A HoneyBook alternative that also handles your wedding footage

What HoneyBook does, by its own description

HoneyBook presents itself as a CRM for small businesses, covering leads, clients, projects, proposals, contracts, invoices and payments. Its business types include photo and video services, where it names wedding videographers, next to event, marketing, home and creative work. It also lists a scheduler, automations, questionnaires, a client portal, an AI meeting notetaker, Phone and SMS, and HoneyBook Finance.

As a CRM for videographers, Hailo has its own version of most of that front office. Couples reach you through an inquiry form on your site, pick a package on a proposal where the total updates as they choose, then sign and pay the deposit from one link. The page on proposals and contracts walks through it.

So if you are weighing HoneyBook competitors, Hailo's case is not the front office. It is everything that happens after the wedding.

The footage side, in the same app

On Monday you plug in every card and reader at once. Hailo copies them side by side, verifies each file and never changes anything on a card. Then it labels every main camera clip by moment, writes a sentence about what is in the shot, and trims away the shaky stretches without deleting a thing. Sorting a wedding by moment has the detail.

Give it a folder per camera and it hands back one synced multicam, lavs and recorders in place. The ceremony comes back already cut, on whoever is speaking, with the clearest mic for each part, as a multicam you can re-cut. The toasts cut on a pause or a reaction, and a long hold breaks while another camera rolls. It all opens in Premiere Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve, and your original footage stays on your Mac.

Where the film goes when it is done

HoneyBook now offers client galleries for photos and videos, with watermarks, password protection, expiration dates and unique URLs. If you deliver stills as well as films, that matters, because Hailo does not do photo galleries.

Hailo's galleries are made for the wedding film. Upload a 4K export and the couple streams and downloads it in 4K, after an entry splash with your line and a music bed. You can sell raw footage or an extra edit with checkout on the page, credit every vendor, and see who watched and how far. More on delivering the film.

Where HoneyBook has the edge

Any fair list of HoneyBook alternatives should say where HoneyBook is ahead. Here is where it leads Hailo.

• A team. HoneyBook's plans list team members. Hailo is one login per studio.
• QuickBooks and Zapier. Both are on HoneyBook's integrations list. Hailo has neither today and exports finance reports to CSV.
• Phone apps. HoneyBook has iOS and Android apps. Hailo is a Mac app for Apple silicon on macOS 14 or later; Manage and Deliver open in any browser, but the footage side needs the Mac.
• Calls and texts. HoneyBook lists Phone and SMS. Hailo sends email, from your own Gmail or any mailbox.
• A migration done for you. HoneyBook offers a free one-time service that turns your materials into templates after you subscribe. Hailo's import is self-serve.
• Other kinds of business. HoneyBook serves many industries. Hailo serves wedding filmmakers only.

Choosing a HoneyBook alternative as a wedding videographer

A wedding videography CRM earns its keep before the wedding. The hours after it go into the edit, and that stretch is what Hailo was built around. A menu bar timer even counts your time in the editor, so you see what each film earns per hour.

Whether Hailo is the best HoneyBook alternative for you comes down to two questions. Do you want the footage handled where the contract and invoices live? Can you work without team seats, QuickBooks or a phone app for now? If both answers are yes, moving your clients over is a self-serve import you can finish in an afternoon.