Choose Maroo if: You want a genuinely free CRM with built-in payment processing, contractor payments, and 1099 e-filing — especially if you work with subcontractors or manage multiple vendors.
Choose Bloom if: You're a photographer who wants beautiful client-facing galleries, a built-in website, and polished scheduling tools, and you're willing to pay at least $17/month for the Standard plan.
The honest truth: These tools serve overlapping but distinct needs. Bloom wins on aesthetics and gallery delivery. Maroo wins on financial infrastructure — free pricing, transparent payment processing, and tax tools that photographers often don't realize they're missing.
The wedding photography CRM market has never been more crowded — or more confusing. After HoneyBook's controversial 2025 price hike (Starter jumped from $19 to $36/month, nearly doubling), thousands of photographers started shopping for alternatives. Bloom picked up a significant share of that migration, and for good reason. But so did Maroo, which occupies a very different position in the market.
If you're a wedding photographer, planner, or creative professional weighing your options, this breakdown will save you the hours of clicking through pricing pages and free trials.
Maroo is a CRM, contracts, invoicing, and payments platform purpose-built for wedding and event businesses. It handles the full financial lifecycle — from lead capture to getting paid to filing 1099s for your contractors. More than 13,000 wedding businesses use Maroo, which has processed over $350M in invoices with a 94% on-time payment rate.
What makes Maroo unusual: it has a genuinely free tier that doesn't expire, doesn't limit your client count, and doesn't watermark your documents. It's also the only platform in this space with built-in 1099-NEC e-filing — which matters enormously if you pay second shooters, assistants, or other contractors.
Bloom is a modern, design-forward CRM built primarily for photographers and creative freelancers. Its standout features are its beautiful client galleries, professional website builder, and polished client portal. If "first impression" matters to your brand — and for photographers, it absolutely does — Bloom delivers.
Bloom launched as a HoneyBook competitor and has carved out a strong reputation in the photography community as a more affordable, visually superior alternative. Its Standard plan at $17/month (billed annually) offers excellent value for solo photographers who don't need team features.
Maroo's pricing is refreshingly simple:
You can pass processing fees to clients on every plan — which means many Maroo users on the free tier effectively pay $0 in processing costs.
Bloom's pricing has a trap that's easy to miss:
The bottom line on pricing: Maroo's free tier outperforms Bloom's Starter plan in almost every financial dimension. If you're comparing entry-level options, the choice is stark.
Both platforms let you pass fees to clients (surcharging). But there are key differences in how fees work:
Bloom Standard (no platform fee, Stripe/Square rates):
- Card payments: ~2.9% + $0.30 (Stripe standard)
- ACH bank transfers: 0.8%, capped at $5
Maroo Starter (free plan):
- Card payments: 3.5%
- ACH: 1%, max $25
At first glance, Bloom's Stripe rates look better for ACH. But remember — Bloom Standard costs $17/month. Maroo is free. If you're processing $5,000 in ACH payments, Maroo's ACH fee is $25 (capped). Bloom's ACH fee is $40 — but you're also saving $17/month on the subscription. The math is closer than it appears, and when you factor in the ability to pass fees to clients, both platforms can effectively reach $0 in net processing cost.
Where Maroo wins decisively: contractor payments. Paying your second shooter or photo editor through Maroo's B2B ACH is completely free on every plan. Bloom has no equivalent feature.
Let's be honest about where Bloom excels:
Client galleries: Bloom's gallery delivery is solid — 500GB of storage on Standard, integrated directly into the client portal. If you deliver images through the same platform you use for contracts and invoices, clients have a seamless experience. Maroo has no gallery feature.
Scheduling: Bloom has a built-in scheduler so clients can book consultations or sessions without back-and-forth emails. Maroo doesn't have scheduling at all — you'd need a separate tool like Calendly.
Website builder: Bloom lets you build a professional photographer website directly in the platform. If you don't have a website yet, this is meaningful.
Workflow automations: On Standard and up, Bloom's automation builder can automatically send follow-up emails, questionnaires, and reminders based on triggers. Maroo offers one-click conversions (quote → contract → invoice) but not the same depth of automation.
Aesthetic polish: Bloom's client-facing documents and portals look beautiful. This matters when you're a visual artist selling your creative services.
