Getting started
BookNox gives you one shareable link that quotes every client, sends the proposal and contract, and collects the deposit into your own bank account. The steps below take a new account to a live booking page in the order the onboarding page shows them, with what each step needs and what to expect along the way.
How do I create a BookNox account?
You create a BookNox account by requesting a sign in link; there is no password and no separate sign up form. Go to booknox.com/start (every Build your quote page button on the site lands there), enter your email, and BookNox emails you a link that works once and expires after 15 minutes. Opening that link for an address BookNox has not seen before creates your account. If you never open it, no account is created.
Your email address matters, so use one you will keep. The sign in form refuses temporary inbox services, and the address you start with is the one you sign in with from then on. The sign in help article covers expired links, missing emails, and the one click page that some email scanners make necessary.
Where you land after signing in
New accounts land on the onboarding page, which lists three setup steps and marks each one done as you finish it. Once Stripe is connected and at least one pricing catalog is saved, every later sign in takes you straight to your dashboard instead. Onboarding stays available afterward if you want to finish an optional step.
What can I build for free?
Setting up BookNox is free and needs no card. Without paying you can connect Stripe and Google Calendar, fill in your business profile, build a pricing catalog for each industry you serve, set your availability rules, import your contacts, and save up to 5 draft proposals, each of which you can preview as a watermarked PDF. Nothing you build expires while you decide.
Step 1: connect Stripe
Stripe is how clients pay you. Choose Connect Stripe on the onboarding page, and Stripe's own form collects your business details and the bank account your payouts go to; an existing Stripe account can be connected by signing in to it. Client payments are charged on your connected account, so the money is yours from the start and BookNox never holds it. The Connect Stripe article explains the details.
Sources, read October 22, 2026: Stripe: its hosted onboarding form collects your business and identity details; Stripe: a direct charge is a charge on your connected account, not the platform's.
Step 2: connect Google Calendar
Google Calendar keeps your booking page honest about your open dates. One consent screen lets BookNox add each paid booking to your primary calendar and check your free and busy times, so a day you are already busy is not offered to clients. A connected calendar is one of the requirements for publishing your page.
Sources, read October 22, 2026: Google: the Calendar permissions to view your availability and to edit events; Google: a free and busy query returns the time ranges a calendar is busy.
Step 3: set up your business
Settings holds your business profile and your prices. Your name and business name are required. Your business address appears on signed contracts, your business state lets BookNox tailor contract wording where it has rules for that state, and your logo (JPG, PNG, or WebP up to 2 MB) appears on proposal emails, signed PDFs, and your booking page.
Pricing comes next. Pick your trade and start a catalog from BookNox's template, which fills in sample packages, add ons, a deposit percentage, and travel rules for you to replace with your real numbers. The Set your pricing article walks through every field.
Optional steps
Two onboarding steps are optional. Importing your contacts brings names, emails, phones, and companies over from a CSV or Excel export, which helps if you are moving from HoneyBook or Dubsado. Connecting QuickBooks Online posts each collected client payment to your books as a sales receipt. Skipping either one never stops your page from going live.
When do I need to subscribe?
A subscription is needed when you are ready to take real bookings. The subscription is $29 a month, flat, plus applicable sales tax, with no cut of your bookings. Subscribing publishes your booking page, sends proposals to clients for signature, and collects deposits and balances. Start it from Billing in your dashboard; the subscription is sold through Link, Stripe's merchant of record service, so your receipt comes from Link.
Sources, read October 22, 2026: Stripe: with Managed Payments, the customer sees Link as the merchant of record.
Checking that your page is live
Settings tells you directly. Under Public booking page it either says your page is live and shareable, with the link, or says Saved, but not live yet, followed by the exact steps still missing. Until every step is done, your booknox.com/book link shows a not found page on purpose, so nobody sees a half built page. The page goes live on its own the moment the last step completes; there is no separate publish button.
Your first booking
A client opens your link, picks a package and any add ons, sees an instant quote, chooses an open date, and sends the request. BookNox turns the request into a proposal, emails the client a private link to it, and emails you about the new request.
The client then reviews the proposal, signs on screen, and pays the deposit on the same page. Once the deposit payment succeeds, the booking goes on your Google Calendar, the client receives a calendar invite, and any balance is collected later on the schedule written into the contract.
A reminder if you pause halfway
Setup can wait. If you signed up a few days ago and still have steps left, BookNox sends you one email pointing back to onboarding, and only one. Everything you saved stays in place until you return.