Gratuity (tip) settings give clients the option to add a tip when submitting a payment toward an invoice. They can select a preset percentage or enter a custom amount, and tipping is always optional, not required. Tip percentage presets are currently fixed and can’t be edited, but clients can always select Custom amount to leave any tip they’d like.
Turn on tipping for an invoice
When creating or editing an invoice, select either the invoice or payment block
Select Tip settings
On the desktop site: In the right-hand sidebar
In the mobile app: In the bottom pop-up
Turn on Add option to tip. Your client will now see a tip option when they submit a payment on this invoice.
📣 Note
If you’re creating a recurring invoice, the gratuity option won’t be available. To accept tips, send a separate one-time invoice.
Choose when the tip option appears
The gratuity option appears only when a client is submitting a payment towards an invoice, not when they first view the file.
Decide when the tip option is shown (during payment only) by choosing in Tip settings how often the gratuity option displays:
On each payment (desktop) / On every payment (mobile): Clients may choose to tip every time they submit a payment
On final payment: The tip option appears only on the last scheduled payment
This setting to choose what the tip percentages are based on is available only when using HoneyBook's desktop site, not the mobile app. You can choose to have the tip for each payment calculated based on the Entire invoice or just the Current payment.
The preset percentages you see, for example, 18%, 20%, and 25%, are default tip suggestions only—clients may choose one or select Custom amount, and tipping is always optional
Example: How tip suggestions are calculated
Below is a quick breakdown of how an 18% preset tip suggestion would appear based on the tip settings you choose. In this example, the invoice total is $1,500, split into 3 $500 payments. An 18% tip calculated on the entire invoice equals $270, while an 18% tip calculated on a single payment equals $90.
Tip settings selected | When tip appears | Suggested tip amount |
On each payment + Current payment | Shown on every payment | $90 each time |
On final payment + Entire invoice | Shown only on final payment | $270 |
Send a tip reminder after payment is complete
If your client has already submitted all scheduled payments, you can still prompt them to leave a gratuity after the service is complete. Once all payments and the project date have passed, HoneyBook will:
Display a banner in the project workspace
Send you a push notification
From there, you can choose to manually send a tip reminder email to your client
📣 Notes
Tip reminder emails are sent by HoneyBook, helping you avoid the awkward follow-up while still giving clients a gentle nudge
Sending a reminder is optional—you stay in control of whether or not to send it
Reminders are only available after the project is complete and fully paid
View and track tips you’ve received
You can see tip payments in a few places:
Project workspace:
Tip payments appear as recent activity
Select View payment details to open a pop-up with more information
Payments page: From the navigation menu, select Finance > Payments to see the tip listed among your other payments
This helps you track what projects and clients are sending gratuity and reconcile your income.
Still have questions? Feel free to send us a message by clicking the Question Mark icon on any HoneyBook page. Our team is always happy to help!