Hello Bonsai Alternative for Platform Income, Not Client Contracts
Gross
Fees
Take-home
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Next month Estimate
Payout calendar
Sample data for illustration
The honest read
Bonsai is built for freelancers who bill clients, and within that job it is genuinely strong. Proposals, contracts with e-signature, time tracking, invoicing and client CRM all live in one place, which is exactly what a designer or consultant sending statements of work needs. Pricing is per user: Basic at $15 per user per month, Essentials at $25, Premium at $39, and Elite at $59 with a three user minimum, each cheaper billed annually at $9, $19, $29 and $49, as published. If your income arrives as invoices you send to named clients, Bonsai is a reasonable place to run your business and this page is not trying to talk you out of it. Platform income is a different shape and that is where the fit breaks. When your money comes from YouTube, Twitch, Etsy, Gumroad, Patreon, Shopify or Amazon, nobody is sending an invoice: a platform takes its cut first and deposits a netted number on its own schedule. Bonsai has no per-platform gross to fees to take-home view, no payout calendar that knows Twitch pays around the 15th while Gumroad pays every Friday and Amazon disburses every 14 days, and no way to see that a Gumroad Discover sale cost 30% while a direct one cost about 13%. You get client billing, not payout clarity. Earnly is the alternative built for that shape: twelve platforms on one board showing what you actually keep after fees, a payout calendar of expected pay dates, and a next-month forecast band that is always labeled an estimate, at $12 to $32 per month flat rather than per user. The honest split: Bonsai wins if you need contracts and proposals, Earnly wins if your income lands as platform payouts. Creators who do both often keep Bonsai for the client half and Earnly for the platform half. Earnly is an informational analytics tool; it is not a bank, and it does not give accounting or tax advice.
Side by side
Where the boards differ
| What you get | Earnly | Hello Bonsai |
|---|---|---|
| Per-platform gross -> fees -> take-home view | Yes | No |
| Payout calendar with expected pay dates | Yes | No |
| 12+ creator and seller platforms in one board | Yes | No |
| Next-month forecast (labeled estimate) | Yes | Client revenue only |
| Fee-leakage and below-threshold alerts | Yes | No |
| Proposals, contracts and e-signature | No | Yes |
| Client CRM and time tracking | No | Yes |
| Pricing model | Flat, from $12/mo | Per user, from $15/user/mo |
Comparison reflects published pricing and feature descriptions as of July 2026; both products change. Pick the tool that fits how you earn. See what the board looks like on the income tracker homepage, or start with the revenue dashboard.
Questions people actually ask
How much does Hello Bonsai cost?
Bonsai prices per user, per month: Basic at $15, Essentials at $25, Premium at $39, and Elite at $59 with a three user minimum. Billed annually those drop to $9, $19, $29 and $49 per user. Because it bills per seat, a two person studio pays double what the sticker suggests. Prices as published in July 2026.
Is there a free version of Hello Bonsai?
No. Bonsai has no free plan; it offers a time-limited trial and then requires a paid subscription. If you are comparing on price alone, note the per user model: Bonsai gets more expensive as your team grows, while Earnly is a flat $12 to $32 per month no matter how many platforms or people you track.
Does Hello Bonsai track income from YouTube, Etsy or Twitch?
Not as platform income. Bonsai is built around invoicing clients, so money you earn on a platform arrives as a plain deposit with no record of the fee taken out. There is no per-platform gross to fees to take-home view and no payout calendar for platform pay dates. That gap is the reason this page exists.
Can I use Hello Bonsai and Earnly together?
Yes, and plenty of people should. If you invoice clients and also earn on platforms, Bonsai handles the contracts and invoices while Earnly handles the platform payouts, fees and pay dates. They solve different halves of the same income. Earnly does not send proposals or contracts and does not try to.