RunwayDue vs HoneyBook

Pick HoneyBook if you want a client to choose a package, sign the contract and pay from one link, with scheduling, a client portal and automations around it. It does all of that better than RunwayDue, which does not attempt much of it.

RunwayDue is the HoneyBook alternative to pick if the gap is at the other end of the job: a profit and loss, a balance sheet and a view of signed work still to bill, for about half HoneyBook's entry price, taking payment through the processor you already use.

That is the comparison. The rest is why.

At a glance

Prices, fees and plan details on both sides were checked on 25 September 2026. HoneyBook was also advertising summer savings on annual plans that day without showing a sale price, so the table uses its list prices.

Who each one is built for

HoneyBook describes itself as an AI-powered client relationship platform for creatives, consultants, marketers and event professionals. Its centre of gravity is the booking: a lead comes in through a form, books a call, and receives one smart file in which they choose a package, sign and pay, with the contract and the invoice updating to match what they chose. It is shaped for a business whose hard part is turning an enquiry into a booked client.

RunwayDue is a deal-to-cash tool for service businesses with uneven revenue. It is shaped for a business whose hard part is knowing what the next six months hold and what the last twelve actually made. The category question underneath this one is in choosing software when your revenue arrives in lumps.

Where HoneyBook is ahead

A comparison that lists only its own strengths is worth nothing, so this comes first.

• One file from yes to paid. A HoneyBook client selects services, signs and pays in one file. In RunwayDue a client accepts a proposal by typing a name and clicking, can see optional items but not choose them, and pays outside the product. You press a button to turn the proposal into a contract.
• Payments built in. Cards, bank transfer, Apple Pay and Google Pay, autopay, payment plans, tipping, automatic late fees and, for eligible accounts, instant deposit. RunwayDue processes no payments and has no late fees.
• Templates, set up for you. A contract gallery HoneyBook describes as lawyer-approved, and a free service for subscribers that turns your existing documents into templates. RunwayDue has one editable starting agreement.
• The front of the funnel. Lead forms, questionnaires, a scheduler, a client portal and task management. RunwayDue has none of them.
• Automation and connections. Automations, Zapier, QuickBooks Online, Calendly and Zoom from Essentials, and a mobile app on every plan. RunwayDue has fixed automations only, no public API, no Zapier and no app.
• Room. Unlimited clients on every plan, where RunwayDue Pro stops at 25. Payment reminders even on Starter, where RunwayDue's need Pro or above and are off until you switch them on.
• Safety nets. A 30-day trial against 14 days, a 60-day money-back guarantee, and support by email and live chat seven days a week. HoneyBook says more than 100,000 businesses use it. RunwayDue launched in August 2026.

If one of those is why you are shopping, buy HoneyBook. Nothing below changes that.

What happens after the client pays

This is the part that is not a concession.

HoneyBook's pricing page, checked 25 September 2026, lists financial management as built in, in a table that sets it against QuickBooks. What its help centre describes is payment tracking, expenses (imported from your bank through Plaid on Essentials and Premium), a cash flow graph of payments received minus expenses, profit by project, and Tax Hub reports for payments, sales tax, refunds and fees. It also offers HoneyBook Balance, a business checking account with a debit card and savings buckets, on every plan; from Essentials, automatic tax categorisation of expenses paid with that card; and HoneyBook Capital loans for accounts that qualify. None of them is a set of books. The help centre says the Profit & Loss tool was retired on 18 September 2025, and none of the reports it lists is a balance sheet. For a full set of books HoneyBook connects to QuickBooks Online, which syncs HoneyBook payments and starts on Essentials, so the books live in a second subscription.

RunwayDue Pro keeps them itself: a chart of accounts, vendors, bills and expenses, and reports for profit and loss on an accrual or a cash basis, a balance sheet, cash flow, aged receivables and payables, a tax summary and income by client. They are built from the documents already in the product, so there is nothing to sync.

