Voted By Pros

8 Free Construction Estimating Apps for Contractors

March 11, 2022

Free construction editing software can help you create clean, streamlined estimates for your clients while you’re on the go.

If you have a construction business, you’re probably bidding on projects nearly every day. In fact, your bottom line may depend on it. That means you’re probably looking for software that can help you create clean, streamlined estimates for your clients while you’re on the go.

What if we told you there are free construction estimating apps for your digital toolbox to make it easy and convenient to give your customers a quote and win new business? Here’s an in-depth look at eight of the best free construction estimating apps out there.

Get Greenlight in your inbox.

Join a community of 50,000+ small business owners and get insights and inspo every other week.

Bookipi

Trusted by over 750,000 business users, Bookipi is an invoicing app that promises all the features will be 100% free forever. It allows you to send unlimited estimates, get client signatures, accept payments, manage transactions, create receipts, and more.

Pros:

  • Unlimited estimates and invoices
  • Cloud-based
  • 100% free — no restricted features
  • Feature-rich
  • Constantly updated and improved
  • No ads

Cons:

  • Some users complain of bugs
  • Customer support is limited to email and FAQs

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 4.9 stars (8,300+ reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.8 stars (39,500+ reviews)

Cost: Free

Bookipi

Zoho Invoice

Zoho Invoice is another forever-free product with no third-party ads. The company is a software developer that offers a variety of different paid enterprise-level products. It offers its invoicing app for free as a way to give back to small and medium-sized enterprises that may also be interested in its other products. The app lets you send estimates, which can then be converted into invoices. It also includes project time tracking, detailed reports, payment collection, invoice templates, and expense tracking.

Pros:

  • Unlimited estimates and invoices
  • Well-known, credible developer
  • 100% free — no restricted features
  • No third-party ads
  • Feature-rich
  • Multiple customer support channels
  • Bill in multiple languages/currencies

Cons:

  • The company will solicit you to buy its other products

Available on:

Ratings:

App Store: 4.8 stars (1,300+ reviews)
Google Play Store: 4.7 stars (8,400+ reviews)

Cost: Free

Zoho Invoice

SimplySend

The last of the truly 100% free apps on our list (with no paid plan upgrades), SimplySend is software designed for service-based businesses to help create, send, and manage estimates branded for your company as well as invoices and payments. It can also help you track your customers, process payments, enable e-signatures, create custom contracts, and add photo and file attachments. It also offers payment tracking, reporting, and accounting software integration.

Pros:

  • Unlimited estimates and invoices
  • Customize with your branding and logos
  • 100% free with no restricted features
  • Premium features like QuickBooks sync
  • Highly-acclaimed software designer
  • Has customer support phone line and online form
  • No third-party ads

Cons:

  • Few user reviews so far
  • May send solicitations to the company’s other paid products

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 5.0 stars (18 reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.3 stars (42 reviews)

Cost: Free (SimplySend is a free version of FieldPulse’s comprehensive business management software.)

SimplySend

Joist

Over 1 million contractors use Joist’s apps. In the free version, you can create unlimited estimates and invoices for an unlimited number of clients. You can also accept online payments, offer homeowner financing, make deposits, and create payment schedules.

The Joist Pro upgrade plan adds additional features like logo branding, notifications when estimates are opened, work orders, the ability to add attachments, and custom contracts. Pro Elite enables reports, license and insurance, change orders, and web and social links.

Pros:

  • Unlimited estimates and invoices
  • Homeowner financing
  • Accepts payments
  • No ads

Cons:

  • Some key features, like open notifications and attachments, are restricted to paid plans
  • No phone support for customer

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 4.6 stars (4,600+ reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.6 stars (8,500+ reviews)

Cost: Free with upgrades

  • Joist Starter: Free
  • Joist Pro: $12 per month
  • Joist Pro Elite: $29 per month

Joist

GetCost

GetCost is an app designed to create accurate invoices and estimates, track payments, and manage clients. It’s currently used by over 50,000 small business owners. The free version gives you a wide range of features including the ability to create invoices, expenses, estimates, timesheets, and more.

