QuickBooks alternatives for contractors and project-based businesses
In QuickBooks Online, job costing starts on the $140/mo Plus plan. Here's where project tracking starts in Zoho Books, FreshBooks and Xero, and when a contractor needs construction software instead, using each vendor's official pages. Checked .
The short version
- Job costing is gated on every tool. In QuickBooks Online, Projects needs Plus ($140/mo list price) or Advanced ($340/mo), and estimate-versus-actual tracking is Advanced only. The alternatives gate it too, just at lower prices.
- Cheapest real project tracking: Zoho Books Professional, $50/mo or $40/mo billed annually, which lists timesheet billing, project profitability and retainers.
- Small crew that lives on its phone? FreshBooks has time tracking, deposits and project budgets on every plan, but project profitability starts on Premium ($70/mo).
- Want a full ledger with job costing and progress invoices? Xero Established ($97/mo) is the only Xero plan that includes Xero Projects.
- Union, prevailing-wage or AIA work? General-purpose tools aren't built for certified payroll, WIP schedules or retainage. Look at construction software instead (see below).
- Prices are from each vendor's official US pages, checked . Intro discounts are noted separately because they expire.
What QuickBooks Online gives contractors now
Intuit's help center says Projects is available on QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced. You assign invoices, bills, expenses and time entries to a project and see its income, costs and profit margin. Project estimates and an estimates-versus-actuals report are Advanced features. Simple Start and Essentials don't have Projects at all.
On Intuit's job-costing page on the check date, Plus was listed at $140/mo (with a temporary 50%-off offer at $70/mo) and Advanced at $340/mo ($170/mo on the same offer). That's the price contractors are reacting to. In an r/Contractor thread titled "what's next after Quickbooks?", a union contractor doing prevailing-wage work at $1–2M in revenue asked what to move to and said they wanted WIP reports. One reply suggested not leaving QuickBooks Online for revenue reasons alone and bringing a finished job to any software demo.
So the first question isn't which tool is cheapest. It's which kind of job costing you actually need: profit per job, or a full construction system with cost codes, WIP and certified payroll.
The best general-purpose fits for contractors
Zoho Books Professional: the cheapest full project module
- Professional, $50/mo or $40/mo billed annually (5 users): Zoho's pricing page describes it as the plan to "confidently take on projects, track your inventory, and handle purchases". It lists sales and purchase orders, bill timesheets, project profitability, retainers, inventory tracking, price lists and multi-currency.
- What projects can do: Zoho's help center lists project billing methods and budget types, a timer and manual time logs, project quotes, invoices, expenses, retainer invoices, vendor bills against a project, and a project profitability report.
- Cheaper plans: Free and Standard ($20/mo, or $15 annually) don't list projects. The pricing page does list "retention payments" on every plan; check Zoho's help pages to confirm it works the way your contracts handle retainage before you rely on it.
- Good fit if: you want projects, purchase orders and a little inventory in one tool without paying QuickBooks Plus prices.
- Watch out for: payroll isn't part of these plans, so price your payroll provider separately.
FreshBooks: time and deposits on every plan, profit per job on Premium
- Every plan (Lite $23/mo, Plus $43/mo, Premium $70/mo): FreshBooks' plan comparison lists unlimited time tracking, deposits, project budget and billing, automated bank import, mobile mileage tracking and bill pay.
- Premium, $70/mo: adds project profitability and accounts payable, plus unlimited billable clients. Lite stops at 5 billable clients and Plus at 50.
- Add-ons: team members are $11/mo per person, and FreshBooks Payroll is $40/mo plus $6/mo per user.
- Intro offer on the check date: 80% off for 4 months (Lite $4.60, Plus $8.60, Premium $14), plus a 30-day free trial.
- Good fit if: you're a solo trade or small crew that quotes, invoices and gets paid from the job site.
- Watch out for: the client limit counts every billable client, and if you need profit per job you're on Premium, not Lite.
Xero Established: projects inside a full ledger
- Established, $97/mo: Xero says "Xero Projects is automatically included in the Established plan". Its pricing page marks "track time and costs for projects" as excluded on Early ($27/mo) and Growing ($59/mo).
- What projects can do: per Xero's projects page, quote from a project, send deposit, lump-sum and progress-payment invoices, track time with a start-stop timer or location-based tracker, and see profit per project on a dashboard.
