Built for the chaos
after the handshake.
Onboard exists because managing freelance clients is genuinely broken. Not the getting-the-client part — the everything-after part.
"Why is managing clients harder than doing the actual work?"
That question started it. After years of freelancing — sending contracts as Google Docs links, chasing invoices through Instagram DMs, and fielding "just checking in, any updates?" messages at 11pm — it became clear that the tools weren't built for us.
Enterprise project managers are overkill. Invoicing apps don't know about projects. Messaging apps don't know about contracts. Nothing talks to anything else.
So we built Onboard. One place where a client signs in, sees exactly where their project stands, reviews their invoice, downloads their contract, and messages you — all without a single "hey, can you send me that file again?"
0
Venture funding
Bootstrapped & proud
MIT
License
Use it however you want
∞
Free plan limit
No artificial caps
1
Founder
Built with obsession
The person behind this.
Vedansh Danot
FounderDesigner · Developer · Freelancer
Vedansh is a designer-developer hybrid who spent years freelancing before getting tired of the chaos and deciding to build the tool he actually needed. Onboard is the product of that frustration — and a genuine love for clean, functional software that respects the people using it.
“I built Onboard because I was tired of apologising to clients for losing files in WhatsApp chats. Now I don't have to. And neither do you.”
— Vedansh Danot, Founder
How we got here.
Early 2026
The idea
Fed up with hunting through DMs for client feedback and chasing payments via WhatsApp voice notes, Vedansh started sketching what a proper client OS would look like.
March 2026
First commit
The first version of Onboard was a simple project-tracker. Clients could log in and see where their project stood. No invoices, no contracts — just a progress bar.
May 2026
Contracts & Invoicing
Added auto-generated contracts and invoice lifecycle tracking. The moment a project was created, a contract was ready to sign. Clients loved it. The 'any update?' messages dropped to zero.
June 2026
Open source
Made public under the MIT license. The idea: if this is useful for one freelancer, it can be useful for thousands — and the community can make it even better.
Now
Growing with the community
Onboard is live, free, and getting better every week. Join the community — use it, break it, build on it, or just tell us what you think.
What we believe in.
Built from frustration
Onboard was born from the very real chaos of managing client work across WhatsApp, email, and spreadsheets. Every feature solves a problem we've lived.
Open by default
MIT-licensed from day one. Inspect the code, self-host it, fork it, or contribute to it. No black boxes, no vendor lock-in.
Freelancer-first
Not a watered-down enterprise tool. Every decision is made asking: does this make life easier for the solo creative or small studio?
Fast & minimal
No bloat. No onboarding wizard with 14 steps. You should be up and running — clients added, project created — in under 5 minutes.
Your data, your rules
Self-host it, or use the cloud version. Either way, your client data isn't sold, analysed, or used to train anything. That's a promise.
Made in India
Built for the Indian freelance ecosystem first — ₹ invoicing, UPI-friendly payment tracking, and a UI that doesn't assume you're in San Francisco.
Use it. Break it. Build on it. Tell us what you think.
Onboard is better because of the people who use it and contribute to it. Come say hi on GitHub — or just start for free.