Indy vs Dubsado pricing breakdown
Getting full-featured access to either platform costs between $18.75 and $43.75 per month on annual billing, but the ceiling of what each tool delivers at that price differs significantly.
Indy Pricing (2026)
- Free: $0/month. Includes proposals, contracts, invoices, time tracking, and task boards, but capped at 3 per document type per month. Most active freelancers hit this limit within the first billing cycle.
- Pro: $25/month (monthly) or $18.75/month (billed annually at $225/year). Removes the document caps and unlocks unlimited proposals, contracts, and invoices. No team seats at any tier.
Dubsado Pricing (2026)
- Starter: $35/month billed monthly. Billed annually, $27.92/month ($335/year). Unlimited projects and clients, client portal, and 3 additional users free.
- Premier: $55/month billed monthly. Billed annually, $43.75/month ($525/year). Adds full Flows automation, the scheduler, time tracking, Zapier, and QuickBooks and Xero.
The real cost: what users actually pay
The subscription is rarely the whole bill. Users who outgrow either tool's task features add supplementary apps:
- Project management: Trello Free or Asana Starter ($0-$13.49/month)
- Time tracking (Dubsado Starter only): Toggl or Clockify ($0-$12/month per user)
- File sharing: Google Drive or Dropbox
At paid tiers, project management and time tracking add about $25 per month per user on top of the main subscription, plus the hidden overhead of copying data between systems. Platforms like Plutio start at $19/month for solo users with proposals, contracts, projects, time tracking, invoicing, and a client portal in one subscription (white-label is on Max or a Pro add-on).
The verdict: Indy Pro at $18.75/month (annual) is cheaper than Dubsado Premier at $43.75/month (annual). But Dubsado includes team access that Indy never offers. If you need team seats, either Dubsado plan has them; for automation depth, you need Dubsado Premier. If you are a solo freelancer on a budget and only need basic intake features with light time tracking, Indy Pro costs less.
Which tool is better for your business type?
The fundamental trade-off between Indy and Dubsado comes down to speed versus depth: Indy gets you sending proposals in a day with a free tier to test, while Dubsado says most users need a week or two of setup to unlock the automation capabilities that justify its price.
Solo freelancers on a tight budget
Indy is the natural starting point. The free plan lets you test contracts, proposals, and invoicing before committing. Pro at $18.75/month covers the basics without overpaying for automation features you may not need. Dubsado's Starter plan at $35/month includes unlimited clients but no Flows or time tracking, so the automation that sets Dubsado apart costs $55/month on Premier. For a new freelancer still building a client base, Indy's pricing structure fits better.
Freelancers with event-based project cycles
Both tools cover the single-transaction booking flow well: inquiry arrives, proposal goes out, contract gets signed, deposit gets collected. Indy handles this through basic templates. Dubsado handles it with conditional automation through Flows. The gap appears after the booking. Indy's task board is basic, and for a 6-month event project from contract to delivery, Dubsado itself calls a dedicated project management tool a common addition.
Consultants and hourly billing
Indy has basic time tracking on its plans, while Dubsado keeps its tracker for Premier. For consultants who bill hourly for any portion of their work, Indy Pro at $18.75/month (annual) is the cheaper route, against Dubsado Premier at $43.75/month (annual), where tracked time is applied to invoices from the tracker or the invoice editor. Platforms with task-level time tracking that connects directly to invoicing handle this workflow more completely.
Agencies and growing teams
Indy has no team plan at any price, which rules it out entirely for any business adding a second person. Dubsado includes 3 additional users free on both plans, each with one of three fixed roles; Basic members see only the projects assigned to them. There are no custom roles, so for agencies managing multiple team members with different access needs, those three presets are the ceiling.
Brand-conscious service providers
Dubsado lets you connect your own domain for invoices, forms, schedulers and the portal, and clients never see Dubsado logos there. For premium agencies and consultants whose client experience is part of the brand value, that matters. Dubsado has CSS form customization, which helps with branded intake forms, though the portal itself takes no custom code.
What both tools are missing
Indy and Dubsado both cover client intake: proposals, contracts, and invoices. But once the signature lands, complex work can outgrow Dubsado's task boards, which Dubsado says are not built to replace a project management tool.
Project management stays basic
Both tools include task lists with due dates and board views. Indy calls its tasks simple task management, and Dubsado says its task management is designed to sit beside a dedicated project management tool for complex work. For a 3-day project, a checklist is enough. For a 3-month brand identity project with dependencies across deliverables, users open Trello or Asana and accept that project details now live in two places.
Time tracking that does not connect to the full workflow
Indy has a timer and manual time entry. You can generate invoices from time logs at the project level. But tracking stops at the project level, not the task level, so you cannot break down which specific tasks consumed your hours or set different rates per work type. Dubsado has a time tracker on Premier only, logged per project and rate and applied to invoices. On Starter, you either track hours in another tool or upgrade to Premier at $55/month.
Client portals with limited control
Dubsado lets you connect your own domain and keeps its logos off client-facing pages; task boards are shared with clients whole or not at all, and the portal takes no custom code. For service providers charging premium rates, that means anything on a shared board is client-facing. Platforms like Plutio let you make individual tasks private, so clients see only what is meant for them.
Retainers and recurring billing
Monthly retainers are common for consultants, coaches, and agencies. Dubsado's recurring invoices bill clients automatically at regular intervals, with autopay on both plans. Without autopay, recurring invoices still get paid one at a time, which means chasing payments, tracking who has paid, and dealing with delays. Platforms with built-in subscription billing handle automatic charges and payment recovery in the same system where the project lives.
