What is the best invoicing software for contractors in 2026?
The one that turns your estimate into a deposit, then progress bills, then a final invoice, without retyping a line. Solo, it costs from $0 to about $600 a year.
You write estimates at the kitchen table. You take a deposit before you order materials. On a long remodel, you bill as the work moves, and some general contractors hold back part of every payment until the job is signed off. A plain invoicing app handles the first step well. The rest, much less.
The short answer: Jobber if you run crews in the field and want quotes, scheduling and invoices in one place. QuickBooks Online if your CPA already uses it and you bill in stages. FreshBooks for a solo tradesperson. Wave, Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja if you want to start for $0.
Every price comes from the vendor's own pricing page, at the regular rate, not the first-year promo.
Our ranking is editorial: a sponsored spot is always labeled on its card, and no affiliate link ever changes a score.
Best invoicing software by contractor type
Quote, schedule, invoice, get paid
Billing in stagesProgress invoicing from the estimate
Solo tradespersonThe easiest to learn
Starting for $0Unlimited estimates and invoices
Two people, $0500 invoices a year free
Cheapest paid planPro at $140 a year
6 invoicing tools for contractors compared
The cost column shows what one user pays over twelve months at the regular rate. The rank follows a contractor's needs (estimate, deposit, progress billing, field work), not only the score: Wave scores higher than Jobber but does nothing for a crew.
| Best for | Cost over a year, one user | Free plan | Team size | Visit | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jobber | Best for field service contractors | $348 billed annually, $588 monthly (Core, 1 user) | 4.1/5 | Core $49/mo billed monthly | — | Trades with crews in the field | Visit → |
| 2 | QuickBooks Online | Best when your accountant runs QuickBooks | $456 on Simple Start; $1,680 on Plus | 4.2/5 | Free; Simple Start $38/mo | ✓ | Contractors with a CPA on QuickBooks | Visit → |
| 3 | FreshBooks | Best for a one-person service business | $276 on Lite; $516 on Plus | 4.1/5 | Lite $23/mo | — | Solo tradesperson | Visit → |
| 4 | Wave | Best free option | $0; $190 on Pro | 4.2/5 | Starter $0 | ✓ | New contractors with small jobs | Visit → |
| 5 | Zoho Invoice | Best free tool for two | $0 | 4.0/5 | Free (2 users) | ✓ | Owner plus office help | Visit → |
| 6 | Invoice Ninja | Cheapest paid plan | $0 for 5 clients; $140 on Pro | 3.8/5 | Free; Pro $14/mo | ✓ | Hands-on solo contractor | Visit → |
QuickBooks Online, FreshBooks, Wave, Zoho Invoice and Invoice Ninja keep the scores and prices of our small business invoicing ranking. Jobber prices come from its official pricing page in 2026, billed annually and monthly.
Is your tool missing from this page? Email us: hello@hackceleration.com
How we compared and scored
Most top results for this question are written by software vendors who rank their own product first. None of them works through a real job from estimate to retainage, and few show the price of adding a second person.
We read each vendor's official pricing page, their feature lists and help pages, and public user feedback. A feature only counts if the vendor states it. Joist is not ranked: its pricing page did not show clearly which price belongs to which plan. Joist and Invoice2go come up often in search results as estimate-and-invoice apps for trades; check their current plan prices before you compare them with this list. Features weigh more here than on a general invoicing page, because a contractor who cannot bill in stages ends up in a spreadsheet.
Tools already scored on our small business invoicing page keep their scores.
- Ease of useAn estimate sent from the job site, no training.20 %
- Value for moneyTwelve-month cost at the regular rate, helpers included.25 %
- Features and depthEstimates, deposits, progress billing, scheduling, payments.35 %
- Customer support and assistanceHelp to get set up and to fix a billing mistake.10 %
- Available integrationsBank, payments, accountant.10 %
No affiliate link changes a score or a rank.
Jobber
Jobber is built around the job, not the ledger. A quote becomes a scheduled visit, the visit becomes an invoice, and the client pays from a link. Progress invoicing is in its feature list, which matters when a remodel runs for six weeks and you cannot wait until the end to bill.
The price is the catch. Billed monthly, Core costs $49 for one user, Connect $139 and Grow $199. Billed annually, the regular rate drops to $29 a month for Core ($348 a year), $99 for Connect and $149 for Grow; with a one-year commitment paid monthly, it is $39, $119 and $169. Each extra user adds $29 a month: a three-person crew on Core, billed monthly, pays $107 a month, or $1,284 a year.