- Payments and payroll: Xero's construction page says bill payments (powered by Melio) send free standard ACH payments to suppliers and subcontractors on every US plan. Xero Payroll, powered by Gusto, is an optional $36/mo plus $6 per employee or contractor.
- Intro offer on the check date: 90% off for the first 6 months (Established $9.70/mo), ending November 2, 2026.
- Good fit if: you have a bookkeeper or accountant who prefers Xero and you want job costing without a second app.
- Watch out for: once the intro offer ends, Established is the most expensive of the three.
What about Wave?
Wave's pricing page doesn't list project or job tracking on Starter ($0) or Pro ($19/mo). It can work for a one-person trade that only needs invoices and simple books, but it isn't a job-costing tool. See our freelancer page for where it fits.
Side by side
| Question | QuickBooks Online | Zoho Books | FreshBooks | Xero |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan with projects | Plus, $140/mo | Professional, $50/mo ($40 annually) | Project budgets on Lite, $23/mo | Established, $97/mo |
| Profit per project | Plus and Advanced | Professional and up | Premium, $70/mo | Established |
| Estimate vs. actual | Advanced only ($340/mo) | Project budget types listed in help docs | Project budgets on every plan | Optional project estimate |
| Time tracking | Time entries on projects | Timesheets on Professional | Every plan | Timer on Established |
| Payroll | QuickBooks Payroll (separate) | Not in these plans | Add-on, $40/mo + $6/user | Gusto add-on, $36/mo + $6/person |
QuickBooks prices are the list prices Intuit showed on the check date, before its temporary discount. "Not listed" or "not in these plans" means the vendor's page didn't mention it. Check the vendor's feature pages before you decide.
When you need construction-grade software
If you run certified payroll, union or prevailing-wage jobs, monthly WIP schedules, AIA pay applications or retainage on most jobs, none of the tools above was built for that. Two paths come up again and again in contractor forums:
- Keep QuickBooks and add a job-costing layer. Knowify, for example, lists Core at $99/mo billed yearly ($149 monthly) with 1 user and fixed-price and AIA invoicing, and Advanced at $329/mo yearly ($399 monthly) with 10 users and job costing; extra users are $29/mo. Its site lists integrations with QuickBooks Online, QuickBooks Desktop and Intuit Enterprise Suite.
- Move to a construction accounting system. Foundation Software and Sage 100 Contractor are the names recommended most often in the r/Contractor and r/Construction threads we read. Neither publishes a price we could verify, so you'll need a quote. Ask for a demo using one of your own finished jobs.
How to choose (our suggestions)
- Solo or a small crew, mostly service calls and small jobs? Start with FreshBooks Lite or Plus. Move to Premium when you want profit per job.
- Want projects, purchase orders and a bit of inventory for the least money? Zoho Books Professional is the cheapest full project module here.
- Have an accountant who works in Xero, and want progress invoices? Xero Established, especially while the intro offer runs.
- Union, prevailing-wage or AIA billing? Price a construction system or a QuickBooks add-on before you leave QuickBooks.
- Sort out payroll first. It's the piece that most often keeps contractors on QuickBooks.
Moving your books off QuickBooks
Before you cancel, run a project profitability report for every open job and export your customer, vendor and item lists, so open jobs can be recreated in the new tool. Intuit gives paid subscribers read-only access for one year after canceling. Our step-by-step guides cover what moves and what doesn't:
- QuickBooks Online to Xero
- QuickBooks Online to Zoho Books
- QuickBooks Online to FreshBooks
- QuickBooks Online to Wave
Compare every tool we track in QuickBooks alternatives by business type, or see the pages for freelancers and nonprofits and churches.
Sources
Prices and plan features come only from each vendor's official pages. Plans change, so confirm on the vendor's page before you buy.
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: How to set up and use projects in QuickBooks Online (checked )
- QuickBooks: Job & project costing software (plans and prices) (checked )
- Zoho Books (US): Pricing (checked )
- Zoho Books Help: Projects (checked )
- FreshBooks: Pricing and plan comparison (checked )
- FreshBooks: Projects and collaboration (checked )
- Xero (US): Pricing plans (checked )
- Xero (US): Track projects (checked )
- Xero (US): Construction accounting software (checked )
- Wave: Pricing (checked )
- Knowify: Pricing (third-party add-on) (checked )
- Intuit QuickBooks Help: What happens to my QuickBooks Online data after I cancel? (checked )
Last checked: . Not tax, legal or accounting advice.
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