Anyone who runs their own photography business will know that it’s so much more than just taking photos. When you’re not behind the lens, chances are you’re busy keeping track of emails, appointments, calls, shoot schedules, invoices, orders, feedback, marketing, etc. The list goes on, right? It can be overwhelming trying to keep on top of everything, and that’s where photography studio management software comes in.

This one’s for every photographer out there who needs some help simplifying their workflow and making their systems more efficient!

What is photography studio management software?

In a nutshell, photography studio management software helps photographers manage their business. It offers an integrated system so all your work and other workflow elements are in one place – helping your business to run smoothly, and saving you time and stress.

Photography studio management software may be referred to as photography CRM, photography workflow software or photography business management software. It’s essentially an end-to-end solution that can automate your workflow and take care of all the backend and administrative tasks that come with running any photography business. In other words, it’s a lifesaver!

Reasons to use a photo studio management app

There are huge benefits to using a photo studio management app. The software can help you with:

• Project management
• Automated emails
• Keeping track of deadlines
• Payment options
• Invoicing
• Bookkeeping / accounting
• Financial reports
• Contracts
• Booking systems
• Workflow management
• Calendar management
• Lead generation tools
• Maintaining client relationships
• Feedback surveys

Having all these features in one place means you don’t have to think of all the things all the time; instead, you have a central system taking care of everything. Importantly, this leaves you more time to focus on the things you love doing – taking photos and general life fun!

How to choose the right photo studio management software

Everybody’s business is different, and it’s important to consider where you need the most help and the role the software will play. Most photo studio management apps offer a similar range of features, although some may stand out in certain areas.

Here are a few factors to consider:

• Pricing: consider what exactly you need to get from your photo studio management software, and find an appropriately-priced solution for your needs
• User-friendly interface: make sure the software is easy to understand and use (everybody is different, so make sure it works for you!)
• Automated workflows: having the software automate tasks for you is a major benefit, especially if the workflows are geared towards photography businesses
• Calendar management: very useful to keep track of appointments and to sync with online calendars
• Collaboration & integration: check if you can share with others across multiple platforms and integrate with other tech
• Cloud-based platform: this allows you to access your CRM from wherever you are; particularly useful if you’re a photographer on the move
• Invoicing & payment: for many professional photographers, it’s important the software can take payments and chase outstanding bills
• Financial management: you may find that your studio management software is able to replace any accounting software you already use in your business; look for things like expense and revenue tracking, and financial reports

Now that you know what to look for, let’s take a look at our rundown of the best studio management software for photographers.

Our top 12 studio management software for photographers

HoneyBook

HoneyBook is a clientflow management platform for independent businesses. Although not geared specifically at photographers, it serves photographers well, with powerful features including sending of invoices and contracts, booking and scheduling system, automated workflows, enquiry tracking, questionnaire sending, project management and online payments. You can customize and add your branding to each of these features so that they work for you. Of particular note is HoneyBook’s ability to create reports using your customer data (including P&L, leads and conversion rates) and its integration with a variety of apps to make life easier.

Dubsado

Founded by a husband and wife team who needed to make their workflow more efficient (and now a successful platform with a team of over 50), Dubsado is a business management platform not just for photographers, but for everyone.

Designed to fit your business whatever you do, Dubsado will help you manage your clients, automate your work and grow your business. Photographer-friendly features include: appointment scheduling, contract signing, converting leads into paid customers, automated workflows, payment reminders, client portal, and customizable forms and email templates. With fully flexible and customizable features, you can make it work entirely for your needs.

Táve

Táve (pronounced tah-veh) was designed to help photographers organize, optimize and automate workflows. Also used by a number of creative industries, the platform handles a large part of your creative business whilst simplifying your work processes and life – so you can focus more on your clients, and yourself. It’s one of the more customizable solutions for photographers, making it a great option if personal branding is high on your wish list.

Features like automatic booking, online scheduling, quoting, invoicing, email automations, online contracts and customizable form templates are all there to help you run a more profitable studio. Users also report great support and customer service with Táve.

Studio Ninja

Studio Ninja was created specifically for photographers and is a popular photography business app. The platform helps photographers convert leads and get paid faster with online booking, customisable quotes, electronic contracts, credit card payments and automatic payment reminders. The aim is to automatically book clients onto your most profitable packages, so you can work less and earn more.

Studio Ninja works seamlessly with a number of other tools, including Gmail, Google Calendar, Xero and QuickBooks. It’s also useful accounting software for photographers as it integrates with PayPal and Stripe and generates comprehensive financial reports.

Sprout Studio

Designed by and for photographers, Sprout Studio was created to be as fast and as user-friendly (and friendly) as possible. The platform combines studio management software with useful photography-specific features such as online galleries, wall portrait sales tools, print and digital sales, album proofing and design proofing. It’s particularly strong at client management and bookkeeping / accounting, with easy invoicing, contract signing and financial analytics to help you understand your finances at a glance.