The 14-day trial opens every feature of the Grow plan without a card. Use it on a real job, then check which plan the features you actually used belong to: the trial shows more than Core will give you.
- Quote, schedule and invoice in one flow
- Progress invoicing listed in its features
- 14-day trial on the top plan
- ✓Made for crews in the field
- ✓Clients pay from the invoice link
- ✓Scales from solo to a small team
- ✗$29 a month for every extra user
- ✗The trial shows more than Core includes
- ✗Pricier than plain invoicing tools
The pick for a contractor who wants the whole job in one app. If you only need invoices, it is too much money.
QuickBooks Online
QuickBooks Online is accounting software first. For a contractor, its strength is that estimates, progress invoices and payments land in the same books your CPA closes at tax time. QuickBooks offers progress invoicing from an estimate (check it on your plan during the trial), so you can bill 30% of an estimate now and the rest later without rebuilding the invoice.
Regular prices: Simple Start $38 a month for one user, Essentials $85 with three users, Plus $140 with five. Project tracking, the feature that shows your margin per job, sits in Plus and Advanced. Intuit usually shows a half-price promo for the first months; plan on the regular rate, which puts Plus at $1,680 a year.
The downside is weight. Scheduling crews is not its job, and if you only send a dozen invoices a month, you pay for a full ledger you rarely open.
- Progress invoicing from an estimate
- Project profitability on Plus
- The top integrations score on this page
- ✓Your CPA probably knows it
- ✓Estimates flow into the books
- ✓Free plan for one user
- ✗Job costing only from Plus ($140)
- ✗No crew scheduling
- ✗Promo prices hide the real bill
The safe choice if your books already live in QuickBooks. Budget for Plus if you want profit per job.
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the easiest tool here to start with, and its support has a good name. Estimates turn into invoices, and invoices can be paid online. For a solo tradesperson, that covers most of the week.
Watch the client cap, because it bites contractors hard. Lite at $23 a month only covers 5 billable clients. A handyman with eight regular clients is on Plus, at $43, or $516 a year. Premium at $70 lifts the cap. A helper on the account costs $11 a month more.
What it lacks for construction: no scheduling of crews and nothing built for retainage. Check how it handles a deposit in the 30-day trial before you move your jobs into it.
- 30-day trial, no card
- Estimates that turn into invoices
- Plans sized by billable clients
- ✓Very quick to learn
- ✓Good support reputation
- ✓Cheap extra users ($11)
- ✗Lite stops at 5 billable clients
- ✗No crew scheduling
- ✗Nothing built for retainage
Great for a solo trade with a steady list of clients. Count your clients per month before you pick a plan.
Wave
Wave costs nothing on its Starter plan: unlimited estimates and invoices, plus basic bookkeeping. For someone starting a painting or cleaning business, that is hard to beat.
Wave earns its money on payments. A card payment on Starter costs 2.9% + $0.60. On a $4,000 deck job, that is $116.60 in fees. Pro, at $19 a month or $190 a year, removes the $0.60 on the first 10 transactions a month: at most $6 saved, so take Pro for its automation, not for the fees. Ask big clients to pay by bank transfer instead.
Its limits for a contractor: no job scheduling, no job costing, and thin support on the free plan.
- Unlimited estimates and invoices at $0
- Pro at $190 a year
- Basic bookkeeping included
- ✓The cheapest way to start
- ✓Simple to learn
- ✓Bookkeeping in the same tool
- ✗Card fees add up on big jobs
- ✗No scheduling or job costing
- ✗Thin support on the free plan
The right first tool for small jobs. Once you bill in stages on long projects, move to Jobber or QuickBooks.
Zoho Invoice
Zoho Invoice is free for two users and up to 500 invoices a year. For a couple running a small trade business, one on site and one in the office, that covers about 40 invoices a month without a bill.
The cap that matters for contractors is three projects. If you track time and costs per job, three open jobs fill it fast. Invoices on the free plan also carry a small Zoho mention.
When you outgrow it, Zoho Books takes over in the same family of apps, as a paid product.
- Free for 2 users
- 500 invoices a year
- Moves up to Zoho Books
- ✓$0 for a small team
- ✓Clear limits
- ✓Clean estimates
- ✗Only 3 projects
- ✗Zoho mention on free invoices
- ✗Support is limited
A solid free tool for two people. Too tight once you run more than three jobs at once.
