Session vs Mankai

Session hosts the whole path from booking to gallery for you, while Mankai gives you the same studio jobs on WordPress you host.

Is there an alternative to the Session booking app that runs on my own website?

Yes. Mankai, a WordPress plugin for photographers, gives you booking, contracts, questionnaires, invoices and galleries on your own site. Session hosts all of that for you from $228 a year, with 3GB of gallery storage included. With Mankai, galleries sit on your own hosting; it’s free to start, and Pro 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 Session does well

Clients book, sign and pay in one pass.
Galleries come with the subscription.

What Mankai does differently

Lives on your WordPress site and hosting.
No per-client fee and no cut of your payments.

Stay with Session if…

Its mini-session booking covers how you sell.

Try Mankai if…

You’re outgrowing Session’s gallery storage.

At a glance

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

Mankai compared with Session, last checked July 24, 2026
Running the studio
	Mankai	Session
Studio CRM	Yes: clients, sessions, pipeline	Yes, booking-first with a session board
Booking	Yes, included	Yes, it’s the main product
Contracts and questionnaires	Yes: contracts and forms	Yes, during booking
Client galleries	Yes: proofing and a print shop	Yes, with 3GB of storage included
Money
Starting price	Free, or Pro at $249.99/yr; hosting is separate	From $228/yr ($19/mo)
Invoices and payments	Your Stripe or PayPal	Your Stripe, Square, or PayPal
Extra fee on payments	No Mankai cut; processor rates only	No Session commission; processor fees only
How you pay for it	Free download, or Pro yearly	Monthly or yearly, plus optional gallery storage
Client limits	No per-client fee from Mankai	Unlimited sessions and bookings
Your site and your data
Where it lives	On your WordPress site	Session hosts it for you
Built for WordPress	Yes, as a plugin	No
Public website	Your WordPress theme (not part of the plugin)	Branded booking site, not a full website builder
Where client data sits	Your WordPress database	Session’s servers
Moving over	Optional Setup & Migration help; no auto-import	Export what you can and rebuild the rest

What this page doesn’t claim

The exact yearly discount, since Session’s pricing page only shows the yearly figure after you interact with it.
Dollar savings against any particular Session and storage setup.
Whether every Session gallery upsell has a matching feature in Mankai.

Switch or stay

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

Why you might switch

Your clients, sessions, invoices and galleries live in your WordPress database, not someone else’s cloud.

Mankai is a full photography CRM with portal pages on your domain, not only a booking site.

Session includes 3GB of gallery storage, then paid add-ons. Mankai stores galleries on your hosting plan.

Free covers the core studio work. Pro is $249.99 a year, with no cut of your Stripe or PayPal payments.

Your clients, sessions, invoices and galleries live in your WordPress database, not someone else’s cloud.

Mankai is a full photography CRM with portal pages on your domain, not only a booking site.

Session includes 3GB of gallery storage, then paid add-ons. Mankai stores galleries on your hosting plan.

Free covers the core studio work. Pro is $249.99 a year, with no cut of your Stripe or PayPal payments.

Why you might stay

Contract, questionnaire and payment all during booking is Session’s specialty. Mankai is shaped differently.

If hosting, updates and backups sound like a second job, a hosted booking tool suits you better.

If Session already books and delivers your season smoothly, switching may cost more than it saves.

If something you use only works well inside Session, check Mankai can do the same before you move.

Contract, questionnaire and payment all during booking is Session’s specialty. Mankai is shaped differently.

If hosting, updates and backups sound like a second job, a hosted booking tool suits you better.

If Session already books and delivers your season smoothly, switching may cost more than it saves.

If something you use only works well inside Session, check Mankai can do the same before you move.

What moving over involves

Session can’t move itself into WordPress. You export what you can, rebuild your booking and templates, and choose when to switch.

Export clients and open jobs
Download your client list, and note which sessions still need delivering before you change links.
Save contracts and payment history
Save active paperwork as PDFs or exports, and keep your Stripe or Square history with the processor.
Rebuild booking and templates
Set up your session types, contracts, questionnaires and availability once in Mankai.
Send new bookings to your site
When you’re ready, new leads and galleries go to your WordPress site.

Old galleries, favorites and booking threads don’t move over on their own. If it’s safer, finish the jobs already underway in Session.

Setup & Migration is $799.99, paid once, after you have Pro. I go over the scope with you first. It doesn’t include automatic imports.

Ask about Setup & Migration

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

Questions people ask before leaving Session

For a lot of studios, yes: booking, contracts, questionnaires, invoices and galleries. Session’s one-pass booking is its specialty, so compare it with the way you actually sell.

No. Session’s help pages say it charges no commission. You connect Stripe, Square or PayPal and pay only their processing fees. Mankai works the same way on fees.

That’s the cloud storage Session includes, with paid add-ons after it. Mankai keeps gallery files on your WordPress hosting, so your limit comes from your host, not a Session plan.

They’ll see new booking and gallery links on your own domain. Let them know ahead of time, and move active jobs over cleanly.

Then staying on Session is a fair choice. Or book Setup & Migration and choose good WordPress hosting, so you aren’t the one keeping the server running. Self-hosting is a real tradeoff.

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.

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