RunwayDue vs Bonsai

Pick Bonsai if you bill by the hour, want a ready-made template for every document, and need clients to pay by card the moment they say yes. On templates, payments, time tracking and tax help it is ahead of RunwayDue, and this page will not pretend otherwise. RunwayDue is the Bonsai alternative to pick if your revenue arrives in lumps and what you need to know is how much of the next six months is already signed: the chain from proposal to signed contract to dated instalments to invoice to books is what it is built around.

Every Bonsai figure below comes from Bonsai's own pricing page, product pages and help centre, checked 25 September 2026.

At a glance

Bonsai's plan prices come from its pricing page, where every plan is priced per person, and its other figures from its product pages and help centre; RunwayDue's come from its own pricing page. All checked 25 September 2026. Both checked 25 September 2026.

Who each one is built for

Bonsai is client and project management for agencies and consultancies, with billing attached. Its entry plan, Basic, is time tracking, tasks, projects and a CRM, with no invoicing. Invoices, payments, proposals and contracts start on Essentials, and the plans above add workload planning, a deals pipeline, utilisation and profitability reports and custom permissions. Every plan is priced per person, and the question it answers is are we spending our hours well.

RunwayDue has no time tracking, tasks or projects. It is a deal-to-cash tool that keeps money in order of certainty: collected, invoiced but unpaid, signed but not yet invoiced, and proposed, weighted by the chance of winning. The four are never added into one headline number, and the six-month forecast stacks the last three so the uncertain part stays apart from the certain part. The question it answers is what does August look like, and a way to put any tool to that question is in testing invoicing tools against a lumpy year.

The chain from proposal to instalment

This is the part that decides the comparison.

Bonsai's chain is well documented. When a client accepts a proposal, Bonsai can create an invoice for the accepted amount, combining whichever packages they picked, or take a deposit through Bonsai Payments and raise the remainder as a second invoice. A contract can require a deposit too, with different timing: a proposal cannot be accepted until the deposit is paid, while a contract shows the client a payment prompt after they counter-sign, and if they close it without paying, you send a reminder for the deposit invoice. On Premium, automations send an email, a form or a scheduling link when a contract is signed or a proposal accepted. Subscription invoices charge the client's saved card each cycle. Premium also forecasts revenue from its deals pipeline: each deal has a value, a stage with a win probability and a close date, and its value lands in the close month unless you spread it across months yourself.

One caution for a new account: Bonsai's help articles on packages, proposal invoices and deposits carry a notice that accounts created on or after 27 July 2026 use a newer document builder, whose own help article mentions neither packages nor deposits. Its proposals page still lists both, so check them during the trial.

RunwayDue's chain runs through the signed contract. A RunwayDue proposal carries a win probability and an expected close date, so it counts as weighted pipeline the day it is sent. The client accepts it on an unlisted link with a click and their name. A button turns it into a draft contract: pick a one-off payment, a monthly retainer or quarterly billing, a start date and a term, and RunwayDue writes a billing schedule whose instalments add up exactly to the proposal's value before tax. Milestones you enter yourself. Once the contract is signed, every unbilled row counts as committed revenue in the month it falls due.

A contract never bills itself. "Bill it" on a row opens an invoice filled in from that row, which you check and send, and the row moves from committed to owed, so the same dollar never sits in two layers at once.

What RunwayDue does not do here, and Bonsai does: the client cannot choose between packages, because optional items are shown but cannot be picked; accepting a proposal neither creates the contract nor takes a deposit; there is no rule builder, only fixed reminders, recurring invoices and status changes on signing; and RunwayDue processes no payments on invoices.

Signing, and what each one records

Bonsai contracts are signed inside Bonsai, with an optional co-signer and view-only copies for other people. Its document builder, for accounts created on or after 27 July 2026, can also import a PDF and add signature and initials fields for each recipient. We could not find a description of an audit trail or a certificate of completion in Bonsai's help centre. A post on Bonsai's blog says its e-signature tool creates an audit trail and adds document hashing, but the help centre does not document either. If that record matters to you, ask Bonsai what the signed PDF carries, and compare the answer with what a signing audit trail should hold.

RunwayDue sends a PDF for signature on private links, to one signer or several, and appends a certificate of completion with consent times, network addresses and the original file's SHA-256; an agreement written in its editor can instead be signed on a share link, with no certificate. The detail is on what a RunwayDue signing certificate records.

