How Much Does HoneyBook Cost?
HoneyBook sells three plans: Starter, Essentials, and Premium. What you pay depends on the plan and on whether you’re billed yearly or monthly. These are the list prices on HoneyBook’s pricing page when we checked it on October 8, 2026.
| Plan | Billed yearly | Billed monthly | Team members |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $29/month | $36/month | None, just you |
| Essentials | $49/month | $59/month | Up to 2 |
| Premium | $109/month | $129/month | Unlimited |
The yearly price is the one HoneyBook shows first, so it’s the number most reviews quote. Skip the annual commitment and you pay $7 more a month on Starter, $10 more on Essentials, and $20 more on Premium. HoneyBook also runs seasonal deals on annual plans (a fall offer was live when we checked), so for a few weeks at a time the checkout price can sit below the list price.
The Cost of HoneyBook Over a Year
A monthly figure hides the real commitment, especially on a yearly plan you pay for up front. Here’s what the list prices come to over twelve months. These totals are our own arithmetic (the monthly price times twelve), not figures HoneyBook publishes.
| Plan | One year, billed yearly | One year, billed monthly | Saved by paying yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $348 | $432 | $84 |
| Essentials | $588 | $708 | $120 |
| Premium | $1,308 | $1,548 | $240 |
None of that includes payment processing. If your clients pay you through HoneyBook, the fees are often the bigger number, and we get to them below.
HoneyBook Plans Compared: Starter, Essentials, and Premium
All three HoneyBook plans share the same core: unlimited clients and projects, proposals, contracts, invoices, online payments, a client portal, and HoneyBook AI. They differ on scheduling, automation, team size, and reporting.
| What changes | Starter | Essentials | Premium |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scheduler | 1 session | Unlimited sessions | Unlimited sessions |
| Meeting reminders | Email only | Email and SMS | Email and SMS |
| Live lead forms | 2 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Team members | None | Up to 2 | Unlimited |
| Automations | Not included | Included | Included |
| QuickBooks Online integration | Not included | Included | Included |
| Remove “Powered by HoneyBook” | Not included | Included | Included |
| Reports | Basic | Standard | Advanced |
| Multiple companies | Not included | Not included | Included |
| Priority support | Not included | Not included | Included |
Essentials is the plan HoneyBook labels Most Popular, and it’s easy to see why. It’s the first tier with automations, unlimited scheduling, and any room for a team. Premium is a big jump for what it adds. You’d move up mainly because you need more than 2 team members, run more than one company, or want priority support.
The HoneyBook Starter Plan: What You Get for $29
The HoneyBook Starter plan is $29 a month billed yearly, or $36 month to month. It’s built for one person running client work alone, and it covers more than the price suggests:
- Unlimited clients and projects
- Invoices and online payments
- Proposals and contracts
- A calendar and all of HoneyBook’s professional templates
- A client portal
- Basic reports, up to 2 live lead forms, and HoneyBook AI
The limits show up once you get busy. Starter’s scheduler allows a single session, meeting reminders go out by email only, there are no automations, and you can’t add team members. If you book a lot of calls or want follow-ups to send themselves, you’ll outgrow it fast. Moving up to Essentials costs $20 more a month on yearly billing.
Does HoneyBook Have a Free Trial?
Yes. Every HoneyBook plan starts with a free trial. HoneyBook’s pricing page says you can try virtually every feature free for 30 days with no credit card, with minor limits on some advanced features depending on eligibility. Plenty of third-party reviews still quote a 7-day trial. HoneyBook’s own page said 30 days when we checked, so go by that.
Two more things worth knowing before you sign up:
- There’s no free plan. The pricing page lists three paid plans and nothing free forever. When the 30 days end, you pick a plan or stop.
- Paid plans come with a 60-day money-back guarantee. HoneyBook says that if you’re not happy after your first 60 days, it gives you a full refund.
Run one real client through the trial
Thirty days is enough time to take one client from proposal to paid invoice. Do that instead of clicking around sample data. You’ll hit the scheduler and automation limits on your own work, before you’ve paid for anything.
The Fee People Forget: Payment Processing
The subscription is only part of what HoneyBook costs. When a client pays you through HoneyBook, a processing fee comes off the payment. HoneyBook’s plan table lists the same rates on all three plans, and its guide to payment fees fills in the rest:
- Card payments: from 2.9% plus 25¢ per transaction
- Bank transfers (ACH): 1.5%
- American Express, Discover, and saved cards: 3.4% plus 9¢
- Instant deposit: an extra 1% if you want the money sooner
On a $5,000 invoice paid by card at the base rate, the fee is $145.25. Paid by bank transfer, it’s $75. Bill $5,000 a month by card and that’s about $1,743 a year in fees, more than a year of Premium. One oddity: the FAQ further down HoneyBook’s pricing page quotes a lower card rate of 2.7% plus 10¢, which doesn’t match the plan table above it. Budget on 2.9% plus 25¢ until HoneyBook clears that up.
Add up the real yearly cost
To compare tools fairly, add the annual subscription and a year of likely payment processing fees together. A cheaper monthly plan with higher processing fees can end up costing more than a pricier plan with lower fees, depending on how much you invoice.
Is HoneyBook Worth It?
