17hats is one of the original all-in-one tools for solopreneurs. It launched years before most of its rivals, and it bundles a CRM, lead capture, proposals, contracts, invoicing, and light bookkeeping into a single account. For a one-person business that wants the back office in one place, it has been a dependable choice for a long time.
But in 2026, two things send people looking for a 17hats alternative. The first is the interface. Reviewers consistently describe it as dated, and the proposals, contracts, and invoices your clients see inherit that older look. The second is the price. In 2025, 17hats dropped its old tiered plans and moved to a single all-in-one plan at around $60/month, with features like time tracking sold as paid add-ons. For a solopreneur, that is a lot of money for a tool that feels behind the times.
This guide answers the question honestly. It compares AgencyKit, 17hats, HoneyBook, and Dubsado on features, price, and fit, and it is clear about where 17hats still earns its place and who should stay with it.
Why People Look for a 17hats Alternative
17hats has a long history and a loyal base of solopreneurs. Across review sites and freelancer communities, the same handful of reasons come up when people start looking elsewhere.
1. The interface feels dated
The most common critique of 17hats is its look and feel. Reviewers describe the interface as old fashioned, and that matters twice: it makes your day-to-day admin feel clunky, and it carries through to the proposals, contracts, and invoices your clients receive. In a market full of polished, modern tools, a dated client experience can quietly undercut your brand.
2. The single plan is pricey for solopreneurs
In 2025, 17hats consolidated from tiered plans into one all-in-one plan at around $60/month, or $600/year. There is no cheaper entry tier anymore. For a solo freelancer who only needs the core proposal to invoice flow, $60/month is steep, especially when AgencyKit covers that same core for $9/month.
3. Time tracking costs extra
Time tracking in 17hats is a paid add-on at around $5/month rather than a standard feature. If you bill by the hour, that is an extra charge on top of the already-high base plan. AgencyKit includes native time tracking on every plan, starting at $9/month, at no extra cost.
4. You want a modern tool that just works
Some solopreneurs do not need 17hats' full breadth. They want a clean, current path from proposal to contract to invoice to payment that looks professional to clients on day one. For that buyer, a modern all-in-one tool removes the dated feel without losing the parts they actually use.
This Guide Is Balanced on Purpose
17hats is a genuinely capable, long-established tool. This comparison is honest about its strengths because the goal is to help you pick the right tool, not to pretend one option wins for everyone. If you already rely on its bookkeeping and lead capture, the section below on where 17hats wins is written for you.
At a Glance: 17hats vs the Alternatives
The table below shows what each platform includes at its base paid tier in 2026, with explicit values rather than prose. AgencyKit is highlighted. Where a feature is gated to a higher plan or sold as an add-on, that is noted.
| Tool | AgencyKit | 17hats | HoneyBook | Dubsado |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $9/mo | ~$60/mo | $36/mo | ~$35/mo |
| Billed per account | ||||
| Free trial | ||||
| Proposals | ||||
| Contracts / e-sign | ||||
| Invoicing | ||||
| Online payments | ||||
| Time tracking | ||||
| Scheduling | ||||
| AI assistant (MCP) | ||||
| Best for | Modern all-in-one, lowest cost | Established CRM, bookkeeping | Polished UI, scheduling | Deep automation, customization |
AgencyKit plan note: the $9/month Starter plan includes client management, proposals, invoicing, time tracking, and contract storage. Online payments, electronic signatures, native scheduling, and the AI assistant via MCP are on the Agency plan at $29/month, which is still less than half of 17hats' single plan (~$60) and below HoneyBook ($36) and Dubsado (~$35).
Pricing reflects published 2026 rates at the time of writing. 17hats moved from tiered plans to a single all-in-one plan in 2025; its base account includes up to three users and two brands, with extra seats and brands billed per month, and time tracking sold as a paid add-on. HoneyBook offers manual time logging against an hourly rate but no automatic timer. Always confirm current pricing on each vendor's site.
