Comparison · For web designers · 9 tools
Best proposal software for web designers in 2026.
Eight tools that fit how site builds are sold and paid for, plus ours. Not ranked, because we make one of them.
Who wrote this
ApeiroCraft publishes this page and makes one of the nine tools on it. So nothing is ranked, what each competitor is and when to choose it are quoted word for word from the comparison page it links to, and a section below lists where a competitor is the better buy for a web designer. Some of these tools cost less than ours for one person, and the page says which.
What is the best proposal software for web designers?
The right proposal software for a web designer depends on how the site is billed. If you charge by the hour, a suite with time tracking such as Bonsai, Moxie or Plutio keeps the timer and the invoice together. If you quote fixed fees paid in stages, look for a payment schedule the client signs and a deposit invoice that follows from it. If you only need the document, Nusii and Prospero do proposals and nothing else.
This page is published by ApeiroCraft, which makes one of the nine tools listed. Nothing is ranked; tools are listed alphabetically, and every description of a competitor is quoted from the head-to-head comparison it links to.
What matters when you sell websites.
Four questions decide the shortlist before any feature list does. Answer them first and most of the tools below rule themselves in or out.
Staged payment, not one invoice
A build is usually a deposit, a payment at design sign-off and a balance at launch. Check whether the tool keeps that schedule in the proposal the client signs, or whether you rebuild it in an invoicing app.
Hourly or fixed fee
If you bill hours, time tracking that feeds the invoice matters more than any proposal feature. If you quote fixed project fees, it barely matters at all.
How the bill grows
A solo designer is cheapest on a per-user plan. A studio that adds a developer or a project manager pays for each seat. Price the headcount you expect in a year, not today's.
Proposal only, or proposal to payment
Proposal specialists stop at the signature. That's fine if your invoicing app is settled, and one more hand-off to retype if it isn't.
Eight tools a web designer might trial.
Alphabetical, not ranked. Each card says why the tool is here for a web designer, then quotes its own comparison page on what it is and when to choose it.
Dubsado
client management for creatives
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a studio that wants the whole client journey — onboarding sequence, forms, proposal — automated once and reused for every build. The trade-off is setup time before the first proposal goes out.
- Choose it if
- Your business runs on deeply customized automated workflows (multi-step onboarding sequences, conditional form logic).
- Price
- $335/yr Starter (~$28/mo); $525/yr Premier (~$44/mo); 3 additional users free
- Billing
- Per account, billed annually
- The cap that bites
- Setup: workflows take days to weeks to build before the first proposal
Prices checked October 2026
Hello Bonsai
the freelancer suite
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a designer who bills site work by the hour, because the timer feeds the invoice. If you quote fixed project fees, check the tier first: proposals, contracts and invoicing are not on the cheapest plan, and every extra person is another seat.
- Choose it if
- You bill hourly and need built-in time tracking tied to invoices.
- Price
- $15–$59 per user/mo, or $9–$49 per user/mo billed annually · $195/mo for five people
- Billing
- Per user
- The cap that bites
- Proposals, contracts and invoicing start at the $25 Essentials tier; Elite needs 3 users
Prices checked October 2026
HoneyBook
clientflow management for independents
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a US-based designer who wants scheduling and payment plans in the same flow as the proposal, which covers the staged-payment problem. Check its availability and per-payment card fees below before you commit.
- Choose it if
- You're US-based and want HoneyBook's built-in scheduling and payment plans in one flow.
- Price
- $36–$129/mo billed monthly ($29–$109 billed yearly)
- Billing
- Per account, plus a cut of every card payment
- The cap that bites
- Card processing through HoneyBook: from 2.9% + 25¢ per payment on its plan table, from 2.7% + 10¢ in its fees section (ACH 1.5%); available only in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia
Prices checked October 2026
Moxie
an all-in-one workspace for solo freelancers
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a solo designer for whom price decides it. Its tiers stop at five people, so a studio planning to hire past that should price the move now rather than later.
- Choose it if
- You're solo, budget is the deciding factor, and $12/month is the number that has to work.
- Price
- $12/mo Starter, $25 Pro, $40 Teams ($10/$20/$32 billed annually) · $40/mo for five people
- Billing
- Flat per account
- The cap that bites
- No tier holds more than five people — a sixth hire means changing platform
Prices checked October 2026
Nusii
focused proposal software for creative freelancers and agencies
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a designer who wants a proposal tool and nothing else. There is no invoicing, so the deposit invoice goes out from whatever app you already use.
- Choose it if
- You want proposals and nothing else, and a tool that adds CRM or invoicing feels like clutter.
- Price
- $49/mo Agency (3 users); $129/mo Business (5 users) · $87/mo for five people
- Billing
- Per account, with a fixed number of users included
- The cap that bites
- Proposals only — no CRM, no invoicing
Prices checked July 2026
Plutio
all-in-one business management
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a designer who wants the client experience white-labelled under their own domain. Watch the entry plan's active-client cap if you run several small builds or care plans at once.
- Choose it if
- You want to white-label the entire client experience under your own domain (Plutio sells this as an add-on).