Books and tax

Bonsai tracks income and expenses on Essentials, importing expenses from a connected bank account or card through Plaid, which its help centre says covers most major financial institutions in the United States and Canada. That is fewer countries than Bonsai Payments serves. Its bookkeeping page describes profit and loss reporting, and its help centre describes a Profit & Loss report and an income and expenses section on the home dashboard. Premium adds project profitability reports and syncs invoice data to QuickBooks Online and Xero. Bonsai's invoicing page calls that sync two-way; its help articles describe invoices pushed from Bonsai, with an optional setting that brings a paid status back, although its Xero article also lists, among the integration's limitations, that invoice status updates from Xero are not reflected in Bonsai. We could not find a balance sheet, a cash flow statement or a chart of accounts on its pricing page or in its help centre.

Tax is where Bonsai is clearly ahead. Bonsai Tax, an add-on for US users, flags likely write-offs, estimates quarterly taxes and reminds you before each payment is due. We found no price for it on Bonsai's own pages. RunwayDue does none of this: no quarterly estimates, no write-off detection and no reminders before a tax payment.

RunwayDue's reports, on Pro, run on a chart of accounts with vendors, bills and expenses: profit and loss on an accrual or cash basis, cash flow, a balance sheet, aged receivables and payables, a tax summary and income by client. The balance sheet is built from the documents you enter rather than from a general ledger, and says so on the page. There are no manual journals, no bank feed and no import.

What each costs for this job

Bonsai, per person per month, checked 25 September 2026: Basic $9 billed yearly or $15 monthly, Essentials $19 or $25, Premium $29 or $39, and Elite $49 or $59 with a three-person minimum. Basic has no invoicing, so the working comparison is Essentials, which includes all templates, forms, scheduling for one event type and the client portal. Premium adds the deals pipeline, automations, profitability reports and the integrations, and removes Bonsai's branding. The trial is 7 days; Bonsai's help centre says starting it needs a card, while its pricing page words it as entering card details when the trial ends, if you have not already.

RunwayDue Pro is $15 a month billed yearly and includes two people; each extra person is $6 a month, as RunwayDue's plan table showed on 25 September 2026.

A year of yearly billing, Bonsai Essentials against RunwayDue Pro:

• One person: $228 against $180. A $48 gap is not a reason to move.
• Two people: $456 against $180.
• Three people: $684 against $252.

The caps run the other way. Bonsai lists unlimited clients and invoices. RunwayDue Pro stops at 25 clients and 250 documents a month, and each document sent for signature comes out of the same 250.

When you stop paying

Bonsai can pause a paid plan for one, two or three months with no charges, which suits a seasonal business and which RunwayDue cannot do. Cancel Bonsai instead and the account moves to a free Limited plan: past documents stay viewable, projects, tasks and time tracking carry on, and data can be exported, but no new invoice, proposal or contract can be created or sent.

RunwayDue drops to Free when a paid period ends. Nothing is deleted, anything already made can still be opened, sent and paid against, and 5 invoices and 3 proposals or contracts a month can still be raised. Reports, reminders, recurring invoices and self-service export stop, though the data is sent on request, and bills and expenses stay readable but cannot be edited or paid.

When Bonsai is the better choice

Pick Bonsai if you bill by the hour. Time tracking is on every plan, and from Essentials tracked hours can be attached to invoices. RunwayDue has no time tracking at all.

Pick Bonsai if you want a template for everything. More than 500 by its own count, contract templates it describes as vetted by contract attorneys, and your own published to the whole team. RunwayDue has one starting agreement with 11 merge tokens and a governing-law clause left blank for you to fill.

Pick Bonsai if the client should pay on the spot. Card and ACH on the invoice, deposits at acceptance, cards kept on file and a default late fee. RunwayDue processes no payments on invoices and has no late fees.

Pick Bonsai if you onboard clients through the tool. Forms and questionnaires, scheduling, a client portal and mobile apps, all included on Essentials. Bonsai's pricing page is inconsistent about the apps: the Basic plan card lists them, while its comparison grid starts them at Essentials. RunwayDue has none of them.

Pick Bonsai if it has to connect to things. QuickBooks, Xero, Zapier, Calendly and Google on Premium, plus CSV import, a public API and an MCP server. RunwayDue has no API, no integrations and no import.

