The free client portal built for freelancers — send invoices, share files, and collect signatures in one link.
Create your free portal in 2 minutes — no credit card needed
Just starting out.
The independent professional.
Scaling a small practice.
| Feature | PortalHQ | HoneyBook | Dubsado | Spreadsheets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starting price | Free / $7/mo | $39/mo | $40/mo | $0 |
| Built for freelancers | ||||
| 5-minute setup | ||||
| Branded client portal | ||||
| Invoices + Stripe payments | ||||
| Automated reminders | ||||
| File sharing & versions | ||||
| Proposal e-signatures | ||||
| No learning curve |
Comparison reflects publicly listed starting plans as of 2026. Trademarks belong to their owners.
Based on industry averages: 24% of freelance invoices are paid late; automated reminders recover ~70%.
Your logo, your colors, a custom URL. Clients land in a space that feels uniquely yours.
Build proposals with reusable sections. Clients sign digitally — both parties get a PDF copy.
Line items, VAT toggle, Stripe Pay Now button. Cash flow chart on your dashboard.
Drag, drop, versioned. Organise by client and project. Up to 50MB per file.
Simple status board with columns. Toggle which tasks the client can see.
3 days before, on the day, 3 and 7 days after — escalating but always professional.
Add your logo, pick an accent colour, set your defaults. Done.
No login required for clients. One secure magic link gets them in.
Everything in one place — proposals signed, invoices paid, files shared.
"I got paid 3 weeks faster on my last retainer. The automatic reminders did the awkward chasing for me."
"My clients think I work at an agency now. The branded portal made me look 5x bigger overnight."
"Cut my admin time from 6 hours a week to maybe 45 minutes. That's an extra paid day every month."
"Sent a proposal Friday night, signed by Sunday morning, paid the deposit Monday. Never happened before."
"Replaced Notion, Google Drive, Stripe links and three Loom updates a week with one calm URL. Bliss."
"First month using it I added two new clients on referral — both said the onboarding felt premium."
For seven years I freelanced as a designer. I lost more weekends to "just chasing one more invoice" than I'd like to admit, and watched two clients ghost me on five-figure projects because my paperwork looked, frankly, amateur.
I tried HoneyBook (too much), Dubsado (too complicated), and a Notion-Stripe-Drive duct-tape stack that broke every other Tuesday. None of them were built for one person who just wants to look professional and get paid on time.
So I built the tool I needed: one calm portal per client, sensible defaults, no bloat. Free forever for your first client because nobody should pay to find out if a tool works.
If it saves you one weekend, it's done its job.
No. Clients access their portal via a secure magic link sent by email — no signup, no password.
Yes, on the Pro plan you can serve the portal from portal.yourname.com.
PortalHQ integrates with Stripe. Clients pay invoices with one click; you keep your Stripe fees.
Yes — 14 days on the Solo plan with no credit card required.
You can export everything (clients, invoices, files) at any time. We keep your data for 30 days after cancellation.
Yes. Build proposals with reusable sections, send to clients, and collect legally binding signatures.
Yes. Toggle VAT per invoice and set a default rate in settings. Works in GBP, USD, and EUR.
Yes, on the Pro plan. Custom domain, your branding, no PortalHQ badge anywhere in the portal.
Manage clients, send invoices, and get push notifications when you're paid — on iOS and Android.