Invoice Ninja
Invoice Ninja is open source: use the hosted version or install it yourself. Its free hosted plan covers 5 clients; Pro, at $14 a month or $140 a year, lifts the cap. That is the cheapest paid plan on this page.
For a contractor, $140 a year buys unlimited clients, branded estimates and invoices, and automation such as reminders. Enterprise starts at $18 a month for one or two users.
The price of the low price: more setup, a less polished interface than FreshBooks, and lighter support.
- Open source
- Pro at $140 a year
- Self-hosting possible
- ✓The lowest paid price here
- ✓Unlimited clients on Pro
- ✓You can keep your data on your own server
- ✗Takes time to set up
- ✗Lighter support
- ✗Only 5 clients on free
Best value if you do not mind an evening of setup. Otherwise FreshBooks is quicker.
Deposits, progress billing, retainage: what your software must handle
A contractor does not bill like a consultant. Between the signed estimate and the last payment there are often three or four invoices. Here is what to check before you choose.
The deposit
Progress billing
Retainage
- The signed estimate becomes a deposit invoice in one click
- Progress invoices track what was already billed
- Clients can pay from the invoice link
- You know the card fee before the first job
- You know the price of one more user
- You can export everything if you leave
A $20,000 remodel billed step by step
An example we built to show what the software should calculate for you.
The signed estimate: $20,000
Day 1You quote a kitchen remodel at $20,000. Write the deposit and the billing stages into the estimate itself. A client who signed for stages pays stages; one who did not will argue.
- Contract
- $20,000
The deposit: $6,000
SignatureA 30% deposit is $6,000. If the client pays by card on Wave Starter, the fee is 2.9% + $0.60, or $174.60. On a deposit this size, ask for a bank transfer.
- Deposit
- $6,000
- Card fee on Wave
- $174.60
Progress invoice at 60%: $6,000
Mid-jobAt 60% done, the job is worth $12,000. Minus the $6,000 deposit, the progress invoice is $6,000. Good software does this subtraction; a spreadsheet makes you do it, and that is where errors creep in.
- Math
- $12,000 − $6,000
The final invoice: $8,000
Sign-offAt 100%, $20,000 minus $12,000 already billed leaves $8,000. If your contract allows the client to hold back part of the payment until sign-off, put the release date in your calendar the same day. With 5% retainage, the GC holds $1,000 until sign-off.
- Final
- $8,000
Your tool is picked, keep going
These pages go deeper on a related question.
Prices for one and three users.
You want to take cards on siteBest card readers for contractorsGet paid before you leave the job.
You want invoices from your CRMCRMs that send invoicesWho really has the feature.
You sell what you make onlineBest e-commerce platforms for artisansSell without heavy fees.
You need a CRM firstBest CRM for small businessReal price for a small team.
You also need payrollBest small business payroll softwarePay your crew right.
Invoicing software for contractors · FAQ
What is the best invoicing software for contractors?
Jobber if you run crews and want quotes, scheduling and invoices together. QuickBooks Online if your CPA uses it and you bill long jobs in stages. FreshBooks for a solo tradesperson. Wave if you want to start at $0.Is there free invoicing software for contractors?
Yes. Wave Starter gives unlimited estimates and invoices, Zoho Invoice is free for two users and 500 invoices a year, and Invoice Ninja is free for 5 clients. Free plans rarely include crew scheduling, and card fees still apply.What is progress invoicing?
Billing a job in stages as work gets done: contract value times percent complete, minus what you already billed. Jobber lists it among its features and QuickBooks offers it from an estimate (check it on your plan). It keeps cash coming in on jobs that last weeks.How much does Jobber cost?
Billed monthly, Core is $49, Connect $139 and Grow $199 for one user, and each extra user is $29 a month. Billed annually, Core drops to $29 a month ($348 a year), Connect to $99 and Grow to $149; with a one-year commitment paid monthly, it is $39, $119 and $169.Should I take card payments on big jobs?
For small jobs, yes: clients pay faster. On a $6,000 deposit, a 2.9% + $0.60 card fee costs $174.60. Ask for bank transfer on large amounts, and keep cards for small balances.Do I need accounting software or just invoicing?
If you bill a few jobs a month and a bookkeeper does the rest, invoicing is enough. If you want profit per job, you need accounting: QuickBooks Online Plus tracks projects, at $140 a month.