Joist vs Jobber (2026): Which One Fits a Small Contractor?
Joist and Jobber get compared constantly because they are the two apps a contractor hears about first, and because they are not really the same kind of product. Joist is an estimate-and-invoice app for one person. Jobber is a field-service platform for a business with a schedule to run. Most people asking "which one" are really asking "how big is my business", and that is the question this post answers — with a declared bias, because we make a third option and say so below.
The short answer
Joist if you work alone, need a professional estimate and invoice with online payment and e-signature, and can live with a blank sheet for pricing. It is the cheapest credible option on the market and it does that job well.
Jobber if you run crews. Scheduling, dispatch, routing, timesheets, a client hub, automated reminders and a booking page are its whole point, and none of that exists in Joist. You pay for it per person.
Neither prices the job for you, handles change orders as a first-class document on a cheap plan, or bills a Canadian in Canadian dollars. If those are the things that cost you money, keep reading past the table.
Head to head
| Joist | Jobber | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Basics, $10/mo — capped at 5 estimates and invoices a month | Core, $49/mo — 1 user, unlimited documents |
| Plan most people end up on | Pro, $17 (unlimited documents, contracts, expenses, QuickBooks) or Elite, $32 (change orders, reports) | Connect, $139 for 1 user or $199 for 5 (reminders, expenses, time tracking, routing, QuickBooks) |
| Top plan | Run, $70 introductory (list $100) — adds jobs and a visit calendar, launched August 2026 | Plus, from $499 for 5 users — automated job costing, premium support, add-ons included |
| Extra users | Not available — one user per account on every plan | $29 a month each on any plan |
| Three people, monthly | Three separate accounts — three subscriptions, three client lists | Core $49 + 2 × $29 = $107, or Connect $197 with what Connect adds |
| Annual pricing | Two months free ($100 / $170 / $320 a year) | Much lower, prepaid and non-refundable: Core $29, Connect from $99, Grow from $149, Plus from $399 a month |
| Free plan | Withdrawn in 2026; 14-day trial of Elite | None; 14-day trial of Grow |
| Estimates / quotes | ✓ Blank estimate; templates you save yourself on Pro | ✓ Blank quote; optional line items and markups on Grow |
| Pre-priced estimates | ✕ | ✕ |
| E-signature | ✓ every plan | ✓ every plan |
| Change orders | Elite, $32 — on invoices | No dedicated tool we could find; edit the quote |
| Scheduling and dispatch | Run, $70 — jobs and a calendar, new | ✓ every plan; routing, GPS and timesheets on Connect and up |
| Expenses and QuickBooks Online | Pro and up | Connect and up |
| Job costing | ✕ (business reports on Elite) | Grow and up; automated on Plus |
| Client-facing | Emailed documents, financing offers (US, via Acorn) | Client hub, online booking, automated reminders, two-way SMS on Grow |
| Card fees | Joist Payments: 3.49% + 49¢ US; 2.9% + 30¢ CAD in Canada | Jobber Payments: 2.9% + 30¢; Tap to Pay 2.7%; US ACH 1% |
| Add-ons | AI receptionist from $49 | Marketing Suite $99, AI Receptionist $29, Pipeline $49 (Core to Grow) |
| Currency for Canadians | Published in USD | Published in USD only |
| Data out | Clients and invoices as CSV (invoices without line items) | Clients, invoices, quotes and jobs as CSV reports |
Three businesses, three answers
A solo tradesperson sending a few invoices a week
Handyman, painter, tile setter, one-person electrical or plumbing. Knows every price by heart. Needs to look professional and get paid online.
Joist. Pro at $17 covers unlimited documents, e-signature, contracts and QuickBooks; Basics at $10 if five documents a month is genuinely enough. Jobber's $49 buys scheduling this person does in their head. The only reason to look elsewhere is the US card fee — 3.49% + 49¢ adds up on big invoices — or a wish to stop pricing from scratch.
A one- or two-person renovation contractor
Kitchens, bathrooms, basements, decks. Six to twenty estimates a month, each one an afternoon to price. Change orders on every job. A partner or spouse who does the paperwork.
