Invoicing Software for Freelancers Who Also Need Contracts and Proposals
If your actual freelance workflow looks like “send a proposal, wait for a signed contract, do the work, then send an invoice,” you’ve probably already discovered that most invoicing software only solves the last step. You still need a separate tool (or a Google Doc and a lot of hope) for the proposal and the contract, and none of those tools talk to each other.
This article is for freelancers who feel that specific friction — not the ones who just need to email a client a clean invoice once a month. It compares Bonsai, an all-in-one tool built around exactly this problem, against the more common approach of using a dedicated invoicing tool (like Wave or Zoho Invoice) plus separate contract and proposal tools. As with any comparison article, treat this as a starting point based on each vendor’s own site — pricing and plan features change, so confirm current numbers before you subscribe.
Why invoicing alone isn’t enough for some freelancers
Invoicing tools are built to solve one problem well: turning completed work into a paid invoice. That’s genuinely useful, but it assumes the hard part — getting the client to agree to scope, price, and terms in writing — already happened somewhere else.
For a lot of freelancers, especially consultants, designers, photographers, and anyone who pitches new clients regularly, that “somewhere else” ends up being a patchwork: a proposal built in Canva or Google Slides, a contract sent as a PDF for a wet or scanned signature (or a separate e-signature tool), and then, once the ink is dry, an invoicing tool for the actual billing. Each handoff is a place where things get lost — a client signs a contract with different terms than what was in the invoice, or a proposal never gets logged anywhere once it’s accepted, so you’re recreating scope details from memory when a dispute comes up months later.
None of this is a dealbreaker if you only take on a client or two a year. But if you’re regularly pitching, contracting, and invoicing multiple clients at once, the overhead of keeping three or four disconnected tools in sync starts to cost real time — and real risk, since a mismatched contract and invoice is exactly the kind of thing that turns into an awkward client conversation.
What an all-in-one tool like Bonsai bundles that pure invoicing tools don’t
Pure invoicing tools — Wave, Zoho Invoice, FreshBooks, and similar — are built around the invoice as the core object. Contracts and proposals, if they exist at all in those tools, tend to be an afterthought or a basic template feature, not a real workflow.
Bonsai flips that starting point. It’s built as a freelancer business-management platform where contracts, proposals, invoicing, time tracking, and (on higher tiers) a client portal and CRM all reference the same underlying client and project record. In practice, that means a proposal you send can convert into a contract, which can convert into a project with time tracking, which can convert into an invoice — without re-entering the client’s name, rate, or scope of work at each step.
That bundling is the entire pitch, and it’s also the tradeoff to understand before you sign up: Bonsai’s cheapest plan doesn’t actually include contracts, proposals, or invoicing. As of this writing, Bonsai’s plans are structured roughly as follows (confirm current names and prices on Bonsai’s own pricing page, since SaaS tiers get renamed and repriced often):
| Plan | Approx. price (monthly billing) | Approx. price (annual billing) | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | ~$15/month | ~$9/month | Time tracking, task/project management, unlimited projects, CRM, service library — no invoicing, contracts, or proposals |
| Essentials | ~$25/month | ~$19/month | Adds invoicing, contracts, proposals, scheduling links, and expense tracking — this is the tier the “all-in-one” pitch in this article is actually about |
| Premium | ~$39/month | ~$29/month | Adds client portal, white-label branding, deeper reporting, and integrations (e.g., QuickBooks, Zapier) |
| Elite | ~$59/month | ~$49/month | Adds team-oriented features: custom permissions, staffing/team management, dedicated onboarding |
In other words, if you’re comparing Bonsai specifically because you want contracts and proposals alongside invoicing, you’re looking at the Essentials plan or higher, not the entry-level Basic tier. Bonsai also doesn’t currently offer a permanent free plan — only a short free trial — so budget for a subscription from day one rather than expecting a Wave- or Zoho-style free tier.
Bonsai — best for freelancers juggling contracts, proposals, time tracking, and invoices in one place
Where Bonsai earns its keep is the handoff between documents. A proposal accepted by a client can become a contract with the same terms already filled in; a signed contract can spin up a project for time tracking; logged hours or milestones can convert straight into an invoice referencing the same contract. If you’ve ever had a client dispute a rate because the number on the invoice didn’t match what was verbally agreed in the proposal, this is the exact gap Bonsai is designed to close, because everything traces back to one record instead of three separate documents in three separate tools.
It’s a strong fit if your business genuinely involves regular new-client pitching with contracts attached — consulting, design, photography, coaching, and similar client-services work. It’s a weaker fit if you mostly do recurring, no-contract billing for the same handful of long-term clients, since you’d be paying for proposal and contract features you rarely touch.
Two other things worth knowing before you commit: Bonsai charges its own payment-processing fees on top of the subscription (roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per card transaction for Visa/Mastercard, higher for Amex, lower for ACH bank transfer — check the current rates on Bonsai’s site), and there’s no permanent free tier, so the 7-day trial is your only way to test the actual contract-to-invoice workflow before paying.
▶ Visit Bonsai’s official site
When a simpler invoicing-only tool is actually the better fit
If contracts and proposals aren’t a real bottleneck for you — say, you invoice the same few retainer clients every month with no new-pitch cycle — paying for Bonsai’s bundled workflow is solving a problem you don’t have. In that case, a dedicated invoicing tool is simpler and, in Wave’s case, considerably cheaper.
