Check Cherry is booking software for the whole event industry. PhotoCRM is built for photographers, starts free, and delivers the photos too.
Check Cherry is booking software for the event industry: self-service booking pages with packages and add-ons, proposals, contracts with e-signatures, deposits and payment plans, staff scheduling, and travel fees. Photo booth companies, wedding DJs, mobile bartenders, venues, and caterers are its core audience, and photographers are one vertical it serves alongside them. If the hard part of your business is taking bookings for dated events, it handles that well.
PhotoCRM is built for photography businesses specifically, and it covers what happens after the booking as well as before it: client and project management, a lead pipeline, invoicing, contracts with e-signatures, and a branded client portal with galleries and photo and video delivery, plus a public profile in the PhotoFinder directory. It starts on a genuine free plan rather than a trial clock, so there is no date by which you have to decide.
Check Cherry is subscription-only after a 14-day trial, with plans from around $29/mo billed annually and per-tier caps on upcoming bookings and admin seats. PhotoCRM has an ongoing free plan and adds galleries, delivery, and video hosting that Check Cherry leaves to other tools.
| Feature | PhotoCRM | Check Cherry |
|---|---|---|
| Ongoing free plan | ||
| Built specifically for photographers | ||
| Client & project management | ||
| Invoicing & online payments | ||
| Contracts & e-signatures | ||
| Client galleries & photo delivery | Third-party integration | |
| Website or public profile | PhotoFinder directory profile | |
| Video hosting & streaming | ||
| Native iOS app | ||
| White-label + custom portal domain | $35/mo add-on | |
| Payments coverage | 135+ countries (Stripe) | Stripe (cards, Apple Pay, ACH) |
| Starting price | $0/mo (free plan) | From $29/mo (annual), 14-day trial |
Competitor features and pricing change often; figures are indicative as of June 2026; check Check Cherry's site for current details.
Shoots, galleries, photo delivery, and contracts are first-class — not bolted onto a generic service-business tool. Your workflow fits without workarounds.
Run real client work on the free plan — clients, projects, invoicing, contracts, and a branded portal. Upgrade only when you need more storage, seats, or white-label.
Deliver photos and video through a branded client portal with downloads and approvals — no separate gallery subscription to stitch in.
Stripe-powered invoices, deposits, and balances with Apple Pay and card, right inside the client portal. Split a job into a deposit and a balance in a click.
Add white-label for $35/mo to put your logo, colors, email sender, and a custom portal domain on everything — with no “Powered by” credits.
A native iOS app for managing clients, projects, invoices, and payments on shoot day — not just a mobile web page.
Check Cherry is the better fit when bookings, not delivery, are the hard part of your business. Its booking engine is built around dated events: packages and add-ons, travel fees, date-based pricing, staff assignment, and several brands run from one account, which is exactly the shape of a photo booth company or a multi-op event business. If you shoot photography alongside booths, DJs, or a venue, or you already deliver through a gallery service you are happy with and only want the front of the funnel handled, Check Cherry does that job properly and its customers rate it highly for it. PhotoCRM is the closer fit when the work is photography, you want galleries and delivery sitting in the same place as the invoice and the contract, and you would rather start on a free plan than on a trial.
No. Check Cherry offers a 14-day free trial with no credit card required, then paid plans that start around $29/mo billed annually (month-to-month costs a little more), plus a 60-day money-back guarantee. PhotoCRM has an ongoing free plan for photography businesses, so there is no trial clock. Compare current pricing on their site.
Check Cherry does not describe native client galleries or photo and video delivery. Its photography page lists "Gallery integration", which connects an outside gallery service, so photographers using it generally pair it with a separate gallery subscription. PhotoCRM includes galleries and photo/video delivery in the branded client portal, alongside the invoice and the contract.
It is built for event businesses generally. Its own site lists photo booth owners, wedding DJs, mobile bartenders, entertainment production companies, event spaces, wedding venues, and caterers alongside photographers, and it does have a photography-specific page covering mini sessions. PhotoCRM is built for photography businesses only, so shoots, galleries, and delivery are first-class rather than one vertical among many.
Partly. Check Cherry's Brands feature lets you run several brands from one account, each with its own logo, colors, and booking link, though the booking links documented on their site are checkcherry.com subdomains rather than your own domain. PhotoCRM's white-label add-on is $35/mo ($350/yr) and puts your logo, colors, email sender, and a custom portal domain on everything. Check their site for the current state of their branding options.
Yes. Check Cherry publishes native iOS and Android apps for admin and staff accounts, with Tap to Pay on iPhone for contactless cards. PhotoCRM has a native iOS app for clients, projects, invoices, and payments on shoot day.
Check Cherry processes through Stripe, taking cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, and ACH, with US rates published at 2.9% + 30 cents per card charge and 1.5% for ACH; international users connect their own Stripe account. PhotoCRM is also Stripe-powered and supports payments in 135+ countries, with deposits and balances payable inside the client portal.
Move your clients, projects, and invoicing into one place. Start on the free plan, and upgrade only when your studio needs more.
Start freeSee all comparisons on the HoneyBook alternatives page or the pricing page.