Dubsado

Dubsado is a business management platform built for solo operators and small service businesses — photographers, designers, coaches, lawyers, event planners, and similar professionals who need a complete system for managing clients from first inquiry to final invoice. It combines client portals, proposals, contracts, invoicing, scheduling, and workflow automation under one roof.

Who it's for

Dubsado explicitly targets independent professionals and small teams across a broad range of service verticals: photographers, designers, artists, coaches, doulas, virtual assistants, marketing and PR consultants, social media pros, lawyers, accountants, and event planners. The platform is especially strong for businesses where the full client lifecycle — lead capture through project close — happens within a single tool.

Client portal and onboarding

Each client gets a dedicated portal where they can access all project materials, communications, contracts, invoices, and questionnaires. Proposals can be embedded directly on your website and, once signed, automatically trigger onboarding workflows without any manual handoff. Smart field auto-population carries client data forward into subsequent forms and documents, reducing repetitive data entry. Legally binding e-signatures are built in, with signature and compliance tracking.

The portal also handles post-project work: Dubsado includes feedback capture and project close-out flows to help you gather testimonials and tidy up before moving on.

Workflow automation

Automations are a core strength. You can build multi-step workflows that fire when a contract is signed, a form is submitted, or a payment clears — sending emails, creating tasks, scheduling appointments, or advancing the project stage automatically. Canned email templates with personalization fields keep communications consistent without feeling robotic. Automated payment reminders and recurring billing reduce the chasing that bogs down solo operators.

Payments and billing

Dubsado supports ACH transfers in the US and Canada, credit card processing across 135+ currencies, and instant payouts within 30 minutes. Flexible billing options include recurring invoices, payment plans, gratuity, and buy-now-pay-later. An in-person tap-to-pay option is available for face-to-face services. Bookkeeping integration (Premier plan) connects to accounting software, and a business metrics dashboard includes projected income tracking.

Pricing

Dubsado offers two paid plans and a free trial with no credit card required — there is no permanent free tier.

Starter ($20/month, or less on annual billing) includes client portals, unlimited projects and clients, invoicing, payment plans, form and email templates, calendar sync, lead capture forms, email integration, and mobile app access.

Premier adds automated workflows, scheduling templates, Zapier integration, public proposals, bookkeeping integration, multiple brands (manage separate businesses from one account), and 3 additional team members at no extra cost. Pricing for Premier isn't listed explicitly on the pricing page but is significantly higher than Starter.

Limitations to consider

The depth of features that makes Dubsado powerful also creates a learning curve — setting up automations and getting workflows dialed in takes real upfront investment. The interface, while functional, shows its age next to newer tools with more polished UI. There's no free plan, which makes evaluation dependent on the trial period. Teams that have outgrown solo or small-team workflows may also find the collaboration features limited compared to dedicated project management platforms.