They are simplified books, and an accountant should hear that first: no bank feed, so expenses and bills are typed in and reconciling is a tick against each transaction; a balance sheet built from your documents rather than a general ledger, which the page itself says; no manual journals; and no payroll. If your accountant already works in QuickBooks, HoneyBook with its QuickBooks sync is the better pairing.

Getting paid: built in, or your own processor

HoneyBook takes card and bank payments itself. Its help centre says no third party is needed to process them, and that PayPal, Venmo, Stripe and other processors cannot be used with HoneyBook. On 25 September 2026 its pricing page lists card fees starting at 2.9% + 25¢ and bank transfers at 1.5%. The lower 2.7% + 10¢ the same page quotes is, on HoneyBook's payment processing page, the rate for tap to pay, which its help centre describes as in-person payment through the mobile app. Premium accounts processing more than $500,000 a year may qualify for lower card fees. Cash and cheque payments can be logged as paid with no fee. At the standard online card rate, a $4,000 invoice paid by card costs $116.25 in fees; by bank transfer, $60. HoneyBook's fee guide puts American Express, Discover and cards saved on file at 3.4% + 9¢, or $136.09 on the same invoice, although its pricing page, and a line in the same guide, say it charges no premium card brand fees.

RunwayDue processes nothing. You paste one payment link from the processor you already use, Stripe for example, and it becomes a Pay now button on the client's copy of every unpaid invoice. RunwayDue adds no fee, but your processor charges its own. The cost is real: a payment through the link does not mark the invoice paid, so you record it yourself, part-payments included, and no card on file, autopay or payment plan charges the client for you. If the invoice has to close itself when the client pays, choose HoneyBook.

Signing, and what a signed contract turns into

In HoneyBook, a contract sits inside the smart file. The client fills in any required fields and types or draws a signature, and you sign as well, before or after sending. The invoice can wait until the contract is signed.

RunwayDue sends a PDF for signature to several signers on private links 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. Neither method checks a signer's identity beyond the link, apart from an optional access code on PDF signature requests on Business. The detail is on how RunwayDue's e-signature works.

The chain is where the signature pays off. You convert a won proposal with a button, choosing a billing type, a start date and a term, and get a draft contract with a billing schedule whose monthly or quarterly instalments add up exactly to the proposal's subtotal, before tax and without its optional items. Once it is signed, either way, every unbilled row counts in the forecast as committed revenue, and each has a Bill it button that opens a pre-filled invoice for you to send. It does not bill itself.

HoneyBook's instalments are a payment schedule on the invoice that autopay can collect without you, which is more automatic. Its finance overview shows upcoming scheduled payments, and its Cashflow planner projects upcoming booked payments. What RunwayDue's forecast adds, and what we did not find in HoneyBook's help pages, is the proposals not yet won, each weighted by the probability you set and kept apart from money that is signed, invoiced or collected.

What the tiers cost for this job

HoneyBook's upper plans, checked 25 September 2026: Essentials is $59 a month, or $49 billed yearly, and adds unlimited scheduler sessions, automations, QuickBooks Online and Zapier, up to two team members, bookkeeper access and bank import. Premium is $129, or $109, for unlimited team members, multiple companies and priority support. Card fees come on top of every plan.

RunwayDue's plans and prices put Pro at $17 a month, or $15 billed yearly, for up to 25 clients and two people, with the books included. Past 25 clients you need Business, at $60 a month or $50 billed yearly, a dollar more than Essentials on either cycle, for 500 clients and 10 people.

Two honest readings. If the client experience is the job, Starter at $29 against Pro at $15, both billed yearly, is $14 a month for a lot of client-facing product RunwayDue does not have, and it is worth paying. If the books are the gap, the comparison is Essentials at $49 plus QuickBooks Online, against Pro at $15.

If you stop paying

Both keep your records. HoneyBook's help centre says a cancelled account keeps access to existing projects and information but can no longer create files or send messages. RunwayDue drops to Free: nothing is deleted, and you can keep working within Free's limits, without automatic reminders, recurring invoices, new expenses and bills, reports or self-service export. Your data is sent on request instead.

