Cancel Bonsai. Run Your Freelance Business in Excel + Free Tools.

The audit moment

Bonsai is solid software. I was on the Workflow tier ($24/mo) for two years — the all-in-one pitch is real and I was using it. The first year felt like a win: contracts in one place, invoices in one place, CRM in one place, tax estimates in one place. The bundle was working.

Year two I audited my usage. Out of Bonsai's six core modules, I was deeply using two: the project tracker and the CRM. The other four — contracts, invoicing, time tracking, tax estimates — I'd touched maybe a dozen times each. Each of those four had a free or much cheaper alternative that I was paying Bonsai to bundle for convenience.

I cancelled. The replacement stack runs $0/month and gives me genuine control over each layer.

What Bonsai actually does (be fair, list it all)

The Workflow plan ($24/mo) bundles:

1. Client CRM — lead pipeline, contact database, project status.
2. Project tracker — engagement-level budget, hours, deliverables.
3. Contracts with e-signature — template library, auto-fill, signature flow.
4. Invoices & payments — branded invoices, recurring billing, Stripe-style processor.
5. Time tracking — billable hours by project.
6. Tax estimates & accounting — quarterly tax + simple bookkeeping.
7. (Bonsai Pricing module) — rate calculator, project profitability.

For a freelancer who genuinely uses all seven, $300/year is defensible. For a freelancer who uses 2–3 deeply and the rest occasionally, that's $300/year of bundling fee.

The unbundled stack

Here's the honest split. Of Bonsai's seven modules, exactly two are software you'd build. The rest are services or simple tools with free alternatives.

The 2 modules that are software (one spreadsheet covers both)

• CRM / client pipeline — leads through stages with weighted value.
• Project tracker / engagement P&L — hours budgeted vs used, retainer status, margin per project.

The gridmoo Solo Practice OS handles both in one .xlsx file. Same pattern as our HoneyBook post — pipeline + engagement P&L in one workbook.

The 5 modules with free or cheaper alternatives

• Contracts with e-signature → Dropbox Sign free tier (3 signatures/month). Or PandaDoc free.
• Invoices & payments → Stripe Payment Links. 30 seconds per invoice, same 2.9% + 30¢ as Bonsai's processor (there's no escaping card fees).
• Time tracking → Toggl Free. Or log hours directly in the Solo Practice OS Engagement Tracker tab.
• Tax estimates → the gridmoo Quarterly Tax Estimator ($11) — SE tax + federal + state + safe harbor floor. Or our longer piece on replacing Keeper Tax with a spreadsheet.
• Pricing / rate calculator → the gridmoo Rate Calculator & Project Profitability ($11) — reverse-solve your target hourly rate across 8 income scenarios, track effective rate per project.

The Excel + free-tools stack

Here's the unbundled equivalent of Bonsai Workflow:

Bonsai module	Replacement	Cost
CRM + project tracker	Solo Practice OS	$19 once
Contracts	Dropbox Sign free	$0
Invoices & payments	Stripe Payment Links	$0 + fees
Time tracking	Toggl Free	$0
Tax estimates	Quarterly Tax Estimator	$11 once
Rate calculator	Rate Calculator	$11 once
Total	vs Bonsai $300/yr	$41 once + $0/mo

Year one savings: $259. Year two onward: $300/year forever.

The full freelancer catalog also includes Cash Flow, Invoice & Expenses, Bookkeeper OS, Solo Lawyer OS, Designer OS, and Financial Advisor OS — each $7–$19, paid once.

Freelancer workbooks — $7–$19 each. Replaces ~$428/mo of solo-business apps when stacked.
→ Browse the catalog

What you actually lose by switching

Bonsai genuinely does some things this stack does not:

• One login. The unbundled stack means logging into 4–5 services separately. If "I want one tab open" is a hard requirement, Bonsai wins.
• Auto-populated contracts and invoices. Bonsai pulls client name, project value, line items from the CRM directly into contract/invoice templates. The unbundled equivalent is a templated Google Doc you fill in once per engagement.
• Workflow automation. "When project is signed, send the welcome email. When invoice is paid, send the thank-you note." Bonsai handles these triggers. The unbundled version is Gmail templates + a Todoist reminder.
• One unified history. Bonsai keeps every contract, invoice, message, payment in one searchable place. The unbundled version is "search Dropbox + Stripe + Gmail separately." Real cost: ~5 minutes per "where's that 2023 contract" lookup, twice a year.
• Branded white-label client portal. Bonsai's client portal has your logo on it. Stripe payment links and Dropbox Sign emails say "Stripe" and "Dropbox Sign."

If those gaps would actively hurt your business — if you're juggling 10+ concurrent engagements and the unified history is mission-critical — Bonsai is the right tool. For 1–4 concurrent engagements, the unbundled stack is cleaner and cheaper.

The decision

Bonsai is a thoughtful, well-designed product. If you genuinely use all seven modules and value the bundle's coordination, $300/year is fine.

But if you audited your usage and found you live in two modules and visit the others occasionally, the unbundled stack is honest about what you actually need. One spreadsheet for the software part, free tools for the services, $41 once instead of $300/year.

Pick the workbooks that match your specific need: Solo Practice OS $19, Quarterly Tax Estimator $11, Rate Calculator $11.

Want to feel the workbooks first? Download the free Daily Budget Planner — same architecture, no card required.

And if you want to see what your full freelancer SaaS stack costs annually, run the SaaS Tax Calculator — tick Bonsai, HoneyBook, Keeper, FreshBooks, Calendly Premium, watch the annual total grow.