Compare / HoneyBook
Raoura vs HoneyBook
HoneyBook raised prices by up to 89.5% in February 2025 and processes your payments itself, with a fee on every one. Raoura is $17 a month, flat, and your money goes to your own Stripe account. Here is what each of those sentences leaves out.
Disclosure. Raoura is our product. Read this the way you would read any vendor grading itself, and check HoneyBook's own pricing page rather than trusting either of us. HoneyBook's prices here were last checked in July 2026.
Side by side
| Raoura | HoneyBook | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $17 a month, one plan, every feature | Starter $36, Essentials $59, Premium $129 a month; $29, $49 and $109 on annual billing |
| Fees on payments | Stripe's published rate, passed through at cost. Raoura adds nothing | 2.9% + 25c per card payment and 1.5% per bank transfer, processed by HoneyBook |
| Free trial | 14 days, no card at any point | 7 days |
| Proposals | Templates, an AI draft, or upload your own PDF. Deposit charged the moment the client accepts | Yes, plus a marketplace of member-made templates |
| Contracts | E-sign with name, timestamp and IP in the audit trail | E-sign included |
| Invoicing | Deposits, payment plans, retainers that charge a saved card, late fees, reminders in your tone | Payment plans and reminders |
| Client portal | White label, on your own domain, magic-link sign-in with no client passwords | Included |
| Projects | Milestones the client approves and pays one at a time | Projects and a pipeline view |
| Scheduling | A book-a-call button from the Calendly or Cal.com you already use | Built in, with availability and reminders |
| Lead pipeline and automations | Light CRM stages. After a proposal is accepted the contract and invoice are prepared as drafts | Full pipeline with automations on inquiries |
| Team seats | None | On higher tiers |
| Time to first document | The same afternoon | Moderate. Powerful, but a lot of surface to set up |
A year of each
HoneyBook plan priced: Starter, the cheapest HoneyBook plan.
Raoura
$204
The only plan, any billing
HoneyBook, billed monthly
$432
Twelve monthly payments
HoneyBook, billed annually
$348
Paid up front
Before payment fees. Essentials, which most growing studios end up on, is $708 a year on monthly billing.
Where HoneyBook is better
We would rather you hear this from us than discover it after switching.
Scheduling is built in
Session booking, availability, reminders. Raoura puts your existing scheduler's link on the portal and proposals and stops there.
The template marketplace is real leverage
Years of contributed templates for photographers, planners and designers. Raoura ships its own templates and an AI draft, but there is no marketplace.
Lead pipelines with automations
If you run inquiries through a structured pipeline that fires emails and tasks, HoneyBook does that well. Raoura has client stages and prepared drafts, not a pipeline engine.
Team features
An assistant or a second shooter gets their own login on HoneyBook's higher tiers. Raoura has no seats at all.
Community and ecosystem
Facebook groups, educators, setup consultants. When you get stuck, someone has been stuck there before you. Raoura is new and cannot offer that yet.
Where Raoura is better
A price that stays put
One plan at $17 a month, the same at four clients and at forty. HoneyBook's Starter went from $19 to $36 in a single increase. Our price is in the URL of our pricing page and has not moved.
No cut of your payments
HoneyBook charges 1.5% on bank transfers with no cap, so a $5,000 invoice paid by bank costs $75. Through your own Stripe account the same transfer is 0.8% capped at $5. Card payments cost about the same either way; the bank fee is where the money goes.
Your money never passes through us
Payments go from your client to your own Stripe account. We never hold funds, so there is no payout schedule, no reserve, and nothing of yours frozen while a dispute is looked at.
White label and your own domain, included
Your logo, colors and fonts on the portal, served from portal.yourstudio.com, on the only plan we sell. Nothing anywhere tells your client that Raoura exists.
Works wherever Stripe does
Multi-currency invoicing and payouts in your own currency. If you are outside the United States, check HoneyBook's availability for your country before you build on it.
Who should pick which
Pick HoneyBook if
- You book clients into scheduled sessions and want the scheduler in the same tool
- You run a structured lead pipeline with automations on inquiries
- You have, or plan to have, team members
- You lean on the template marketplace and the community around it
Pick Raoura if
- You are one person and expect to stay that way
- Your workflow is proposals, contracts, invoices, projects and a portal, and you want exactly that
- You want one flat price and no fee on bank transfers
- You invoice in more than one currency or work outside the United States
Questions
Is Raoura cheaper than HoneyBook?
Yes, on every HoneyBook plan. Raoura is $17 a month flat, $204 a year. HoneyBook Starter is $36 a month, $432 a year on monthly billing or $348 on annual, before payment processing fees.
Does HoneyBook take a cut of payments?
HoneyBook processes payments itself and charges 2.9% plus 25 cents per card payment and 1.5% per bank transfer, as of July 2026. Raoura does not process payments. Your client pays into your own Stripe account at Stripe's published rate and Raoura adds nothing.
Does Raoura have a scheduler like HoneyBook?
No. Raoura puts a book-a-call button from the scheduler you already use, such as Calendly or Cal.com, on your portal and proposals. If you want booking built into the same tool, HoneyBook is the better fit.
Can I try Raoura without a card?
Yes. The trial is 14 days with no card at any point, and nothing to cancel. HoneyBook's trial is 7 days.
The long version
Try it on your next real proposal
Fourteen days, no card, nothing to cancel. Send one proposal, take one deposit into your own Stripe account, and decide with a real client instead of a feature table. $17 a month after that, flat.