PayPal Invoicing vs Bonsai

Two invoicing & payments tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	PayPal InvoicingPayPal	BonsaiBonsai
In one line	Invoices clients can pay with PayPal, Venmo, or card	Proposals, contracts, time tracking, and invoices for freelancers
Starting price	Free	From $19/person
Six-person team	$0/mo	$114/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	$309/mo	$315/mo
Plans	No monthly fee; PayPal or Venmo 3.49% + 49¢; cards 2.99% + 49¢; +1.5% international	Basic $9/user/mo has no invoices or payments; Essentials $19/user/mo is the cheapest with invoicing; Premium $29; Elite $49 (3-user minimum), billed annually (monthly $15/$25/$39/$59); payments 2.9% + 30¢, 1% extra with Stripe or PayPal
Pricing model	Free	Free trial
Free trial	—	7 days
Users	Unlimited	Per user
Both connect to	QuickBooks Online, Xero
Also connects to	Zoho Books, Akaunting, ZipBooks	No others on record
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · UK · CA · AU
Phone support	Plans not stated	None listed
Live chat	Every plan	Plans not stated
Support hours	Not published	Email: 24/7
Incidents posted	PayPal has a public status page. Status page	Bonsai has a public status page. Status page
Capterra score	4.7 / 5 from 595 reviews	4.6 / 5 from 95 reviews
Trustpilot score	Not listed	4.3 / 5 from 641 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	35	10
Fit: Restaurant or café	20	5
Fit: Service business	80	85
Fit: Agency or studio	75	88
Fit: Trades or contractor	75	45
Fit: Online store	60	10
Why people pick it	Clients trust and already use PayPal No monthly fee	Contracts and time tracking included Cheap entry plan
Where it falls short	Higher fees than Stripe or Square Account holds are a known risk	Per-user pricing for teams Short 7-day trial
	Visit PayPal Invoicing ↗	Visit Bonsai ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. Card sales costs include the plan price and card fees at US rates, at a $500 average sale. How we calculate prices