Joist App Review: Free Estimates & Invoices

The Joist app built its name as the free estimate and invoice app for contractors. That's out of date. Joist's free plan has been discontinued, and as of October 2026 plans run from $10 a month for Basics up to $100 a month list for Run, with discounts for annual billing. What hasn't changed is the core idea: build a clean estimate on your phone in the driveway, get it signed, turn it into an invoice and get paid. Here's what each plan includes, where Joist runs out of road, and who should pick something bigger.

What the Joist app is

Joist is a mobile estimating and invoicing app for contractors. You open it on your phone, pick a client, add line items, and send a professional-looking estimate before you leave the driveway. When the homeowner signs, the estimate becomes an invoice, and they can pay online.

It's aimed at solo contractors, handymen, painters, small remodelers and other one- or two-truck operations. It's best for owners whose biggest headache is paperwork, not dispatch. If you're also weighing bigger platforms, see how it stacks up against other software for general contractors.

The big change: Joist used to be known as the free estimate app, and the free plan is gone. Every plan is now paid.

Estimates

Estimates are the core. You build them from your own items and materials, add notes and photos, and send a PDF or link. Every plan includes in-app digital signatures, so the homeowner can approve on the spot. Joist also lists built-in AI tools that help write estimates and invoices and polish your notes.

The plan you're on changes how the estimate looks. Basics doesn't let you add your logo and branding, and users commonly report template customization is limited on lower tiers. Pro and above add your logo. Elite lets you put your license and insurance details on documents, which some homeowners and property managers ask for.

Change orders, invoices and payments

Elite adds change orders, so when a bathroom job picks up a new vanity light, you can document it and get it signed before the electrician comes back. On lower plans you'd send a revised estimate.

Every plan turns estimates into invoices and includes online payments through Joist Payments. Joist says standard processing fees apply by payment method but doesn't list the rates. Homeowner financing is on every plan, which helps on jobs where a $14,000 deck is a stretch for the customer as a lump sum.

Scheduling and jobs (Run plan only)

Run adds the job-management layer: organize jobs, schedule visits and link jobs to estimates, invoices and clients. It's light compared with a field service app. Users commonly report limited scheduling and team-management features, so think of Run as "a calendar connected to my estimates", not a dispatch board.

Elite and Run also add business reports and sales reporting, so you can see how many estimates you sent, how many closed and what you invoiced.

The mobile app

The app is Joist's strength. It's quick, simple and built for one person working from a phone. That's also its limit. There's no real model for a dispatcher assigning jobs to five techs or a crew lead logging time.

A typical job in Joist

Here's what a week looks like for a solo remodeler on Elite:

1. Monday site visit. A homeowner wants their hall bathroom redone. You measure, take photos, and build the estimate in the app before you leave: demo, plumbing rough, tile, vanity, fixtures, paint. You add your license and insurance details and a homeowner financing option.
2. Monday night. The homeowner signs the estimate on their phone. You send a deposit invoice and they pay it online through Joist Payments.
3. Week two. They decide they want a niche in the shower and a new exhaust fan. You write a change order in the app and get it signed before the tile setter shows up.
4. Job done. The estimate and change order turn into the final invoice. The homeowner pays online.
5. End of month. Elite's business reports show how many estimates you sent, how many closed and what you billed.

What's missing from that picture: no schedule tying your three active jobs together (that's Run), no record of what the job cost you in labor and materials, and no way to hand pieces of it to a crew lead. For a one-person business, that's often fine. For a growing one, it's where the friction starts.

If you used the old free plan

Plenty of contractors downloaded Joist years ago because it was free. If that's you, a few practical notes:

• Pro is the closest match to how most people used the free plan: unlimited documents and clients, now with your logo.
• Check what you can export, such as your client list and past estimates, before you decide, in case you would rather switch apps than pay.
• Use the 14-day trial of Run to see whether scheduling would actually change your week. If not, drop to Pro or Elite.
• Compare the annual price, not the monthly one. Pro billed annually is about $170 a year.

Joist pricing in plain terms

Here's the lineup as of October 2026:

Plan	Monthly	Billed annually	What you get
Basics	$10	$8.34/mo	Up to 5 documents a month, payments, e-sign, financing, no branding
Pro	$17	$14.17/mo	Unlimited documents and clients, your logo and branding
Elite	$32	$26.67/mo	Adds license and insurance on docs, change orders, business and sales reports, reviews
Run	$100 list ($70 intro)	$58.33/mo	Adds job organization and visit scheduling

The Run annual figure includes two free months and a 30% introductory discount, so expect the renewal price to be higher. The AI Receptionist add-on starts at $49 a month.

What a year costs

• Pro billed annually: about $170 a year. For a solo handyman sending 20 estimates a month, that's well under a dollar per estimate.
• Elite billed annually: about $320 a year.
• Run billed annually: about $700 a year at the introductory rate.

Skip Basics

Five documents a month is a tight cap. If estimates and invoices both count toward it, a contractor who sends three estimates and two invoices in a week has already hit it. Add the missing logo and Basics is really a trial. Pro at $7 more a month is the plan most solo contractors should be on.

Is Run worth it

At $70 to $100 a month billed monthly, Run starts to compete with real field service apps. ServiceM8's Starter plan is $29 a month for 50 jobs with unlimited users, and Contractor Foreman's Basic plan is $49 a month billed annually for one user, with scheduling and change orders. If scheduling is why you'd upgrade, price those first.

Where it falls short

No more free plan. The reason many contractors first downloaded Joist is gone.

Thin team features. Users commonly report limited scheduling and team management. It's a tool for one person, maybe two.

Branding and templates on lower tiers. Basics has no logo, and users commonly report limited template customization below the top plans.

No job costing. You'll know what you invoiced, not what the job actually made.

Processing rates not listed. Check them before you move all your card payments.

Who should look elsewhere

• Crews of 3 or more with a daily schedule. ServiceM8, Jobber or Housecall Pro are built for dispatch.
• Remodelers running multi-week projects. Contractor Foreman from $49/mo billed annually, or Buildertrend from $499/mo, handle schedules, change orders and client portals.
• Contractors who need photo documentation. CompanyCam from $63/mo billed annually.
• Subcontractors billing progress on AIA pay apps. Knowify is built for it.