Pick Bonsai if you need a track record. It shows more than 1,000 reviews on its pricing page, describes itself as a Zoom company, and requires two-factor sign-in on every account. RunwayDue launched in August 2026, has no reviews to point to, and has no two-factor authentication.

The honest summary

Bonsai is the broader product for running the work: the hours, the tasks, the templates, the payment, the onboarding, and the tax estimate at the end of the quarter.

RunwayDue is the narrower product for the money on either side of the work: the proposal not yet won, the contract signed but not billed, a forecast made from both, and a set of books underneath. For one person the price gap is small; for two or three, RunwayDue costs less than half as much. If your hours are the product, that trade is a bad one. If the signed contract is, it is the one worth making.

Three kinds of reader are better served by another comparison. If you bill by the hour but want accounting rather than project management, read the FreshBooks comparison: FreshBooks tracks time on every plan (checked 25 September 2026). If you want a client to pick a package, sign and pay from one link, start with RunwayDue against HoneyBook. If what you want automated is the client side, from the enquiry form to the welcome questionnaire, how Dubsado's client automation compares is the closer match.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a cheaper alternative to Bonsai?

It depends on how many people you pay for. Bonsai Essentials, the first Bonsai plan that sends invoices, was $19 a person a month billed yearly or $25 monthly when checked on 25 September 2026. RunwayDue Pro was $15 billed yearly or $17 monthly for two people, plus $6 for each extra person. Over a year that is $228 against $180 for one person and $684 against $252 for three. Current RunwayDue prices, including the free plan, are on RunwayDue's price list.

How do I export my data from Bonsai?

Bonsai exports account data as CSV files, one data type per file, from the Data section of Company Settings: invoices, projects, tasks, expenses, companies, company addresses and time tracked (help article of 12 June 2026, checked 25 September 2026). Its pricing grid lists data exports on every plan, and a cancelled account on the free Limited plan can still export. Each signed contract can be downloaded as a PDF. RunwayDue has no import of any kind, so moving means entering clients, open invoices and live contracts again by hand; keep the Bonsai export as your archive and move only work still in progress.

What does Bonsai charge for card payments?

Through Bonsai Payments, available in the US, Canada, the UK and Australia, Bonsai charges 2.9% + $0.30 for most credit and debit cards, 3.25% + $0.30 for American Express, and 1% for ACH bank transfers with a $1 minimum. Instant payouts add 1.5%, and a Bonsai Payments or Stripe invoice in a currency other than your payout country's adds a 2.5% foreign-exchange fee; a client abroad paying in your own currency does not trigger it. Where Bonsai Payments is available, taking payment through Stripe or PayPal instead adds a 1% platform fee, or 1.35% on American Express through Stripe. All of this is from Bonsai's help centre, checked 25 September 2026. RunwayDue processes no payments on invoices: the client's copy shows your bank details and, if you add one, a "Pay now" button that opens a payment link you created yourself, in Stripe for example, and you record the payment by hand.

Does Bonsai estimate quarterly taxes?

Yes, through an add-on. Bonsai Tax, available to users in the United States, flags likely write-offs, estimates quarterly taxes and sends reminders before tax payments are due, according to Bonsai's help centre (article dated 29 May 2026) and its Bonsai Tax page, checked 25 September 2026. We found no price for the add-on on Bonsai's own pages. RunwayDue does not estimate, prepare or file income tax: it has no quarterly estimates, no write-off detection and no reminders before a tax payment. On US sales tax it applies the rate you type on each line and looks nothing up, as set out in what RunwayDue does and does not do with US sales tax.

Can I pause my Bonsai subscription?

Yes. Bonsai lets you pause a paid subscription for one, two or three months, with no charges during the pause, after which it resumes on its own (help article of 25 August 2026, checked 25 September 2026). Cancelling instead moves the account to a free Limited plan that keeps past documents viewable and lets projects, tasks and time tracking carry on, but will not create or send new invoices, proposals or contracts. RunwayDue has no pause; a workspace that stops paying drops to Free, keeps everything, and can still send 5 invoices and 3 proposals or contracts a month.

Is Bonsai better for freelancers who bill by the hour?

Yes. Bonsai tracks time on every plan, attaches tracked hours to invoices from Essentials, and reports on utilisation and profitability on Premium, according to its pricing page, checked 25 September 2026. RunwayDue has no time tracking; it is built for fixed-fee, retainer and milestone work billed from proposals and contracts. If most of your invoices are hours multiplied by a rate, RunwayDue is the wrong tool.