Hello Bonsai review: As more and more people realize they can make a living from the comfort of their homes, there are more freelancers available on the market and, to satisfy the demand, more tools aiming to make their lives easier than ever.

When looking for the best tools for freelancers, you’re sure to stumble across Hello Bonsai. As of now, it’s used by over 200,000 freelancers around the world. It’s among the most popular tools for professionals working from home and major enterprises who also use it to scale their operations.

What is Hello Bonsai?

Hello Bonsai was founded in 2015 by freelance design enthusiasts looking for a more convenient way to manage their businesses. It’s an all-in-one platform that allows you to take care of every project from the beginning stages, including proposals and contracts, to the last step every freelancer has to face – invoicing and accounting.

While there are many similar platforms available, they often cover only a specific part of your business, such as invoicing, taxes, or project management. The idea behind Hello Bonsai is to combine all those features into one platform, which, according to many of its clients, is one of the best tools for freelancers.

Features of Hello Bonsai

Hello Bonsai helps you take care of every aspect of your business and makes it easy to manage your projects. From the initial proposal and contract to invoicing, monitoring expenses, and even accounting, the features of Hello Bonsai combine many tools you might be already using. Only this time, you have everything in one place.

There are also many features available to help you while you’re working on projects. They include time tracking, client CRM (customer relationship management), task tracking, and forms you can send to your clients to better understand their needs and save time on meetings and emails.

Benefits of Hello Bonsai

One of the major benefits of Hello Bonsai is the number of features it offers. Invoicing, signing contracts digitally, or collecting payments through many popular providers such as PayPal, Stripe, or credit cards isn’t new to freelancers. However, Hello Bonsai allows you to have everything you need in one place without having to pay multiple subscription fees for several tools, each offering different features.

But the main benefit isn’t only the time you save having everything in one place but, most importantly, the money that stays in your pocket. Hello Bonsai plans start at $19 monthly, making them a cost-effective alternative for having to pay multiple companies, each of whom only covers some of your needs.

Drawbacks of Hello Bonsai

Even though Hello Bonsai is a great tool for freelancers, especially those working solo, it’s not perfect. Because it’s targeted mostly toward English-speaking countries, contract templates are available only for the US, UK, Canada, and Australia. And while there’s a generic template that can be adapted for any country, it will require some work on your side, and not everybody will have sufficient knowledge to prepare their contracts correctly.

There’s a similar problem with the interface, which is currently available only in English. Even though you speak English, the client will have to interact with some parts of the website, such as the payment screen or the client portal. If you work with clients from around the world whose first language isn’t English, it might cause some frustration, potentially limiting your opportunities.

Hello Bonsai Customer Support

Hello Bonsai features an extensive FAQ section where you can find answers to most questions about the platform, spanning every feature Hello Bonsai has to offer. It’s especially useful for people who aren’t yet Bonsai users and want to see if the tool is for them without spending money on one of the paid plans.

If your question isn’t on the list, you can contact the Hello Bonsai support team through email. Unfortunately, there’s no way to request a live chat as of now, but their email replies are relatively smooth, so the communication process shouldn’t be much of a problem, even though it will inevitably be slower than talking in real-time.

How much is Hello Bonsai?

Hello Bonsai offers two payment plans – Workflow for $19 a month and Workflow Plus for 29$ a month. When you decide to pay for an annual subscription right away, you’ll receive 2 months for free on any of the two plans for $192 or $288 a year, respectively, which is great for people looking to save money whenever they can.

The basic Workflow plan gives you access to all features covered above and will be the best choice for most freelancers. Workflow Plus gives you access to the same features and extra functionalities, such as client forms, client portal, subcontracting, and Calendly integration, which will be helpful for freelancers who wish to expand their operations.

Alternatives to Hello Bonsai

There are many freelancing tools available, though only a handful offers all the features you might need to take a project from the beginning to an end while also actively managing your business and clients.

The most popular alternatives to Hello Bonsai include AND.CO, InvoiceNinja, HoneyBook. They provide similar functionalities, with pricing being the main difference. AND.CO and InvoiceNinja offer free plans for a limited number of clients, while HoneyBook’s basic plan is priced at $9 and gives you access to all features for less than $10K in total transactions.

Summary

Hello Bonsai is an all-in-one freelancing tool that offers invoicing, contracts, time management, client CRM, project management, and more for a monthly fee starting at $19. However, unlike other similar platforms, Hello Bonsai doesn’t offer a free plan to let you explore their services without deciding to buy a paid plan.

But don’t worry! You can now get a FREE 2-week trial of Hello Bonsai with no commitments necessary. Click here to create your account and join over 200,000 freelancers using Hello Bonsai today.