Dubsado Pricing: True Annual Cost After Setup, Overages, and Payment Fees

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Updated: July 25, 2026. All Dubsado pricing verified and cross-referenced against TrustRadius, G2, and verified buyer reports. Most comparison articles still show the pre-December 2025 rates of $20/$40 per month. Those figures are outdated. Verify directly at Dubsado before purchasing.

Dubsado Pricing at a Glance

TSA Verdict: Dubsado pricing is straightforward at the solo level and becomes complex the moment a team grows past three users or manages multiple client brands. Premier at $525/year is the only plan with operational value for agencies. Starter is a contract and invoicing tool with no workflow intelligence. The user add-on fees are the hidden multiplier that most Dubsado pricing articles do not model clearly, and payment processing through Stripe adds a variable cost layer that scales directly with revenue volume.

Dubsado restructured pricing in December 2025. The old Starter at $20/month and Premier at $40/month are the rates still appearing across the majority of comparison sites, review aggregators, and pricing guide articles as of July 2026. Both figures are wrong for new subscribers. The current Dubsado pricing is Starter at $35/month and Premier at $55/month on monthly billing. Annual billing brings those to $335/year and $525/year respectively.

The December 2025 restructure was not accompanied by a public announcement or press release. It was a quiet pricing update that existing customers discovered at renewal or when checking the pricing page after a hiatus. This matters for TSA readers because any Dubsado pricing comparison you find that references $20/$40 monthly rates is comparing against a plan that no longer exists for new purchases.

The Dubsado Pricing Plans: What Each One Actually Covers

Starter: $35/Month or $335/Year

Dubsado Starter is the plan that sounds complete and delivers half the platform.

Starter includes proposals, contracts, invoices, the client portal, basic CRM, and payment collection through Stripe, Square, or PayPal. That list is functional for a freelancer who is manually managing each client interaction and does not need automation to scale.

The operative word is manually. Starter has no workflow automation. No Flows. No trigger-based sequences. No automated follow-ups. Every client interaction after the initial contact requires a human to take the next action. A new lead fills out a contact form. You manually send the proposal. The client accepts. You manually send the contract. The contract is signed. You manually send the invoice. The invoice is paid. You manually send the welcome email.

Dubsado’s core value proposition is eliminating that chain of manual steps through its Flows system. Starter delivers none of that.

Starter also excludes the scheduler entirely. No booking pages, no calendar integration, no availability management. For service providers whose workflow involves scheduling discovery calls, client sessions, or kickoff meetings, Starter provides no scheduling infrastructure.

Public proposals are also Premier-only. On Starter, proposals are sent as direct links to specific clients. The ability to publish a proposal page that prospects can find and complete without a direct link requires Premier.

Zapier and QuickBooks integrations are Premier-only. For freelancers who route tasks through Zapier or sync income to QuickBooks, Starter creates a gap that requires manual workarounds.

The honest Dubsado Starter assessment: at $335/year, it is a professionally presented contract and invoicing tool. For a freelancer in the first 60 days who cannot yet justify Premier, it provides immediate client-facing value. For anyone intending to use Dubsado as an automation system, Starter is a $335/year placeholder until Premier is affordable.

Premier: $55/Month or $525/Year

Premier is where Dubsado pricing becomes a value proposition.

Flows (Dubsado’s automation system) activate at Premier. A configured Flow handles the complete intake sequence: inquiry submission triggers proposal delivery, proposal acceptance triggers contract, contract signature triggers invoice, invoice payment triggers the welcome sequence. The client moves through the entire onboarding process without a single manual step after the initial inquiry.

Dubsado Flows 3.0, launched in November 2025, introduced multi-step conditional logic. A Flow can now route a lead to different contract templates based on the service package selected in the intake form. A brand strategy client gets one contract and onboarding sequence. A content retainer client gets another. Both routes are handled by the same Flow without requiring separate manual tracking.

Note on Flows 3.0 stability: the beta transition was ongoing as of June 2026. Payment-received triggers had documented intermittent failures on ACH transactions where the next step in the Flow did not fire. Do not build mission-critical payment-triggered automation on Flows 3.0 until the full stable release is confirmed. Run payment-triggered steps on the legacy 2.0 system in the interim.

The scheduler activates at Premier. Booking pages with calendar sync, buffer times, and availability rules. Clients book directly without email back-and-forth.

Multiple lead capture forms at once are Premier-only. Starter limits lead capture to a single active form. Premier allows multiple simultaneous capture forms for different services or campaign sources.

