7 Oct 20266 min readBy Shaish Guni
Hello Bonsai pricing in 2026
Four plans, all priced per user: $15, $25, $39 and $59 a month, or $9 to $49 if you pay for a year up front. Here is what each one includes and what it costs once there is more than one of you.
The short answer
- Bonsai is priced per user, per month. There is no free plan, only a 7-day trial.
- Monthly billing: Basic $15, Essentials $25, Premium $39, Elite $59 (Elite needs at least 3 users).
- Annual billing: $9, $19, $29 and $49 per user per month.
- Proposals, contracts and invoicing start at Essentials, not Basic.
Every plan, side by side
| Plan | Monthly billing | Annual billing | Minimum users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Basic | $15/user/mo | $9/user/mo | 1 |
| Essentials | $25/user/mo | $19/user/mo | 1 |
| Premium | $39/user/mo | $29/user/mo | 1 |
| Elite | $59/user/mo | $49/user/mo | 3 |
USD, from hellobonsai.com/pricing, checked 7 October 2026. Taxes and payment processing fees are extra. If this has changed, tell us and we'll correct it.
What each plan actually gets you
Basic ($15, or $9 annually). Time tracking, task management, unlimited projects and clients, a CRM and the mobile apps. No proposals, contracts or invoices.
Essentials ($25, or $19 annually). Adds proposals and contracts, invoices and payments, all templates, forms and questionnaires, scheduling, the client portal, and expense and income tracking.
Premium ($39, or $29 annually). Adds a deals pipeline, project insights, workload management, a Gantt view, custom fields, client tasks and messaging, profit and productivity reports, removing Bonsai branding, and integrations (QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly, Google).
Elite ($59, or $49 annually). Adds custom permissions, timesheet locking, markup on expenses and custom data import. Sold with a three-user minimum.
The line that matters most for freelancers is between Basic and Essentials. Basic looks like the $15 entry price, but it can't send a proposal, a contract or an invoice. If you want to win the work and bill for it in the same tool, the realistic starting price is Essentials: $25 a month, or $19 on an annual plan.
What Bonsai costs for 1, 3 and 5 people
Because every plan is per user, the team size multiplies the bill. Monthly billing first, annual in brackets.
| People | Basic | Essentials | Premium | Elite | ApeiroCraft |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15 ($9) | $25 ($19) | $39 ($29) | — | $19 (Solo) |
| 3 | $45 ($27) | $75 ($57) | $117 ($87) | $177 ($147) | $19 (Solo) |
| 5 | $75 ($45) | $125 ($95) | $195 ($145) | $295 ($245) | $79 (Team) |
Per month, USD, list prices. “—” means below the plan's user minimum. ApeiroCraft is priced per account: Solo holds 3 people, Team holds 5, and there is also a free plan.
Is Bonsai worth the price?
For a solo freelancer who bills hourly, often yes. Bonsai's time tracking and expense and income tracking are real, and on an annual plan Essentials is $19 a month. If you want one tool that does the bookkeeping-adjacent work too, that's a fair price, and we don't offer time or expense tracking at all.
It gets harder to justify as soon as a second or third person needs access. Three people on Premium are $117 a month billed monthly. That is where flat, per-account pricing starts to win: our Solo plan covers three people for $19, and Team covers five for $79, with proposals, e-signature, read tracking, invoices, CRM and tasks on every plan.
We make ApeiroCraft, so read this as interested rather than neutral. For the full feature-by-feature comparison, including where Bonsai is better, see ApeiroCraft vs Bonsai. If you're shopping around, our list of Hello Bonsai alternatives compares eight tools on price and billing model, and the flat-rate vs per-seat breakdown does the arithmetic for bigger teams.
Bonsai pricing questions
- How much does Hello Bonsai cost per month?
- Billed monthly, Bonsai is $15 per user for Basic, $25 for Essentials, $39 for Premium and $59 for Elite. Billed annually the same plans work out to $9, $19, $29 and $49 per user per month. Prices checked on hellobonsai.com/pricing on 7 October 2026.
- Does Bonsai have a free plan?
- No. Bonsai offers a 7-day free trial with full access, then every plan is paid.
- Is Bonsai priced per user?
- Yes. Every Bonsai plan is priced per user per month, so the bill grows with each person you add. Elite also requires at least three users.
- Which Bonsai plan includes proposals and invoicing?
- Proposals, contracts, invoicing, the client portal and scheduling all start at Essentials ($25 per user monthly, $19 annually). Basic covers time tracking, tasks, projects and a CRM.
- What does Bonsai cost for a team of five?
- On Essentials, five people are $125 a month billed monthly or $95 billed annually. On Premium it's $195 or $145. For comparison, ApeiroCraft's Team plan is $79 a month flat for five people.