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QuickBooks alternatives: the books, or the jobs behind them?

Contractors search for QuickBooks alternatives for two different reasons. Some want cheaper bookkeeping. Others are running a schedule out of an accounting app, and it shows. This page sorts the options by which problem you actually have.

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What QuickBooks does for a trade business, and where it stops

QuickBooks Online is accounting software from Intuit: bank feeds, bills, reports, 1099 preparation and filing. For contractors it also does estimates (including ones with a deposit the customer pays online), invoices with online payment, mileage tracking and receipt capture. Plus adds project profitability, which tracks labor, payroll and expenses per project.

The plans are split by bookkeeping features and user counts, not by field work. QuickBooks' pricing page lists Simple Start at $38 a month, Essentials at $85 (up to 3 users), Plus at $140 (5 users plus 2 accountants) and Advanced at $340, with Solopreneur at $20 for the self-employed. Job costing starts on Plus, and payroll and payment processing are priced separately.

What it isn't built around is the field. Its plans are sorted by bookkeeping features, not by a dispatch board, a lead-to-paid job pipeline or a view of who's going where tomorrow. That's why a trade business often runs a field app next to QuickBooks instead of replacing it. Two-way comparison: Redline vs QuickBooks.

QuickBooks alternatives

The first four run the work and leave your books where they are. Wave replaces the books.

Redline

Runs the jobs, not the books. Chat, contacts, pipeline and calendar are free; invoices, card pay links, expenses and profit per job are on Solo at $29. There's no QuickBooks sync: Reports exports a QuickBooks-format CSV for you or your bookkeeper to import. No payroll, bank feeds or 1099s.

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Jobber

Field service with a QuickBooks Online sync, so jobs and invoices reach the books without retyping. Its pricing page lists Core at $29 a month billed annually, $49 with no commitment.

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Housecall Pro

Syncs invoices, customers, line items and payments to QuickBooks, with a flat-rate price book. Its pricing page lists Basic at $59 a month billed annually for 1 user.

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Contractor Foreman

For builders and remodelers: estimates, schedules, daily logs, GPS time cards that feed job costing, and a QuickBooks Online sync. Contractor Foreman lists Basic at $49 a month billed annually for 1 user.

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Wave

The swap if the books themselves cost too much. Wave's pricing page lists Starter at $0 with invoicing and bookkeeping, and Pro at $19 a month with bank import and receipt scanning. No scheduling or job list.

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If you keep QuickBooks and add Redline

  1. Run the work in Redline

    Leads, quotes, the calendar and the job pipeline, by chat. All of that is on the Free plan.

  2. Invoice from the finished job

    On Solo, the job lands in Ready to bill. Approve the invoice, and the customer pays by card on a pay link that runs on your own Stripe account.

  3. Hand the month to the books

    The Reports tab in Money has Export for QuickBooks, which saves a CSV file, plus a plain CSV. You or your bookkeeper import it. Nothing syncs on its own.

Side by side

Dollar figures only where the vendor's own pricing page confirmed them.

Built forPricing as publishedFree plan or trialFits a QuickBooks user who
RedlineContractors and home-service businesses, solo up to about 10 peopleFree; Solo $29 a month; Team $129 with 3 seats; Team+ $299 with 10 seatsFree plan, no card. Solo has a 7-day trial on the webKeeps QuickBooks for the books and wants jobs, quotes and the schedule in one chat
JobberHome and commercial service businesses, solo to multi-crewJobber's pricing page lists Core at $29 a month billed annually ($49 with no commitment), Connect $99 and Grow $149 for 1 user billed annuallyNo free plan. 14-day trial, no cardWants jobs and invoices synced into QuickBooks Online
Housecall ProSolo pros and growing home-service teamsHousecall Pro's pricing page lists Basic at $59 a month billed annually for 1 user ($79 monthly), Essentials $149 with 5 users, MAX $299 with 8 usersNo free plan. 14-day trial on MAX, no cardWants a sync plus a price book and online booking
Contractor ForemanGeneral contractors, remodelers and specialty contractors, typically under 20 employeesContractor Foreman's plan page lists Basic at $49 a month billed annually for 1 user, up to Unlimited at $249 for unlimited usersNo free plan. 30-day trial and a 100-day money-back guaranteeRuns remodels and wants job costing fed by time cards
WaveFreelancers, sole proprietors and small businesses in the US and Canada; not trade-specificWave's pricing page lists Starter at $0 and Pro at $19 a month ($190 a year)Free planJust wants bookkeeping that costs less
QuickBooks OnlineSmall businesses of every kind that need bookkeeping, contractors includedQuickBooks' pricing page lists Simple Start at $38 a month, Essentials $85, Plus $140 and Advanced $340; Solopreneur is $20No free plan. 30-day trialFor reference

Redline and QuickBooks: who does what

Leave this in QuickBooks

  • Bank feeds and reconciliation
  • Bills, 1099s and tax prep
  • Payroll
  • Project profitability with labor costs
  • Your accountant's access

Do this in Redline

  • Leads, quotes and the job pipeline
  • The calendar and who's going where
  • Invoices and card pay links from the finished job (Solo)
  • Overdue alerts telling you who to call (Solo)
  • Expenses filed against the job, and profit per job after materials (Solo)

Questions contractors ask

Does Redline sync with QuickBooks?

No. There's no live sync with QuickBooks or Xero. The Reports tab in Money has an Export for QuickBooks button that saves a CSV file, plus a plain CSV. You or your bookkeeper import it.

Can Redline replace QuickBooks?

Not as accounting. Redline has no bank feeds, bills, payroll or tax forms. It tracks what you invoiced, collected and spent on each job, which is what you need day to day, but your books still belong in accounting software.

What's the cheapest way to cover both?

By each vendor's own pricing page, Wave Starter is $0 for invoicing and bookkeeping, and Redline Free is $0 for the schedule, pipeline and quotes. When you want invoices drafted from the job with overdue alerts, Redline Solo is $29 a month. See expenses and reports.

Sources

Leave the books alone. Sort out the jobs.

Start Redline free for quotes and the calendar, and export to QuickBooks when you're billing on Solo.

Try invoicing free for 7 days App Store

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