One app instead of ten.
Proposals, contracts, time tracking, invoicing, expenses, mileage, tax prep, client portal, inquiry form, and questionnaires — all connected. Click your way through, or just ask.
Pricing & feature data on this page is scraped directly from each competitor’s site. Last verified April 17, 2026.

AI that does the work — not just the writing.
Every workflow has two ways in: a clean UI to click through, and an assistant to ask. Draft a proposal, scan a receipt, look up profit on a project — same data, same result. Use whichever is most natural for you.
- Ask anything: "How profitable was the Smith wedding?", "Show overdue invoices over $1k" — answers come from your own data
- Snap a receipt with your phone, forward an invoice from your inbox, or drop in a PDF — the assistant reads it and queues a categorized expense for you to approve
- Send a questionnaire, then one-click draft a proposal from the response
- The assistant can act anywhere in the app — drafting invoices, finding clients, looking up files, suggesting next steps
- Optional onboarding helper: describe your business in plain English, get a configured workspace
- Real-time web search for market rates and pricing benchmarks when you need them
Safety rail: The assistant drafts and proposes; it never sends, deletes, or charges. Every action waits for your click — so you can move fast without worrying about a runaway agent.
Fewer tools, more savings.
Clearmargin starts at $19/mo (billed annually) and replaces a stack of single-purpose tools that typically runs about $141/mo together at their best annual rates.
| Workflow | Clearmargin | Typical separate tools (best annual rate) |
|---|---|---|
| Proposals | Built in |
|
| Contracts & e-signatures | Built in |
|
| Invoicing & payments | Built in |
|
| Time tracking | Built in |
|
| Expense & receipt tracking | Built in |
|
| Mileage tracking | Built in |
|
| Tax prep & quarterly estimates | Built in |
|
| Inquiry form | Built in |
|
| Client portal | Built in |
|
| Questionnaires & forms | Built in |
|
| Total best annual rate | $19/mo$228/year | ~$141/mo~$1692/year (median across each row) |
Save ~$1,464/year and your data stops living in ten different places.
Comparison uses the lowest publicly advertised annualrate for each tool — the same basis as Clearmargin’s $19/mo. Verified against each vendor’s pricing page on April 17, 2026.
What’s in the box
Built for freelancers and small teams. Everything here is included on every plan unless otherwise noted.
An inquiry form that feeds a real pipeline
Share one link — your clients see your services, pick a date, and answer the questions you actually need. New inquiries land on a kanban pipeline you can move, qualify, and convert into a client and project in one click. No copy-paste between Calendly and a spreadsheet.
Questionnaires that draft your proposals
Send a customizable intake form — wedding details, project scope, dietary needs, whatever you ask. When the response comes back, one click sends it to the AI to draft a full proposal from their answers. Edit, send, done.
Proposals pre-filled from your past work
Add a service to a proposal and see what it actually took last time — hours, materials, markup. Quote with data, not gut feel. Save templates so the next one takes minutes, not afternoons.
Contracts and e-signatures, built in
Reusable contract templates with merge fields and a clause library. Bundle a proposal and contract as one signed agreement — your client sees the work and the terms, signs both at once. No DocuSign tab, no chasing.
Every client conversation in one place
From the first inquiry to the last receipt, every message, proposal, invoice, and signed contract sits on the client's timeline. Reply from the app or your inbox — both land in the same thread, so nothing gets lost.
A client portal with no passwords
A branded link your clients open to see their proposals, invoices, contracts, questionnaires, and receipts. No accounts to make, no logins to forget — they just click and act.
Invoicing and payments without the markup
Stripe Connect with direct charges — your clients pay you directly at Stripe's standard rates. No platform fee, no per-invoice charge, no revenue share. Recurring billing, deposits, payment schedules, and saved cards all included.
Profit per client, in real time
Every hour, expense, and invoice feeds into a live margin view. Revenue minus labor minus expenses, per client and per project — always current. Not just “how much did I bill” but how much did I actually keep.
