Bonsai
Bonsai brings projects, client workflows, and billing together for service businesses.
What Bonsai is
Bonsai brings projects, client workflows, and billing together for service businesses. Client tools include CRM, deals, estimates, proposals, contracts, retainers, forms, a client portal, and scheduling. Project management covers tasks, Gantt charts, time tracking, budgets, timesheets, reports, and resource planning. Financial features include invoicing, payments, rate cards, expenses, forecasting, and accounting integrations. Its API covers contacts, companies, deals, projects, tasks, subtasks, comments, time entries, and invoices. Bonsai lists apps for iPhone, Android, and Mac OS, as well as access through its website. Plans are billed monthly per user: Basic is $15.00, Essentials $25.00, Premium $39.00, and Elite $59.00. A 7-day free trial provides full access, but payment details and a plan are required to continue afterward. Bonsai says it enforces multifactor authentication and least-privilege access, and achieved SOC 2 Type II compliance on July 3, 2025.
Good
- Combines client, project, and financial tools.
- Includes time tracking and expense tracking.
- Offers iPhone, Android, Mac, and web access.
- Seven-day trial provides full, unlimited access.
- Paid subscribers can contact support in-app or by email.
Watch out
- No free plan.
- Continuing after the trial requires choosing a plan and entering payment details.
- Elite requires at least three users.
Who it suits
Bonsai suits freelancers and service-business teams that want client, project, and financial workflows in one platform. Its range of roles includes leadership, operations, project managers, and team members.
Verdict
Bonsai covers a broad set of service-business workflows, with features and monthly per-user plans that expand by tier. Consider the trial and plan requirements, especially Elite's three-user minimum, when assessing fit.
Plans and prices
From Bonsai's own pricing page, checked 14 Oct 2026.
| Plan | Price | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| Basic | $15 a month | Time tracking · Task management · Unlimited projects · CRM · Service library · iOS & Android app · Unlimited clients · $15/user/month; $9/user/month if paid annually |
| Essentials | $25 a month | Everything in Basic · Invoices & Payments · Proposals & Contracts · Templates · Forms · Scheduling · Client portal · Expense tracking · Income tracking · $25/user/month; $19/user/month if paid annually |
| Premium | $39 a month | Everything in Essentials · Project insights · Workload management · Gantt view · Deals pipeline · Custom fields · Client tasks and messaging · Profitability reports · Integrations · Remove Bonsai branding · $39/user/month; $29/user/month if paid annually |
| Elite | $59 a month | Everything in Premium · Custom permissions · Timesheet locking · Expense markups · Custom data import · 3-user minimum · $59/user/month; $49/user/month if paid annually |
The facts
Each one read from Bonsai's own pages, with the date it was checked.
What it does
- API
- The Bonsai API covers contacts, companies, deals, projects, tasks, subtasks, comments, time entries, and invoices.checked 4 Oct 2026
- API authentication
- Developers can use account API keys or OAuth 2.1 authorization-code flow with PKCE, with permissions limited by the Bonsai member's access.checked 14 Oct 2026
- API limits
- API quotas are 600 requests per minute and 10,000 per hour overall, with writes limited to 120 per minute.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Client workflow
- Client management features include CRM, deals, estimates, proposals, contracts, retainers, forms, client portal, and scheduling.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Contracts and proposals
- Bonsai provides reusable contract and proposal templates, editable document building, signature fields and downloadable PDFs.checked 14 Oct 2026
- CRM
- The product includes CRM records, pipeline management, contacts, companies, email and calendar synchronization, search and custom views.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Data protection
- The trust center lists encrypted data controls, restricted production access, maintained inventories, password policy, MDM and AWS, DigitalOcean, Heroku and Crunchy Data subprocessors.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Financial management
- Financial tools include invoicing, payments, rate cards, budgets, expenses, forecasting, and accounting integrations.checked 4 Oct 2026
- Hosting model
- TrustRadius lists Bonsai's deployment type as SaaS and its mobile applications as iOS and Android.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Integrations
- Official integration resources cover QuickBooks Online, Xero, Zapier, Calendly, Gmail, Outlook, Zoom, HiBob and a Bonsai MCP server.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Invoicing and payments
- Bonsai supports invoice creation, online payments, recurring billing, payment reminders and payment-method processing fees.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: advanced management depth
- GetApp reviewers say advanced project-management and reporting capabilities are less robust than dedicated tools and support feedback is mixed.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: customization and automation
- GetApp's review summary says some users find customization limited and automation confusing.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: mobile feature gap
- An Apple reviewer says the mobile app cannot create proposals, contracts, projects or clients and is mainly useful for invoicing and marking invoices paid.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Limit: payment holds and bugs
- Apple App Store reviewers report glitchy interfaces, login problems and an account freeze that held funds during identity verification.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Mobile downloads
- Bonsai publishes separate iPhone, macOS menu-bar time-tracker and Android applications.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Praise: ease and consolidation
- Independent reviewers repeatedly praise the intuitive interface and the ability to combine invoicing, contracts, proposals, payments and time tracking in one system.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Praise: support
- Trustpilot reviewers frequently describe Bonsai support representatives as fast, professional and helpful.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Product
- Bonsai consolidates projects, clients, and billing in a platform for service businesses.checked 4 Oct 2026
The company
- Company founding and headquarters
- Crunchbase says Bonsai launched in 2015 and is based in San Francisco, California.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Company legal name
- Crunchbase identifies the company as Bonsai Technologies Inc.checked 14 Oct 2026
- Company size and funding
- Crunchbase lists 11–50 employees and a pre-seed round led by Y Combinator.checked 14 Oct 2026
Money
- Plan limitation
- Elite requires a minimum of three users.checked 4 Oct 2026
Where it runs
- Platform apps
- Bonsai lists apps for iPhone, Android, and Mac OS, alongside use through its website.checked 4 Oct 2026
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