For photographers
Invoicing and contracts for photographers
Take the deposit before the shoot and the balance after it, without paying $36 a month for the privilege.
Right now you probably use HoneyBook at $36 a month, Dubsado at $20, or a folder of Word documents and a PayPal link.
How a job runs
- 1Enquiry. Someone asks what a half-day costs. You send a package with two or three tiers.
- 2Deposit. They pick a tier and accept. The deposit is charged there and then, by card.
- 3Contract. The shoot agreement goes out and comes back signed, with a timestamp and an IP on the record.
- 4Shoot. Your bit. Raoura does nothing here, and should not.
- 5Balance. Final invoice goes out. If it is late, Raoura chases it in your tone, not ours.
What it looks like
What it fixes
HoneyBook put its Starter plan up to $36 a month, and the price rises again as you grow.
One flat plan at $17 a month, the same at four clients and at forty. Card fees go straight to Stripe at cost and we never add a cut. That is the whole price.
The deposit and the contract live in different tools, so a booking is not really confirmed until you have chased both.
Accepting a package charges the deposit and can prepare the contract in the same step. One link. One action. Done.
Clients pay late and chasing them by hand feels rude, so most photographers stop doing it.
Reminders go out before the due date, on it, and after, written in the tone you choose. You can pause them per invoice when a client has a reason.
What we call things
The app does not use every word you do. Here is the translation, so nothing is a surprise after you sign up.
- Package
- ProposalA priced document the client accepts with one click.
- Booking deposit
- Deposit on acceptCharged the moment they accept.
- Client
- Client
Does it deliver galleries?
No. Pixieset and Pic-Time already do that well and we are not going to do it worse. Raoura handles the money and the paperwork around the shoot, and it costs less than the gallery tool you already pay for.
What Raoura will not do
- No image galleries or client proofing.
- No calendar or booking availability. Raoura sends a booking link, but the diary lives elsewhere.
- One login. If a second shooter needs their own account, this is the wrong tool.
Questions
Can I take a booking deposit before the shoot?
Yes. Set a deposit amount on the package and it is charged by card the moment the client accepts, before anything is in the diary.
Do you take a percentage of what I get paid?
No. Payments go from your client to your own Stripe account. You pay Stripe's normal fee and nothing to us on top.
What happens when my client pays late?
Raoura sends reminders on a schedule you set, and stops the moment they pay. If the invoice has never even been opened it asks whether it arrived instead of asking for money, because an unopened invoice is usually a wrong email address.
Free tools, no signup
Free Invoice Generator
Make a clean, branded invoice PDF in a minute. No signup.
HoneyBook Savings Calculator
See what you'd save switching from HoneyBook to a $12 flat plan.
Payment Reminder Email Templates
Polite-to-firm scripts for chasing unpaid invoices. Fill in and copy.
Free Service Contract & Agreement Generator
Generate a clean, custom client service agreement PDF in seconds.
Built for one person doing the billing
If you are the only one sending the invoices, Raoura is $17 a month, flat, whatever you send and however many clients you have. Payments go straight to your own Stripe account and we never take a cut. Fourteen days free, no card.