The honest summary

HoneyBook is the better product for the front of the job: the enquiry, the booking, the signature and the payment, in one file. RunwayDue is the better product for the back of it: a profit and loss and a balance sheet without a second subscription, and payment through the processor you already use, for about half the entry price.

If your clients book in one sitting and your accountant is happy in QuickBooks, stay with HoneyBook. If you keep asking what the business actually made and what is already signed for next quarter, RunwayDue is the HoneyBook alternative built to answer that.

If Dubsado is also on your list because you want the client side to run itself, read RunwayDue against Dubsado on workflows and self-charging instalments. If you bill by the hour or pay for software per person, Bonsai's per-person plans against RunwayDue covers time tracking and prices a team of three.

Frequently asked questions

Is there a cheaper or free alternative to HoneyBook?

HoneyBook has no free plan, only a 30-day trial with no card, and its entry plan, Starter, costs $36 a month or $29 a month billed yearly, with card fees on top. RunwayDue Pro costs $17 a month or $15 billed yearly and includes proposals, contracts, e-signature, invoicing and a set of books. RunwayDue's Free plan covers 3 clients, 5 invoices and 3 proposals or contracts a month, without the books, reports or reminders, and with e-signature only as a paid pack, $2 for one document. All of these prices were checked on 25 September 2026. No RunwayDue plan has HoneyBook's scheduler, client portal, lead forms or built-in card payments.

Did HoneyBook raise its prices?

Yes. HoneyBook's CEO announced the company's first-ever price increase in a letter on HoneyBook's own blog. The letter names no prices and, from its references to 2024 and 2025, appears to date from early 2025. On 25 September 2026 HoneyBook's pricing page lists Starter at $36 a month or $29 billed yearly, Essentials at $59 or $49, and Premium at $129 or $109. HoneyBook's help centre also notes that a promotional rate taken at sign-up renews at the regular price when the promotion ends, so check the renewal price rather than the first year's.

Can I use Stripe or PayPal with HoneyBook?

No. HoneyBook's help centre says you currently cannot use PayPal, Venmo, Stripe or other payment processors with HoneyBook, which processes card and bank payments itself; cash or cheque payments can only be tracked by hand. Its finance glossary does name Stripe as HoneyBook's own processor, which is not the same as connecting your account. On 25 September 2026 its pricing page listed card fees from 2.9% + 25¢ and bank transfers at 1.5%. RunwayDue works the other way: one payment link from Stripe, PayPal or another processor becomes a Pay now button on every unpaid invoice, RunwayDue adds no fee, and you record each payment by hand.

How do I export my data from HoneyBook?

HoneyBook's help centre, checked 25 September 2026, describes these downloads. Download spreadsheet, under Clients and then Contacts, gives a CSV of each contact's name, email, phone number, address, notes and created date. The Reports page offers monthly reports such as payments completed, monthly sales and projects, downloaded singly or in bulk, some only on Essentials or Premium. Tax Hub adds reports of payments processed, sales tax, discounts, refunds and fees. A cancelled HoneyBook account keeps access to existing projects and information, so signed contracts stay readable there. RunwayDue has no import of any kind, so clients, open invoices and live contracts are entered by hand, and the contact CSV speeds up the first of those.

Does HoneyBook have a profit and loss report?

Its Profit & Loss tool has been retired. HoneyBook's help centre says the tool was sunset on 18 September 2025 and that a cash flow graph of payments received minus expenses is now the main way to track net income. None of the downloadable reports in its reports guide or its Tax Hub is a profit and loss or a balance sheet: they cover payments, sales, bookings, leads, sales tax and fees. For full books, it syncs payments to QuickBooks Online on Essentials and Premium. RunwayDue Pro includes a profit and loss on an accrual or cash basis, a balance sheet, cash flow, and aged receivables and payables.