Dubsado vs Mankai

Dubsado is a deep hosted CRM built around Flows; Mankai is a WordPress plugin with galleries on your own domain.

Is there a Dubsado alternative for photographers that works on WordPress?

Yes. Mankai is a WordPress plugin for photographers with booking, contracts, invoices and client galleries on your own domain. Dubsado is a hosted CRM built around Flows, with no galleries of its own, from $335 a year. Mankai is free to start, and Pro, which adds custom workflows, is $249.99 a year.

Elijah Lemanski, the photographer who makes Mankai

The short version

Both are good tools. Which one suits you comes down to hosting, galleries and how you like to get paid.

What Dubsado does well

A mature CRM with portals, forms and contracts.
Flows automation, if you put in the setup.

What Mankai does differently

A WordPress plugin you host yourself.
Galleries and proofing come built in.

Stay with Dubsado if…

Your Flows are set up and working well.

Try Mankai if…

You pay for Dubsado and a gallery tool.

At a glance

Last checked July 24, 2026. Their plans and prices can change, so check their site before you decide.

Mankai compared with Dubsado, last checked July 24, 2026
Running the studio
	Mankai	Dubsado
Studio CRM	Yes: clients, sessions, portal	Yes, it’s the main product
Booking	Yes, included	Only on Premier
Contracts and proposals	Contracts on Free; new quotes on Pro	Yes; public proposals on Premier
Client galleries	Yes, built in	No, you pair another gallery tool
Automations	Custom workflows on Pro	Flows on Premier
Money
Starting price	Free, or Pro at $249.99/yr; hosting is separate	From $335/yr (Starter, billed yearly)
Invoices and payments	Your Stripe or PayPal	Dubsado Payments, PayPal, or Square
Extra fee on payments	No Mankai cut	No separate Dubsado cut listed
How you pay for it	Free download, or Pro yearly	Starter or Premier, monthly or yearly
Client limits	No per-client fee from Mankai	Unlimited on paid plans
Team members	No seat pricing from Mankai	Extra users cost more after included seats
Your site and your data
Where it lives	On your WordPress site	Dubsado hosts it; you can embed forms on a site
Built for WordPress	Yes, as a plugin	No, it isn’t a WordPress CRM plugin
Public website	Your WordPress theme (not part of the plugin)	No, your site is separate
Where client data sits	Your WordPress database	Dubsado’s servers
Moving over	Optional Setup & Migration help; no auto-import	CSV export and import guides are available

What this page doesn’t claim

Whether the old free Dubsado plan (3 clients) is still open to new signups.
Fee tables for countries beyond Dubsado’s published US examples.
Dollar savings against Dubsado plus any particular gallery service.

Switch or stay

Here are good reasons to move and good reasons to stay put. Dubsado may still be the better fit for you.

Why you might switch

Dubsado doesn’t deliver galleries. Mankai does, and for photographers that’s often the whole point.

Embedding Dubsado isn’t the same as a CRM inside WordPress. Mankai’s records are part of your own site.

Dubsado scheduling sits on Premier. Mankai includes basic booking on Free and Pro.

Free covers the core studio work. Pro is $249.99 a year, with no seat add-ons from Mankai.

Dubsado doesn’t deliver galleries. Mankai does, and for photographers that’s often the whole point.

Embedding Dubsado isn’t the same as a CRM inside WordPress. Mankai’s records are part of your own site.

Dubsado scheduling sits on Premier. Mankai includes basic booking on Free and Pro.

Free covers the core studio work. Pro is $249.99 a year, with no seat add-ons from Mankai.

Why you might stay

If you’ve spent a year tuning your Flows, moving means rebuilding them, not importing them.

Dubsado is cloud software. Mankai needs WordPress hosting, updates and backups.

Planners and other creatives use Dubsado without proofing galleries. Mankai is made for photo studios.

If Dubsado’s brand and user add-ons fit the way you work, that’s a good reason to stay.

If you’ve spent a year tuning your Flows, moving means rebuilding them, not importing them.

Dubsado is cloud software. Mankai needs WordPress hosting, updates and backups.

Planners and other creatives use Dubsado without proofing galleries. Mankai is made for photo studios.

If Dubsado’s brand and user add-ons fit the way you work, that’s a good reason to stay.

What moving over involves

Dubsado can’t move itself into WordPress. You export what you can, rebuild your Flows as workflows, and move new work over when you’re ready.

Export clients and projects
Use Dubsado’s CSV export so your names and jobs have a starting point in Mankai.
Save the paperwork that matters
Save active contracts and invoices as PDFs, and note which Flows still run on live jobs.
Rebuild forms and workflows
Set up your lead forms, contracts and the automations you still need, once.
Send new bookings to your site
Update your public links so new leads and galleries land on your WordPress site.

Flows, portals and old email threads don’t import automatically. Plan on rebuilding them.

Setup & Migration is $799.99, paid once, after you have Pro. It can cover the install, branding, booking, templates and hands-on help. We agree on the scope before any invoice.

Ask about Setup & Migration

A Zenit-E film camera beside three instant prints, laid out on an old map

Questions people ask before leaving Dubsado

Not quite. Mankai is a photography CRM plugin with galleries. Dubsado is a broader CRM for creatives, without galleries of its own. They overlap, but they’re different products.

Mankai runs inside your WordPress site, so your booking and portal pages are part of your site, not an embed from another company’s CRM.

No. Basic booking and availability come with Free and Pro. Weekly hours limits and more booking controls are on Pro. There’s no separate scheduling plan.

Dubsado has no gallery fees because it doesn’t offer galleries, so you still pay a gallery company. Mankai includes galleries in the plugin, and your host handles the storage.

Not automatically. You rebuild the ones you still need as custom workflows on Pro. For most people, that’s the longest part of leaving Dubsado.

Read their current help pages and pricing. If running your studio on WordPress appeals to you, look through Mankai’s features too. Then pick the setup that suits how you like to work. Neither one is right for every studio.

Dubsado site (opens in a new tab) Mankai features Mankai pricing