How to Switch from HoneyBook to Gloam

Here is how to switch from HoneyBook to Gloam without risking a single booking. Think of it as a handoff, done in stages. Every pro who has stared at a CRM export screen knows the real fear: the booked wedding with a half-paid balance and a contract signed months ago. That wedding stays where it is. Everything new starts somewhere better.

Why do wedding pros switch away from HoneyBook?

Wedding pros usually start looking for a way to switch from HoneyBook after a price increase, when automations feel rigid, or when small client-facing frictions pile up. Reviews on G2 name stiff workflows, a mobile app that lags the desktop version, and no clean bulk export as the recurring themes. The search begins with frustration. It should end with a plan that protects every booked wedding.

The loudest trigger in the last two years has been price. When HoneyBook raised its prices in early 2025, its own community forum filled with a long thread asking where the improvements were, and it stayed active well into 2026 (community.honeybook.com). Trade press covered the increase as the moment many pros started re-evaluating (Fstoppers, January 2025). Nobody likes paying more for the same tool. For a solo pro, the jump was the nudge that started the search. That price moment is when most pros start looking up how to switch from HoneyBook.

The quieter reasons show up in reviews. On G2, where HoneyBook's ratings run into the thousands, the recurring complaints are specific, not dramatic. Automations feel rigid. Templates are hard to make your own. The mobile app doesn't match the desktop experience. Reviewers also flag a clunky client-facing side. Couples must open extra security-code emails to view a proposal, and schedulers have mishandled time zones. None of these is fatal on its own. Together, they are the paper cuts that make a pro wonder what else is out there.

Then there is the exit itself. More than one reviewer has noted that HoneyBook offers no clean bulk export. Leaving means downloading contracts and files one by one. One G2 reviewer called the missing export path the number one red flag they found while trying to migrate (G2, September 2025). That's worth knowing before you start, because it shapes the plan. You move forward and leave the past where it is.

None of this makes HoneyBook a bad tool. It's a mature, capable system, and plenty of pros run happy businesses on it. But if you're reading a post about how to switch from HoneyBook, one of those reasons is probably yours. It deserves an honest comparison, not a sales pitch.

What does HoneyBook cost in 2026?

HoneyBook lists three plans on its own pricing page, checked on October 24, 2026. Starter costs $29 a month billed yearly, Essentials costs $49 a month billed yearly, and Premium costs $109 a month billed yearly. Automations and the scheduler start on Essentials, not Starter. Card fees start at 2.9 percent plus 25 cents, bank transfers cost 1.5 percent, and every plan starts with a free trial.

Starter includes unlimited clients and jobs, invoices and payments, proposals and contracts, a calendar, templates, a client portal, basic reports, up to 2 live lead forms, and HoneyBook AI. Notably, Starter has no scheduler and no automations. Essentials adds the scheduler, automations, a QuickBooks Online integration, up to 2 team members, up to 10 lead forms, SMS reminders, standard reports, and removal of the "Powered by HoneyBook" label. Premium adds unlimited team members, priority support, multiple companies, advanced reports and unlimited lead forms.

On payments, the page lists card processing fees starting at 2.9 percent plus 25 cents, and a 1.5 percent processing fee for bank transfers. Instant deposits cost an extra 1 percent and are subject to eligibility. All plans start with a free trial. The page notes you can change or cancel anytime. That matters for a switch, because you're not locked in by contract.

So the shape of the pricing is clear. The basics start at $29 a month. The automations most pros actually want start at $49 a month. A team of three or more pushes you toward $109 a month. Keep those numbers next to Gloam's. You'll want them for the cost side of how to switch from HoneyBook.

What is the hardest part of switching CRMs?

The hardest part of switching CRMs is the overlap. For a few months your business lives in two systems, and a contract, a payment plan or a questionnaire answer could fall through the crack. The recurring worries are in-flight bookings, the manual rebuild of workflows, and disrupting couples who already signed. The fix is a staged plan where booked events finish in the old system.

The specific fears come up again and again in migration guides and forum threads. First, in-flight bookings. These are couples who have signed and paid a retainer, but whose wedding is months away. The standard advice from CRM specialists is blunt and correct. Let mid-payment events finish in the old system, or run both systems in parallel through your slow season. Rebuilding a half-paid invoice schedule in a new tool is where mistakes happen.

Second, the rebuild. Workflows don't transfer between platforms. Your automations, templates and forms get rebuilt by hand. Guides estimate a week or two of real work. The common mistake is rebuilding your old system screen by screen instead of mapping your process fresh. That's actually an opportunity. Most pros' HoneyBook setups carry years of cruft, and a rebuild is the only time you'll ever clean it.

Third, the couples. Nobody wants to email a booked couple and say "please re-sign your contract in our new system." The fix is simple: you don't. Booked couples never touch the new system. They finish where they started, and they never know a switch happened.

Fourth, timing. "Is it a bad idea to switch mid-season?" is a recurring question in pro communities. The honest answer is yes. Migrate in your slow season. Or at least start the new system with new inquiries only, so the old one winds down naturally instead of being ripped out.

The through line: knowing how to switch from HoneyBook is mostly a process question, and the plan below respects that.

How to switch from HoneyBook to Gloam without losing bookings?

You switch from HoneyBook to Gloam in stages. Booked events finish in HoneyBook, and every new inquiry starts in Gloam's free plan. Before you cancel anything, you download your contracts, invoices and contacts. Then you rebuild three things in Gloam: your contract, your reply and follow-up automations, and your payment schedule. No couple ever re-signs or re-pays, so no booking is at risk.