Premier includes 3 user seats at no additional cost (owner plus 2). Starter also includes 3 seats. The plan difference is not seat count at the base level but feature access across all those seats.

The Add-On Cost Layer: Where Dubsado Pricing Compounds

The base Premier rate of $525/year is the floor. Three add-on costs apply on top of it for agencies that exceed the base configuration.

Additional users beyond 3:

Dubsado’s base plans include 3 seats: the account owner plus 2 users. Agencies with larger teams pay tiered add-ons:

4 to 10 users: $25/month ($300/year) added to the base plan. 11 to 20 users: $45/month ($540/year) added to the base plan. 21 to 30 users: $60/month ($720/year) added to the base plan.

A 5-person agency on Dubsado Premier pays $525/year base plus $300/year for the 4 to 10 user add-on tier: $825/year total. A 12-person agency pays $525 plus $540: $1,065/year total. These figures are the subscription cost only, before payment processing fees.

Compare this directly to HoneyBook’s Premium plan. HoneyBook Premium at $1,308/year includes unlimited users. Dubsado Premier at the 11 to 20 user tier costs $1,065/year. For agencies with 10 to 15 team members needing platform access, Dubsado pricing is still lower than HoneyBook Premium while including more automation depth in the Flows system.

Additional brands:

Dubsado’s base subscription covers one brand workspace. Agencies that manage multiple client brands under one Dubsado account, or freelancers operating under two distinct business names, pay $10/month ($120/year) per additional brand. A 3-brand Dubsado account: $525 base plus $240 for two additional brands = $765/year.

Payment processing (Stripe, Square, or PayPal):

Dubsado does not have its own payment processor. It routes through Stripe, Square, or PayPal, each of which charges at their standard rates. This matters because Dubsado’s payment fee structure differs significantly from HoneyBook’s in ways that affect agency cost at scale.

Stripe standard rate through Dubsado: 2.9% plus $0.30 per card transaction. ACH bank transfer through Stripe via Dubsado: capped at $5 per transaction regardless of invoice size.

That $5 ACH cap is the most important Dubsado pricing differentiator for agencies billing large retainers via bank transfer. HoneyBook charges 1.5% uncapped on ACH. A $10,000 invoice paid by bank transfer costs $5 in Dubsado ACH fees and $150 in HoneyBook ACH fees. On $40,000 per month in retainer billings via ACH, Dubsado generates $60/year in ACH fees versus HoneyBook’s $7,200/year. The annual ACH fee difference alone more than offsets any subscription cost comparison between the two platforms for agencies with high ACH volume.

Dubsado Pricing at Real Agency Revenue Scales

Scenario 1: Solo Freelancer, $60,000 Annual Revenue

Plan: Premier annual at $525/year. 1 brand. 1 to 3 users.

Payment processing assumption: 70% card, 30% ACH. Card volume: $42,000. ACH volume: $18,000.

Stripe card fees (2.9% plus $0.30, estimated 60 transactions at $700 average): $42,000 x 2.9% plus 60 x $0.30 = $1,218 plus $18 = $1,236/year.

ACH fees (capped at $5 per transaction, estimated 24 transactions): 24 x $5 = $120/year.

Total annual Dubsado cost: $525 plus $1,236 plus $120 = $1,881/year. 3.1% of revenue.

Scenario 2: 3-Person Agency, $150,000 Annual Revenue

Plan: Premier annual at $525/year. 3 users included (no add-on required). 1 brand.

Card volume: $90,000. ACH volume: $60,000.

Stripe card fees (estimated 90 transactions at $1,000 average): $90,000 x 2.9% plus 90 x $0.30 = $2,610 plus $27 = $2,637/year.

ACH fees (estimated 60 transactions at $1,000 average): 60 x $5 = $300/year.

Total annual Dubsado cost: $525 plus $2,637 plus $300 = $3,462/year. 2.3% of revenue.

Scenario 3: 6-Person Agency, $300,000 Annual Revenue, 2 Brands

Plan: Premier annual at $525/year. 4 to 10 user add-on: $300/year. Additional brand: $120/year.

Total subscription: $945/year.

Card volume: $180,000. ACH volume: $120,000.

Stripe card fees (estimated 144 transactions at $1,250 average): $180,000 x 2.9% plus 144 x $0.30 = $5,220 plus $43 = $5,263/year.

ACH fees (estimated 96 transactions at $1,250 average): 96 x $5 = $480/year.

Total annual Dubsado cost: $945 plus $5,263 plus $480 = $6,688/year. 2.2% of revenue.