For a solo freelancer or a small studio in one of the markets HoneyBook serves, who wants a polished all-in-one, HoneyBook is a good choice. Starter in particular gets you a client portal and unlimited clients for $29. It gets harder to justify once you need more than 2 team members and Premium becomes the only option, when you work in a country or currency HoneyBook doesn’t support, or when you bill by the hour and want time tracking built in. Our honest verdict on whether HoneyBook is worth it goes deeper.
Cheaper Alternatives: Per-Account vs Per-Tier
The way to pay less is to change how you’re billed. On HoneyBook the price follows the tier, and the tier follows your team: past 2 team members, you’re on Premium at $109 a month. AgencyKit charges one flat price per account instead: $9 a month on Starter, $39 on Agency, and $69 on Agency Pro. Agency includes up to 10 team members and Agency Pro unlimited, with the same proposals, contracts, invoicing, and payments, plus built-in time tracking on every plan.
To be fair to HoneyBook, two things go its way. Its $29 Starter includes a client portal, while AgencyKit’s portal starts on the $39 Agency plan. And its free trial runs 30 days against AgencyKit’s 14. Where AgencyKit wins is the team bill: a studio of five pays $39 a month on AgencyKit Agency instead of $109 on HoneyBook Premium, and that’s comparing our monthly price to HoneyBook’s yearly one. Our guide on per-account vs per-seat pricing runs the numbers at 1, 3, and 6 users.
Wrapping Up
HoneyBook costs $29, $49, or $109 a month billed yearly, or $36, $59, and $129 monthly, with a 30-day free trial and no free plan. Card fees from 2.9% plus 25¢ come on top of every plan. It’s a strong tool for a solo or a pair. Once your team is bigger than that, the pricing model matters more than the tier, and a tool like AgencyKit, from $9 a month and billed per account rather than per tier of team size, keeps the cost of hiring flat.
Thinking of moving? See how to switch from HoneyBook and the full feature comparison.
Key Takeaways
- HoneyBook costs $29, $49, or $109 a month billed yearly, and $36, $59, or $129 billed monthly
- Over a year that’s $348 to $1,308 on annual billing, before any processing fees
- The HoneyBook free trial is 30 days with no credit card, and there’s no free plan
- Starter is a solid solo plan, but it has one scheduler session, no automations, and no team members
- Card payments cost from 2.9% plus 25¢ each, which over a year can add up to more than the subscription
- AgencyKit is $9, $39, or $69 a month per account, with up to 10 team members on Agency and time tracking on every plan
Frequently Asked Questions
HoneyBook costs $29 a month for Starter, $49 for Essentials, and $109 for Premium when billed yearly. Paid month to month, the same plans cost $36, $59, and $129. Client payments carry a processing fee on top, from 2.9% plus 25¢ per card payment and 1.5% per bank transfer. These are HoneyBook’s list prices as of October 2026.
Billed yearly, HoneyBook works out to $348 for Starter, $588 for Essentials, and $1,308 for Premium, which is the monthly list price times twelve. Paying month to month for a full year costs $432, $708, or $1,548. Payment processing fees come on top of either figure.
HoneyBook has three plans. Starter covers clients, proposals, contracts, invoices, payments, and a client portal for one person. Essentials adds unlimited scheduling, automations, QuickBooks Online, SMS reminders, and up to 2 team members. Premium adds unlimited team members, multiple companies, advanced reports, and priority support.
The Starter plan includes unlimited clients and projects, invoices and payments, proposals and contracts, a calendar, all templates, a client portal, basic reports, up to 2 live lead forms, and HoneyBook AI. Its scheduler is limited to one session, reminders go by email only, and it has no automations or team members.
Yes. HoneyBook’s pricing page says you can try virtually every feature free for 30 days with no credit card, with minor limits on some advanced features. Paid plans also come with a 60-day money-back guarantee if you’re not happy.
No. HoneyBook lists three paid plans and no free-forever tier. You get a 30-day free trial, and after that you choose Starter, Essentials, or Premium. If a low entry price matters most, compare tools with a low flat starting price, and count processing fees alongside the subscription.
Yes. HoneyBook’s plan table lists card fees from 2.9% plus 25¢ and 1.5% for bank transfers. Its own fee guide lists 3.4% plus 9¢ for American Express, Discover, and saved cards, and an extra 1% for instant deposit. On a $5,000 card payment, the base rate comes to $145.25.
Essentials is the plan HoneyBook marks as most popular, and it’s the first with automations, unlimited scheduling, and room for 2 team members. Starter fits a solo who mostly sends proposals and invoices. Premium only pays off if you need more than 2 team members or run several companies.
Yes, especially for teams. AgencyKit bills one flat price per account: $9 a month on Starter, $39 on Agency with up to 10 team members, and $69 on Agency Pro with unlimited members. It covers proposals, contracts, invoicing, and payments, and adds built-in time tracking. Its free trial is 14 days, no card.
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Sources & References
- HoneyBook, official pricing page, plan prices billed yearly and monthly, plan features, free trial and money-back guarantee (checked October 8, 2026). honeybook.com/pricing
- HoneyBook, guide to HoneyBook payment fees, card, ACH, American Express and instant deposit rates (last modified December 22, 2025). honeybook.com/blog/honeybook-payment-fees
- AgencyKit pricing, billed per account (2026). agencykit.tech/pricing