Agency Handy VS. Bonsai

Explore Which One is Better: Agency Handy or Bonsai?

Both platforms bring unique strengths to the table, but the right choice depends on what matters most to your business.

• If you’re looking for a robust, all-in-one solution that covers everything from service listings to onboarding clients and getting paid, Agency Handy delivers exactly that.
• On the other hand, Bonsai is a good choice for individuals and growing agencies who need simple, effective tools for contracts, proposals, and invoicing.

Let’s break down which platform will best support your agency’s goals.

Agency Handy vs Bonsai: A Detailed Comparison

In this section, we’ll cover essential aspects like who these platforms are best suited for, where they excel, how user-friendly they are, managing tasks and clients, handling billing and invoicing, and pricing. 

Let’s get into the details to help you choose between Agency Handy and Bonsai.

Target Users

Agency Handy is ideal for growing agencies that handle large teams and multiple clients, offering up to 30 users at no extra cost. Bonsai, on the other hand, focuses more on freelancers and small teams.

If you’re running an agency or managing a larger team, Agency Handy offers a seamless experience with all the tools you need to keep things running smoothly. 

It supports up to 30 users without extra fees, making it ideal for businesses looking to scale affordably. 

Plus, its user-friendly design helps teams and clients navigate projects without hassle, enhancing overall efficiency.

On the other hand, Bonsai is a strong choice for creative agencies and small businesses. It’s simple, effective, and provides essential tools for contracts, projects, and invoicing. 

However, Bonsai has a user based pricing system, which can add up quickly if your team is growing. While it’s great for solo users or small groups, it may be limiting for agencies aiming to scale.

Client Acquisition

Agency Handy makes it easy to attract new clients with a shareable service catalog. You can show your services, including package options, so clients can browse and pick what suits them. In contrast, Bonsai doesn’t have a service catalog and focuses more on managing existing projects.

Agency Handy makes it easy for you to display your services clearly to potential clients. With a shareable catalog, your clients can view what you offer anytime. 

You can also organize each service into 3 packages, allowing clients to choose what fits them best. Whether they want a one-time service or a subscription, you can customize options to match their needs.

About pricing, you can decide whether to show or hide prices for each service, letting you tailor the pricing display based on your client. 

Additionally, create as many coupons as you want for each service. Whether it’s a fixed discount or a percentage off, you’re in total control. You can make it more exclusive by limiting who can redeem it and setting the perfect timing. With these discounts, your business gets a promotional boost to kickup sales.

When it’s ready, you can embed the catalog on your website or share it on social media for even more reach.

Additionally, clients can leave feedback directly in the catalog, which helps future clients understand your services better. These reviews add value and credibility, making it easier for new clients to decide.

On the other hand, with Bonsai, you can also list the services on your portal. This way your clients will get an overall view of what services your agency offers. 

You can categorize your services too. However, Bonsai’s service catalog doesn’t offer features like client reviews or customized pricing views.

Client Onboarding 

Agency Handy offers a smooth and customizable onboarding process with intake and order forms tailored to your needs. Bonsai also provides flexible forms, but they are more limited in customization options and integration with other tools. 

Agency Handy makes onboarding easy with customizable intake and order forms, helping you gather the right details at the right time. With the intake forms, you can get the client details and key order details that you require.

Whether it’s details about a specific service, a long-term subscription, or a custom project, you control what information to collect. This way, everything is clear from the beginning, so you won’t have to ask clients for more details later. It also lets you personalize the process to fit each client’s needs.

Agency Handy’s order and intake forms both help you gather essential client information, but the order form offers more. 

With the order form, clients can select services, add optional extras, and choose from upsell options. It enhances the experience without complicating the process. This flexibility makes it easy to tailor services directly within the form.

The order forms can also add terms and conditions, provide an e-signature, and choose payment methods—all in one simple process. 

You can decide when to use these forms, before or after payment, keeping everything smooth and efficient.

Bonsai, on the other hand, offers only intake forms. They don’t offer order forms. With Bonsai’s intake forms, you can collect necessary clients and order info at the start of a project. 

These forms have customizable fields, allowing you to ask specific questions and collect important details. You can add multiple-choice options or free-form answers, making it easy to tailor the form based on the project’s needs.

Order & Task Management

Agency Handy’s task management stands out with automated task creation and real-time client feedback with file annotations and version control. It makes project handling smooth and interactive. Bonsai, in contrast, offers Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and time tracking, great for progress tracking.

With Agency Handy, managing orders is simple. When a client buys a service, an order is created automatically, and preset tasks for that service are added instantly. This setup keeps projects moving without delay. 

