Dubsado vs HoneyBook vs Handld: Which Is Best for VAs?

If you're looking for a tool to manage your VA clients - contracts, invoicing, scheduling, and communication - you've probably come across Dubsado and HoneyBook. They're the two most talked-about client management platforms in the freelancer and creative professional space. But are they actually the right fit for virtual assistants?

Having spent years building software alongside hundreds of VAs, I'd argue they're not - at least, not without significant workarounds. Here's an honest comparison of all three, viewed specifically through the lens of what VAs need.

Dubsado

Dubsado is a powerful client management platform aimed at creative professionals - photographers, designers, coaches, and freelancers. It offers contracts, proposals, invoicing, scheduling, questionnaires, workflows, and a client portal.

Where it works well for VAs: Dubsado has strong workflow automation, so you can set up sequences like "when a client signs a contract, automatically send the onboarding questionnaire and then the first invoice." The form builder is flexible, and the ability to create branded client portals is a plus.

Where it falls short: Dubsado doesn't have built-in time tracking. If you're a VA billing by the hour or managing retainer hours, you'll need a separate time tracking tool and then manually connect your tracked hours to Dubsado's invoicing. The learning curve is notoriously steep - most VAs who adopt Dubsado report spending days or weeks setting it up. And Dubsado is currently in the middle of a platform transition (v2 to v3), which has created uncertainty about features and stability.

Dubsado's pricing starts at around $20/month on the Starter plan, with the Premier plan at $40/month.

HoneyBook

HoneyBook is sleeker and more modern than Dubsado, aimed at a similar audience of creative freelancers and small businesses. It offers proposals, contracts, invoicing, scheduling, task management, and a client portal, all wrapped in a polished, user-friendly interface.

Where it works well: HoneyBook is genuinely easier to set up and use than Dubsado. The templates are well-designed, the invoicing is clean, and the overall experience feels more intuitive. For VAs who want a professional-looking system without a steep learning curve, there's a lot to like.

Where it falls short for VAs: like Dubsado, HoneyBook doesn't have native time tracking. And here's the bigger problem for UK VAs - HoneyBook requires a US or Canadian bank account for payment processing. If you're based in the UK, you can't use HoneyBook's built-in payment system, which significantly limits its usefulness as an all-in-one tool. You'd need to use a separate payment processor, which defeats the purpose of having everything in one place.

HoneyBook's pricing starts at $19/month for the Starter plan, with the Essentials plan at $39/month.

Handld

Full disclosure - we built Handld, so I'm obviously biased. But the reason we built it is precisely because tools like Dubsado and HoneyBook don't solve the core problem VAs have: managing retainer-based client relationships where time tracking is central to the billing model.

Handld combines time tracking, invoicing, a branded client portal, task management, contracts, scheduling, and reporting in a single app. The time tracking feeds directly into invoicing - you track your hours and generate an invoice from those hours in one click. No separate tools, no manual copying.

The standout feature for VAs is prepaid retainer hours. Your client buys a block of hours (say, 10 hours per month), you log your time against that balance, and both you and your client can see exactly how many hours have been used and how many remain. This is the same model that VA agencies like Virtalent and Time Etc use - it's how most VA-client relationships actually work, and it's something neither Dubsado nor HoneyBook offers.

Handld's pricing starts with a free plan (one client), Pro at £39/month (unlimited clients), and Business at £69/month (up to 5 team members).

So which should you choose?

If you're a creative professional who bills by the project (fixed prices, not hourly), Dubsado or HoneyBook might be the right fit. They're designed for that workflow and they do it well.

If you're a UK-based VA who bills by the hour or manages retainer packages - which is most VAs - neither Dubsado nor HoneyBook quite works without bolting on additional tools. You'd need a separate time tracker, potentially a separate payment processor (in HoneyBook's case), and manual processes to connect everything.

Handld was built specifically for the way VAs work. Time tracking, retainer management, and invoicing are the core of the product, not afterthoughts. And because everything lives in one place, you spend less time on admin and more time on the work your clients are paying you for.

The best way to find out is to try them. Dubsado and HoneyBook both offer free trials. Handld has a free plan with no time limit. Sign up, set up a client, and see which one feels right for the way you work.