By Noam Bargil, bandleader of Benga Band and founder of RunTheBand. Updated 2026-11-05.
HoneyBook is a good tool for photographers, planners and creative freelancers, and many bands start with it because it handles proposals, contracts and invoices. The trouble starts when the band grows: HoneyBook knows about clients, not about musicians.
We make RunTheBand, one of the options below. Every tool is described with the same questions, and prices come from each vendor's own website.
| Tool | Built for | Starts at (monthly) | Lineups and musician fees |
|---|---|---|---|
| RunTheBand | Wedding, function and cover bands, small agencies | €30, everything included | Yes |
| Back On Stage | Event bands in the US and Canada | $29 | Yes, with PayPal payouts |
| Band Pencil | Bands and agencies, mostly UK | $29 | Yes, with member invoices |
| Check Cherry | DJs, photo booths, event businesses | $39 | No |
| Giggio | UK solo entertainers | £25 + VAT | No |
| BandCalendar | Small bands on a budget | Free, paid from €5.90 | Lineups, no fee tracking stated |
Built for bands and AI-first. Enquiries land in a pipeline, clients accept an interactive offer page with your packages, sign the contract online and get deposit and balance invoices automatically. Every gig has a lineup with musician fees, availability requests, a call sheet and a musician portal, and the AI turns enquiries into events and drafts contracts and call sheets. €30 a month. RunTheBand vs HoneyBook.
Band software from Vancouver with free unlimited musician seats and automatic PayPal payouts to musicians on Pro and Agency. $29, $49 or $79 a month. No AI. RunTheBand vs Back On Stage.
A proven UK tool with a member portal where musicians confirm availability and send invoices, plus a client portal. $29, $49 or $99 a month. AI event creation since October 2026, with the assistant on the top plan only. Web only. RunTheBand vs Band Pencil.
The closest to HoneyBook in feel: polished proposals, contracts and payments, built for DJs and event businesses. From $39 a month. No lineups or musician fees. RunTheBand vs Check Cherry.
UK software for solo performers with UK VAT built in. £25 a month plus VAT. A good fit for solo acts, not for bands with deps. RunTheBand vs Giggio.
Low-cost band organiser with quotes, click-to-accept contracts and lineups. Free plan, paid from €5.90 a month. RunTheBand vs BandCalendar.
A tool built for bands. RunTheBand, Back On Stage and Band Pencil all add what HoneyBook lacks: lineups, deps, musician fees and call sheets. RunTheBand is the one built AI-first.
For solo musicians who mainly send proposals and invoices, it works. For bands with changing lineups it misses the musician side: who plays, what they earn, and what they need to know on the day.
BandCalendar has a free plan and paid plans from €5.90 a month. RunTheBand includes every feature for €30 a month, below HoneyBook's Essentials and Premium plans.
See the full comparison in best band management software in 2026, or try RunTheBand free for 14 days.