Comparison · Reviewed May 2026
Durvy vs Bonsai
Bonsai built a freelance-specific stack: contracts, proposals, and invoicing in one flow. If your work starts with a written contract on every project, Bonsai's proposal-to-contract-to-invoice pipeline is genuinely best-in-class.
TL;DR
Pick Bonsai if:
Your projects need legal contracts and formal proposals, and you want all of that in one tool with the invoicing.
Pick Durvy if:
Your work doesn't need contracts on every project (designers, developers shipping work for known clients, consultants on retainer), and the contracts + proposals features would be paying for shelf-ware.
Bonsai: $25-$39/mo · Durvy: $0-$49/mo
Feature comparison
| Feature | Durvy | Bonsai |
|---|---|---|
| Free tier | Yes | No (7-day trial) |
| Starting paid price | $15/mo (Pro) | $25/mo/user (Workflow) |
| Per-user pricing | No (per-workspace) | Yes |
| Invoicing | Yes | Yes |
| Time tracking | Yes (Suite) | Yes |
| Receipt + expense tracking | Yes (Receiptly) | Yes |
| CRM with kanban | Yes (Clienty) | Basic client list |
| Contracts + e-signature | No | Yes |
| Proposals | No | Yes (Workflow Plus) |
| Tax filing tools | CSV export only | Yes (US only) |
| Team workspace | Agency $49/mo (5 members) | $25-$39/user/mo |
| PWA install | Yes | Native apps |
Pricing and feature data reviewed 2026-05-15. Both products ship updates regularly - verify on each vendor's site before purchasing.
The honest pitch for each
Bonsai is the freelance-first answer to "I need invoicing AND contracts AND proposals in one place." Founded in 2016, it built features in this exact order: contracts → proposals → invoicing → time tracking → expense tracking → CRM. If your business runs on signed agreements (legal/design/agency work where every project starts with a contract), Bonsai's proposal-to-signature-to-invoice flow saves real time.
Durvy is the same four apps minus contracts and proposals. We made a deliberate scope decision: most freelancers we know either use a one-off contract template per year (not per project) OR work with established clients on email-handshake terms. Building contracts + proposals would have meant either bloating the suite or charging more - neither felt right for a "$0 or $15" pricing structure.
Where Bonsai is the right call
Three signals you should be on Bonsai, not Durvy:
- You sign a contract on every project. Web designers, legal-adjacent freelancers, anyone doing six-figure project work where the contract is the project's frame. Bonsai's contract templates + e-signature flow are built for this and they're good.
- You send formal proposals. Bonsai's proposal builder is genuinely thoughtful - template-based, e-signable, converts to an invoice with one click. If you send 5+ proposals a month and treat them like real sales documents, the Bonsai proposal flow is worth the price.
- You want one tool, end to end. Bonsai bundles everything: contract → proposal → time → expense → invoice → tax. Durvy bundles four (receipts, invoices, time, clients) and leaves contracts/proposals to specialized tools (DocuSign, Notion, Google Docs).
Where Durvy is the right call
Three buyer profiles where Durvy genuinely wins:
- You don't need contracts on every project. Most freelance work - for established clients, on retainer, post-handshake - doesn't. Paying $25/mo for contracts you use twice a year is paying for shelf-ware. Durvy ships the daily-work tools (receipts/invoices/time/CRM) at $15/mo without the contract module you wouldn't use.
- You want a free tier. Bonsai has no free tier. Durvy's free tier handles 10 receipts/mo and 3 active invoices - enough to keep a side-hustle in the green without paying anything.
- You want a real CRM, not a glorified client list. Bonsai has clients as records. Durvy's Clienty has project kanban, health scores per relationship, contact logs, and cross-app financial rollup. If you manage 10+ active client relationships and want a single view of "how is each of these going," Clienty does that and Bonsai doesn't.
The pricing math
Bonsai's pricing is per-user-per-month, which gets expensive fast for studios. Their cheapest plan (Workflow) is $25/mo per user. Their next tier (Workflow Plus) adds proposals + chat + reports for $39/mo per user.
Durvy is per-workspace, not per-user. Pro is $15/mo total. Suite is $29/mo total. Agency is $49/mo for up to 5 members. A 3-person studio on Bonsai Workflow Plus is $117/mo. On Durvy Agency it's $49/mo. The contracts-and-proposals difference has to be worth $68/mo of recurring spend for that math to work.
TL;DR - pick Bonsai if...
...your business runs on contracts and proposals, you don't mind per-user pricing, and the integrated workflow saves you real hours each month.
Pick Durvy if your work doesn't need contracts on every project, you want a free tier, and the cross-app data (hours → invoice, receipts → reimbursable on invoice, everything → CRM rollup) matters more than contract templates.
Try Durvy free first.
No card. 10 receipts and 3 invoices a month free forever - enough to decide if the suite fits your workflow before you pay anything.
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