ShootQ

If you’re a photographer wanting everything in one place, ShootQ has your back. From scheduling and lead tracking to automated templates and reporting, ShootQ streamlines every aspect of your business with an impressive range of features. Fully customizable so you can make it look and work exactly as you want – so it looks less off-the-shelf and more unique to you – it can take care of contracts, online booking, communication, workflows, invoicing, lead tracking, proposals, reporting, scheduling and bookkeeping.

Pixifi

Pixifi was created by a professional wedding photographer who wanted – and needed – to make life easier in his business, so he could spend more time doing the thing he loved: taking photos. And that’s what the platform exists to do: help other photographers do more of what they love, and less of the repetitive, time-consuming admin that comes with running their photography business.

With Pixifi, photographers can manage their bookings, contracts, invoices and workflows all in one place. Particular highlights include automated lead capture and tracking, customizable lead nurturing workflows, centralized calendar and booking system, built in CRM for client management, and comprehensive goals and KPI tracking. The entire customer lifecycle is covered, from initial contact through to consultation, booking, pre-shoot prep, the photoshoot itself, follow-up and post production.

17Hats

Taking its name from the many ‘hats’ that small business owners have to wear, 17hats is a business management platform for solopreneurs wanting to achieve more in less time. It’s popular amongst photographers as well as creative entrepreneurs, especially those who have more than one income stream as it allows for several businesses to be run under one account.

17hats offers three levels of package to suit different budgets, with good management features including CRM, invoices, quotes, contracts, questionnaires, client portals, online scheduling, bookkeeping, workflows and more. It’s not quite as strong on financial management as some of the other platforms listed here, nor as powerful on analytics, but it’s big on customer support, community and investment.

Shootzilla

Netherlands-based Shootzilla was created for professional wedding and portrait photographers to help them organise jobs, tasks, clients and emails. It’s particularly loved for its ease of use. Features include customizable workflow templates geared to photography projects, customizable email templates to help you streamline your business, and a useful jobs overview to help you see what you have done and what you need to do next. One point to note is that Shootzilla doesn’t currently have an invoicing feature.

Iris

Iris aims to uplevel your photography business through effortless scheduling, seamless client management, automated invoicing and effective marketing. The platform welcomes photographers from all over the world and offers pricing for a range of budgets.

Among its features are online booking, a comprehensive invoice system, lead generation that pulls from your Facebook and Instagram accounts, customizable invoices, contracts and questionnaires, and integration with Square, Pic-Time, ShootProof and QuickBooks.

Bloom

Bloom was built to help creatives run an efficient and profitable business. Its aim is to help you spend less time on tedious business tasks, and more time doing what you do best: in their own words, “less admin and more epic freelance living”. And chances are you’ll enjoy working with this good-looking and affordable platform – it has an impressive list of high-profile endorsers who certainly do.

Bloom offers an organized task management system that lets you organize your workflow, track tasks, automate emails and even deliver digital assets. It’s ideal for photographers and creative professionals of all kinds, with an app to help you stay in control wherever you go.

Bonsai

Aimed at creative businesses and entrepreneurs, Bonsai offers client management, project management and financial management in one integrated, easy to use platform. Bonsai is well-liked for its sleek, streamlined interface and multitude of features including proposals, contracts, CRM, scheduling, projects, time tracking, timesheets, tasks, invoicing, payments, expenses, reports and more.

Of particular note is the automated document creation (including official contract templates and invoices), efficient notifications and alert system, and comprehensive financial overviews. Catering to all budgets, there are four levels of plan to suit your business plus useful add-ons.

Comparison Table

Can’t decide? Here’s a handy table comparing all of the studio management software options we’ve talked about.

Conclusion

So you’ve hopefully narrowed down your favourites – what next?

We suggest you take a free trial of your shortlisted photo studio management software. This is the best way to find out whether the software is suitable for your business needs – and, crucially, whether you ‘get on’ with it. After all, even though a good piece of software will save you money, time and sanity (and is definitely worth the investment), it does cost money and so you want to be sure you have the right one.

Make the most of your free trial with these quick tips:

• Set aside some time to learn the new software properly – there will be lots of features to explore, so you’ll want to do this when you have time to focus away from other tasks
• Understand your business management needs and goals – this will make it easier to work out what features are important to you
• Do a live demo – a quick and efficient way to get a tour of the software
• Note down any issues you have – most photography studio management software has excellent customer service so it’s worth asking questions
• Include your team – if it’s not just you who’s going to be working with the new software, make sure the rest of your team is on board and understands how the new system will work

So that’s it – over to you! It’s time to explore the options and find the best photography studio management software for you. It can seem daunting as there is so much choice – but try a few out and you’ll soon work out what you want (and don’t want) in a platform.

The great news is it’s worth the initial effort as it will make your photography business management so much more efficient – saving you valuable hours, and leaving you more time in the day for the photography you love!