Who Should Choose What
AgencyKit is a modern all-in-one platform for freelancers and small agencies. The $9/month Starter plan covers the core workflow: CRM, proposals with PDF export, invoicing, contract storage, and built-in time tracking. The Agency plan at $29/month is the full all-in-one tier, adding online payments via Stripe and PayPal, electronic signatures, native scheduling with Google Calendar and Meet, and an AI assistant you can connect to Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor through MCP. Agency Pro at $49/month adds white-label branding. Every plan is billed per account, not per seat, and annual billing saves roughly two months.
Best for: solopreneurs and small agencies who want the proposal to payment workflow in one clean, modern tool, at the lowest entry price, without per-seat billing.
Not ideal if: you depend on 17hats' built-in bookkeeping ledger, or you have years of templates and lead capture forms already set up there.
Strengths
- Lowest entry price at $9/month
- Clean, modern interface
- Billed per account, not per seat
- Time tracking on every plan, no add-on
- AI assistant via MCP (first mover)
- 14-day free trial, no card
Trade-offs
- No built-in bookkeeping ledger like 17hats
- Newer platform, smaller community
- Fewer prebuilt templates than 17hats
- Payments, e-sign, scheduling, and AI on Agency plan ($29)
17hats is one of the longest-running all-in-one tools for solopreneurs. It covers lead capture, a CRM, proposals, contracts, invoicing, online payments, scheduling, and light bookkeeping in a single account. In 2025 it dropped its old tiered plans for one all-in-one plan at around $60/month, with up to three users and two brands included. The trade-offs are the dated interface, the lack of a cheaper entry tier, and time tracking sold as a paid add-on.
Best for: established solopreneurs who use its lead capture and built-in bookkeeping and are comfortable with an older interface.
Not ideal if: you want a modern look for client-facing documents, you only need the core workflow at a low price, or you want time tracking included.
Strengths
- Mature, all-in-one feature set
- Built-in bookkeeping and lead capture
- Online payments and scheduling included
- Up to three users and two brands
Trade-offs
- Interface widely seen as dated
- One plan only, no cheaper entry tier
- Time tracking is a paid add-on
- Steeper learning curve, short 7-day trial
HoneyBook is the polished, easy-to-learn option in this group. It covers proposals, contracts, invoicing, payments, scheduling, and a clean client portal, and its interface is notably more modern than 17hats. The catch is price: after the 2025 increase, the Starter plan is $36/month and Essentials is $59/month, billed per seat. Its time tracking is limited to manual entry against an hourly rate rather than a live timer.
Best for: creative freelancers who want a refined, approachable UI with strong scheduling and a good client experience.
Not ideal if: you are price sensitive, you want automatic time tracking, or you would rather pay per account than per seat.
Strengths
- Clean, approachable interface
- Strong scheduling and client portal
- E-sign and payments on all plans
- Large, established user base
Trade-offs
- Higher price after 2025 increase
- Manual time logging, no live timer
- Billed per seat
- Pricier than AgencyKit at entry
Dubsado is the benchmark for customizable client management. It covers proposals, contracts, invoicing, forms, workflows, and client portals, and goes deeper on automation and conditional logic than almost anything in this category. Scheduling and advanced booking sit on the Premier plan. The trade-off is setup time: configuring Dubsado well is a project, not a five-minute task, and the price climbed for new subscribers in late 2025. It has no built-in time tracker.
Best for: freelancers and studios who want a tool they can shape to an exact process and who will use the deep automation and custom forms.
Not ideal if: you want to be live in an afternoon, you bill hourly and need built-in time tracking, or you prefer a simpler tool.
Strengths
- Deep workflow automation
- Highly customizable forms and templates
- Up to three users included
- 21-day full-access free trial
Trade-offs
- Steep learning curve
- No built-in time tracking
- Higher price after 2025 increase
- Scheduling gated to Premier
Per Category Verdicts
No single tool wins on every axis. Here is the short version by what you care about most.
$9/month for proposals, invoicing, contracts, and time tracking, billed per account. The full all-in-one with payments and scheduling is $29/month, less than half of 17hats' single plan.
Its bookkeeping ledger, lead capture, and mature template library make it a solid all-in-one back office for established solopreneurs.
Proposal to contract to invoice to payment, plus time tracking, scheduling, and an AI assistant via MCP, in one modern tool from day one.
