Maroo and Aisle Planner both serve wedding and event businesses, but they emphasize different work. Maroo connects a free Starter CRM and associated core features with quotes, contracts, invoicing, payments, contractor payouts, and tax-document workflows. Aisle Planner combines sales tools with timelines, budgets, guest tools, layouts, seating, design, and project collaboration.
This comparison uses official product, pricing, and payment pages checked August 21, 2026. It focuses on which workflow each platform fits, not on declaring one universal winner.
Maroo is a business-management and payments platform for wedding and event businesses. Starter’s CRM and associated core features are free within published plan limits; Business is an optional $50 monthly plan with higher limits and advanced features.
Current Maroo workflow highlights:
- CRM for leads and client records
- Quotes, contracts, e-signatures, invoices, payment schedules, and Autopay
- Questionnaires for reusable client intake
- Recurring invoices for genuinely recurring billing, separate from installments and Autopay
- Client card and ACH collection with eligible fee passing under applicable rules
- Free B2B ACH contractor payments within plan limits
- Individual and bulk W-9 requests plus published 1099 support
- QuickBooks Online integration and other current integrations
Where Aisle Planner has broader scope:
Aisle Planner is deeper for timelines, checklists, budgets, guest management, layouts, seating, design boards, event websites, and project collaboration. Maroo’s current scope instead centers on the business-side CRM, contracts, invoices, payments, contractor payouts, and W-9 workflow.
Maroo supports passing eligible processing fees subject to the payment method, disclosure, card-network rules, and applicable law. Passing a fee shifts it to the client; it does not remove the fee from the transaction.
Aisle Planner positions itself as an all-in-one platform for wedding and event professionals. Its sales and business tools can connect with project templates, timelines, budgets, vendor records, guest management, layouts, seating, and event websites on project plans.
Current Aisle Planner workflow highlights:
- Lead management, proposals, interactive quotes, contracts, e-signatures, invoices, and online payments
- Questionnaires, scheduling, email integration, and client portals
- Project templates, checklists, timelines, budgets, style guides, and vendor records
- Guest management, messaging, layouts, seating, event websites, and online RSVP
- Internal team communication, task assignment, project management, and document sharing
- Zapier integration and external calendar syncing under current plan terms
Payment and contractor-workflow context:
Aisle Planner’s current WedPay guide publishes 3.2% for US/Canadian cards and 1% for US ACH. It describes options to offset online-payment costs, so the earlier blanket claim that fees could never be passed is removed. The public pricing and payment pages do not present a connected contractor payout plus W-9/1099 workflow comparable to Maroo’s.
Aisle Planner’s distinctive value is the combination of client/business tools with wedding planning and design. Whether that is more valuable than Maroo’s payment and contractor depth depends on the planner’s operating model.
Maroo uses subscription tiers with invoicing limits and published processing prices. See current plan terms.
Starter’s CRM and associated core features are free within published limits. Eligible processing fees can be passed under applicable rules, and B2B ACH contractor payments are free within plan limits.
Business is $50 per month, or $600 per year. If a business passes every eligible processing fee and absorbs no other transaction fee, the business pays only that subscription; clients pay the shifted eligible fees. Published W-9/1099 and per-use terms remain separate.
Aisle Planner prices sales-only and project plans separately and advertises a 10% annual-billing discount.
Sales Essentials at $49.99 per month covers sales and business-management tools but excludes project-management tools. The project plans begin at $69.99 per month for up to 15 active projects, then increase with capacity.
A 30-day trial is advertised; the current pricing page says a credit card is required.
The platforms publish different fee structures and offset options, so use the same card/bank mix and transaction count when estimating annual cost.
Maroo supports passing eligible card and ACH processing fees under applicable rules. A business may also choose to absorb some or all fees.
Example: An $8,000 card payment on Maroo Business has a published 3.4% processing fee, or $272. If that fee is eligible and passed, the client pays the shifted $272 and the business receives the $8,000 invoice amount. If the business absorbs it, the fee remains a business cost.
B2B ACH contractor payments are free within each Maroo plan’s published limits.
Eligibility, client disclosure, card-network rules, payment method, and applicable law must all be considered; do not treat fee passing as a universal legal conclusion.
Aisle Planner’s help center publishes a 3.2% flat US/Canadian card price and 1% US ACH. It also describes options that can help offset online-payment costs, so planners should confirm the exact account setup and how any client charge is presented.
Example: At the published 3.2% rate, an $8,000 card payment has a $256 processing fee before any account-specific offset arrangement. The party that ultimately bears that cost depends on the configured option and applicable rules.
Across a full year, the result depends on payment mix. The cost model below uses $105,000 in cards and $45,000 in ACH so the arithmetic can be checked.
This is not a criticism of either structure. It is a reminder to compare the business’s real payment methods together with the workflow value of each subscription.
For businesses focused on client collection and contractor administration, Maroo’s eligible fee pass plus free B2B ACH within plan limits can reduce business-side payment expense. If Business passes every eligible processing fee and absorbs no other transaction fee, its business cost is the $600 annual subscription; clients pay shifted eligible fees.
Maroo connects client and contractor payments with W-9 requests, payment records, and published 1099 preparation/e-filing/mailing options. That can reduce duplicate administration for businesses that regularly hire contractors.
Maroo publishes integrations including QuickBooks Online. Aisle Planner publishes Zapier and calendar integrations, so the earlier claim that it had no Zapier support is no longer used. Compare the specific integration each workflow needs.
