Studio Ninja is the friendly Aussie CRM photographers grew up on. OneCast covers the same jobs, quotes and Xero flow, then adds the galleries, video review and client portal Ninja never had.
Studio Ninja earned its place: a simple photography CRM born in Melbourne, with the best native Xero integration in this category and pricing that never scared anyone. It also stops at the paperwork. Galleries, proofing and video live in other tools (they link out to Pic-Time and ShootProof), and since the ImageQuix acquisition in late 2023, user reviews consistently note that development has slowed. OneCast Studio covers the same quotes-jobs-invoices-Xero core and then keeps going: branded portal, galleries with payment-gated delivery, frame-accurate video review and wedding briefs, all Australian-hosted.
What each platform actually ships today. Where Studio Ninja is stronger, we say so.
| Feature | OneCast Studio | Studio Ninja |
|---|---|---|
| Quotes & proposals | Multi-option quotes approved in the portal, auto-converts to an invoice | Simple, photographer-shaped quoting |
| Invoicing | Deposits via Stripe, pay-by-card links, retainer invoicing, overdue reminders | Solid invoicing with payment schedules |
| Xero integration | Native: invoices push on send, contacts import, GST handled | Native and mature; the best of the six we compare |
| Contracts & e-signing | Quote approval acts as sign-off; no standalone contract e-signing yet | Contract templates with e-sign |
| Client portal | Branded portal per project: timeline, files, quotes, messages, payments | Basic client area; no files, galleries or review |
| Photo gallery delivery | Password-protected galleries, client selections, pay-to-download gate | Links out to ShootProof or Pic-Time |
| Video review | Frame-accurate comments, version compare, transcripts, per-video revision budgets | |
| Calendar & bookings | Bookings, multi-day shoots, Google Calendar two-way sync | Google Calendar sync, booking forms on Pro |
| Wedding tools | Structured wedding brief, run sheet, countdown, guest photo uploads | Wedding job workflows; no structured couple-facing brief |
| Lead management | Clients, projects and follow-ups; not a lead-pipeline marketing CRM | Lead capture and simple pipelines |
| White-label / custom domain | Studio Pro plan: custom domain, your branding end to end, white-label PDFs | Branding on forms and emails; no custom domain portal |
| Mobile | Installable web app, full mobile UI; no App Store app yet | iOS and Android apps; reviews note app lag |
| Multi-currency | AUD-first; quotes and invoices in AUD | Single account currency |
| AUD & Australian hosting | AUD pricing incl. GST, data hosted in Sydney | Melbourne-born, AU-first tax assumptions; now US-owned |
Feature availability checked against public Studio Ninja documentation and pricing pages, July 2026. Spot something out of date? Email [email protected] and we will fix it.
Vendor pricing from studioninja.co/pricing, July 2026, USD. OneCast prices are AUD and include GST.
Credit where it is due. If these are your priorities, Studio Ninja may fit you better today.
Here is how studios usually move in. Most are done inside an afternoon.
Export clients from Studio Ninja (Settings, then Export data), or skip the CSV: if your contacts are in Xero, OneCast pulls them from there directly.
Recreate your packages and price list in OneCast; quotes and invoices generate from them.
Finish signed jobs in Ninja; point new enquiries at OneCast bookings and quotes.
Reconnect Xero to OneCast so new invoices push on send with the right GST treatment.
Cancel Ninja when the last legacy job completes.
“This is a game changer. All in one platform for Photo and Video creatives, even production agencies! You’ve gotta give this a try!”
Ninja has had years longer at it and we respect that. OneCast pushes invoices to Xero when you send them, imports contacts, and handles GST and revenue account mapping. If you find an edge case ours misses, we fix fast and say so on the roadmap.
Quote approval acts as timestamped sign-off and studios attach terms to the quote. There is no standalone contract e-signing today; Ninja is stronger there.
Because Ninja needs company: a gallery service and a review tool at minimum. Priced as a stack, most studios land at or above OneCast Studio pricing with three logins instead of one.
Yes. Database and files live in Sydney (AWS ap-southeast-2) under Australian privacy jurisdiction.
Yes. The 14-day Studio trial needs no card, and the live sandbox at onecast.studio/demo lets you poke a full studio before you even sign up.
Open the live sandbox, click around a real studio, and decide in ten minutes. No sign-up, no card.