Is Joist still free?
No. Joist removed its free plan. There is a 14-day trial of the Elite tier with no card required, and after that the cheapest paid plan is Basics at $10 a month, which caps you at 5 documents per month. Unlimited documents start at Pro, $17 a month. This is the single most common thing people search about Joist now, and it is why a large share of its recent negative reviews mention that the app used to be free.
How much does the Joist app cost?
As of July 2026, Joist has three tiers: Basics at $10 a month, Pro at $17 a month, and Elite at $32 a month. Billed annually they work out to roughly $100, $170, and $320 a year, about two months free. Basics caps you at 5 documents a month, so if you send more than five estimates and invoices combined, Pro is your real entry price. Card payments add 3.49% plus $0.49 on top, and an AI add-on is sold separately at $49 a month.
What is the best Joist alternative?
It depends on whether you manage a crew. If you schedule or dispatch other people, Joist was already too small for you and so is any simple invoice app; Jobber or Housecall Pro are the honest answers, at roughly five to eight times the price. If you work alone and need estimates, invoices, and payment tracking, a simple app covers it: Billgami has a real free tier and a lifetime option, Square Invoices is free to send with card fees when clients pay, and Invoice Simple is the most polished phone app if you do not mind its invoice caps.
Why do people say Joist took away features?
Because it did, in stages. Long-time reviewers describe an app that was free, then added a paid Pro tier for extra features, then moved features they had been using into that paid tier, then added Elite above it and moved more. Roughly 17.5% of recent negative reviews mention features being removed or moved up a tier. That is a normal monetization path for an acquired app, but it reads as loss to someone who has been using the app since 2015 and now finds their workflow behind two upgrades.
Does Joist hold your payments?
Not any more, and this is worth stating clearly because a lot of older commentary still says otherwise. In 2017 and 2018 Joist used WePay to process payments, and held funds, reserve limits, and closed accounts were the single largest source of one-star reviews. Joist now processes through Stripe, and across the 63 one- and two-star reviews from 2023 onward we counted zero mentions of held funds. If you are reading a guide that lists frozen payments as a current reason to leave Joist, it is quoting a product that no longer exists.
Can I keep my invoices if I cancel Joist?
Reviewers report that you cannot simply keep browsing them in the app. Recent one-star reviews describe losing access to past invoices, contracts, and customer records after downgrading or cancelling, unless the documents were manually downloaded first. About 19% of recent negative reviews mention losing access to their own records, up from under 1% before 2023. Whatever app you use, export your invoice PDFs on a schedule and keep them somewhere you control, because invoices are business records you may need long after you stop using the software.
When is it worth moving up to a field-service platform?
When you start scheduling people other than yourself. Joist is an estimating and invoicing app for a contractor working alone or with a helper, starting at $10 a month. A platform like Jobber or Housecall Pro adds scheduling, dispatch, a client CRM, and job costing, starting around $49 and $79 a month for a single user. If you are not routing a crew, that core value is wasted on you and you are paying roughly five to eight times as much for it. If you are, Joist will keep feeling thin no matter which tier you buy.
Is the Joist app any good?
Yes, and the reviews say so. Joist holds 4.74 out of 5 across 13,524 App Store ratings, and its estimating workflow is genuinely well built: fast estimate creation, contracts with eSignatures, change orders, and homeowner financing offers are real trade features most simple invoice apps do not have. The complaints in its recent reviews are almost entirely about pricing and access, not about whether the app works. If Joist's price and caps suit you, it is a good tool and this guide is not trying to talk you out of it.
What is Joist by EverPro?
EverPro is the brand EverCommerce uses for its trades and home-services software, and Joist sits inside that portfolio after EverCommerce acquired it in 2018. In practice it is the same Joist app; the naming reflects the parent company rather than a different product. The acquisition is relevant mainly because it marks the point after which the pricing model changed, from a free app with a paid upgrade to a fully metered subscription.
Is the Joist app legit?
Yes. Joist is a real product from Joist Software Inc., owned by EverCommerce since 2018, holding a 4.74 out of 5 average across 13,524 App Store ratings. The question surfaces for two reasons and neither makes the app illegitimate. In 2017 and 2018 reviewers used strong language about payments held by its old processor, and those reviews are still findable years later even though the problem is gone. More recently, long-time users who had the app for free have read the move to paid tiers as a bait and switch. The first is fixed history and the second is a pricing decision.
What is the Joist app used for?
Contractors use Joist estimates and invoices to quote jobs and bill for them from a phone. The core loop is building an estimate on site, sending it for approval, converting it to an invoice, and tracking payment against it. Higher tiers add contracts with eSignatures, change orders, and homeowner financing you can present at the door. It is joist software for the paperwork side of a trade business rather than for running one: no scheduling, no dispatch, and no bookkeeping, with QuickBooks sync on Pro standing in for accounts. That focus is why joist for contractors is the phrase most people search, because the app is built around a contractor's document flow rather than general small-business admin.
Is there a better Joist app for contractors?
Better depends on what you are paying for. If you use change orders, contracts with eSignatures, or homeowner financing, nothing on this list replaces Joist and you should stay. If you are on Joist purely as a joist invoice app, sending estimates and invoices and tracking who has paid, then you are paying a metered subscription for a job several simpler tools do without caps. Billgami has a real free tier and a lifetime option, Square Invoices is free to send, and Billdu works offline like Billgami does. Match the tool to the features you actually open.
Does Joist work offline?
No. Joist requires a connection, which matters more than it sounds if you write estimates in basements, new builds, or rural properties. Among the alternatives here, Billgami and Billdu work offline, and Square Invoices and Jobber are partial. If you have ever lost an estimate because you had no signal on site, make this a filter rather than a nice-to-have.
Billgami
Jobber
Housecall Pro
Wave
QuickBooks
FreshBooks
Xero
Zoho Books
Zoho Invoice
Square Invoices
PayPal Invoicing
Billdu
Tofu Invoice Maker
Invoice Simple
HoneyBook
Stay on Joist
Jobber
Housecall Pro
Wave
QuickBooks
FreshBooks
Xero
Billgami
Invoice Simple
Square Invoices
Billdu
Invoice2go
Bookipi
InvoiceFly
Invoice Ninja
