BriefGate vs Dubsado: when the missing piece is getting assets from the client

Introduction

Dubsado is a business-management suite for creative and service professionals: lead capture, proposals, contracts with e-signature, invoicing and payments, scheduling, a client portal, and a workflow builder that ties them together. In its own words: "Run your whole business, from first hello to final payment." Photographers, designers, coaches, and consultants use it as the one system their client relationship lives in.

BriefGate covers one step of that relationship, the one that stalls projects: getting the logo, the copy, the photos, the hosting login, and a dozen small decisions out of the client after the contract is signed. In BriefGate that step is driven by your coding agent or by you: define_intake describes what the client owes, BriefGate sends a branded portal link and chases the client until everything is in, and get_intake_results hands the agent typed data it can build with.

If you are a Dubsado user whose projects wait weeks for "the files", or a developer choosing where asset collection should live, this page shows where each tool fits.

Side-by-side comparison

Feature Dubsado BriefGate
What it is Whole-business suite: leads, proposals, contracts, invoices, payments, scheduling, workflows Asset collection with automated chasing, driven by an agent or a person
Primary interface Web dashboard and mobile app MCP tools and REST API, plus a dashboard
Where files are collected File uploader element inside a questionnaire, proposal, or lead capture form; not inside the client portal itself Per-item uploads on a branded portal: file, file_list, image with format, size, and count constraints
File size Under 8 MB per file Per-plan storage; large uploads go straight to object storage
What else you can ask for Questionnaire fields 12 typed items: text, long text, URL, select, multi-select, boolean, colour list, structured JSON with a schema, encrypted secret
Credential collection No dedicated feature Encrypted secrets vault with one-time reveal (Solo and Agency)
Automatic reminders Workflow trigger "X days after form is not completed" sending a canned e-mail; SMS for these reminders not found in the help centre Chase engine per intake: preset cadences, a custom interval on paid plans, quiet hours, reminder cap, e-mail, SMS credits on Agency, per-recipient bounce handling
Public API None listed on the integrations page; Zapier on the Premier plan REST API with OpenAPI spec, webhooks, llms.txt
MCP server None found Yes, npx @briefgate/mcp
Pricing Starter 335 USD per year, Premier 525 USD per year; extra brands and users as add-ons Free plan; Solo 29 USD; Agency 79 USD per month
Trial 21 days on Premier, no card required Free plan, no card required

Facts about Dubsado were checked on 3 September 2026 against Dubsado's pricing and integrations pages and its help centre. Dubsado shows only annual prices on its site, so no monthly figure is given here. Links are at the end of this page.

When to choose Dubsado

Capterra reviewers rate Dubsado 4.2 out of 5 and praise the automation workflows, the all-in-one platform, and the branded client-facing documents; the recurring complaint is the learning curve and setup time. If the whole-business suite is what you need, BriefGate does not replace it.

When to choose BriefGate

Using both

Dubsado and BriefGate do not compete for the same step, so combining them is straightforward:

  1. Sell and contract the project in Dubsado as you do today.
  2. When the project starts, have your agent, or a Zapier zap on a Dubsado workflow step, call POST /v1/intakes with the items that project needs.
  3. BriefGate chases the client and fires intake.completed when everything is in. Your agent picks up the results with get_intake_results and continues building.

The client gets one branded portal for the assets and keeps using Dubsado for contracts and payments.

Sources