Then, the task management system lets you easily assign tasks and track progress on the Kanban board, keeping everyone organized. The visual Kanban board lets you see task progress at a glance, keeping your team organized and on track. 

But the standout feature is automation—tasks are automatically created when orders are placed, and clients can get involved in the review process. 

Moreover, clients not only get updated on their order status, but they can also leave feedback, approve tasks, and stay updated on progress without delays or constant back-and-forth communication. 

Teams and clients can add file annotations and comments directly on shared documents, images, and videos. Version control lets you access detailed edit histories, and restore previous versions whenever needed. 

For added clarity, the activity log keeps track of every interaction. From annotations to edits, you’ll know exactly who did what and when, to ensure full accountability.

This not only saves time but also ensures that the project moves forward smoothly and efficiently. 

On the other hand, Bonsai also offers useful task management features like Kanban boards, Gantt charts, and time tracking. 

However, it lacks automatic task creation tied to orders and doesn’t allow clients to collaborate on tasks or share real-time file feedback.

Team Management

Agency Handy simplifies team management with 4 roles—Super Admin, Admin, Manager, and Assignee—offering clear, role-based access control. Bonsai, on the other hand, includes roles like Owner and Collaborator and allows custom permission profiles for granular control.

Agency Handy offers a robust team management system, enabling you to invite team members and assign specific roles. With these 4 roles: Super Admin, Admin, Manager, or Assignee you can fully control access within the platform. 

Each role comes with defined permissions; for instance, Admins have full access, while Assignees are limited to their assigned tasks. This structure ensures sensitive information remains protected, fostering efficient and secure collaboration.

In contrast, Bonsai provides team management with roles like Owner, Partner, Project Manager, and Collaborator. It offers the flexibility to create custom permission profiles, allowing for more granular control over what each team member can access.

For example, Collaborators may have restricted access to certain projects or documents, depending on the settings configured by the account Owner or Partner.

Client Management

Agency Handy offers a streamlined approach with tools like detailed client profiles, real-time collaboration with clients, and an integrated ticketing system. It lets you track and manage leads. Bonsai offers CRM features for organizing contacts, sharing files, and managing client interactions.

Agency Handy keeps client management simple and effective. With a client portal, you can track projects, chat with clients, and share files—all in one place. 

Once a client is onboarded, you’ll have an automated client profile ready including their recent order, invoices, and tickets. 

And the built-in ticketing system helps you resolve any issues right on the platform. It’s a blessing to get rid of all the unforeseen issues. Both clients and you can create tickets based on orders and assign accordingly. 

Lead management becomes effortless with user-friendly tools, including a Kanban-style sales funnel. Easily monitor leads as they move through each stage, giving you an actionable perspective on your sales pipeline. The visual approach simplifies organization and keeps everything on track.

Easily assign leads to specific team members, ensuring accountability and personalized follow-ups. Record essential details such as contact information, source, estimated value, last interaction, and more. It’s all in one place for quick access and seamless management.

On the other hand, Bonsai’s CRM offers a basic yet efficient setup. You get a client portal for communication, file sharing, and organizing contacts. Each client profile in Bonsai can be customized with essential details, such as project history, notes, and tags, keeping your contacts organized.

The platform also lets you store leads and make deals easily trackable. Its custom tagging helps prioritize leads by scoring their likelihood to convert, streamlining engagement strategies.

However, unlike Agency Handy, you can’t collaborate with clients in real-time using Bonsai. Moreover, it also lacks a ticketing system.

Integrations and Scalability

Agency Handy focuses on payment gateways and integration with Webhooks alongside unlimited workspaces. Bonsai, on the other hand, integrates with tools like Zapier, Calendly, and QuickBooks but lacks scalability features like unlimited workspaces.

Agency Handy simplifies integrations by focusing on what digital agencies need most: seamless payment processing and automation. 

With key payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, and Wise integrated, you can easily manage billing and payments without relying on external tools. 

It also supports Webhooks, allowing you to automate various tasks and streamline your workflows.

When it comes to scalability, it truly shines. You can create unlimited workspaces, each dedicated to a specific client or project. This feature is perfect for agencies managing multiple clients or teams, ensuring that everyone stays organized without cluttering one central workspace. 

Each workspace can have its members, tasks, and settings, giving you full control over how your agency operates. It’s a flexible, scalable solution designed to grow your business.

In contrast, Bonsai integrates well with tools like Zapier, Calendly, and QuickBooks. So it is a good option for freelancers who need basic integration with their existing tools. 

However, it lacks built-in payment gateways an multi-workspace support. While Bonsai works well for individuals or small teams, it may not offer the level of scalability that growing agencies require.

