billable.devBonsai Pricing for Freelancers: Plans and Real Yearly Cost
By Mark Fulton · 2026-10-07 · 9 min read
Hello Bonsai charges per user, per month, across four plans: Basic at $15, Essentials at $25, Premium at $39 and Elite at $59 when billed monthly, or $9, $19, $29 and $49 per user per month when billed annually. For one freelance developer the plan that matters is Essentials, because invoices, payments, contracts and proposals start there, not on Basic. That puts a solo seat at $300 a year billed monthly or $228 a year billed annually, before any payment processing fees. All figures were read on Bonsai's own pricing page on October 7, 2026, so check it again before you subscribe.
Billable is a free invoice generator, so we have an interest in this question. The post below says plainly where Bonsai is the better fit and where a lighter setup is enough. If you want to compare an invoice generator against full invoicing software first, we covered which one fits your volume separately.
What does each Bonsai plan cost for one person?
Bonsai prices by seat, and every plan has unlimited clients and unlimited projects, so the number of clients you take on does not change the bill. What changes the bill is which plan holds the features you need. Here is the current ladder, read from Bonsai's pricing page:
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $15 per user | $9 per user | Time tracking, task management, CRM, service library, mobile apps, unlimited clients and projects |
| Essentials | $25 per user | $19 per user | Everything in Basic, plus invoices and payments, proposals and contracts, templates, forms, scheduling, client portal, expense and income tracking |
| Premium | $39 per user | $29 per user | Everything in Essentials, plus project insights, workload and Gantt views, deals pipeline, custom fields, client tasks and messaging, profit and productivity reports, Bonsai branding removal, and integrations such as QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier and Google |
| Elite | $59 per user | $49 per user | Everything in Premium, plus custom permissions, timesheet locking, expense markup and custom data import. Three users minimum |
Two details are easy to miss. First, Basic has no invoicing. It is a time tracker and light project tool, so a freelancer who subscribes to the cheapest plan to send invoices will find the feature is one tier up. Second, Elite requires three users, so it is not a plan a solo developer can buy as a single seat.
The pricing page also states that yearly billing gives "up to 4 months free". On the plans in the table, the annual saving works out to $72 a year on Basic and Essentials and $120 a year on Premium and Elite, which is where the next section starts.
A note on the numbers you will find elsewhere. Pricing for this product has changed over the years, and older reviews quote a different ladder with plans called Starter and Professional at other prices. Some current third-party pages disagree with each other on the same plan. The pricing page above is the primary source, and the table matches it.
What does a year cost billed monthly vs annually?
This is the view the pricing page does not give you: one seat, twelve months, no team.
| Plan | Monthly billing, 12 months | Annual billing, 12 months | Saved by paying annually |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $180 | $108 | $72 |
| Essentials | $300 | $228 | $72 |
| Premium | $468 | $348 | $120 |
| Elite (3 seats minimum) | $2,124 for three seats | $1,764 for three seats | $360 |
The annual figure is the listed per-user monthly rate multiplied by twelve. The pricing page labels it "billed annually", which means the full year is charged up front rather than month by month.
So the real cost of invoicing inside Bonsai for one person is $228 to $300 a year on Essentials, and $348 to $468 if you need what Premium adds. Compare that to a free generator at $0, or to Billable Pro at $24 per six months ($48 a year) or $79 once.
There is also a trial and a refund window. Bonsai's help center says new users get a 7-day free trial with no charge if you cancel before it ends, and that you can request a refund within 14 days of a charge, on both monthly and yearly plans. If you are going to try it, put the trial end date in your calendar the day you start.
Which Bonsai features does a freelance developer actually use?
Most of the bill is paying for breadth. A solo developer typically touches a small slice of it. Here is a checklist built around how a one-person dev practice bills, with the plan each item requires:
| Feature | Most solo devs use it? | Plan needed |
|---|---|---|
| Time tracking | Often, if you bill hourly | Basic |
| Invoices with online payment | Yes, every billing cycle | Essentials |
| Contracts and proposals | Yes, at project start | Essentials |
| Client portal | Sometimes, for retainer clients | Essentials |
| Expense and income tracking | Sometimes, if you do not use a separate bookkeeping tool | Essentials |
| Recurring and retainer invoices | Yes, if you run retainers | Listed under client billing on the plan comparison, confirm the tier there |
| Gantt view, workload, deals pipeline | Rarely, these are built for teams and agencies | Premium |
| Remove Bonsai branding | Yes, if clients see your invoices | Premium |
| QuickBooks or Xero integration | Only if your accountant uses it | Premium |
| Custom permissions, timesheet locking | No, these are team controls | Elite |
Read down the table and a pattern shows. The things a freelancer touches weekly (invoices, contracts, proposals) sit on Essentials. The things that make Bonsai feel like a full operations system (Gantt, workload, pipeline) sit on Premium and above, and are mostly built for several people sharing a workspace. The one Premium item a solo developer may genuinely want is branding removal, because it controls how your invoices look to clients.