Step 1: Start Gloam free and keep HoneyBook running. Gloam's free plan never expires. It covers up to 3 events, with contracts, invoices, the client portal, the timeline builder and the visual automation builder all switched on. Three real events is enough to run the new system for real before you pay anything. That's why the free plan is the natural starting point for how to switch from HoneyBook: real events, real automations, zero cost while you learn. Don't cancel HoneyBook yet. Its own pricing page says you can change or cancel anytime, so there's no penalty for overlap.

Step 2: Give Gloam your business details the fast way. Before you build anything, let Gloam read your website or a pricing PDF. It sets up your packages and business details for you. This is the part of a rebuild that usually eats a weekend, and it's the one part Gloam genuinely shortcuts. Review what it pulls in, fix anything it misreads, and your packages exist.

Step 3: Rebuild three things, in this order. First, your contract. Couples sign with an e-signature from a secure link, you counter-sign, and Gloam keeps the signed PDF on the event. Second, your inquiry rhythm. That means the first reply and the follow-ups, built in the visual automation builder, with branching for different kinds of couples. Glo AI drafts replies and writes your automated emails. Third, your payment schedule. A retainer, a payment plan, automatic reminders, all through Stripe. These three are the booking chain. Everything else can wait.

Step 4: Download what matters from HoneyBook before you cancel. Contracts, invoices, and your client contact list. There's no bulk export, so do this deliberately and early, not the night before. Store the signed PDFs somewhere permanent. From then on, Gloam keeps its own signed PDFs on each event.

Step 5: Route every new inquiry to Gloam. Your lead forms, your booking page, your "contact me" links. Booked couples stay in HoneyBook and finish there. New couples never see it. Within a season, the old system holds only weddings that are already paid and planned. The new system holds your future. That's the quiet middle of how to switch from HoneyBook: two systems, one rule.

Step 6: Bring the team when it earns it. If you run solo, you may never need more than the free or Pro plan. If you have a second shooter, an assistant or an accountant, Studio covers up to 15 team members. Each role only sees what it should. A second shooter sees the events they are assigned to, not your finances.

The whole plan has one rule. No couple ever re-signs, re-pays or re-answers a questionnaire because you changed software. Follow that rule and the switch is invisible to everyone except you.

How do HoneyBook and Gloam compare?

HoneyBook is the established all-rounder for service businesses. Its three plans run $29, $49 and $109 a month billed yearly, and automations start on the $49 tier. Gloam is built only for wedding pros. Its free plan never expires, the visual automation builder is included free, Pro costs $25 a month and Studio costs $40 a month. For anyone weighing how to switch from HoneyBook, prices below are from each company's own pricing page, checked October 24, 2026.

Two differences deserve plain language. First, where the automations live. On HoneyBook you pay $49 a month before you get any. On Gloam the visual builder, with branching for different couples, is on the free plan. For a pro whose biggest booking lever is reply speed and follow-up, that's the difference that matters. WeddingPro's guidance is the reason. 1 in 2 couples expect a reply within 24 hours. Up to half of bookings go to the vendor who responds first. Couples are nearly 40 percent more likely to respond to a consistent follow-up cadence. The tool that automates your replies on day one, free, is the tool that protects those bookings.

Second, the vocabulary. HoneyBook organizes work around clients and jobs, in language built for any service business. Gloam calls every booked job an event. The whole system assumes a wedding, from timelines to questionnaires to deliverables to the words on the buttons. If you shoot, film, plan, arrange or host weddings for a living, that specificity saves you translating your business into someone else's model every day.

What Gloam does not pretend to be: a film host, a gallery, or an editing tool. Like our Dubsado comparison notes, Gloam keeps the delivery promise organized. The due date, the turnaround, the links to the finished files. It never claims to replace the tools that make the work itself.

Which one should you pick?

Stay with HoneyBook if your setup already works. A configured system you know beats a half-built new one, and switching costs you weeks for no gain. Move to Gloam if the fit is the problem: if you pay $49 a month mostly for automations, or you want a CRM that speaks weddings natively. Gloam is waitlist-only today, so join the waitlist and trial the free plan beside HoneyBook first.

Pick the tool that matches the business you actually run, not the one with the longest feature list. That single question answers how to switch from HoneyBook, or whether to switch at all.

If your automations hum, your templates are dialed in, your couples are happy and the price still makes sense, stay. That's simple arithmetic. If you are paying for automations you barely use, or your workflows feel designed for a different kind of business, the staged plan above gets you to Gloam without risking a single booking.

One honest note on timing: Gloam is waitlist-only today. So the realistic move is to join the waitlist. When your invite arrives, run the free plan beside HoneyBook with real inquiries before you commit to anything. That's exactly what the free plan is for. 3 events, the automation builder, contracts and invoices, no expiry date. It's the calmest way to learn how to switch from HoneyBook: with real inquiries, zero risk, and your old system still running. Try the switch where it can't hurt you, and let the bookings decide.

If you want the fuller picture of how Gloam handles the money side once you are in, our guide on reminding wedding clients about payment walks through retainers, payment plans and reminders in detail. And if Dubsado is the other name on your shortlist, the Dubsado alternative guide compares that path the same fair way. Whatever you decide, now you know how to switch from HoneyBook without putting a single booking at risk.