Neither fits cleanly. Joist's change orders are on Elite at $32 and it cannot give the partner a login at any price. Jobber can, at $49 + $29, but has no change-order document and its quote is still a blank page. This is the business Estiquik was built for: seven estimate templates already priced for your province or state, change orders and contracts e-signed on Pro at $29.99, and Crew at $69.99 for up to ten logins. Our Joist comparison and our Jobber comparison list where each of them still wins.
A service company with crews and a dispatcher
Lawn care, HVAC, cleaning, plumbing with three or more vans. Recurring visits, routes, timesheets, a phone that rings all day.
Jobber. Connect or Grow, and the per-seat price is the cost of doing that business properly. Joist Run is new and is a calendar, not a dispatch board. Estiquik's schedule is a job calendar too — we are not in this fight, and say so.
The things the table hides
Joist's cap is documents, Jobber's is people
Joist Basics stops at five estimates and invoices a month; the next plan is $17 and the cap disappears. Jobber never caps documents but charges per login, so the price grows with the business rather than the paperwork. Decide which of those you would rather pay for.
Both quotes start blank
Neither app knows what a bathroom costs in your city. Joist Pro lets you save your own estimates as templates and Jobber Grow lets you set markups on line items, but the first price on every line is yours. If pricing is the slow part of your week, the software is not saving you the slow part.
Change orders are where jobs lose money
Joist puts them on Elite, added to invoices. Jobber does not have the document. For a service company that sells fixed services, that is fine. For a renovator, the extra fan and the rotten joist are the whole margin, and they need a priced, signed piece of paper.
Card fees are not the same
In the US, Joist Payments charges 3.49% + 49¢ against Jobber's 2.9% + 30¢. On $150,000 a year of card payments that is roughly $900 a year of difference. In Canada both are 2.9% + 30¢ CAD.
Canadians pay in dollars that are not theirs
Both companies publish in USD. A Canadian contractor's subscription moves with the exchange rate on both. If you want a price in Canadian dollars, you are looking for a Canadian-built tool.
Where Estiquik fits, and where it doesn't
We build an estimator for renovation contractors, so treat this paragraph as the sales pitch it is. Estiquik's templates come priced with labour and material rates scaled to your province or state, the estimate becomes the invoice, the contract and the change orders, plan takeoff measures quantities off a PDF drawing, and Canadian accounts are billed in CAD at a CAD price. Starter is $19.99 (CA$24.99), Pro $29.99 (CA$34.99), Crew $69.99 (CA$79.99) for up to ten people, and there is a free plan with three estimates and no clock.
What we do not have, so you hear it here: no dispatch, routing or GPS; no Tap to Pay, ACH or homeowner financing; no AI receptionist; no client self-serve slot booking (our booking page books a site visit); one tax rate per document; and regional pricing covers the US and Canada only. If any of those decides it, one of the two apps above is the right answer and we would rather you knew now.
If you are moving
Both apps export clients and invoices as CSV, and both accept CSV imports, so the client list and invoice history move between them — and to us. Quotes, jobs, photos and saved cards never transfer between any two systems. We wrote step-by-step guides for leaving Joist and leaving Jobber; the export steps in each are useful whichever way you are going.
Questions people ask
Is Joist cheaper than Jobber?
Yes, at every tier — $10 to $70 against $49 to $499 and up. Jobber does far more; whether that is worth it depends on whether you run crews.
Does Jobber have change orders?
Not as a dedicated tool that we could find. Changes are handled by editing the quote or adding lines. Joist has them on Elite; Estiquik on Pro.
Which one has a free plan?
Neither, as of September 2026. Joist withdrew its free plan; Jobber has never had one. Both offer 14-day trials. Estiquik's Free plan has three estimates and no expiry.
Which is better for a Canadian contractor?
Both publish in USD and neither fills in GST, HST or PST by province. Joist's Canadian card rate matches Jobber's. If Canadian billing matters, it is a point for a Canadian-built alternative — ours is one.
Does either one price the estimate for me?
No. Both give you a blank document. Priced templates are a different category, and it is the one Estiquik is in.
Not sure which size of business you are? Price one real job in each. Estiquik's free plan builds three estimates from a blank sheet; the trial adds the priced templates. No card.
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