The Pro version offers additional features like team chat, QuickBooks online, extensive reporting, file attachment, and push notifications.

Pros:

  • Create and send unlimited estimates for free
  • Timesheets, expenses, agendas, and invoices are included in the free plan

Cons:

  • Key features like file attachments are limited to paid plans
  • The free plan only includes project management for one project
  • The paid plan is limited to five users
  • Customer service is limited to FAQs and chat

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 5.0 stars (2 reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.5 stars (313 reviews)

Cost: Free with upgrades

  • Basic: Free
  • PRO: $9.99 per month

GetCost

Contractor Plus

Contractor Plus is a user-friendly app designed specifically for the needs of contractors, including those in construction. The free plan gives you the ability to create estimates, invoices, and post-inspections. It also lets you track leads, clients, supplies, products, to-do’s, and tools. However, it only lets you add one team member.

The paid Professional plan also allows you to track expenses, time, and add two additional team members. If you need to add more, the Corporate plan allows 10 users, while the Ultimate plan allows up to 30.

Pros:

  • Free unlimited estimate creation
  • Many features included for free
  • Very user-friendly, clean design
  • Phone and virtual ticket customer support channels

Cons:

  • The free plan only allows you to add one team member
  • Cannot track expenses or time on the free plan
  • Must pay for full functionality

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 4.9 stars (278 reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.7 stars (169 reviews)

Cost: Free with upgrades

  • Basic: Free
  • Professional: $14.99 per month
  • Corporate: $49.99 per month
  • Ultimate: $99.99 per month

Contractor Plus

Easy Invoice Maker

Easy Invoice Maker enables users to create and send invoices and estimates for free. A few other notable benefits include that it works 100% offline, automatically syncs with the cloud when online, and is ad-free. However, additional features require paid upgrades, and the app does not have a version for iPhone users.

Pros:

  • Free estimates and invoices
  • Works offline
  • No ads
  • Syncs with cloud

Cons:

  • Full feature access requires paid plan
  • iPhone version not available

Available on:

Ratings:

  • Google Play Store: 4.8 stars (376 reviews)

Cost: Free with in-app solicitations

Easy Invoice Maker

Street Invoice

Street Invoice aims to help service professionals by providing time and money-saving tools like their invoice product. The starter plan is free and includes a lineup of features such as payment tracking, customer management, report dashboards, cloud storage, and invoice creation. However, the free plan is limited to 15 invoices per month. If you’d like more plus extra features, you’ll have to upgrade to a paid plan.

Pros:

  • The free plan includes many useful features
  • Paid plans are affordable, even the top-tier Enterprise plan
  • You can try the Enterprise plan free for 14 days

Cons:

  • Customer support limited to email
  • The free plan is limited to 15 invoices per month
  • UX is less user-friendly and polished than other apps

Available on:

Ratings:

  • App Store: 4.8 stars (785 reviews)
  • Google Play Store: 4.5 stars (1420 reviews)

Cost: Free with upgrades

  • Starter plan: Free
  • Basic plan: $4.99 per month
  • Pro plan: $9.99 per month
  • Enterprise plan: $14.99 per month

Street Invoice

While these free construction estimating apps can help you win new business, it’s important to protect the business you’ve already built. We can help with that! Thimble’s Contractor Insurance can safeguard your business from some of the most common risks you face on a daily basis, like the cost of lawsuits and claims stemming from third-party bodily injury and property damage. We can also cover your own business property.

Plus, we’re all about keeping insurance smart and simple. You choose the coverage you need by the job, month, or year, and we’ll have your policy ready minutes along with your Certificate of Insurance (COI). Do it all from our free app or click “Get a Quote.” It’s quick-thinking insurance for fast-growing construction businesses like yours.

Written on January 27, 2022 | Last updated: March 11, 2022

Our editorial content is intended for informational purposes only and is not written by a licensed insurance agent. Terms and conditions for rate and coverage may vary by class of business and state.

Get Greenlight in your inbox.

It's not every other newsletter. It's every other week, four minutes long, and just for small businesses.

thimble spin logo

Quick-thinking insurance for fast-moving businesses.