Billing and Invoicing 

Agency Handy simplifies the process with more automation and flexibility. While Bonsai provides useful invoicing tools with integrations like QuickBooks, it lacks native payment gateways. This makes the platform less convenient for agencies seeking seamless payments.

Agency Handy makes billing and invoicing easy and efficient for agencies. 

Once you have an order, you’ll get an automated invoice for that. With automated invoice creation, you can skip manual work and reduce errors. 

Besides that, you can customize invoices for manual orders as well, whether it’s one-time, subscription, or milestone basis. Plus, you can enable automatic payment reminders for both regular invoices and subscriptions. 

Design invoices to match your agency’s look, then send them on schedule with automatic payment reminders to keep things moving smoothly.

With its versatile time-tracking feature, you can log hours as they happen or manually add them later. Whether it’s for managing team productivity or creating client invoices, this tool guarantees accurate tracking for seamless hourly billing.

What makes Agency Handy unique is its integration with various payment gateways like PayPal, Stripe, Wise, and bank transfers. This flexibility lets you meet clients’ payment preferences, whether they use credit cards or direct deposits. 

Plus, setting up recurring payments is a breeze, which is perfect for managing long-term clients and subscription-based services.

On the other hand, Bonsai offers customizable invoices with features like payment reminders and late fees. It offers payment gateways like PayPal and Stripe.

Also, you’ll need to sync with third-party tools like QuickBooks or Xero for payment processing. This works well for freelancers or small teams who might already use these tools. 

However, it adds extra steps to the payment process for those looking for a more streamlined solution. But the time tracking feature for client billing is a nice addition. 

Customization and Branding

Agency Handy offers a fully customizable branding experience that alone makes it the best Bonsai alternative. It gives you white-label options, custom domains, and email customization on all plans. 

In contrast, Bonsai provides fewer customization options. It focuses more on simple branding elements like logos and colors, and these are only available on higher plans.

Agency Handy allows you to customize your client experience fully. From logos and color schemes to a personalized sign-in portal and custom domain, you have complete control over how your agency is presented. 

You can even customize the emails sent to clients, whether it’s a proposal, invoice, or task update. By customizing these interactions, your agency maintains a professional and cohesive look across all communications.

What sets the platform apart is its white-labeling feature available on all plans. This means you can remove the ‘Powered by’ logo, ensuring that your clients only see your brand. 

In contrast, Bonsai offers basic branding options like logos and colors, and you can use a custom domain for your workspace. 

Bonsai also offers some custom email settings. However, it doesn’t offer templates like Agency Handy. 

Moreover, these white-labeling features are only available on higher-tier plans. So, you can use them only if you upgrade. 

Pricing and Plans

Agency Handy offers plans starting at $49/month, designed for agencies of all sizes, with features like unlimited clients, orders, and workspaces. Bonsai starts at $21/month and is ideal for freelancers or small teams. It offers features such as proposals, contracts, and automation included in higher plans.

Agency Handy is designed to give you everything you need without hidden costs. 

Starting at $49/month, it provides access to all core features like task management, invoicing, and client portals, with no extra charges for essentials. Plus, with a 14-day free trial, you can test the platform without any commitment.

On the other hand, Bonsai starts at $21/month, offering features tailored to freelancers and small teams. 

With options to remove branding and access to advanced integrations like QuickBooks and Zapier, Bonsai provides a lot of value. 

However, additional users come at $10 per month, which can quickly add up as your team grows. 

While Bonsai’s premium plan includes features like resource planning and productivity reports, it lacks the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of Agency Handy’s all-in-one pricing.

Agency Handy vs. Bonsai: Which One Should You Choose?

Choosing between Agency Handy and Bonsai depends on your specific business needs. Here’s a simple guide to help you decide:

Choose Agency Handy if:     

• You need a service catalog to organize and present your services.
• You want to manage multiple clients and teams with no extra per-user costs.
• Customizable branding and email communication are important for your agency.
• You’re looking for multilingual support and a global client reach.
• You need seamless payment gateways integrated into your invoicing system.

Choose Bonsai if:

• You prefer simple project management with features like Kanban boards and Gantt charts.
• You need basic branding options and don’t mind paying for extra users.
• QuickBooks and Zapier integrations are key for your financial management.

Wrapping up 

Choosing the right platform comes down to your agency’s priorities. If you value flexibility, client management, and comprehensive branding tools, Agency Handy is the top choice. 

However, if you’re a freelancer or a small team focusing on simple project management and contracts, Bonsai could be a better fit. Decide based on the features that will streamline your work and support your business growth.