No team access in Indy, fixed roles in Dubsado
Indy has no team plan at any tier. If your business adds a second person, Indy cannot accommodate it. Dubsado includes 3 additional users free on both plans, each with one of three fixed roles (Basic, Accountant, Admin). Basic members see only their assigned projects, but you can't create custom roles, so access stops at what those presets allow.
What users do when neither tool is enough
When Indy or Dubsado cannot handle the full workflow alone, users take one of two paths: build a multi-tool stack and accept the overhead, or move to a platform that covers the complete client lifecycle in one place.
The typical workaround stack
Most users who outgrow either tool end up with something like this:
- Indy or Dubsado for intake, proposals, and contracts ($0-$55/month)
- Trello, Asana, or ClickUp for project management (Asana Starter $13.49/month per user)
- Toggl or Clockify for time tracking, Dubsado Starter users especially ($0-$12/month per user)
- Google Drive or Dropbox for file sharing
With Dubsado Premier ($55/month), Asana Starter and Toggl Starter, the stack comes to $80.49 per month before file storage, plus the time cost of moving data between each one.
The hidden cost: time spent on handoffs
The subscription spend is the visible expense. The hidden cost is the workflow friction. When a client signs a contract in Dubsado and the project outgrows its task boards, someone has to rebuild the plan in Trello or Asana, and on Starter, track hours somewhere else and type them into the invoice. Every handoff is a place where details drift between apps and get missed.
The one-platform alternative
Platforms exist that handle intake, project management, time tracking, and invoicing in a single system. The trade-off is learning a new interface versus maintaining the existing stack. For users who have built Dubsado Flows or Indy templates, migration feels like a project. For users who are manually copying data between four apps every billing cycle, switching typically recovers 2-4 hours per week.
What one platform looks like in practice
If you are curious: Plutio is one platform that covers the complete workflow. Client inquiries flow into proposals and contracts. Signed contracts automatically create projects with Kanban boards and task templates. Time tracking happens at the task level and flows directly into invoices. Clients access a portal at your domain, not the software vendor's. The comparison table below shows exactly where Plutio fills the gaps that Indy and Dubsado leave open. The goal is not to push you toward Plutio specifically, but to show what a unified workflow can look like.
Final verdict: Indy vs Dubsado
Indy and Dubsado both handle client intake. Proposals, contracts, and invoices work in both. The differences emerge in pricing model, automation depth, and what happens after the booking.
Indy trade-offs:
- Free plan available for testing, but caps at 3 proposals, contracts, and invoices per month, which most active freelancers hit in the first billing cycle
- Basic time tracking exists, but tracks at the project level only, so hourly billing by task type still requires workarounds
- Setup takes most users a day or two, but customization depth is limited once you hit the template walls
- No team plan at any price, which rules it out entirely as soon as a second person needs their own login
But know that: Indy is the cheaper option at $18.75/month annually, and it includes time tracking, which on Dubsado needs Premier at $55/month. The solo ceiling is real and hard.
Dubsado trade-offs:
- Flows builder handles multi-step intake automation with conditional logic, but setup takes most users one to two weeks before the first proposal goes out
- CSS form customization gives brand control on intake forms, but requires coding knowledge and does not extend to the portal
- Team access comes on both plans with 3 additional users free, but only three fixed roles and no custom roles
- Time tracking only on Premier, so billing by the hour on Starter means an upgrade to $55/month
But know that: Dubsado Premier at $43.75/month billed annually is more than double Indy Pro's $18.75, and the main advantages are automation depth, your own portal domain, and team access. Dubsado, by its own account, leaves complex project planning to a dedicated tool.
Consider switching to one platform if:
- You already juggle three or more apps: intake in one, projects in another, time tracking in a third, invoicing in a fourth
- Manual data copying between apps is eating 2-4 hours of your week
- Your projects need timelines and task dependencies, not just lists and boards
- You want to hide individual tasks from clients instead of sharing a whole board
- You need custom roles with granular permissions for contractors and assistants
But know that: Switching means learning a new system and migrating existing templates and client data. For most users, this takes a focused weekend. The ongoing time savings typically recover that investment within a month.
The bottom line: Indy sets up fast and includes time tracking, but caps you at the solo tier with no team plan and no custom domain portal. Dubsado has a workflow builder for multi-step automation, but Flows and time tracking need Premier at $55/month, and Dubsado says setup takes most users a week or two. Both handle proposals and contracts, and Dubsado leaves complex project planning to a dedicated tool. If your workflow already spans multiple tools and you want to see what one connected app looks like, the comparison table below shows how platforms like Plutio stack up against both.
Research & Sources
This comparison is based on direct hands-on testing, official documentation review, and analysis of user feedback across major review platforms. All data was verified in March 2026.
Research methodology
Each tool was evaluated through active trial accounts, official feature documentation, and analysis of 300+ user reviews across G2, Capterra, and Product Hunt. The focus was on common pain points appearing in 3-star and below reviews, where users share honest limitations rather than promotional material.
Platform ratings (March 2026)
- Indy: 4.7/5 on G2 (50+ reviews), praised for ease of use and all-in-one coverage for solos, criticized for document caps on the free plan and missing team features
- Plutio: 4.6/5 on Capterra (162 reviews), praised for all-in-one coverage and white-labeling
Common user complaints (from 1-3 star reviews)
Indy users frequently mention: "Free plan too limited," "No team plan," "Customization is basic," "No mobile app"
Pricing sources (verified March 2026)
- Indy: Official pricing page
- Dubsado: Official pricing page
- Plutio: Official pricing page
Feature verification
- Indy G2 reviews
- Indy Help Center
- Dubsado Knowledge Base
If you find any inaccuracies or outdated information, please let us know so we can investigate and update.