TSA SCAR: Test ACH-Triggered Automations Before Deployment

Payment-triggered workflows deserve additional testing when ACH payments are part of the client journey. Because bank transfers can follow a different settlement timeline from card payments, agencies should test how payment events interact with downstream automations before relying on them for time-sensitive onboarding steps.

Before deploying a post-payment workflow, run test transactions across the payment methods your clients actually use and confirm that the expected onboarding emails, project-access steps and questionnaires trigger correctly.

For mission-critical workflows, consider maintaining a manual exception check until the automation has been validated under your own account configuration.

The Setup Time Cost: The Hidden Dubsado Pricing Variable

Every Dubsado pricing analysis that stops at the subscription fee is missing the most significant cost variable for new accounts: setup time.

Dubsado is not a plug-and-play tool. A fully operational Dubsado Premier account with configured Flows, contract templates, intake forms, proposal packages, scheduler booking pages, portal branding, and payment options requires 15 to 25 hours of setup work before the first client experiences the automated workflow. For a freelancer billing $75/hour, that setup time represents $1,125 to $1,875 in foregone billable work at minimum. At $100/hour, $1,500 to $2,500.

The setup cost is a one-time investment. Once completed, the system runs without significant maintenance overhead. But the Year 1 true cost of Dubsado Premier for a new account includes both the subscription fee and the setup time, a combined investment that should be evaluated against alternatives like HoneyBook (1 to 2 day setup) and Bonsai (same day setup) before committing.

Dubsado’s free trial helps offset this risk. The trial gives full Premier access with no time limit, capped at 3 clients. A new user can build and test a complete workflow system in the trial before paying anything. Teams that invest the setup time during the trial period make a more informed purchase decision than teams that sign up on the annual plan and discover the setup complexity after committing.

Dubsado Pricing vs HoneyBook vs Bonsai

Buy / Skip Decision Matrix

Do check out TSA’s comprehensive HoneyBook vs Dubsado vs Bonsai comparison.

FAQ

How much does Dubsado cost per month in 2026?

Dubsado pricing on monthly billing is $35/month for Starter and $55/month for Premier. Annual billing reduces those to approximately $27.92/month ($335/year) for Starter and $43.75/month ($525/year) for Premier. Any source showing Dubsado Starter at $20/month or Premier at $40/month is showing pre-December 2025 pricing that no longer applies to new subscriptions. Verify current rates directly at dubsado.com/pricing before purchasing.

Does Dubsado charge per user?

The base plans include 3 users (the account owner plus 2). Adding users beyond 3 requires a tiered add-on: $25/month for 4 to 10 users, $45/month for 11 to 20 users, $60/month for 21 to 30 users. These add-ons apply on both Starter and Premier. For a 5-person team on Dubsado Premier, the annual cost is $525 base plus $300 user add-on = $825/year.

What is Dubsado’s ACH payment fee?

Dubsado routes payments through Stripe, Square, or PayPal at standard market rates. Through Stripe, ACH bank transfer fees are capped at $5 per transaction regardless of invoice size. This $5 cap is the most significant Dubsado pricing differentiator for agencies billing large invoices via bank transfer. HoneyBook charges 1.5% per ACH transaction with no cap. On a $10,000 invoice, Dubsado’s ACH cost is $5. HoneyBook’s ACH cost is $150.

Is there a free version of Dubsado?

Dubsado offers a free trial with no time limit that allows access to Premier features on up to 3 client projects. After 3 clients, a paid plan is required. There is no permanent free tier. The 3-client trial is sufficient to build and test a complete workflow sequence before committing to annual pricing.

What changed in Dubsado pricing in December 2025?

Dubsado raised prices in December 2025. Starter moved from $20/month to $35/month. Premier moved from $40/month to $55/month. Annual pricing moved from approximately $200/year and $400/year to $335/year and $525/year respectively. The change was not announced publicly via press release. Most comparison sites and review aggregators still show the pre-restructure rates as of July 2026. New subscribers pay the December 2025 rates immediately.

When does Dubsado Premier make sense over HoneyBook Essentials?

Dubsado Premier makes sense over HoneyBook Essentials in three specific scenarios. First, when the team has 3 members: Dubsado includes 3 seats in the $525/year Premier flat rate while HoneyBook Essentials caps at 2 seats and forces Premium at $1,308/year for a third user. Second, when a significant portion of revenue is collected via ACH: Dubsado’s $5 ACH cap versus HoneyBook’s 1.5% uncapped fee generates material annual savings at invoice sizes above $333. Third, when conditional automation across multiple service packages is needed: Dubsado’s Flows 3.0 handles multi-step conditional routing that HoneyBook’s single-trigger automation cannot replicate.

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