Joist vs. QuickBooks: Which tool is best? [2026]

Choosing between Joist and QuickBooks is a choice between a specialized tool and a comprehensive platform. Joist is a mobile-first app designed specifically for contractors to create fast estimates and invoices in the field. QuickBooks, on the other hand, is a complete accounting system built to manage every financial aspect of a small business, from bookkeeping and payroll to tax preparation and reporting.

What is Joist?

Joist is an invoicing and estimating application designed from the ground up for contractors, tradespeople, and service professionals. Its primary focus is speed and simplicity for users who are often on a job site, not in front of a computer. Plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and remodelers use Joist to quickly create professional-looking estimates, convert them into invoices, accept payments, and manage projects from their smartphone or tablet. Think of it as a digital replacement for a clipboard and paper invoice pad, supercharged with payment processing and client management features.

What is QuickBooks?

QuickBooks is a full-featured accounting software suite created by Intuit. It serves as the central financial hub for millions of small to mid-sized businesses across nearly every industry. Its capabilities go far beyond invoicing; QuickBooks handles expense tracking, bank account reconciliation, payroll processing, inventory management, sales tax calculation, and the generation of detailed financial statements like the Profit & Loss and Balance Sheet. It's built to give business owners a complete, real-time view of their financial health and simplify tax compliance.

Comparing Joist vs. QuickBooks

While both tools can create an invoice, their core purposes are fundamentally different. Joist is focused on the front-end, client-facing tasks of a contractor's job, while QuickBooks is focused on the back-end financial management of the entire business.

Feature

Joist

QuickBooks

Primary Function

Mobile estimating and invoicing for contractors

Comprehensive small business accounting

Invoicing & Estimates

Core feature, optimized for speed on mobile

Highly customizable, supports recurring invoices

Expense Tracking

No

Yes, with bank feeds and receipt capture

Payroll

No

Yes, fully integrated (add-on)

Bank Reconciliation

No

Yes, with automatic bank transaction imports

Job Management

Basic job and client tracking

Project profitability tracking in higher plans

Inventory Management

No

Yes (in Plus plan and above)

Tax Features

No

Sales tax tracking, 1099 prep, tax reports

Mobile App

The primary interface, very user-friendly

Companion app for the web platform

Integrations

Limited to payment processors

Vast ecosystem of 750+ third-party apps

Reporting

Basic sales and payment summaries

Dozens of customizable financial reports

Core Functionality and Accounting

This is the most significant point of difference. QuickBooks is, at its heart, a double-entry accounting system. It tracks your assets, liabilities, income, and expenses to produce accurate financial statements. It connects to your bank accounts to automatically pull in transactions, helping you categorize expenses and reconcile your books. Joist does not perform any of these accounting functions. It generates invoices and tracks payments, but it doesn't know about your business loan, your T-Mobile bill, or the cost of materials for a job unless you manually enter them as line items on an invoice.

Invoicing and Estimating

Both tools excel at invoicing, but with different philosophies. Joist is built for efficiency in the field. A contractor can create a detailed estimate, show it to a client for approval, and have them sign right on their tablet. Once the job is done, that estimate can be converted to an invoice with one tap. It’s simple, intuitive, and extremely fast.

QuickBooks offers much more powerful and customizable invoicing. You can design templates to match your brand, set up automatic recurring invoices for repeat clients, and apply payments automatically from bank feeds. The key difference is that every invoice created in QuickBooks is automatically tied to your accounting ledger, updating your accounts receivable and income figures in real-time.

Mobile Experience

For Joist, the mobile app is the product. It’s polished, easy to learn, and designed for constant on-the-go use. You can manage your entire workflow from the app without ever needing a desktop computer.

QuickBooks has a very capable mobile app that lets you handle many tasks remotely, such as sending invoices, logging expenses, and checking reports. However, for more complex tasks like deep report customization, advanced bank reconciliation, or setting up your chart of accounts, you will need to use the web-based desktop interface.

Pricing

Joist's biggest draw is its free plan, which offers unlimited estimates and invoices. This makes it an incredibly accessible entry point for new contractors. Paid plans add more advanced features like quick-item lists and branding options, but the core functionality is free.

QuickBooks operates on a tiered subscription model, with prices increasing as you add more functionality like bill management, project tracking, and inventory. While more expensive, a single QuickBooks subscription provides an all-in-one solution. Using the "free" Joist plan often means you still need separate accounting software, potentially costing you more overall than a single QuickBooks plan.

Which one should you choose?

Making the right choice comes down to identifying the primary problem you're trying to solve. Are you losing time on paperwork in the field, or are you losing track of your business's overall financial health?

Choose Joist If:

• You are a solo contractor or tradesperson. Your business is you, a truck, and your tools. Your biggest administrative hassle is creating estimates and sending invoices between jobs.
• Speed is your top priority. You need to create and send a professional estimate within minutes of meeting a potential client on-site.
• You already have an accountant. If you hand off your bank statements and receipts to a bookkeeper or CPA at the end of the quarter, Joist can handle your field invoicing while your accountant manages the formal bookkeeping in their own system.
• Your needs are simple. You just need a modern, professional way to bill clients and collect payments, without the complexity of a full accounting system.

Choose QuickBooks If:

• You need a true picture of your business finances. You want to know more than just your sales; you need to track profitability, manage cash flow, and see your balance sheet.
• You have employees or 1099 contractors. QuickBooks offers fully integrated payroll and makes processing year-end 1099s simple.
• You manage inventory. If you buy, store, and sell parts or materials, the inventory tracking in QuickBooks Plus and Advanced is essential.
• You plan to grow your business. QuickBooks is built to scale. As you add employees, services, or locations, its robust features will support your growth without needing to switch platforms.
• You manage your own taxes. The software's ability to track sales tax and categorize expenses makes tax time significantly less stressful.

Final Thoughts

In short, Joist is a specialized tool that does one thing exceptionally well: mobile invoicing for contractors. QuickBooks is the comprehensive back-office engine that runs the financial operations for a small business. A contractor might even use both: Joist in the field for speed, with the data ultimately feeding into QuickBooks for true accounting.

As your operations expand, financial questions become more frequent and complex. Answering questions about nexus, taxability, and deadlines correctly is key to staying compliant and profitable. For clear, fast answers to tough tax research questions, tools like Feather AI provide professionals with instant access to authoritative sources from the IRC and state codes, removing the guesswork involved with searching through outdated forums and blogs.