If you need contracts that stand on their own, our guide to freelance contract payment terms covers the clauses to put in, whichever tool holds the document.
Are Bonsai's payment processing fees extra?
Yes. The subscription price covers the software. Getting paid online through the platform carries processing fees on top. According to Bonsai's own help article on payment methods and fees, for users in the US, UK, Canada and Australia using Bonsai Payments:
- Credit and debit cards: 2.9% plus $0.30
- American Express: 3.25% plus $0.30
- Bank transfer (ACH): 1.0%, with a $1 minimum
- Instant payouts: an additional 1.5%
- Foreign exchange: 2.5% of the invoice amount when you are paid internationally through Bonsai Payments or Stripe Payments
- Using Stripe or PayPal instead, in places where Bonsai Payments is available: an additional 1% platform fee
Here is what that means on a $5,000 invoice, using only the rates above:
| How the client pays | Fee on a $5,000 invoice |
|---|---|
| ACH through Bonsai Payments | $50.00 |
| Card through Bonsai Payments | $145.30 |
| Card through your own Stripe account connected to Bonsai | $195.30 (2.9% + $0.30, plus the 1% platform fee) |
| Wire transfer or check, marked "other" | $0, you mark the invoice paid yourself |
The last row matters. The help article says offline methods like wire transfer and mailed check carry no Bonsai fee, but the invoice is not marked paid automatically. If your clients are companies that pay by bank transfer anyway, the payment-processing side of Bonsai does little for you, and you are paying for the contracts, portal and tracking instead.
What do you give up on the cheapest plan?
On Basic, at $15 monthly or $9 annually, you give up the part that makes Bonsai a billing tool. There are no invoices, no online payments, no proposals or contracts, no client portal and no expense or income tracking. What you keep is time tracking, tasks, a CRM and unlimited projects and clients.
That can still make sense in one situation: you already invoice elsewhere and want a cleaner place to track hours against clients. But the same job is done by free trackers, and it is a thin reason to pay $108 a year. If invoicing is the reason you are looking at Bonsai, price the plan you will actually use. For a solo developer that is Essentials, and the honest yearly figure is $228 to $300.
When is a lighter invoicing setup enough?
A lighter setup is enough when three things are true:
- You bill a handful of clients, and your contracts live in a document you already have, or a template you reuse.
- Your clients pay by bank transfer, wire or a payment link you already own, so you do not need invoicing software to collect the money.
- You do not need a client portal or a single dashboard for proposals, contracts, time and expenses.
If that sounds like you, an invoice generator that runs in the browser covers the part you use every month. Billable creates a clean invoice with line items, your payment details and automatic numbering, in your browser, without an account. If you commit code regularly, the git log import turns commit history into draft line items, so the hours you worked become the invoice. For the template side, see the free invoice template for developers.
What you give up is real, and it is worth naming. A generator does not host a client portal, does not take card payments for you, and does not send e-signature contracts. If you want all of that in one subscription, Essentials is a fair price for it, and Bonsai is a reasonable pick. The question is whether you use enough of it to justify $228 or more each year.
Subscription software is also a business expense in many setups. The IRS keeps a guide to business expense resources if you want to check how that applies to you. This is general information, not tax advice, so ask your accountant how a subscription is treated for your situation.
If invoices are the part you would use, Billable does them free. Pro adds your own branding and exports, at $4 a month billed $24 every six months, or $79 once.
FAQ
Does Bonsai have a free plan?
No. Bonsai's pricing page lists four paid plans and no permanent free tier. New users get a 7-day free trial, per Bonsai's help center, and you can cancel before it ends without being charged. If you want to keep invoicing for free after that, a browser-based generator such as Billable costs nothing.
Does Bonsai charge per user or per client?
Per user. The listed rates are per user per month, and every plan includes unlimited clients and unlimited projects. A solo developer pays for one seat regardless of how many clients they have. Elite is the exception to one seat, since it requires a minimum of three users.
Can I cancel Bonsai and keep my invoices?
Bonsai's help center says you can cancel from Settings, then the Subscriptions tab, and that after a charge outside the 14-day refund window the subscription stays active until the end of the current billing cycle. The help pages we read do not state what happens to your data after the account lapses, so download PDF copies of your invoices and export your records before you cancel. Keep copies of every issued invoice either way, since you will need them for your own records and for tax filing.
Are Bonsai's payment processing fees extra?
Yes. The subscription does not include them. Bonsai Payments charges 2.9% plus $0.30 on cards and 1.0% on ACH with a $1 minimum, according to Bonsai's help center, plus a 2.5% foreign exchange fee on international payments. Paying by wire or mailed check through the "other" option carries no Bonsai fee, but you have to mark the invoice paid yourself.