The most refined, approachable interface of the four, with strong scheduling and a smooth client experience.
Its conditional workflows and custom forms go deeper than anything else here. This is its home turf.
Native time tracking on every plan, no add-on fee, with a path straight from tracked hours into an invoice. No second tool needed.
Where 17hats Genuinely Wins
It would be dishonest to claim AgencyKit beats 17hats on everything. It does not. 17hats is the better choice in a few real situations, and you should know them before you switch.
- Built-in bookkeeping. 17hats includes a bookkeeping ledger and expense tracking that goes beyond invoicing. If you want light accounting inside the same tool, that is a genuine advantage.
- Lead capture and a long track record. 17hats has mature lead capture forms and years of refinement. If you rely on its inbound forms and template library, that depth is real.
- An existing, working setup. If you have years of clients, templates, and workflows living in 17hats, the switching cost is real. Do not move just to save money if your current system genuinely works for you.
A Fair Way to Decide
Ask yourself one question: do you actively use 17hats' bookkeeping and lead capture, or did you just need a tool to send proposals and get paid? If it is the former, the older interface may be worth tolerating. If it is the latter, a modern all-in-one tool like AgencyKit will likely serve you better at a fraction of the price.
3-Year Cost Comparison
Monthly fees look small in isolation. Over three years, for a single user on each entry tier, the difference is large. Per-seat tools also climb as you add people, which the figures below do not even include.
Total Cost Over 3 Years (Single User, Entry Tier)
Against 17hats' single plan, AgencyKit's $9/month Starter costs roughly one seventh as much over three years. Even AgencyKit's full all-in-one Agency plan at $29/month, which is $1,044 over three years, comes in well under half of 17hats. Choosing annual billing on AgencyKit ($90/year) saves about another two months on top.
- + Client management
- + Proposals & PDF export
- + Professional invoicing
- + Time tracking
- + Contract storage
- + 14-day free trial
- + Everything in Starter
- + Online payments (Stripe & PayPal)
- + Electronic signatures
- + Scheduling & meetings
- + AI assistant (MCP)
- + Everything in Agency
- + Full white-label branding
- + Custom accent colour
- + VIP support
- + 14-day free trial
One Stat Worth Knowing
According to 17hats' own pricing page, the single plan runs at around $60/month, and time tracking is a separate paid add-on. AgencyKit takes a different approach: a $9/month entry tier, time tracking included on every plan, and billing per account so adding teammates does not change the price. For a solopreneur, that gap is the largest line item in a three-year comparison.
How to Switch from 17hats
Moving off 17hats is more straightforward than people expect. Here is the practical sequence.
Export your 17hats data
In 17hats, export your contact and client list as a CSV. Save any active proposals and signed contracts as PDFs so you keep a clean record before you change anything.
Start your AgencyKit free trial
Create your account at app.agencykit.tech/register. No credit card needed. You get 14 days of full access, with proposals, invoicing, time tracking, contracts, and payments ready to use from day one.
Import your clients
Use the CSV from step one to import your client list into AgencyKit. Contact records, company names, and email addresses carry across in minutes.
Rebuild your core templates
Recreate your proposal and contract templates in AgencyKit. This is the main task, and it is a chance to give those client-facing documents a fresher look. Most freelancers with two or three template types finish in 30 to 45 minutes.
Cancel 17hats at the end of your cycle
Run both tools in parallel for one full billing cycle. Handle new work in AgencyKit, keep 17hats for any in-flight projects, then cancel once you have sent a test proposal and a test invoice end to end.
Do Not Cancel 17hats Too Early
Keep 17hats active until you have verified your new setup works for a full client journey. If you use its bookkeeping ledger, export your financial records first and decide how you will handle accounting in AgencyKit or a dedicated tool before you switch off the old one.
