Joist alternative with a real free plan.
Joist Free caps you at 3 estimates and 3 invoices total — not per month, total. Then it's $14/mo Pro for unlimited. TradeMaster Pro Free gives you 5 active jobs and 10 one-off invoices a month, plus crew, calculators, and Stripe Connect online payments. The free tier on TradeMaster Pro replaces Joist Pro.
Why switch from Joist?
Joist's free tier hits the wall fast
Joist Free is 3 estimates and 3 invoices, lifetime. Most contractors burn through it in the first week and either pay $14/mo or move to spreadsheets. TradeMaster Pro's free tier resets monthly (10 invoices/mo, recurring exempt) and lets you run 5 active jobs — enough to actually run a small operation indefinitely.
More than estimating + invoicing
Joist is two screens — make an estimate, send an invoice. TradeMaster Pro adds project pipeline with status tracking, customer database with AR aging, recurring + milestone invoicing for service businesses, jobsite photos, expense tracking, and crew dashboards (when you're ready to hire). It scales with you instead of needing to be replaced.
Online payments via your own Stripe
Joist Pro processes payments through their stack and takes a cut. TradeMaster Pro uses Stripe Connect Direct Charges — your own Stripe account, your name on the statement, your payouts, your chargeback rules. We take a 0.5% platform fee on paid plans (1.0% on Free). The contractor stays in control of their merchant relationship.
TradeMaster Pro vs Joist
Same job. Built differently.
| Feature | TradeMaster Pro | Joist |
|---|---|---|
| Free plan caps | 5 jobs + 10 invoices/mo | 3 estimates + 3 invoices total |
| Recurring invoices | ✓ | — |
| Milestone billing | ✓ | — |
| Crew dashboards + clock-in | ✓ | — |
| Trade calculators (stair, rafter, LVL…) | ✓ | — |
| Customer database + AR aging | ✓ | Customers only |
| Receipt OCR + jobsite photos | ✓ | — |
| AI assistant for the owner | Paid plans | — |
| Stripe Connect (your own account) | ✓ | — |
| iOS + Android app | Installable PWA | Native |
Joist pricing pulled from Joist’s public pricing page on 2026-04-29. Confirm current rates with Joist before deciding.
The price difference
Common questions about switching
I'm hitting Joist's 3-invoice wall. What do I lose by switching?
Nothing meaningful. Joist's PDFs export easily; rebuild your last few estimates in TradeMaster Pro (it's faster than Joist's flow), import customers via CSV, and you're current. The Joist Pro features you'd be paying $14/mo for — unlimited invoices, online payments, branding — are all on TradeMaster Pro's free tier or the $25/mo Solo plan with founder pricing.
Joist has a native app. Does TradeMaster Pro?
Installable PWA (Add to Home Screen on iPhone/Android) with push notifications, camera capture for receipts and photos, and offline-cached views. App Store wraps are on the roadmap once we cross 100 paying users. Most contractors find they don't miss the native wrapper.
Will my Joist customers carry over?
Yes. Export Joist customers as CSV (Settings → Customers → Export), upload to TradeMaster Pro's import wizard. Auto-detection handles the column mapping; preview the dry-run before commit; dedupe is on email.
Does TradeMaster Pro process my payments or do I?
You do. We use Stripe Connect — your own Stripe account, your bank, your payout schedule. TradeMaster takes a 0.5% platform fee (1.0% on Free) at the moment of payment. Joist routes through their merchant; we don't.
Also considering…
Try TradeMaster Pro free.
Free forever for solos, no card. Upgrade later to lock founder pricing for life.