# Joist

> Estimates, invoices and payments app for solo contractors

Joist is an estimating and invoicing app for contractors such as general contractors, handymen, painters, electricians and roofers. It turns estimates into invoices, takes online payments and deposits, offers homeowner financing and syncs with QuickBooks, on the web and in iOS and Android apps. The top plan, Run, adds job organization and visit scheduling.

- **Category:** Field Service Software
- **Made by:** Joist, Inc.
- **Website:** https://www.joist.com
- **Runs on:** Web, iOS, Android
- **Facts last checked:** Oct 18, 2026

## Pricing

Joist is a paid product with a free trial, starting at $8.34 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly).

- **Pricing model:** Free trial
- **Free plan:** None.
- **Free trial:** 14-day free trial of the Run plan, no credit card required.

| Plan | Price | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Basics | $8.34 per month, billed annually ($10 billed monthly) | $100 a year. Up to 5 documents a month, estimates to invoices, online payments, AI tools and homeowner financing. |
| Pro | $14.17 per month, billed annually ($17 billed monthly) | $170 a year. Unlimited documents and clients, your logo, line items with photos, client activity tracking and work orders. |
| Elite | $26.67 per month, billed annually ($32 billed monthly) | $320 a year. Adds license and insurance details, change orders, business and sales reports, Joist Reviews and social integrations. |
| Run | $58.33 per month, billed annually ($70 billed monthly) | Introductory price, 30% off a crossed-out $100 a month, with no end date given. Adds job organization and visit scheduling. |

Read from https://www.joist.com/pricing/ on Oct 18, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with Joist before buying.

## Ways to pay less

- **Two months free with annual billing** (Annual discount): Yearly billing costs $100 for Basics, $170 for Pro and $320 for Elite, against $10, $17 and $32 billed monthly. Source: https://www.joist.com/pricing/

## Key features

- **Estimates to invoices:** Build estimates with line items and photos, then turn an approved estimate into an invoice in a few taps without retyping it.
- **Online payments and deposits:** Clients pay online and you can request deposits; processing fees can be passed on to the client, and homeowner financing is offered on every plan.
- **Change orders and reports:** Elite adds change orders, license and insurance details on documents, and business and sales reports.
- **Jobs and scheduling on Run:** Run organizes work into jobs, schedules visits and links each job to its estimates, invoices and client.
- **Expenses and QuickBooks:** Track expenses against jobs, see real-time reports, and sync with QuickBooks to keep the books current.
- **AI Receptionist add-on:** For $49 a month, an AI receptionist answers missed calls while you work and records new leads for follow-up.

## Good for

- Solo contractors who mainly need estimates, invoices and payments
- General contractors and handymen quoting from a phone on site
- Part-time contractors sending only a few documents a month

## Worth knowing

- Basics allows only 5 documents a month; unlimited estimates and invoices start on Pro.
- Scheduling and job organization are only on Run, whose 30% introductory discount has no stated end date.
- The free plan has been discontinued; the 14-day trial is the only way to try it free.
- The AI Receptionist is a $49-a-month add-on, and Joist Payments charges standard processing fees.

## ToolGPA grades

**GPA: 2.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 18, 2026. Joist is a quick, well-liked way for a solo contractor to send estimates, turn them into invoices and get paid, and its app averages 4.75 from 14,362 ratings. It's built for one person, though: visit scheduling only comes with Run, and nothing in its listing hands jobs out to a crew.

- **Value for money: C.** Run, the plan with visit scheduling, is $58.33 a month billed yearly ($70 monthly) at a 30% introductory price with no end date. Joist sells to solo contractors and doesn't say how many people a plan covers, so we can't say what a crew of three pays.
- **Free plan and trial: C.** A 14-day trial of Run with no card needed. The free plan has been discontinued.
- **Features: C.** Estimates to invoices, online payments and deposits, homeowner financing, change orders on Elite and job scheduling on Run. Good at quoting and billing, but there's no dispatch, routing or crew management in its listing.
- **Ease of use: A.** 4.75 from 14,362 App Store ratings. Turning an approved estimate into an invoice takes a few taps without retyping, which is the whole appeal.
- **Platforms and integrations: B.** Web, iPhone and Android, but the only integration listed is QuickBooks. No desktop app.

These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Joist's own pages on 18 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews.

## Where it stands among field service apps

- Joist's GPA of 2.6 is higher than 9 of the 15 other field service apps we grade, and level with 4.
- It stands best on ease of use (A, above 13 of 15) and worst on features (C, above 0).
- Its paid plans start at $8.34 a month, against a middle price of $49 for the category: 0 of the 10 others that charge start lower.
- On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 3.0 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.

The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/field-service

## Keep it, or make your own?

**Keep it.** The plain part of Joist you could make: quotes and estimates, invoicing, job scheduling, expense tracking and review collection. What surrounds it you could not. The 2 things listed below take a company, not a weekend. It costs $100.08 a year.

- You could make: Quotes and estimates, invoicing, job scheduling, expense tracking and review collection: an app builder makes these well.
- You could not: A real app for iOS and Android. Something home-made would be a web page.
- You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.

A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it.

## What people say

- **App Store rating of the iPhone and iPad app:** 4.7 out of 5 from 14,362 ratings in the United States, read Oct 18, 2026. This is the store's rating of the app, not a score from ToolGPA. Source: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id592163563

## Works with

QuickBooks

**Tags:** Quotes and estimates, Invoicing, Job scheduling, Expense tracking, Review collection, AI features

## Alternatives

- [Housecall Pro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/housecall-pro): Scheduling, quotes and payments for home service businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/housecall-pro-vs-joist)
- [Jobber](https://toolgpa.com/tools/jobber): Quotes, scheduling and payments for home service businesses. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/jobber-vs-joist)
- [Tradify](https://toolgpa.com/tools/tradify): Job management for trade businesses, priced per user. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/joist-vs-tradify)
- [Houzz Pro](https://toolgpa.com/tools/houzz-pro): Project, design and billing software for remodelers and designers. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/houzz-pro-vs-joist)
- [Contractor Foreman](https://toolgpa.com/tools/contractor-foreman): Construction management for contractors, priced by team size. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/contractor-foreman-vs-joist)

## Sources

The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 18, 2026:

- https://www.joist.com/pricing/

Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/joist
Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).