HoneyBook is a great generalist CRM for booking clients. OneCast is built for what happens after the booking: the shoot, the edit, the gallery, the review and the delivery.
HoneyBook is client-flow software for any service business: leads, proposals, contracts, scheduling and payments with genuinely strong automations. What it does not have is anything photo or video specific. There are no galleries, no proofing, no video review, and delivery means attaching files to messages. OneCast Studio covers the same quote-to-payment backbone and then keeps going through production and delivery, with AUD pricing and native Xero rather than QuickBooks. HoneyBook only launched in Australia in May 2026, so local support is new ground for them.
What each platform actually ships today. Where HoneyBook is stronger, we say so.
| Feature | OneCast Studio | HoneyBook |
|---|---|---|
| Client portal | Branded portal per project: timeline, files, quotes, messages, payments | Client portal for files, messages and payments |
| Photo gallery delivery | Password-protected galleries, client selections, pay-to-download gate | No galleries; they point you at a Pic-Time integration |
| Video review | Frame-accurate comments, version compare, transcripts, per-video revision budgets | |
| Quotes & proposals | Multi-option quotes approved in the portal, auto-converts to an invoice | Smart files: proposal, contract, invoice and payment in one flow |
| Contracts & e-signing | Quote approval acts as sign-off; no standalone contract e-signing yet | Mature templates and e-signatures |
| Invoicing | Deposits via Stripe, pay-by-card links, retainer invoicing, overdue reminders | |
| Lead management & automations | Clients, projects and follow-ups; not a lead-pipeline marketing CRM | Pipelines, automations and AI lead tools are the core product |
| Xero integration | Native: invoices push on send, contacts import, GST handled | QuickBooks Online only |
| Payments | Stripe: card payments, deposits, pay-by-card links on invoices | Mandatory HoneyBook processing at 2.9% + 25c; you cannot bring your own Stripe |
| Calendar & bookings | Bookings, multi-day shoots, Google Calendar two-way sync | Scheduler with availability booking |
| Wedding tools | Structured wedding brief, run sheet, countdown, guest photo uploads | Generic questionnaires, no structured wedding brief |
| White-label / custom domain | Studio Pro plan: custom domain, your branding end to end, white-label PDFs | Your branding on files, but no custom domain |
| Mobile | Installable web app, full mobile UI; no App Store app yet | Native iOS and Android apps |
| AUD & Australian hosting | AUD pricing incl. GST, data hosted in Sydney | AUD pricing since May 2026; US-hosted, local features still new |
Feature availability checked against public HoneyBook documentation and pricing pages, July 2026. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.
Vendor pricing from honeybook.com/pricing, July 2026 (now also sold in AUD; USD figures shown). OneCast prices are AUD and include GST.
Credit where it is due. If these are your priorities, HoneyBook may fit you better today.
Here is how studios usually move in. Most are done inside an afternoon.
Export your contacts from HoneyBook (Contacts, then Export) and finish any in-flight smart-file signatures there.
Start a free OneCast trial, set branding, and recreate your packages and price list; quotes build from these in seconds.
Add active clients, or connect Xero and pull contacts from there.
Point new enquiries at OneCast quotes and bookings; let signed HoneyBook projects finish where they started.
Cancel HoneyBook once the last legacy project completes. Access runs to the end of the billing period.
“This is a game changer. All in one platform for Photo and Video creatives, even production agencies! You’ve gotta give this a try!”
Not standalone e-signing contracts yet. Quote approval in the portal is timestamped and acts as sign-off, and many studios attach their terms PDF to the quote. If you need heavyweight countersigned contracts, HoneyBook is stronger there today.
OneCast tracks clients, projects and follow-ups, and automates the delivery side (payment reminders, gallery expiry, review nudges). It is not a marketing CRM with lead-stage pipelines; if that is your core need, we are honest that HoneyBook wins it.
Only Stripe standard processing. OneCast adds no platform percentage on top, unlike HoneyBook processing at 2.9% + 25c.
Yes, since late May 2026, with AUD pricing. It is a brand-new market for them, while OneCast is Australian-built with Sydney-hosted data and GST-inclusive tax invoices from day one.
Yes, and most studios do: finish signed projects in HoneyBook while new bookings, galleries and deliveries run through OneCast.
Open the live sandbox, click around a real studio, and decide in ten minutes. No sign-up, no card.