Tax Center built for Schedule C, not bookkeepers
Schedule C reports, mileage tracking, quarterly estimates, home office deduction, 1099 prep for vendors. Hand your accountant a full tax package in one click — CSV, QuickBooks Online, or QuickBooks Desktop IIF format.
Click it. Ask it. Both work.
Every workflow has two ways in: a clean UI to click through, and an assistant to ask. Draft a proposal, look up profit on a project, find an overdue invoice — same data, same result. Use whichever is most natural for you.
Snap-and-file receipts and documents
Snap a photo of a receipt with your phone, forward an invoice from your inbox, or drop in a PDF. Clearmargin reads it, categorizes it to the right Schedule C line, and queues an expense for you to approve. No typing.
Recipe and BOM costing with markup cascade
For florists, balloon artists, bakers, makers, and anyone who builds things: maintain materials lists with category-level markup. Update one stem cost or one foam-board price and every open quote refreshes. Snapshots lock in the cost at quote time so you can trust historical margin.
Rate cascading and minimum billing
Set rates per member, override per client, override per project. Add overtime, rush, or weekend multipliers. Configure minimum billable hours per rate type and billing increments — the way real consulting and on-site work actually bills.
Real REST API and signed webhooks
Scoped API keys, HMAC-signed webhooks for 30+ events, and a Zapier app with 8 triggers and 4 actions. Make, n8n, Slack, Discord, and Telegram already supported. Build on top of Clearmargin — actually.
How we stack up, at a glance
Eight competitors, the features that matter, all on one screen. Every cell verified against the competitor’s public pricing & feature pages.
| Feature | Clearmargin | HoneyBook | Dubsado | QuickBooks | FreshBooks | Bonsai | Moxie | Wave | 17hats |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price / mobest annual rate | $19 | $29 | $27.92 | $20 | $23 | $9/u | $10 | Free | $33.33 |
| AI assistant | limited | ||||||||
| Receipt & document scanning | expense receipts only | expense receipts only | receipts only | ||||||
| Per-client profitability | project-level only | Plus tier and above | budget tracking only | ||||||
| Proposals | Plus tier and above | ||||||||
| Contracts & e-signatures | |||||||||
| Invoicing | |||||||||
| Time tracking | separate add-on (QuickBooks Time) | ||||||||
| Mileage tracking | |||||||||
| Recipe / BOM costing | |||||||||
| Schedule C tax exports | Solopreneur tier only | generic tax reports | |||||||
| Client portal | basic | ||||||||
| Inquiry form | contact form | lead capture forms | |||||||
| Workflow automation | via Zapier | Premier only | limited | Pro+ | |||||
| REST API | limited | ||||||||
| Webhooks | |||||||||
| Unlimited clients | Premium tier only |
Payments without the markup
Clearmargin uses Stripe Connect with direct charges — your clients pay you directly. Just Stripe’s standard processing rates.
No platform fees. No per-invoice charges. No revenue sharing.
Already have data in QuickBooks?
Import your clients, invoices, and history in minutes. Read-only access — we never modify your QuickBooks data.
Start your free trialEvaluating a specific tool?
Direct, side-by-side comparisons with live pricing and feature data.
Clearmargin vs. HoneyBook
CRM polish meets the financials it is missing.
Clearmargin vs. Dubsado
Workflow power without the 1–2 week setup.
Clearmargin vs. QuickBooks
Run your business without learning bookkeeping.
Clearmargin vs. FreshBooks
Invoicing plus everything FreshBooks does not include.
Clearmargin vs. Bonsai
Per-organization pricing instead of per-user.
Clearmargin vs. Moxie
Same friendly UX, deeper financials and AI.
Clearmargin vs. Wave
Free is great until you need proposals, contracts, or AI.
Your clients get billed. You get paid.
It’s that easy.
14-day free trial. No credit card required.
Start free trial