Joist does one part of the job well and cheaply. The question is what happens when the job gets bigger than an estimate and an invoice.
Joist is an estimating and invoicing app for solo contractors and small crews. It is inexpensive, quick to learn, and if what you need is to send a tidy estimate from your phone and get paid, it does that job well. It is owned by EverCommerce.
Only claims we could check against a published source appear here, each with the date we checked it. Where a row is missing, we could not verify it — so we left it out rather than guess.
| GoBuild | Joist | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing currency | CAD | USD across all tiers |
| Pricing model | One plan, every feature included. Monthly or annual. Quoted per business. | Four tiers — Basics, Pro, Elite and Run — from $12/mo to $100/mo, cheaper annually. Entry tier caps documents per month. |
| How you start | Book a demo — the account is configured for your trades and price book | 14-day free trial, no credit card required |
| Canadian statutory holdback | Tracked on contracts and draws, with over/under-billing in WIP | Not documented on their site |
| GST/HST on progress billing | Handled, including tax on partial and progress invoices | Not documented on their site |
| WSIB / WCB tracking | Subcontractor clearance and compliance tracking | Not documented on their site |
| AI receptionist | Included in the plan — no add-on fee | Paid add-on at $49/month on top of the plan |
Joist is priced in tiers, so the features you need arrive as upgrades — and its AI receptionist is a separate $49/month add-on on top of the plan. GoBuild includes everything in one plan, receptionist included. The bigger difference is scope: Joist stops at the document, while GoBuild carries the job through scheduling, crew, costs, change orders and draws.
Joist is priced in US dollars across every tier. Its published material covers US contractor invoicing and licensing rather than Canadian holdback, GST/HST progress billing or provincial compliance.
At the entry tier, almost certainly — Joist starts around $12/month in US dollars. It is also doing much less. The comparison is only fair if estimates and invoices are genuinely all you need.
Yes, launched in 2026, sold as a $49/month add-on on top of your plan. GoBuild includes its receptionist in the single plan.
Usually when a second crew, a schedule, or job costing enters the picture — the point where you need to know whether a job made money, not just whether the invoice went out.
Joist is a trademark of its owner. This comparison is our reading of publicly published information on the dates shown, and products change — check anything that will decide your purchase. Spotted something wrong? Tell us at hello@gobuild.ca and we will correct it.
Holdback, GST/HST on draws and WSIB tracking come standard — because we started here.