Rivora vs Bonsai compared: AI proposal generation, contracts, tracking, and pricing for freelancers. Rivora from £12/mo, free 7-day trial.
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Overview
Bonsai is a freelance business suite — proposals, contracts, time tracking, invoices, and basic accounting in a single subscription. It is genuinely useful for freelancers who want to consolidate tools, and its proposal templates are cleaner than most all-in-one competitors.
Proposals in Bonsai are still manual, though. You pick a template, write the scope and pricing sections yourself, and send. There is no AI writing, no buying-signal score, and no on-page client Q&A. Rivora is built around those things: the AI writes the complete proposal from a brief, tracks how the client reads it, lets them ask questions without leaving the page, and runs a pre-send Stress Test to catch objections before they cost you the deal.
Bonsai starts at $17/month (annual). Rivora is £12/month with a 7-day no-card trial.
Side by side
| Feature | Rivora | Bonsai |
|---|---|---|
| AI writes the proposal for you | Yes — full proposal from a brief in under 60 seconds | No — templates you fill in manually |
| Time to first proposal | Under 5 minutes from signup | 20-30 minutes — template selection and manual writing |
| Client Q&A on the proposal | Yes — on-page questions and answers | No — clients email you |
| Pre-send proposal review | Yes — AI Stress Test flags objections before you send | No |
| Open & read tracking | Yes — opens, time spent, buying-signal score | Basic open notifications |
| Payments on acceptance | Yes — payment link on the proposal | Yes — invoicing and payment collection |
| Time tracking / invoicing | Proposal-focused; integrates with your existing tools | Yes — full time tracking, invoicing, and basic accounting |
| E-signatures | Coming Q3 2026 | Yes |
| Starting price | £12/mo (Solo) | $17/mo (annual) |
| Free trial | 7 days, no card needed | 7 days |
Verdict
Pick Bonsai if you want a single subscription to handle proposals, contracts, time tracking, and invoicing — and you are happy to write proposal copy yourself.
Pick Rivora if winning more proposals is the goal. The AI writes the document, the Stress Test catches the weaknesses, and clients can engage directly on the page. For freelancers whose bottleneck is the blank page, Rivora pays for itself with the first deal it helps close.
FAQ
No. Bonsai provides professional templates, but the writing is manual — you fill in the scope, timeline, and pricing yourself. Rivora's AI generates the complete proposal text from a short brief in under 60 seconds.
They are close. Bonsai starts at $17/month billed annually; Rivora Solo is £12/month. Rivora's trial requires no card, so you can send real proposals before paying.
Rivora specialises in proposals. If you also need time tracking, invoicing, and contracts in one place, Bonsai covers more ground. Many freelancers use Rivora for proposals and a separate tool for the rest of the workflow.
Rivora is purpose-built for winning proposals: AI writing, buying-signal tracking, on-page client Q&A, and a pre-send review. Bonsai's proposal feature is solid but secondary to its broader business management focus. For close rates, Rivora wins.