Booksui vs 17hats
A Booksui alternative to 17hats
17hats aims to run any small service business. Booksui runs a wedding photography business specifically: the same spine of quote → contract → invoice, plus the inbox, the calendar check, galleries and album sales that a general tool does not carry.
17hats is known for an all-in-one small-business system — leads, quotes, contracts, invoices, bookkeeping views — for solo service businesses. The table below sets Booksui’s own features next to that, in plain terms.
| Topic | Booksui | 17hats |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Wedding photographers first; the trades a wedding books alongside you too. | Solo service businesses of any kind. |
| Client galleries | Built in — proofing, favorites, downloads, print and album offers, and search by what is in the photo. Delivery is part of the same job record as the contract and the invoice. | Not a core feature. |
| The inquiry | A shared inbox where a website inquiry, its email replies, texts and private team notes sit on one thread next to the event details, and replies to what you send come back to the same conversation. | Lead capture forms and email templates within the project. |
| Job pipeline | Phase checklists written for the trade you pick — a photographer’s culling and album phases, a videographer’s edit and revision rounds, a DJ’s music planning, a coordinator’s day-of timeline. | Generic project workflows you configure. |
| Payments | Through your own Stripe account. Deposits, balances and print sales land in your Stripe, on Stripe’s terms, and Booksui never holds the money. | Through connected payment processors. |
| AI | Optional drafts you read before anything sends: a first reply to an inquiry written from your calendar and price list, contract review notes, and gallery search. Nothing emails a client on its own. | Varies; check their current offering. |
| Price | Starter is free with no card (3 galleries, 1 booking page, 10 active inquiries). Pro $29/mo, Studio $59/mo, Agency $99/mo. 30-day refund on your first paid month. | Set by 17hats and changed by 17hats; their current pricing page is the only honest source, so this page does not quote it. |
Who switches, and why
- Photographers on 17hats who deliver through a gallery product and want one tool.
- Studios that want the inquiry handled as a conversation with the wedding details beside it.
- Anyone who wants a pipeline that already knows what a wedding job looks like.
What you keep
- Your clients and projects — CSV import, mapped once.
- Your quote → contract → invoice habit; it is the same sequence.
- Your contract clauses and email wording, in templates.
What changes
- Galleries, proofing and print sales are inside the job.
- The pipeline is trade-specific; generic project stages become wedding phases.
- Payments run through your own Stripe.
How the move happens
- 1Export clients and projects from 17hats as CSV.
- 2Import → Upload CSV; map, review, confirm.
- 3Paste your contract into a template; add merge fields.
- 4Connect Stripe and point your website form at Booksui.
Importing
Any CSV of clients or jobs imports through the generic path: upload, map the columns once, review, confirm. Nothing is created until you say so, and a second run of the same file does not duplicate anyone.
When 17hats is the better choice
If photography is one of several services you sell and you want bookkeeping-style views across all of them, 17hats’ breadth suits that; Booksui is narrower and deeper.
Questions
- How do I move from 17hats?
- Export clients and projects as CSV and use Import → Upload CSV. Columns are mapped once and you confirm before anything is created.
- Does Booksui do bookkeeping?
- Booksui tracks invoices, payments, expenses and revenue reports, and syncs to accounting tools; it is not a general ledger.
- Are galleries really included?
- Yes — delivery, proofing, downloads and print sales are part of every job.
- Is there a free plan?
- Yes, with no card required; limits are on the pricing page.
17hats’s pricing and feature set are set by 17hats, change over time, and are worth checking on their own site — this page reflects Booksui’s own features accurately and describes 17hats in general, well-known terms rather than a line-by-line audit of their current product.