Generic small-business CRM vs photo booth platform
17hats is a "wear all the hats" CRM for small-business creatives — photographers, freelancers, weddings vendors. BoothZen is purpose-built for photo booth operators. Both can run an admin pipeline, but only one understands what a backdrop is.
Pricing as of 2026-04-30 (VAT treatment varies). Source: 17hats public pricing. Verify before any commercial decision.
Side-by-side pricing in £. Plan tiers may not map 1:1 — see notes.
| Tier | BoothZen | 17hats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry | £0/mo (Free) | ~£10/mo (Essentials) | BoothZen Free is unlimited bookings; 17hats Essentials caps integrations. |
| Pro | £19/mo (Pro) | ~£20/mo (Standard) | BoothZen Pro adds custom domain + multi-brand. |
| Business | £39/mo (Business) | ~£40/mo (Premier) | Comparable price; BoothZen ships booth-specific features. |
| Enterprise | £79/mo (Enterprise) | Not offered | 17hats does not publish an enterprise tier. |
Pricing accuracy: 17hats prices last verified on 2026-04-30. Plan names and tiers occasionally change without notice; verify on the 17hats pricing page before any commercial decision. BoothZen prices are live and accurate.
A detailed look at what each platform offers.
| Feature | BoothZen | 17hats | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Photo-booth-specific data model | Booth units, equipment, backdrops vs generic projects. | ||
| Online booking page (customer self-serve) | Lead-form only | 17hats has lead capture, not a customer-facing booking page. | |
| Generic CRM pipeline | Yes (lead/quote/booked) | Both handle a sales pipeline. | |
| Quotes + invoices | Parity. | ||
| Bookkeeping integrations (Xero, QuickBooks) | Limited | 17hats has deeper bookkeeping integrations. | |
| Stripe + PayPal + Mollie checkout | Stripe + Square | BoothZen prioritises UK + EU rails. | |
| Per-booking fees | 0% | 0% | Both are subscription-only; no platform skim. |
| E-signature on contracts | Parity. | ||
| AI website-import onboarding | BoothZen reads your existing site to pre-fill packages. | ||
| Free plan | 17hats starts paid. | ||
| White-label for resellers | From £39/mo | Not available | BoothZen Business+ supports this. |
17hats is shaped around freelance photographers and "any small-business creative." BoothZen knows about backdrops, prop boxes, booth units, and equipment job sheets — none of which exist in 17hats.
BoothZen ships a public booking page on day one. 17hats gives you a lead-capture form — couples still need to email back-and-forth before they can book.
BoothZen pre-fills your packages, branding, and contact details from your existing website in 30 seconds. 17hats requires manual setup of every package.
If your business runs multiple unrelated trades (e.g. you are a freelance photographer + bookkeeper + wedding officiant + house cleaner) and need a single CRM across all of them, 17hats’ generic flexibility is a strength. Its bookkeeping integrations are also deeper than BoothZen’s today.
If photo booths are your primary or only trade, BoothZen’s purpose-built feature surface (backdrops, equipment checklists, booth units, staff job sheets, prop tracking) will save you hours of manual workarounds in 17hats. Plus a free tier and an AI onboarding flow.
Built for your region
UK photo booth operators frequently report 17hats as their "starter CRM" before discovering that workarounds for booth-specific concepts (which booth went to which event, what backdrop, which staff member, which prop box) become unsustainable at 30+ events per year. BoothZen replaces those workarounds with native concepts. UK VAT-inclusive package pricing, Stripe + GoCardless rails, and Saturday-heavy availability defaults are all native. If your bookkeeping requirements are deeper than your booking-software requirements, 17hats remains a reasonable choice — but most operators eventually migrate the booking side to a purpose-built tool.
“I started on 17hats and built spreadsheets to track which booth went where. Two seasons in, I switched to BoothZen and threw the spreadsheets away.”
— Operator (region: UK)
Free plan covers your first season. UK VAT-inclusive. AI onboarding in 30 seconds.
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