It's free. Not "free trial." Not "free with restrictions." Actually free, forever, for solo photographers and small studios processing under $10K/month.
1099-NEC filing: If you pay second shooters, editing assistants, or any other contractors $600+ in a year, you're legally required to file 1099s with the IRS. Bloom has no 1099 support. Maroo can prepare, e-file, and mail copies to your contractors for $5/form — saving you hours of year-end headaches.
Contractor payments: Send payments to second shooters or other vendors via free ACH directly from Maroo. Store their W-9s in the same platform. Bloom has no equivalent feature.
Team-friendly pricing: Bloom requires the Plus plan ($33/month) to add any team members. Maroo's Business plan ($50–$85/month) supports up to 3 users — useful if you have an associate photographer or studio manager.
QuickBooks integration: Maroo syncs with QuickBooks. Bloom currently doesn't offer this integration.
If you're a wedding planner (not a photographer), Bloom's gallery and scheduling features are largely irrelevant. For planners who need robust planning tools beyond CRM, ThatsTheOne pairs perfectly with Maroo. TTO handles the planning side — guest management, seating charts, timelines, budget tracking, vendor coordination, and wedding websites — while Maroo handles proposals, contracts, invoicing, and payments. Together, they cover every aspect of running a wedding planning business without the compromises of any single all-in-one platform.
- Wedding planners, florists, DJs, caterers, and non-photography vendors who don't need galleries
- Photographers who pay contractors and need 1099 support
- Budget-conscious photographers processing under $10K/month who want $0/month overhead
- Multi-vendor studios that need team features without paying $33/month for Plus
- Anyone who wants QuickBooks sync and clean financial reporting
- Solo wedding photographers who want galleries, scheduling, and a website all in one place
- Photographers focused on client experience — Bloom's polish is real
- Photographers at the $17/month budget who value aesthetics over financial infrastructure
- Studios that don't pay contractors and don't need 1099 support
Imagine you're a wedding photographer who books 30 weddings a year and regularly hires second shooters at $500–$800 per wedding. By December, you've paid three second shooters over $2,000 each — you owe them 1099s.
With Bloom: You have no tools for this. You'll need to use a separate service or do it manually.
With Maroo: Their W-9s are already stored. You click a button, Maroo e-files their 1099-NEC with the IRS and mails them copies. Cost: $5 per form. That's $15 total to be legally compliant, versus hours of manual work (or an accountant's bill).
This scenario plays out for photographers, planners, florists, and caterers alike. It's the kind of detail that sounds boring until tax season hits.
Related Reading:
[Best CRM for Wedding Photographers] — how Maroo stacks up across the full photography CRM market
[Maroo vs HoneyBook} — comparing Maroo against the category leader following HoneyBook's 2025 price hike
Is Maroo actually free, or does it have hidden costs?
Maroo's Starter plan is genuinely $0/month with no expiration. The costs you'll encounter are per-contract fees ($5 each on Starter), 1099 filing fees ($5/form), and payment processing (3.5% for cards, 1% ACH capped at $25). You can eliminate processing costs entirely by passing fees to clients, which is allowed on all plans.
Does Bloom's Standard plan have any transaction fees?
No. On Bloom Standard and Plus, there is no Bloom platform fee. You pay only standard Stripe or Square processing rates (typically 2.9% + $0.30 for cards, 0.8% ACH capped at $5). Note: the Starter plan does add a 1.5% Bloom fee on top.
Can I use both Maroo and Bloom?
Technically yes, but it's rarely worth the cost. Most photographers use one primary CRM. If you specifically love Bloom's gallery and website features but need contractor payments and 1099 filing, you could handle financial workflows in Maroo — but managing two platforms adds complexity.
Does Maroo work for photographers specifically?
Yes. Maroo isn't photography-exclusive like Studio Ninja or Bloom, but it's fully functional for wedding photographers — lead capture, proposals, contracts, invoices, payment processing, and contractor management. The only things missing compared to photography-specific tools are galleries, scheduling, and a website builder.
Which platform is better for a brand-new photography business?
If you're just starting out and processing under $10K/month, Maroo's free plan is the obvious starting point — it costs nothing and gives you the core financial infrastructure. Once you're established and want to invest in client experience, Bloom's Standard plan at $17/month adds galleries, scheduling, and a polished website. Many photographers start on Maroo and layer in additional tools as their business grows.
