Switching
A Dubsado alternative with client galleries included.
Dubsado is a flexible CRM with deep forms and workflows. It doesn’t include client galleries, so photographers pay for a gallery platform too. This page compares them straight, including the parts where Dubsado is the better tool.
Nothing here asks you to cancel anything. Bring one shoot and see.
Why people look
People usually look for the same reason.
Dubsado serves every kind of service business, and photographers who use it usually like how much they can shape it. They end up here because the job doesn’t finish until the client has the photos, and that last step happens in another tool, on another bill.
The facts box
Checked against Dubsado’s own pages on 30 September 2026. Dubsado doesn’t include client galleries: its pricing page lists none. It has two plans, Starter and Premier, at US$35 and US$55 a month or US$335 and US$525 a year, and says “All prices are in USD”. Scheduling and automated workflows are on Premier only. The trial runs 21 days, with no card. Dubsado Payments works in 39 countries including Australia and New Zealand, with Australian card fees from 1.7% plus 30 cents.
Tellisto is one product on one bill, in Australian or New Zealand dollars. The galleries and the back office are the same app. There’s a free plan with no time limit that covers the whole workflow, from enquiry to delivered gallery. Pro adds storage, unlimited live galleries, your own gallery domain and a share of Vault renewals. There’s zero commission. Like Dubsado, Tellisto has no outside investors. Their numbers can change any time, so check their pricing page for the current ones.
What maps to what
How your Dubsado setup maps to Tellisto.
- Projects become leads and bookings. An enquiry comes in, becomes a quote, then a confirmed shoot with a deposit against it. Each booking creates its gallery with the client and details already filled in.
- Lead capture forms become a branded enquiry form. It goes on the website you already have, and every enquiry gets an instant reply in your words. Tellisto doesn’t build websites.
- Schedulers become sessions. Set up a session for anything you take bookings for, and it gets its own shareable page with deposits, intake forms and a waitlist. On Tellisto that comes with the free plan.
- Contracts and invoices carry across. Contracts are signed online under your studio’s brand, never a Tellisto address. In Australia, invoices round GST the way the ATO specifies and check your ABN against the register. In New Zealand they charge 15% and show your IRD number.
- Getting paid gets PayID. PayID and bank transfer are listed first on your invoices, and the money lands in your account with no fee. Card payments go through your own Stripe account. You mark bank payments as paid yourself when they arrive.
- The gallery platform becomes part of the product. This is the main difference. Galleries are part of the same app, linked to the same client record, and white-labelled on every plan including free.
Where they do better
Where Dubsado is the better tool.
Here is where Dubsado does more than Tellisto, and where that might matter to you.
- Workflows and forms. Dubsado lets you build your own automations and forms in far more detail. Tellisto’s are set up for a photography job and do fewer things.
- Proposals. Premier includes public proposals for presenting your packages. Tellisto’s closest equivalents are a quote your client accepts online and a booking page listing your sessions, and both are simpler.
- More than one of you, or more than one brand. Dubsado includes three extra users for free and adds brands for US$10 a month each. A Tellisto account today is one studio and one person.
- A mobile app. Dubsado has one on both plans. Tellisto works in a phone browser, which is not the same thing.
- Integrations. Premier connects to Zapier and, from there, to most other tools. Tellisto doesn’t connect to accounting software directly yet.
- Beyond Australia and New Zealand. Dubsado Payments works in 39 countries. Tellisto is built for Australia and New Zealand only.
Here is what Tellisto doesn’t do at all yet: no print store, no website builder, no video hosting, no slideshows. Camera raw upload is on the roadmap for Pro and not shipped, so uploads take JPEG, PNG and WebP today.
The move itself
How the move goes.
- First, get your data out while you still have an account. On a computer, as the admin: contacts and projects as CSV files, invoices and payments from Reporting, and PDFs of the contracts for active jobs. Forms, templates and workflows have no export, so copy out the ones you actually use. Don’t cancel yet.
- Day one: deliver something new. Brand your studio, which takes about ten minutes, and put your next shoot through Tellisto end to end. Nothing about your Dubsado account changes.
- Week one: bring your current clients. Import your contacts CSV at Clients, then Import. Nobody gets emailed. Set up the jobs you have on now as bookings. If anything doesn’t line up, send it over and we’ll do it together. While Tellisto is small, the person doing that is me.
- Before you cancel: move your enquiry form. Dubsado’s lead capture forms and schedulers stop working for clients once the account is deactivated. Put the Tellisto enquiry form on your website first.
- Last: cancel the old bills. Dubsado, and the gallery platform too if it was only there because Dubsado didn’t cover delivery.
Decided?
The step-by-step guide to moving from Dubsado.
This page helps you choose. The guide covers the move itself. It lists which exports to pull out of Dubsado, in what order, and what has no export button at all. It also shows how to set up your live work in Tellisto before you cancel anything.
How to move from Dubsado to Tellisto How every move works
Comparing more than one tool? See every platform we compare.
Frequently asked questions
Questions about switching from Dubsado
Does Tellisto replace Dubsado, or sit next to it?
It replaces it, if you want it to. Enquiries, clients, bookings, quotes, contracts, invoices and the automated emails are all here, and so are the client galleries Dubsado leaves to another tool. You can also run them side by side on the free plan and decide with the real thing in front of you.
I've built a lot of Dubsado workflows. Will I miss them?
Maybe, and it's worth being honest about. Dubsado's workflows are deeper and more configurable than anything in Tellisto. Tellisto does fewer things automatically, but they're set up for a photography job already: an instant reply to every enquiry, on by default, and ready-made booking confirmations, pre-shoot check-ins, after-shoot notes and invoice reminders you switch on under Automations. If your workflows are the heart of your business, try Tellisto on one job before deciding.
What does it cost to get paid?
On Tellisto, clients can pay by PayID or bank transfer straight into your account, with no fee from anyone. Card payments go through your own Stripe account at Stripe's rates, and Tellisto adds nothing on top. Dubsado's help centre lists Australian card fees from 1.7% plus 30 cents through Dubsado Payments.
Can I get my data out of Dubsado?
Yes, on a computer, logged in as the admin. Contacts and projects export as CSV files, projects one status at a time, and invoices and payments export from Reporting. Signed contracts download one PDF at a time, and forms, templates and workflows have no export. The moving from Dubsado guide does it in the safe order.
What happens to my galleries?
They stay wherever you deliver them now, and new ones go in Tellisto. When an old client needs a gallery again, re-upload it from your own archive. You own the originals, and a gallery platform only ever holds a copy.
What does Tellisto cost next to what I pay now?
Tellisto is one bill in Australian or New Zealand dollars: a free plan with 20 GB and two live galleries, or Pro at $79 a month (NZ$79 in New Zealand) with 1 TB and unlimited live galleries, both with zero commission. Compare it with Dubsado's price plus whatever you pay to deliver photos, not with Dubsado on its own. The pricing page has the detail.
Bring one shoot and see.
Start free in about ten minutes, run a whole job through it, and decide with the real thing in your hands. You don't need a card, there's no trial clock, and there's zero commission.