Joist is a good invoicing app with over a million sign-ups — and in 2026 it dropped its free plan, capped the cheapest tier at five documents a month, and moved change orders, reports and scheduling up to its $32 and $70 tiers. Estiquik starts with a priced estimate: seven renovation templates with labour and material rates for your state or province, then invoices, change orders, receipts, contracts and scheduling on one $29.99 plan — with card payments landing in your own Stripe account.
Joist's cheaper tiers hold back the paperwork a renovation actually generates. Estiquik's Starter is the whole estimating tool; Pro is the whole back office; Crew is the same thing for a team.
| BasicsUp to 5 estimates + invoices a month · online payments · e-signatures · financing offers | $10 ($100/yr) |
| ProUnlimited documents · logo · photos · contracts · markup · templates · expenses · QuickBooks Online | $17 ($170/yr) |
| EliteAdds change orders (on invoices) · business & sales reports · review prompts | $32 ($320/yr) |
| RunAdds jobs and visit scheduling with a calendar · launched August 2026 | $70 intro, list $100 |
| StarterAll 7 pre-priced templates · regional pricing · unlimited estimates · invoicing with auto tax · CRM · card payments via your Stripe | $19.99 (CA$24.99) |
| ProAdds emailed documents · expenses & receipts · contracts · change orders · scheduling · job costing · QuickBooks Online | $29.99 (CA$34.99) |
| CrewEverything in Pro for up to 10 people in one workspace · one subscription | $69.99 (CA$79.99) |
Card processing on Estiquik is Stripe's own standard rate (2.9% + 30¢ in the US, 2.9% + 30¢ CAD in Canada), charged by Stripe into your own account — Estiquik adds nothing on top. Joist's US rate of 3.49% + 49¢ is published in its help centre; in Canada the two rates are the same.
Everything here is taken from each company's public website and help centre. Where we could not verify something, we say so.
| Joist | Estiquik | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | An estimate and invoice maker. You type every line item yourself. | A renovation estimator that also invoices. Templates arrive priced; you adjust. |
| Pre-priced templates | No Blank line items and a web cost-calculator page | Yes — kitchen, bathroom, basement, flooring, painting, deck and roofing, plus custom Every price stays editable and your edits become your baseline |
| Regional labour & material rates | No | Yes — 60+ US states and Canadian provinces |
| Sales tax | Per line item Tax some lines and not others | Auto-filled for your state or province, one editable rate per document Joist's per-line tax is more flexible; ours is faster |
| Cheapest plan | $10 / month, capped at 5 documents a month | $19.99 / month, no document cap |
| Change orders | Elite, $32 On invoices only, not estimates | Pro, $29.99 Priced, signed and tracked against the estimate's contract value |
| Job scheduling | Run, $70 Introductory price; list $100 | Pro, $29.99 Month calendar, today view, ICS feed to your phone calendar |
| Expenses & receipts | Pro | Pro Receipts compress on your phone; tax tracked as its own reclaimable field |
| Estimate vs actual | Partly Expenses can be linked to an invoice to show margin | Yes — quoted, invoiced, spent and margin per job on Pro |
| Contracts | Pro — attach a contract to a document | Pro — drafted from the estimate, signed copy filed with it |
| More than one user | No Joist states each account is a single user with a single login | Crew — up to 10 people, one subscription |
| Card payments | Joist Payments: 3.49% + 49¢ (US), 2.9% + 30¢ (Canada). Tap to Pay, ACH in the US, deposits and milestones. | Your own Stripe account at Stripe's standard rate. Pay button on emailed invoices. No Tap to Pay or ACH today |
| Homeowner financing | Yes — Acorn Finance marketplace, US only, on every plan | No |
| QuickBooks Online | Pro and up | Pro and up |
| Trying it | 14-day trial of Elite, no card | Open the live demo right now, no signup. Then 14 days free, no card. |
| Getting your data out | Client export; invoice export one month at a time, totals only, no line items | CSV and JSON export on every list, every plan, no notice period |
| Track record | 1.3M+ contractor sign-ups since 2011; part of EverCommerce | Launched 2026. We would rather tell you that than hide it. |
Sources: joist.com/pricing and Joist's public help centre, checked 3 September 2026. Joist may change pricing or features at any time; this page is updated when we notice. Spot an error? Tell us and we will fix it.
So nobody finds out after switching: there is no homeowner financing, no Tap to Pay or in-person card reader, no ACH or cheque deposit, no AI receptionist, and no review-request tool. Regional pricing covers the US and Canada only. If any of those is a deal-breaker today, Joist is the safer choice and we would rather you knew now.
We also apply one tax rate per document rather than per line. It is auto-filled for your state or province and editable, which suits most renovation invoices, but if you routinely tax materials and not labour on the same invoice, Joist handles that more neatly.
The importer was built against Joist's own export files. You can run both apps for a month if you would rather move slowly.
On the web app, export Clients, then export Invoices one month at a time and paste the months into one sheet. Step-by-step in Help.
Drop the files on the Import page, clients first. It recognises Joist's headers, shows a preview, and writes nothing until you say so. Free on every plan.
Pick the kitchen, bathroom or basement template, check the regional rates against your last invoice, and adjust. Your edits become your baseline.
Link your Stripe account once. Email the estimate, get it approved, invoice in one click with a Pay button on it.
One thing to know up front: Joist's invoice export carries totals only, not line items. Those invoices import as a single line at the right total, so every figure stays correct even though the itemised breakdown was never in the file.
For estimates, invoices, deposits, one-click client approvals, card payments, contracts, change orders, expenses, receipts, scheduling and QuickBooks Online — yes. For homeowner financing, Tap to Pay, ACH and an AI receptionist — no, not today. The table above lists both honestly.
Starter is not an invoice maker; it is an estimator that invoices. The seven templates come priced for your state or province, which is the hour of research a blank Joist estimate leaves to you. If you already know every price and only send a few invoices a month, Joist's Basics or Pro is genuinely the better buy and we say so above.
Joist's pricing page says the free plan is no longer available and that new users get a 14-day trial instead. Its cheapest paid tier, Basics, is capped at five estimates and invoices a month. Check Joist's current terms; they can change.
In the US, Joist's help centre publishes 3.49% + 49¢ per card payment through Joist Payments. Estiquik connects your own Stripe account, which charges Stripe's standard 2.9% + 30¢, and we add nothing. In Canada both routes are 2.9% + 30¢ CAD, so there is no difference there.
No, on any switch between any two systems — saved card details are held by the payment processor and cannot be exported. Clients pay the next invoice by tapping the Pay button on it.
Every list exports to CSV or JSON on every plan, there is no notice period, and card payments live in your own Stripe account, so nothing about your money depends on us. Cancel from the billing page whenever you like.
Open a working contractor account with priced estimates, invoices, receipts and a schedule. No signup, nothing to install.