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The self-hosted Bonsai alternative

Invora — Self-hosted invoicing software, bought once — $99 one-time, full PHP source, runs on ordinary shared hosting. Own it once, run it on your own server, and stop paying Bonsai every month.

Own Invora for $99.00 Try the live demo

Stop renting Bonsai

Bonsai — rented

Essentials (the tier with invoices and payments) $25 per user per month month-to-month, $19 on annual billing; Basic $15/$9 has no invoicing; Premium $39/$29; Elite $59/$49 with a 3-user minimum ^[1]

billed every month, forever · your data in their cloud

Invora — yours

$99.00

one-time · self-hosted · your data, your server
4 months of Bonsai equals this one-time price.

Buy once

Assumption: The lowest tier that actually invoices, month-to-month, per user; the cheaper Basic tier tracks time and tasks but sends no invoices. Invora is one payment for any number of users.

How Bonsai pricing grows with you

Bonsai meters PER USER per month, and invoicing only begins at the second tier.

“$25/user/month” — their own page, read 2026-08-30

What Bonsai does that we don't

Bonsai is an all-in-one freelancer suite: proposals, contracts, time tracking, CRM and payments around the invoice.

“proposals & contracts, all templates, forms & questionnaires, scheduling, client portal” — their own page

Who should stay with Bonsai

Stay with Bonsai if you want contracts, proposals and payments handled in one hosted workspace. Invora is invoicing — estimates to numbered invoices, payments recorded, branded PDFs — on your own server. Full honest limitations are on the product page.

Why owning beats renting Bonsai

One payment. No monthly, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
Your data stays on your server. It never lives in Bonsai's cloud.
No plan ceilings. Records and users are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset or price-hiked out from under you.

Fair trade-offs: you host it, back it up, and apply updates yourself — see the product page for honest limitations, and the full Invora vs Bonsai comparison.

Sources

Bonsai — price checked 2026-08-30 — source
“'$25/user/month' ... 'Essentials' ... 'invoices & payments' ... '$19/user/month (billed annually)' ... '$15/user/month' ... '3 users minimum'”

Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only print figures we could verify on the date shown. This vendor is tracked in the Price Observatory — every figure verbatim, dated, re-checked quarterly.

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