Bonsai’s all-in-one product suite with smart automation lets you focus on your passion, not your paperwork. Bonsai integrates and automates every step of your business so it runs seamlessly - from proposal to tax season.
Segment |
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Deployment | Cloud / SaaS / Web-Based, Desktop Mac, Desktop Windows, Mobile Android, Mobile iPad, Mobile iPhone |
Support | 24/7 (Live rep), Chat, Email/Help Desk, FAQs/Forum, Knowledge Base, Phone Support |
Training | Documentation |
Languages | English |
Conceptually it's very strong. It has all the features to run a creative business, unfortuantely I have a laundry list of problems.
Disappointed so far.... I'm having quite a bit of trouble, but I'm staying the course for now because conceptually this app fits my needs, but here's my problems so far: 1. Technical and Formatting Issues: • Inability to adjust certain images within the title page; automatic downscaling of images. • Images on mobile devices are cut off, stretched, or contorted. • Issues with image stretching and formatting in proposals, affecting visual quality. • Images often appear pixelated or of low quality when uploaded to the platform. 2. Customer Service and Support: • Slow response times (1-3 days) from customer service. • Partial or inadequate addressing of issues raised. • Unresponsive telephone support; calls go unanswered. 3. Billing and Pricing Transparency: • Double charged within a 30-day period. • Unclear additional charges for adding a partner and activating features. • Forced payment for account feature access. 4. Platform Functionality and Management: • Sent proposals don’t automatically move to the ‘sent’ column; manual adjustment required. • The cell phone app lacks editing capabilities and clarity on useful features. • No straightforward testing process for proposals; must send to self for testing. • Resets in white glove branding feature after account adjustments, leading to unintentional branding presence. • Inadequate preview functionality; does not fully display client’s view. 5. Delivery and Tracking: • Partial delivery of proposals to recipients. • Unreliable read receipt functionality. • No confirmation of proposal receipt or review by recipients.
Nothing yet.
Organization and that is it. I can get that with Design Files and other platforms and do not have to go through this inconvenient process of my funds being on hold.
Bonsai customer support is HORRIBLE and I honestly feel that it may even be AI generated because the responses does not resolve issues at hand or even the attempts to make customer happy are a fail. I also am disappointed with how payments are not processed in a timely manner even after showing proof of customer business to business relationship. I do not like not being able to talk to a live human to get the support that is needed. It is now October 9, 2023 and my funds have been on hold since October 5, 2023. This has caused a GRAVE inconvenience for me and my business and the issue is still not resovled even with my client attached to the emails. Update: After submitting all legal documents such as signed contract, floor plans and even the rules and covenant from the property of the projects I was hired to do, Bonsai wanted my clients facebook page to confirm my business with her even though she was attached on the emails, this is the response I recieve: Hello Sharina, Thanks for your patience here. We have re-enabled your account. Your payout is set to be released on Oct 17, per your Limited Payout schedule (7 days from date of payment). Your account was subject to a manual review process. I regret to inform you that we will not be able to provide you with our Bonsai Payments offering going forward. Your Bonsai Payments account is disabled, but you can keep using Stripe Payments or Paypal to collect payments from your customers. You will need to turn off your Bonsai Payments account first by clicking "deactivate acccount Thanks for your understanding, Dorian Bonsai Operations Dorian Bonsai Notice my client paid on October 5th and funds have been debitied from her account, it is now October 10th as of date of this review. Not only have they disable my account but they are not releasing my funds until October 17th. This is what AI Generated customer support is dong to LIVE PEOPLE! UTTERLY DISGUSTED AND THIS DORIAN IS INHUMANE!!!
They have not solved the problem but suggest they offer a refund which will delay the process of my funds being held up longer since the client states the funds have already been taken out through her bank.
- Customizable invoicing - Time tracking works well - It works really well if you don't have any employees (I have 5+ subcontractors and billing is a NIGHTMARE) - Integrates to Quickbooks Online
- No way to call them or get a hold of them - Very easy for clients to accidentally "double pay" - Subcontractor functionality does not make any sense, you can't review before your subs bill you how much they have been working - I am a credible agency but they blocked over $20k from client payments going to my bank account for ~2 weeks. Extremely frustrating and the team there doesn't seem to care at all. - Cannot be used for project management or be integrated with Monday.com.
Time tracking is nice with Bonsai because it syncs directly to the invoice to offer transparent billing to clients. Problems it's NOT solving is getting paid on time.
Time tracking. That's about after this expericne.
I have never experienced such bad customer service from any company and platform (especially a TECH company) as I have with Baonsai. My funds got put into a ghost account and I have sent so many emails and no response. When someone did eventually respond they closed the case. There is no assistance from their team on how to help me in this situation. The chat on their website does not work, no one responds, and it's an automated email. I will be canceling all my accounts with them. What tech company that is a payment software provider does not help their customers when they don't receive their funds?
Nothing - the worst customer service. If anything probably only the time tracking.
It allows me to manage my proposals, invoices and payments all in one place. I also like that I can manage my services, packaging, contacts. I also think the scheduling too, forms and expense tracking tools are handy as well.
I don't dislike anything but I wish that you could export your contacts and form responses into csv files.