Maroo Starter is free for businesses invoicing under $5,000 per month, and its CRM and associated core features do not require a subscription within published limits. Aisle Planner starts at $49.99 per month for Sales Essentials and $69.99 for a project plan.
Aisle Planner’s style guides, layouts, seating, and related design tools are valuable when visual planning is central to the service. Maroo does not position itself as a replacement for that planning/design suite.
Maroo and Aisle Planner therefore overlap in CRM, contracts, invoices, and payments but diverge in deeper planning versus contractor-finance workflows.
Aisle Planner’s timelines, checklists, budgets, project templates, event websites, and client collaboration cover more of the event-delivery lifecycle. Maroo is deeper in business-side payments and contractor administration.
Guest tools, vendor records, layouts, seating, event websites, and RSVP functionality can matter for planners coordinating complex weddings. Those are not the focus of Maroo’s current product scope.
Aisle Planner’s portal and visual planning tools give clients a dedicated collaboration environment. The value depends on how directly clients participate in planning and design.
Scenario: $150,000 in client payments, with $105,000 paid by card and $45,000 by ACH. Subscription prices use monthly list totals. The model is an example, not a quote.
- Business subscription: $50 per month × 12 = $600 per year
- Processing absorbed by business: $0, only if every eligible modeled fee is passed and no other transaction fee is absorbed
- Processing shifted to clients: $4,132.50 using 3.4% cards and 1.25% ACH
- Business total in this scenario: $600; per-use tax-document charges, if used, are separate
- Subscription at monthly list price: $69.99 × 12 = $839.88 per year
- Card processing: $105,000 × 3.2% = $3,360
- ACH processing: $45,000 × 1% = $450
- Total before any configured offset: $4,649.88
The comparison does not assign a universal winner. Aisle Planner’s project and design tools may replace other subscriptions or manual work, while Maroo’s financial and contractor workflow may replace different tools. Confirm any offset configuration and current annual discount before deciding.
Maroo can fit better when:
- A free Starter CRM and associated core features matter
- The business prioritizes client payments, fee-choice flexibility, and contractor payouts
- W-9 requests and 1099 support are part of the workflow
- The business already has separate event-planning/design tools
- QuickBooks Online or other published integrations are important
Related: Best Wedding Vendor Payment Software
Aisle Planner can fit better when:
- Timelines, budgets, guest tools, layouts, seating, and design are central to the service
- The team wants sales and project tools in one planner-specific system
- The business does not need a connected contractor payout and W-9/1099 workflow
- Aisle Planner’s published WedPay rates and offset options fit the payment strategy
- The client portal and collaborative planning environment add measurable value
Yes. For some businesses, a two-platform setup is reasonable if the workflows are clearly divided.
Aisle Planner can own planning and design; Maroo can own client payments, contractor payouts, and tax-document workflows.
Because both can touch CRM, contracts, and invoices, the business should designate one source of truth for each record type and test reconciliation before using both with live clients.
At monthly list prices, an up-to-15-project Aisle Planner plan plus Maroo Business is $119.99 per month in subscriptions. Whether that stack is worthwhile depends on using both distinct feature sets.
Related: Maroo contractor tax-compliance workflow
Does Aisle Planner have a free plan? No permanent free tier is shown on the current pricing page. Sales Essentials is $49.99 per month, and the page advertises a 30-day trial that requires a credit card.
Does Maroo charge a monthly fee? Starter is free for businesses invoicing under $5,000 per month. Business is optional at $50 per month, and Pro is custom.
Can Aisle Planner users offset online-payment fees? Aisle Planner’s help center describes options to offset online-payment costs. Confirm the exact account configuration, client presentation, payment method, and applicable rules rather than treating fee passing as a blanket yes or no.
Does Maroo have event design tools? Maroo does not position itself as a replacement for Aisle Planner’s timelines, layouts, seating, guest management, or visual design. Its current focus is CRM, quotes, contracts, invoicing, payments, and contractor workflows.
What payment processor does Aisle Planner use? Aisle Planner uses WedPay powered by Fullsteam and publishes 3.2% for US/Canadian cards and 1% for US ACH.
Does Aisle Planner integrate with Zapier? The current Aisle Planner pricing page lists Zapier integration among plan features. Confirm which workflows and triggers are available for the chosen plan.
Does Aisle Planner handle 1099s for contractors? Its public pricing and payment pages do not present the connected contractor payout plus W-9/1099 workflow described by Maroo. Confirm any newer capability directly before deciding.
Which is better for a new planner? Maroo offers a free Starter CRM/core workflow under its monthly invoicing limit. Aisle Planner charges for Sales Essentials and project plans but includes deeper wedding-planning tools. The better fit depends on whether the immediate need is business/financial workflow or event delivery.
Maroo is a strong fit when free Starter CRM/core features, payment administration, contractor payouts, and W-9/1099 workflow are priorities. The qualified Business fee-pass scenario can leave the business with the $600 annual subscription while clients pay shifted eligible processing fees.
Aisle Planner is a strong fit when timelines, budgets, guest tools, layouts, seating, design, and collaborative project delivery are priorities. Its published project plans and WedPay rates make those costs modelable without relying on the older figures in this article.
Choose based on the bottleneck the software must remove: business-side collection and contractor administration, or planning-side event delivery and design.
Related: Maroo invoicing, payment, and contractor workflows
Maroo Starter can be tested without a subscription within its published limits; processing and per-use charges can still apply.