Key Takeaways
- AgencyKit is the modern, lowest-cost 17hats alternative, from $9/month and billed per account rather than per seat
- 17hats moved to a single all-in-one plan in 2025 at around $60/month, with no cheaper entry tier
- 17hats time tracking is a paid add-on; AgencyKit includes time tracking on every plan at no extra cost
- Reviewers consistently call the 17hats interface dated, which carries through to client-facing documents
- AgencyKit adds an AI assistant via MCP that connects to Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor, which 17hats does not offer
- Stay with 17hats if you rely on its built-in bookkeeping and lead capture; switching takes one to two hours plus template setup
Frequently Asked Questions
The best 17hats alternative for most solopreneurs and small agencies is AgencyKit. From $9 per month, billed per account rather than per seat, the Starter plan covers proposals, contracts, invoicing, client management, and built-in time tracking in one modern workspace. The full all-in-one tier with online payments, e-signatures, scheduling, and an AI assistant via MCP is the Agency plan at $29 per month. It feels more modern than 17hats and costs far less than its single $60 plan.
Yes. AgencyKit starts at $9 per month, well below 17hats, which now sells a single plan at around $60 per month. Even AgencyKit's full all-in-one Agency plan at $29 per month is less than half of 17hats. AgencyKit is billed per account, not per user, and annual billing saves roughly two months.
The reasons cited most often are the dated interface, the learning curve, and the price. Reviewers frequently describe the 17hats interface as old fashioned, and many find the all in one feature set takes time to learn. In 2025 17hats consolidated to one plan at around $60 per month, with time tracking as a paid add-on, pushing some users to look for a cheaper, more modern tool.
Not in the base plan. As of 2026, 17hats offers time tracking as a paid add-on at around $5 per month rather than a standard feature. If you bill by the hour, that is an extra charge on top of the $60 plan. AgencyKit includes native time tracking on every plan from $9 per month at no extra cost.
For most users, yes. A common critique of 17hats is that its interface feels dated, and its client facing documents inherit that older look. AgencyKit is a newer platform with a clean, current design and a simple proposal to contract to invoice to payment flow that works out of the box, so a typical freelancer can be sending live documents the same day they sign up.
Stay with 17hats if you already rely on its bookkeeping and accounting features, its lead capture forms, or its established workflow templates, and the dated interface does not bother you. 17hats has been around for years and is a stable, all in one choice for solopreneurs who want CRM plus light accounting in one familiar tool.
In 2025 17hats moved from tiered plans to a single all inclusive plan. It is around $60 per month, $600 per year, or $800 for two years, with the same features on each term. The base account includes up to three users and two brands, with extra seats and brands billed monthly, and time tracking is a paid add-on. AgencyKit, by comparison, starts at $9 per month billed per account.
Yes. AgencyKit offers a 14-day free trial with full access, no credit card required, cancel anytime. After the trial, plans are $9 per month (Starter, with proposals, contracts, invoicing, client management, and time tracking), $29 per month (Agency, the full all-in-one tier that adds online payments, e-signatures, scheduling, and the AI assistant via MCP), or $49 per month (Agency Pro, adds full white-label branding). Each plan is billed per account and annual billing saves roughly two months.
The Bottom Line
17hats is a genuinely capable tool with a long history. If you use its bookkeeping ledger and lead capture, and the older interface does not bother you, it earns its place and you should keep it. This guide is not here to talk you out of a tool that works for you.
But many solopreneurs chose 17hats for the basics: send a proposal, sign a contract, invoice the client, get paid. If that is you, the dated interface and the $60 single plan are paying for breadth and an older experience you may not need. AgencyKit starts at $9/month for proposals, contracts, invoicing, and time tracking 17hats charges extra for, and the full all-in-one tier with online payments, e-signatures, scheduling, and an AI assistant via MCP is the Agency plan at $29/month, still less than half of 17hats. Every plan bills per account instead of per seat. The 14-day free trial, no card, cancel anytime, makes it a zero-risk way to compare for yourself.
Want to weigh other options too? See our Dubsado alternative guide and our HoneyBook alternative guide for the same balanced treatment of those tools.
Sources & References
- 17hats, official pricing page, 2026. 17hats.com/pricing
- 17hats pricing analysis (single-plan transition), 2026. onesuite.io/blog/17hats-pricing
- HoneyBook, official pricing page, 2026. honeybook.com/pricing
- Dubsado, official pricing page, 2026. dubsado.com/pricing
- AgencyKit, official pricing page, 2026. agencykit.tech/#pricing