HoneyBook Client Portal in 2026: What Clients See, How They Log In, and Its Limits

What Is the HoneyBook Client Portal?

The HoneyBook client portal is the client-facing version of a HoneyBook project, where a client can see the files, messages and payments you’ve shared with them. HoneyBook can add a link to the portal in every file and email you send, or you can send the portal link on its own.

A client who works with you on more than one project switches between them with the All Projects button at the top of the HoneyBook portal.

What Clients Can See and Do in the HoneyBook Portal

Once a client is inside the HoneyBook client portal, they can use:

• The Activity tab, to see when you sent files, read email threads and send you a message
• The Files tab, to open shared documents, attachments and bookmarks
• The Payments tab, to view their invoice files
• The Notes tab and project details, read-only, showing only what sits above the “Not visible to clients” section
• The Attach button, to upload their own images or files

HoneyBook clients can’t see your tasks, automations, pipeline or unshared notes, and they can’t create new HoneyBook files or schedule meetings through the portal. Files a client attaches in the HoneyBook portal are visible to the people on the project, but nobody gets a notification about them.

How Clients Log In to the HoneyBook Client Portal

HoneyBook gives clients different login options depending on how they reach the portal.

From a direct portal link you send

• A magic link: the client clicks “Log in with a link”, enters their email and gets a sign-in link that expires after a while
• Email and password: for a client who has set a password before
• Create a password: for a first visit, through a secure link HoneyBook emails to them

From a file they just completed

After completing a HoneyBook file, the client sees a “Go to your portal” link and can log in with their password or with a 6-digit code that HoneyBook emails to them.

How to Share or Turn Off the HoneyBook Client Portal

Inside a HoneyBook project, the Client portal box lets you copy the portal link, send it directly, or switch on “Include client portal links in files or emails”.

To keep one HoneyBook project out of the portal, switch that same toggle off inside the project. To hide the portal company-wide, open Company Settings, then Domain & Client Portal, and switch it off there. Turning it off company-wide only affects new files and emails, so links you already sent keep working.

Branding and a Custom Domain for the HoneyBook Portal

HoneyBook gives every client portal an address of the form prefix.hbportal.co/app, and a paying member can edit the prefix up to three times.

To put the HoneyBook portal on your own subdomain, an admin or the account owner opens Company Settings, then Domain & client portal, enters the domain and subdomain, and points a CNAME record at ssl.honeybook.com. Customers of GoDaddy or Ionos can use HoneyBook’s Easy-Connect instead. HoneyBook says a registered subdomain can’t be undone or changed without contacting its support team, so check the spelling before you submit.

Changes you make in the HoneyBook portal preview update every client’s portal at once, not just the project you’re editing. HoneyBook Essentials, at $49 a month billed yearly, adds the option to remove “Powered by HoneyBook”.

Which HoneyBook Plan Includes the Client Portal?

The client portal is included on every HoneyBook plan: Starter at $29 a month billed yearly or $36 monthly, Essentials at $49 or $59, and Premium at $109 or $129. HoneyBook’s 30-day free trial, with no credit card, covers the portal too. Our HoneyBook pricing guide breaks down what else each plan adds.

Where the HoneyBook Client Portal Falls Short

HoneyBook’s own Help Center lists the gaps worth knowing before you build your client process around the portal:

• Clients can’t book a meeting from inside the HoneyBook portal.
• Clients can’t create new HoneyBook files, so a request or a change order has to come from you.
• A file a client attaches doesn’t trigger a notification, so it can sit unseen.
• Branding edits apply to every client’s portal, so one client can’t look different from another.
• A custom subdomain can’t be changed after registration without contacting HoneyBook support.

None of these gaps get in the way of a photographer or planner who mostly sends files and collects payments. The HoneyBook portal’s gaps matter more for an agency that delivers work in rounds and needs a client to approve each one.

HoneyBook Client Portal vs Dubsado, Moxie and AgencyKit

How the HoneyBook client portal compares with three alternatives, from each vendor’s pricing page on October 8, 2026:

Where AgencyKit’s client portal is different

AgencyKit’s client portal starts on the Agency plan at $39 a month, or $32.50 billed yearly, so HoneyBook is the cheaper way to get a client portal for a solo business. An AgencyKit client signs in with a single-use link emailed to them that expires after 15 minutes, and sees their proposals, contracts and invoices across all their work in one portal, plus the progress of the tasks you’ve made visible to them.

On AgencyKit Agency Pro, at $69 a month, a client approves a deliverable or asks for changes from the portal and books a meeting with their account manager. AgencyKit keeps the portal off until you switch it on for a client, and switching it off takes effect immediately.

HoneyBook’s portal does two things AgencyKit’s doesn’t: clients can message you and upload files inside it, and it can run on your own subdomain. Pick HoneyBook’s portal if you mainly send files and collect payments; pick AgencyKit’s if your clients approve work in rounds or need to book time with you. See the AgencyKit client portal, or our roundup of the best client portal software for more options.