- Price
- $19/mo Core, capped at 9 active clients; $49 Pro; $199 Max
- Billing
- Per account, tiered by client count
- The cap that bites
- 9 active clients on the entry plan; white-labelling is a $9/mo add-on on Core and Pro
Prices checked October 2026
Prospero
a low-cost, proposal-only tool for freelancers
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a solo designer who only needs software for the proposal and will prepay a year. Like Nusii it has no invoicing, so deposits and launch payments are handled elsewhere.
- Choose it if
- Proposals are genuinely the only thing you need software for, and you're one person willing to prepay a year at ~$12/month.
- Price
- $19 per user/mo, or ~$12 per user/mo prepaid annually · $95/mo for five people
- Billing
- Per user
- The cap that bites
- Proposals only — no CRM, no invoicing
Prices checked October 2026
Qwilr
interactive web-page proposals for sales teams
- Why it’s on this list
- Fits a studio whose proposal is itself a showcase: a web-page proposal with embedded video and interactive quotes. It is billed per user and its higher tiers have minimum user counts, so it suits a sales-led studio more than a solo designer.
- Choose it if
- The proposal itself is your pitch: embedded video, interactive quote builders, and ROI calculators are worth paying per seat for.
- Price
- $35 per user/mo billed annually, $49 monthly (Starter) · $175/mo for five people
- Billing
- Per user
- The cap that bites
- Growth ($55/user) needs 5 users and Scale ($75/user) needs 10, both annual-only
Prices checked October 2026
And the one we make.
Listed last rather than first, for the obvious reason.
ApeiroCraft
proposals, e-signature, invoicing and CRM on one flat workspace price
- Choose it if
- You quote fixed project fees in stages. Add a payment schedule to the proposal — on signing, on completion of a phase, or on a date — and the on-signing stage becomes an invoice the moment the client signs; later stages are invoiced from the same proposal. Invoices carry your own payment link.
- Price
- Free plan (3 proposals a month), then $19/mo Solo for up to 3 people · $79/mo for a team of 5
- The cap that bites
- No time tracking at any tier, no client portal with logins, and plans hold a fixed number of seats rather than unlimited ones.
Where ApeiroCraft is the wrong answer for a web designer.
If one of these is you, something else on this page is the better buy, and the line says which.
- You bill site work by the hour. There is no time tracking here at any price; Bonsai, Moxie and Plutio have it.
- You're one person and price decides it. Moxie starts at $12/mo and Prospero is about $12/mo prepaid annually, both under ApeiroCraft's $19 Solo plan.
- You want clients to log in to a portal under your own domain. Plutio sells white-labelling as an add-on; ApeiroCraft has no client logins.
- Your proposal has to be a showcase in its own right, with embedded video and interactive quotes. Qwilr builds that kind of document.
- You need discovery-call scheduling or intake forms in the same product. Dubsado and HoneyBook are built around exactly that.
How this list was put together.
This is a slice of the full proposal software roundup: the tools from it that fit this reader, plus ApeiroCraft. The ones left out are still compared there, grouped by what they are.
What each tool is, and the reason to choose it, are quoted word for word from that tool’s comparison page; a build check fails the deploy if either drifts. The “why it’s on this list” line is ours, and restates facts from the same page for this reader.
Prices are list prices in USD excluding tax, read off each vendor’s own pricing page by hand, with the month shown on each card. There are no star ratings, scores or rankings: a vendor scoring its own competitors is not evidence.
Common questions.
Which proposal software handles deposits and staged payments?
Check two things on any trial: whether the payment schedule is part of what the client signs, and whether the deposit invoice is created from it or retyped. HoneyBook's own comparison page names its payment plans as a reason to choose it. In ApeiroCraft the on-signing stage becomes an invoice when the client signs. Nusii and Prospero have no invoicing, so the deposit goes out from another app.
Milestone payment schedule template →Is anything here cheaper than ApeiroCraft for one designer?
Yes. On list price, Moxie ($12/mo Starter) and Prospero (about $12/mo prepaid annually) are both under ApeiroCraft's $19 Solo plan. Neither is the whole job: Prospero has no invoicing, and Moxie's tiers stop at five people. ApeiroCraft's free plan sends 3 proposals a month if you want to compare before paying anyone.
Every price, side by side →Is this list ranked?
No, deliberately. ApeiroCraft publishes this page and makes one of the tools on it, so any ranking we produced would be our own preference presented as a finding. Tools are listed alphabetically, and the structured data marks the list unordered so software reads it the same way.
The full roundup, all fifteen tools →Is there a free web design proposal template?
Yes, two. The web design proposal template covers goals, scope boundaries, a week-by-week process and staged pricing. The Webflow template adds CMS collections in the scope, who pays for the site plan and hosting, and a care-plan option.
Free Webflow proposal template →If staged, flat-priced proposals are the fit, try it free.
No card. Start on 14 days of Solo, then keep sending 3 proposals a month on the free plan, with a payment schedule on every one.
Go deeper on any of this
Solution
ApeiroCraft for web designers
A staged payment schedule in the proposal, and a deposit invoice the moment the client signs.
Free template
Web design proposal template
Goals, scope boundaries, week-by-week process, and staged pricing that stops scope creep.
Comparison
Best proposal software in 2026
Fifteen tools grouped by what they actually are. Not ranked, because we make one of them.