Wave is worth a look if you want to start at $0. Its free Starter plan covers unlimited invoicing, estimates, and basic bookkeeping, with a paid Pro plan (around $19/month, or roughly $16/month billed annually) layered on top for automatic bank feeds, OCR receipt scanning, and live support. Wave doesn’t offer proposal or contract-management features, so if you occasionally need a simple contract, you’d still pair it with a separate e-signature tool or template — but for pure invoicing, it’s hard to beat on price.
Zoho Invoice is a genuinely free-forever invoicing tool, capped at roughly 5 clients on the free plan (along with some limits on invoice volume — check Zoho’s current numbers, since free-tier caps shift occasionally). It makes the most sense if you’re already using other Zoho apps like Zoho CRM or Zoho Books, since Invoice slots into that ecosystem without a separate login. Like Wave, it doesn’t bundle contract or proposal creation.
Neither Wave nor Zoho Invoice is a bad choice — they’re just solving a narrower problem than Bonsai does, on purpose, which is exactly why they’re both cheaper.
▶ Visit Wave’s official site · Visit Zoho Invoice’s official site
Cost comparison: one all-in-one tool vs. stacking separate invoicing + contract tools
The real comparison isn’t “Bonsai vs. Wave” — it’s “one Bonsai subscription vs. a free or cheap invoicing tool plus whatever you’re currently using (or would need to add) for contracts and proposals.” Here’s roughly how that shakes out, using list prices that were current on each vendor’s site as of this writing (confirm before you budget against these, since SaaS pricing changes often):
| Approach | Monthly cost (rough) | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Bonsai Essentials (all-in-one) | ~$19–$25/month | Invoicing + contracts + proposals + scheduling + expense tracking, all linked to the same client/project record |
| Wave (free) + a separate e-signature tool + a separate proposal tool | ~$0 for invoicing + roughly $10–$30/month for e-signature (e.g., entry-tier DocuSign or similar) + roughly $19–$35/month for a dedicated proposal tool if you use one | Cheaper invoicing, but nothing links together — you’re re-entering client and scope details manually at each handoff |
| Zoho Invoice (free, capped) + a separate e-signature tool + a proposal template workflow | ~$0 for invoicing (under the client cap) + similar $10–$30/month for e-signature | Similar tradeoff to the Wave stack — cheap individual pieces, no shared workflow |
The stacked approach can come out cheaper in raw dollars if you already own a contract or proposal tool for other reasons, or if you’re comfortable using free templates (Google Docs, a PDF signed via a free e-signature tier) instead of paying for dedicated software. But once you’re paying for even one separate contract or proposal tool on top of your invoicing tool, the total often lands close to or above what Bonsai’s Essentials plan costs — at which point the deciding factor becomes whether the connected workflow is worth paying for, not just the sticker price.
If you’re not sure which side of that line you’re on, a rough rule of thumb: if you send more than one or two new client proposals a month, the time saved by not re-typing the same scope and rate into three different documents is probably worth Bonsai’s price difference. If you rarely pitch new work and mostly re-invoice existing clients, stick with a free or low-cost invoicing-only tool and keep contracts as simple, occasional documents.
FAQ
Does Bonsai have a free plan? No. Bonsai currently offers only a short free trial (around 7 days), not a permanent free tier. Wave and Zoho Invoice both have free plans, but neither bundles contracts or proposals the way Bonsai does.
Which Bonsai plan actually includes contracts and proposals? Based on Bonsai’s current plan structure, the entry-level Basic plan covers time tracking, projects, and CRM but not invoicing, contracts, or proposals. You need the Essentials plan or higher to get the full bundle this article is about — confirm current plan names and inclusions on Bonsai’s pricing page before subscribing, since these can change.
Can I just use free templates instead of paying for a contract/proposal tool? Yes, for many freelancers this is a perfectly reasonable option, especially early on — free proposal templates and a free-tier e-signature tool can cover basic needs. The tradeoff is that nothing connects automatically, so you’re responsible for manually keeping the proposal, contract, and eventual invoice consistent with each other.
Is Bonsai worth it if I only take on two or three new clients a year? Probably not on its own merits. Bonsai’s value comes from repeated proposal-to-contract-to-invoice cycles; if you rarely go through that cycle, a free invoicing tool plus a free contract template will likely cover you at a much lower cost.
Do Wave or Zoho Invoice offer any contract or proposal features at all? Not in any meaningful, dedicated way — both are built around invoicing and basic bookkeeping. If you choose either one, plan on pairing it with a separate contract or e-signature tool for anything beyond a simple invoice.
Are the payment-processing fees the same across these tools? No — each vendor sets its own card-processing rate, and none of them are truly zero. Check the current processing fee on each vendor’s site (Bonsai, Wave, and Zoho Invoice all publish these separately from their subscription pricing), since these are usually charged per transaction regardless of which subscription tier you’re on.
Pricing and plan details in this article reflect what each vendor’s official site and documentation showed as of this writing. SaaS pricing, plan names, and free-tier limits change frequently — always confirm current numbers on the official pricing page before subscribing. This article is general information, not legal or contract advice; for contracts with significant financial or liability exposure, consider having a lawyer review your template regardless of which software you use to send it.