Joist vs TradesTimer
What Joist is
An estimating and invoicing app for contractors designed to manage the workflow from professional quotes to online payments.
Best for: Contractors who need a streamlined way to send professional estimates, generate invoices, and collect payments from clients directly through their mobile device.
Pricing at a glance
$12 Free and paid plans
Free estimates/invoices; JoistPro roughly $12/mo adds payments and customization. Pricing changes — verify.
Verified 2026-06-08
$0 Free — full app
Joist strengths
- Professional quote and invoice generation
- Integrated online payment processing
Considerations for self-employed tradespeople
- Does not automatically track travel distance or time spent at jobsites via background GPS
- Requires manual management of the quote-to-invoice workflow rather than passive, automatic logging
Why I built a Joist alternative
Joist makes estimates and invoices — genuinely useful, and plenty of contractors I've worked with swear by it. But an invoice app starts from a number you type in. Where did that number come from? For most of us it came from memory, a dashboard scribble, or the notebook I kept in the truck for years.
That handoff — from your actual day to the number on the invoice — is where the money leaks. TradesTimer exists to make that handoff honest: it logs your stops automatically and gives you rounded per-job hours to drop straight into Joist or anything else.
What TradesTimer does differently
- Automatic mileage and jobsite duration logging via background GPS without manual timers
- Zero-configuration setup with no accounts or pre-defined jobsites required
Which app fits your needs?
Joist is a specialized tool for managing the financial transaction of a job, from quote to payment. TradesTimer is a passive utility for solo tradespeople to accurately reconstruct their workday and mileage for tax purposes. Choose Joist if you need to bill clients; choose TradesTimer if you need to capture your actual time and travel.
Page last verified 2026-06-08. If Joist has changed pricing or features since then contact us at [email protected] to request a correction.
Free time tracking
Record stops and trips, review your hours, and export reports without a subscription.
- Automatic stop and trip recording
- Unlimited stops, drives, and days
- Review and edit stops and trips
- Rounded billable hours, exported as text or CSV
- Travel log with estimated distances
- 7-day summary view
- History stored on your phone
Control your location history
TradesTimer stores your history on your phone. Address lookups send coordinates to an address provider. You choose where to share your hours and travel exports.
See the privacy policy for details about address lookups, exports, and other data use.