. It covers the basics well, but if a polished, deeply customizable client portal is your primary requirement, dedicated tools offer more.

Project and Resource Management

The project management layer is more capable than you'd expect from a tool at this price point. Gantt views, task dependencies, project phases (coming 2026), and timesheet locking for approvals are all present. Resource planning includes capacity tracking and staffing views — features that typically appear only in pricier agency management platforms. Utilization reports give leadership a real-time read on whether the team is under- or over-allocated, which one customer attributed to cutting report-compilation time from an hour to five minutes.

Pricing and Plans

Bonsai offers a 7-day free trial with full access — no permanent free tier. Paid plans start at $9/month and scale through at least four tiers. Storage jumps from 10 GB on the entry plan to 100 GB and 500 GB on higher plans. Dedicated onboarding is available for teams of 10 or more. Teams of 30+ users qualify for reduced per-seat rates.

Key features gated to higher tiers include whitelabel branding, custom domain, and advanced reporting. The entry plan includes client portal access, time tracking, and unlimited projects, making it genuinely usable for smaller operations — not a stripped-down teaser.

Integrations

Native integrations cover the most common agency stack: QuickBooks and Xero for accounting, Slack for notifications, Gmail for email workflow, and Zapier for anything else. The accounting integrations are bidirectional enough to handle bank sync for expense tracking, which simplifies reconciliation for smaller finance teams without a dedicated bookkeeper.

Who It's For

Bonsai is a strong fit for independent professionals and small agencies (roughly 1–30 people) who want a single tool rather than a stack of point solutions. It's particularly well-suited to service businesses that bill on time or retainers and need visibility into project profitability without investing in a dedicated ERP or PSA. Larger agencies will likely want deeper customization, more granular permissions, or stronger CRM capabilities than Bonsai currently provides.