Modern design that matches your brand
Everything your clients see (emails, contracts, forms) looks premium and on-brand. 17hats' client-facing materials look generic and dated.
Comparison
17hats was one of the first CRMs for photographers. Fstop is one of the newest. Here's how they compare in 2026, honestly.
Monthly Price
From $19.99/mo
vs
$15–60/mo
Interface
Modern & clean
vs
Dated but functional
Built For
Photographers & videographers
vs
Small businesses broadly
Let's Talk About It
If you're a photographer, your tools should look as good as your work. This is the most noticeable difference between fstop and 17hats.
Clean, minimal interface with your branding front and center. Custom fonts, your color palette, your logo: everything you send to clients looks like it came from you, not from a business tool from 2015. The UI is modern and doesn't fight you.
17hats gets the job done, but the interface hasn't kept up with modern design standards. The dashboard feels cluttered, forms and contracts look generic, and client-facing documents don't reflect the premium brand most photographers are building. It works, it just doesn't look or feel premium.
Feature by Feature
| Feature | Fstop | 17hats |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Starting price | From $19.99/mo | $15/mo (Essentials) |
| CRM features included | ✓ Every feature on every plan | ✗ Standard ($30/mo) or Premier ($60/mo) for full features |
| Trial | ✓ 7 days, no card | ✓ 17 days |
| Lead Management | ||
| Inquiry pipeline | ✓ | ✓ |
| Embeddable contact form | ✓ Visual builder | ✓ |
| Webhook intake | ✓ | ✗ |
| Lead source tracking | ✓ | ✓ |
| Contracts & E-Signatures | ||
| Contract builder | ✓ | ✓ |
| E-signatures | ✓ | ✓ |
| Send from your Gmail | ✓ Gmail API | ✗ Sends from 17hats |
| Email templates | ✓ | ✓ |
| Email automations | ✓ Just the ones you need | ✓ Workflow automations |
| Scheduling & Timelines | ||
| Google Calendar sync | ✓ | ✓ |
| Event timelines | ✓ Built-in timeline builder | ✗ |
| Scheduler / booking | ✓ Via Google Calendar | ✓ |
| Payments & Invoicing | ||
| Invoicing | ✓ | ✓ |
| Online payments | Your own payment link on invoices | ✓ Stripe + Square |
| Payment plans | ✗ Not yet | ✓ |
| Branding & Design | ||
| Branding kit | ✓ Colors, fonts, logos, social | Basic branding |
| Custom form builder | ✓ Visual drag-and-drop | ✓ |
| Custom fields | ✓ | ✓ |
| Modern, clean UI | ✓ | ✗ Dated interface |
| Other | ||
| Built for photographers | ✓ | ✗ General small businesses |
| Questionnaires | ✓ | ✓ |
| Client portal | ✓ Branded portal: questionnaires, timelines, files & documents | ✓ |
| Client photo galleries | ✓ Built in on Studio & Pro (250 GB / 1 TB) | ✗ Needs Pic-Time or Pixieset ($20-50/mo extra) |
| Bookkeeping / expenses | ✗ | ✓ |
| Mobile app | ✓ iPhone companion app: live sync + push notifications | ✓ |
Honest Take
Everything your clients see (emails, contracts, forms) looks premium and on-brand. 17hats' client-facing materials look generic and dated.
Clients see your name and reply to your address. 17hats sends from their own system.
Built-in wedding and event timeline builder. 17hats doesn't have this.
Custom fonts, color palettes, logos, and social links, all built in and applied across everything, including the branded client portal your clients see. 17hats' branding options are minimal.
A native iPhone app with live sync and push notifications, included on every plan.
Connect any existing website form directly. 17hats only accepts leads through their own forms.
17hats Essentials starts at $15/mo, cheaper than fstop. But it's limited: no automation, no online payments, limited templates. The comparable plan (Standard) is $30/mo.
17hats supports Stripe and Square for payments right now. Fstop invoices carry your own payment link instead, and deposits and balances are tracked for you.
17hats has built-in bookkeeping features: track expenses, mileage, and generate profit/loss reports. Fstop doesn't have bookkeeping.
Both 17hats and Fstop have questionnaires for gathering client info (wedding details, shot lists, etc.). Fstop's questionnaires are branded to match your business and support multiple question types.
17hats has been around since 2013. They're established and stable. Fstop is newer and still shipping features.
Who It's For
Pricing
Fstop
$19.99
/mo billed yearly
Every CRM feature included. Client galleries on Studio and Pro.
17hats
$15–60
per month depending on plan
Annual billing available. Essentials is bare-bones: most photographers need Standard ($30/mo) to get usable features.
17hats was one of the pioneers. They were solving the "I need a CRM" problem for photographers back when the options were basically spreadsheets or enterprise software. A lot of photographers got their start on 17hats and it served them well.
But the product hasn't evolved the way the industry has. The interface feels stuck in 2015. Client-facing documents don't reflect the premium brands photographers are building today. And 17hats' pricing tiers mean you're paying $30-60/mo before you get core CRM features that fstop includes on every plan from $19.99/mo. On fstop, the only thing tiers change is gallery storage.
If 17hats is working for you, there's no urgency to switch. But if you've been wanting something that looks as good as your work and feels modern to use, that's what fstop is for.
Ready when you are
7-day trial. Every CRM feature included. Plans from $19.99/mo.