TL;DR

17hats is the incumbent for solopreneurs; COLO is the modern replacement built for a 2026 laptop and phone.
Free-forever Solo plan on COLO; 17hats is paid from day one, with tiered features that older users know well.
Portal on your own domain — clients see your brand in the URL, not a hosted vendor URL.
Mobile experience built for daily project work, not just check-ins.

Why freelancers switch from 17hats to COLO

17hats has a long, loyal user base among solopreneurs — photographers, coaches, and consultants who picked it before the current crop of all-in-ones existed. The workflows are mature and the bookkeeping surface has closed many freelance tax years. If you learned the tool five years ago and it still fits, that history is worth respecting.

The switching driver is almost always UI modernisation and mobile experience. 17hats users describe the desktop as "still the tool it was" — a compliment for feature stability, a burden for anyone joining now. New users often want a surface that feels current: a mobile app they can invoice from, a portal that reads like modern web software to clients, and a proposal builder that keeps up. COLO offers exactly that plus the flat-pricing shape 17hats users grew to like: client management, proposals, contracts, invoicing, and a portal that lives on your own domain.

Feature comparison — 17hats vs COLO

Feature	17hats	COLO
Free plan for solo operator	No — paid from day one	Yes — free-forever Solo plan
Proposals & quotes	Yes — mature	Yes — modern proposals
Contracts & e-signature	Yes	Yes — native contracts
Invoicing & payments	Yes — recurring available	One-off, recurring, plans — invoicing & payments
Project management	Basic — checklists	Client-visible tasks, milestones — project management
Client portal	Hosted, vendor-branded	On your own custom domain — client portal
Bookkeeping / tax exports	Mature (a real strength)	Roll invoices to QuickBooks
Time tracking	Yes	Yes, invoice-tied
Mobile experience	Dated for daily use	Modern, mobile-first
Pricing model	Tiered per account	Free Solo + flat workspace on paid tiers

Pricing comparison

Verify current prices at each vendor.

17hats — three tiers by feature depth, single account.

Essentials: entry, capped features.
Standard: mid-tier, most solo operators land here.
Premier: top tier, unlocks automation and reports.

COLO — free Solo, then flat workspace.

Solo: free-forever for one operator, no card, no trial timer.
Pro: flat workspace with multiple users, all core features.
Grow: flat workspace with expanded seats and automation.

Verify with each vendor before you decide.

When to pick COLO over 17hats

You want a modern UI that reads well on a 2026 laptop and phone.
Free forever for a solo operator with no card and no trial timer.
Mobile-first daily project work rather than a mobile app for check-ins.
Portal on your own domain — clients see your brand in the URL.
Workspace-flat pricing as you add a VA or sub-contractor.

When to STAY with 17hats

Bookkeeping-first workflow. If your year is closed inside 17hats' bookkeeping surface, weigh the migration carefully.
Years of templates. Recipes, quotes, and canned emails you tuned over years are a real switching cost.
You are still solo with predictable volume. If nothing above is a hard requirement, staying is legitimate.

Migration guide — moving from 17hats to COLO

Export clients, projects, quotes, and invoice history as CSV from 17hats.
Download signed contracts and important quotes as PDFs.
Import CSV files into COLO; attach contract PDFs to matching client records.
Bring across two or three most-used templates — do not migrate everything on day one.
Reconnect your payment processor and send one live test invoice. See getting paid guide.
Run both tools in parallel for two to four weeks while pending quotes convert and invoices clear.
Update client-facing links — portal, payment, and booking URLs — to COLO.

Common gotchas: 17hats bookkeeping history exports as CSV but is designed to stay in 17hats — for tax purposes, keep the 17hats read-only archive after cancellation.

FAQ

Is there a free plan for solo operators? Yes — COLO ships a free-forever Solo plan. 17hats has no free-forever tier.

Does COLO replace 17hats end-to-end? For most operators, yes. The one area to weigh carefully is 17hats' bookkeeping features; many users pair COLO with QuickBooks or FreshBooks for that layer.

How long does the migration take? Data import in an afternoon; parallel running for two to four weeks.

Will signed 17hats contracts remain valid? Yes — e-signed contracts remain legally valid. Attach PDFs to the client record in COLO.

Can I keep bookkeeping in 17hats and use COLO for proposals-to-invoices? Yes — export finalised COLO invoices to your accounting tool of choice.

Does COLO have automation like 17hats Premier? COLO ships useful automation on paid tiers; verify feature parity for the specific automations you rely on.

Does COLO have time tracking? Yes — native, per-project, invoice-tied.

Can I white-label the portal? Yes — the COLO client portal lives on your own custom domain.

How does pricing compare for a two-person team? 17hats is single-account; COLO's paid plans are workspace-flat. Verify current numbers.

What if I want to move back? Full CSV export of clients, projects, and invoices is available at any time.

Ready to switch?

Open a free COLO workspace and import your 17hats data. Solo is free forever; paid workspaces are flat as your team grows.

Start free on COLO · See features · See pricing