It allows me to have all of the key things i need for my business in one place. It definitiely helps me track tasks, contracts, and proposals.
I like the template proposals that are offered for each type of project which I can engage in with my accounting clients.
At the current time, I do not have much I dislike.
Streamlining sending proposals to potential leads and keeping track of which potential clients are leads and which are clients
I can easily issue online-payable invoices from the account where my money sits in checking. It's extremely convienet and simple. Importantly, I can choose to pass the cc processing fee on to my client.
The graph that they display to chart income and expenses is hard to read, and not very helpful.
Bonsai serves a one-stop shop for running a small freelance business.
The ability to integrate with multiple SAAS's.
Lack being fully functional from the website.
It's helpful when it comes to generating invoices, integrating with Quickbooks and Harvest, also time tracking freelance worker hours.
Ease of creation of invoices and the ease of sending them to clients
Many features I don't use. Just needed a simple invoice creator
Creating invoices , sending reminders, managing invoices
Simple to use, creates a very professional experience for clients, and they keep adding new features all the time.
Some of the navigation is a little confusing at times and the mobile app isn't as powerful (full-featured) as the mobile web experience.
Creating proposals, contracts, and invoices. Bonsai has all of these plus more under one umbrella. You can keep track of all your clients and projects easily as well as track you business finances all from one app.
Bonsai is the most intuitive freelance tool I've ever used. I've used all the different freelancing tools out there from Quickbooks, AndCo, Square, Due, Invoicely, etc. and none compare to how feature-packed Bonsai is. It has all the features you would need to have a service-based business, including invoicing, time tracking, proposals, contracts, accounting (+tax estimates). It's the best tool for a Sole Proprietor by far without having to pay the annoying fees their competitors charge. It keeps me extremely organized.
I wish there were more support for non-Sole Proprietor users. I genuinely love using this tool, from the UI to all the different features, but the fact that if I scale my business, I'll eventually need to migrate off this to a more enterprise-supported tool like Quickbooks is unfortunate
I originally found Bonsai because I needed a tool to invoice my clients. I was new to starting my business, so doing this easy and fast was a priority of mine. When I signed up with Bonsai, I found that not only do they handle the invoicing, but they have a complete workflow for leads built-in. You can input a lead as a company and create multiple proposals, contracts, and invoices all under the umbrella so that you can manage multiple agreements and contracts. All of which is fully customizable, and their latest features allow you to automate the steps.
I like the customer service and how specific I can make everything.
I dislike that sometimes the software just doesn't work. I'll go to change an email or update a contact and it never saves.
Bonsai helped me have everything I need to run my business in one place. It seemed nearly impossible to do before I found it. The benefits are very specific to freelancers
I can run my tracking, invoices, expenses, and project management in one login.
Would be ideal if the subscription was billed in CAD, not USD.
Time Management and Expenses. I used to always lose hours or expenses associated with a client. With the clean Bonsai user interface, I can track my clients at all stages of the project.
The pre-packaged contracts/proposals and integrations with signatures.
I don't need Time Tracking or Task Management - other tools do a better job but I understand why Bonsai has them.
Keeping projects properly managed with milestone sign-off and transparent goals. I tie my sprints to invoices and get sign-off so we don't have any billing disputes.
We create, send and track online project proposals to potential clients easily. There are many templates and customizing features to make our proposals look professional and we receive feedback on progress of our proposals. We are able to track expenses on project, we get tax estimates and recurring payments are done automatically in the system. Bonsai is also available across platforms so we input data and get insights wherever we are.
Bonsai has so many hidden features that one to make full use of them needs to be trained and it costs us to train our staff.
We easily manage projects from online proposal creation, time tracking on a project, invoicing and expense tracking. Most of these are automated in Bonsai.
How easy it is to keep track of all my documentation related to projects and clients.
Honestly, not much! Would like venmo integration perhaps!
Contracts was a big one. Keeping track of all my invoicing is super helpful too when i have multiple clients.
Makes handling the legal and financial aspects of freelance work much easier.
Its a bit more expensive that I would like but worth the cost.
It helps me easily create proposals, contracts, and invoices as well as collect payments.
I like how easy it is to generate quotes, contracts, and invoices.
I wish the money tracking was a bit simpler to use.
I can easily manage my clients tasks and collect payments.
Bonsai has helped me streamline my business with contracts, proposals, time tracking and invoicing all in one spot. Automated invoice reminders are also super helpful. The user interface is very clean and easy to use, and the customisation options for branding are great.
I wish Bonsai had support for Australian banks as I need to add all my expenses manually, which is very time-consuming. Also, every time I download my invoice reports it downloads all instead of a date range. The pricing is quite expensive for Australian users due to the exchange rate.
Contracts, proposals and invoices all in the same spot. It has streamlined my process and made everything easy to access. Time tracking would be helpful if there was an option to track towards a project that has already been paid (ie. to see the hourly rate of the project), in addition to billable ones.
It is an all-around tool designed for freelancers! I loved all the of the great features, like billing & document creation but most importantly time tracking. Did I mention the beautiful UI!! I needed something fast and also had the option to be a desktop app. So far so good with Bonsai.
I didn't like the lack of language support. I work with clients all over the world.
Tracking the time for various clients.