BONSAI ALTERNATIVE
Enlivy vs Bonsai
Bonsai's proposals and contracts are built well for a solo freelancer in the US or Canada. The CRM is basic, there's no real sales pipeline, and there's no EU e-invoicing.
HOW THEY COMPARE
Enlivy vs Bonsai, capability by capability
Bonsai covers the solo freelancer's proposal-to-invoice flow reasonably well. Enlivy adds a real pipeline, bank reconciliation instead of expense tracking, and EU e-invoicing Bonsai doesn't have.
| Capability | Enlivy This page | Bonsai Freelancer suite |
|---|---|---|
| Time tracking & timesheets | Partial | Strong |
| Sales pipeline / CRM | Strong | Partial |
| Proposals & contracts with e-signature | Strong | Strong |
| Invoicing & payment collection | Strong | Strong |
| Recurring billing / subscriptions | Strong | Partial |
| EU e-invoicing (PEPPOL / ANAF eFactura) | Partial | Absent |
| Bank sync & reconciliation | Partial | Partial |
| Client self-service portal | Strong | Partial |
| Payroll records (no payroll runs) | Partial | Absent |
| Core flow on the free plan, capped monthly | Strong | Absent |
STRENGTHS ON BOTH SIDES
Where each one actually wins
Bonsai does one thing well for one kind of business. Enlivy is built for what happens after that business grows past one person.
Where Bonsai wins
Bonsai's proposals and contracts, with e-signature, are genuinely well built for a solo freelancer, and time tracking and task management come bundled in from the cheapest tier. For a single-person US or Canadian consulting business that wants one lightweight tool for the whole client relationship, it's a mature, purpose-built choice with a large freelancer community behind it.
Where Enlivy wins
Independent reviews describe Bonsai's CRM as basic, and its QuickBooks and Zapier integrations are reserved for the Premium tier rather than included from the start. Bonsai's bank connection is expense tracking limited to the US and Canada, not real reconciliation, and there's no ANAF eFactura or PEPPOL support at all.
In Enlivy, the pipeline, the signed contract, the compliant invoice and the bank payment linked to it stay connected, with each part added as a pack, not a tier.
PAST ONE PERSON, PAST ONE MARKET
The proposals Bonsai does well, plus what comes after
A real sales pipeline, bank sync with the Banking pack instead of expense tracking, and ANAF eFactura for Romanian clients, all linked to each other.
Free plan, no card needed · Packs priced per organization · Tasks included
PRICING
Per seat, per tier, versus per feature pack
The feature you actually need often sits on a higher Bonsai tier than the price you saw first.
Bonsai: four tiers, gated features
Bonsai runs $15 to $59 a user a month across four tiers. The cheapest, Basic, covers CRM and time tracking only; invoicing, contracts, proposals, and the client portal need Essentials at $25 a user; QuickBooks and Zapier integrations need Premium at $39 a user. All of it multiplies with team size.
Enlivy: choose the packs you need
Enlivy prices per feature pack: invoicing, contracts, and the sales pipeline are separate packs; payroll is a separate pack, and the customer portal is included, plus add-ons for extra bank connections and translation capacity.
You start free and add the packs your business actually uses. See plans and pricing.
WHO IT FITS
Who each one actually fits
A quick way to self-select before you read the rest of the page.
Bonsai fits you if
- You're a solo freelancer or very small agency in the US or Canada who wants proposals, contracts, time tracking, and invoicing for one person, and don't need EU compliance.
- You're fine paying more per seat to get QuickBooks and Zapier integrations on a higher tier.
- You don't need a real sales pipeline, bank reconciliation, or payroll.
Enlivy fits you if
- You invoice from a Romanian company and need ANAF eFactura, which Bonsai doesn't offer at all.
- You need a real sales pipeline and bank reconciliation, not just the proposals and contracts Bonsai already covers well.
- Your team is growing and you want to choose feature packs for the work you do.
SWITCHING
Switching from Bonsai
Bonsai is built around one freelancer in the US or Canada. The switch usually happens when a second person joins, or when the first EU invoice needs to go out.
What you run today
- Bonsai Proposals, contracts, and invoicing, billed per person
- Bonsai Premium The tier you upgrade to for QuickBooks and Zapier
- An accounting system The bookkeeping Bonsai's expense tracking isn't
- Nothing for EU compliance No PEPPOL, no eFactura
What it becomes
Enlivy
- A real sales pipeline, not a basic contact list
- Bank sync and reconciliation, not expense visibility
- Romanian ANAF connection and supported invoice file exports
- Per feature pack, so a second person costs nothing extra
What stays where it is
- Your accountant the general ledger
Neither product is bookkeeping software, so whoever keeps your books keeps doing that. Bonsai's time tracking is genuinely good and bundled from its cheapest tier, which is worth weighing if that is the part you use most.
How the move works
- 1
Export your clients
Contacts, proposals, and open invoices come out of Bonsai as a spreadsheet.
- 2
Rebuild with a pipeline
The same proposal-to-invoice flow, now with a deal stage in front of it.
- 3
Add people freely
Team members stop being a line item on the invoice.
TRY IT ON ONE CLIENT
You can test this without migrating anything
Create an organization, run a single client from proposal to paid invoice, and see what the pipeline adds before you move the rest.
Free plan, no card needed · Packs priced per organization · Tasks included
BONSAI ALTERNATIVE
Enlivy vs Bonsai: common questions
Is Enlivy a replacement for Bonsai, or does it work alongside it?
For most teams it's a straight replacement. Bonsai's proposals, contracts, and invoicing cover the same ground as Enlivy's Proposals, Contracts, and Invoices, and Enlivy adds the sales pipeline, ANAF eFactura, EU e-invoice files and bank sync Bonsai doesn't have.
Does Bonsai support EU invoicing or ANAF eFactura for Romania?
No. Bonsai's bank-connected expense tracking is limited to the US and Canada, and there's no evidence of PEPPOL or ANAF eFactura support. Enlivy sends a Romanian organization's invoices to Romanian clients through ANAF eFactura, manually or on a schedule you set, and for other EU markets it can export a PEPPOL BIS 3.0 file you submit yourself.
Why do I need a higher Bonsai plan just to get QuickBooks and Zapier integrations?
Bonsai gates its QuickBooks and Zapier integrations behind the Premium tier, currently around $39 a user a month. The client portal itself is available from the Essentials tier, but the core proposal-to-invoice flow needs at least Essentials to begin with. In Enlivy the customer portal is free, the pipeline starts free, and integrations come with any paid pack.
Does Enlivy have real bank reconciliation, unlike Bonsai's expense tracking?
Yes. Bonsai connects a bank account for expense visibility, but it isn't full accounting software and doesn't do bookkeeping-grade reconciliation. With the Banking pack, Enlivy syncs your bank every few hours, and your team links each payment to its invoice.
Is Enlivy more or less expensive than Bonsai for a growing team?
Bonsai prices per user across four tiers, from $15 to $59 a month, so the bill multiplies as you add people, and the tier with contracts and invoicing starts at $25 a user. Enlivy prices invoicing, contracts, and the pipeline per feature pack. Additional Helpdesk seats are priced separately.