FlyQuote vs Joist: Which Estimating App Fits How You Quote?

We make FlyQuote, so read this knowing that. We have tried to keep every statement about Joist general, current as of October 2026, and checkable on Joist's own site, which is where you should confirm plans and features before deciding anything.

What Joist is

Joist is an estimating and invoicing app for contractors, available on phone and web, with a free tier that has made it one of the most widely used estimate apps in the trades. You build an estimate from line items you type or save, turn it into an invoice, collect payment, and sync with accounting. Paid Joist Pro tiers add features on top. It is simple, fast to start, and good at the document half of quoting: getting a clean estimate and invoice in front of a customer.

What FlyQuote is

FlyQuote is estimating and quoting software built around where the price comes from and what the job actually looked like. The customer sends photos, video, and a voice note through a form on your site, or you upload the call recording and your own photos, or you walk the job with a guided field wizard. A question flow you build once branches on the answers, and a deterministic pricing engine computes every dollar from your cost codes, formulas, markups, and minimums. The result goes out as a branded, e-signable proposal with open tracking.

The real difference: where the number comes from

In Joist, as in most estimate apps, you decide the price for each line and type it. The app stores items so you can reuse them, which is a genuine time saver, but the arithmetic between your costs and the number the customer sees happens in your head.

In FlyQuote the price is derived. You set cost codes with rates and formulas, a markup, and a minimum charge once. Every quote, whether a rep built it on site or the AI drafted it from a call, prices from those rules in the same way. Two estimators quoting the same kitchen get the same number. You can open the math behind any line. If that consistency is the problem you have, this is the thing that solves it; if you are a one-person shop who knows your prices cold, it is a setup cost you may not need.

Side by side

Choose Joist if

You mostly need to produce estimates and invoices quickly, you already know your prices, you want to collect payment in the same app, and you want a free place to start. That is a lot of contractors, and Joist serves them well.

Choose FlyQuote if

Your quotes take too long because the job has to be reconstructed from memory; more than one person writes quotes and the numbers drift; you want the price to come from rules rather than from whoever is typing; or you want customers to send the photos and details before you drive out. FlyQuote does not do invoicing, so you will still pair it with an accounting or payments tool.

Can you use both?

Yes, and some contractors will. FlyQuote for intake, pricing, and the signed proposal; a tool like Joist or your accounting software for the invoice and payment afterward. Nothing about FlyQuote assumes it is the only app you own.

If you want to see the pricing engine against your own rate card, how it works walks the whole flow, and the pricing page has the free tier details.