Why You Need Both Dubsado and Keeper in Your Bookkeeping Business
Somewhere along the way, bookkeepers were told they had to choose.
Either you’re a “Keeper-only” business… or you’re running everything through Dubsado.
But here’s the truth I see over and over again when I’m inside real bookkeeping systems: these two tools are not doing the same job. Not even close. And trying to make one replace the other is usually the reason things feel messy, half-finished, or held together with a whole lot of duct tape and mental reminders.
Honestly? It’s like asking a calculator to also make your coffee. Both helpful… totally different skill sets.
And when they do work together (with a little strategy and the right automations), your entire client experience—from first inquiry to final offboarding—can run almost entirely on its own.
Like… legit breathe-easier levels of automated. ✨
So let’s talk about what each tool actually does well and why your bookkeeping business works better when you let Dubsado be Dubsado and Keeper be Keeper.
Where Keeper shines (and why bookkeepers love it)
Keeper is a powerhouse for the bookkeeping side of your business.
It’s built for recurring work, financial reviews, and staying on top of client communication around numbers.
Think:
✔️ Monthly close tasks
✔️ Collecting missing docs
✔️ Client questions about transactions
✔️ Organizing your workflow for recurring clients
✔️ Keeping your team on the same page
Keeper is where the actual bookkeeping work happens.
It’s the place you and your clients talk about the nitty gritty… the numbers, the documents, the reminders, the monthly tasks that keep everything running.
But here’s what I see: a lot of bookkeepers try to use Keeper for everything.
And that’s where it starts falling apart.
Keeper is amazing at what it’s built for… but it’s not designed to handle the full client experience.
Where Dubsado steps in (and truly takes over)
If Keeper is your backstage crew, Dubsado is your front-of-house hospitality.
Dubsado handles the entire journey before the books ever even hit Keeper:
✔️ Lead capture
✔️ Discovery calls
✔️ Proposals + packages
✔️ Contracts
✔️ Invoices
✔️ Client portals
✔️ Onboarding questionnaires
✔️ Automations + reminders
This is the part of your business where trust is formed.
Where boundaries are set.
Where clients feel cared for from the very beginning.
And the kicker?
Dubsado is built to run almost all of this automatically… if your setup is solid.
(If your setup isn’t solid, it usually just feels like an expensive spreadsheet you “should probably finish soon.” Been there.)
Keeper can’t do this front-end experience for you.
It’s simply not built for it.
Why using only one will always limit growth
Here’s the thing most bookkeepers don’t realize until they’re drowning in email threads and missed reminders:
Trying to use Keeper alone leaves your onboarding scattered.
Trying to use Dubsado alone leaves your monthly workflow manually held together.
And when you force one tool to do the other’s job?
That’s when clients slip through the cracks… or you spend way too much time doing admin tasks that could’ve been automated.
Your business needs both rhythms:
🪄 The welcoming, clarity-giving front end
🧠 The organized, efficient monthly work
Neither tool does both.
But together? They cover every step of your client journey.
How the two tools work together (when the setup is right)
Imagine this flow…
✨ A lead fills out your inquiry form → Dubsado automatically responds, books the clarity call, sends reminders, and preps the proposal.
✨ They say yes → Dubsado handles contract, invoice, portal creation, onboarding tasks, and welcoming emails.
✨ You start recurring work → Keeper takes over with task management, missing document requests, client questions, deadlines, and monthly workflow tracking.
✨ A client finishes a season of support → Dubsado sends offboarding, gathers feedback, closes things gracefully, and preps them for the next chapter.
That’s what a full system looks like.
It gives your clients a beautiful, seamless experience… and gives you back hours every single month.
This is the kind of system bookkeepers wish they had when they come to me saying, “I feel like I’m still doing everything manually.”
A simple takeaway you can act on this week
Choose one part of your client journey and decide which tool should truly own it.
Not both. Not neither.
One tool, one purpose.
Maybe start with onboarding (Dubsado’s territory) and ask yourself:
- What feels clunky here?
- What could happen automatically?
- What emails am I writing over and over?
Or look at your monthly workflow (Keeper’s zone) and consider:
- What do I keep chasing clients for?
- What tasks do I manually recreate each month?
- Where do conversations feel scattered?
Focusing on just one section at a time is what creates a business that actually breathes… instead of a business that depends on you remembering everything.
Ready to build the Dubsado side so the rest of your system can finally run?
This is exactly why I created The Bookkeeper Starter Playbook — to help you build the entire Dubsado half of your bookkeeping business so Keeper can shine where it’s meant to.
It’s workflows, templates, emails, training… all built from a real bookkeeping business and ready for you to customize.
No guessing. No duct tape. No half-finished setup.
👉 Check out the Bookkeeper Starter Playbook here
When Dubsado is set up right, everything else has room to fall into place. ✨
With systems and a touch of magic on your side,
Lauren ✨
