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Booxt vs Joist

The SMS estimate alternative to Joist.

Joist is a free estimate & invoice app for contractors. Booxt drafts a priced estimate from your texted job notes and emails it to the customer to sign. Deposit paid right from the emailed estimate — straight to your own Stripe. Flat $99, no add-ons.

Text it — see it workEverything Booxt does

No card, no signup — text (329) 888-5488and it answers like it's your office. Ready now? Start the free week.

Feature
Joist
Booxt
Flat, all-in pricing
Free tier + paid plans — cheap, but you do the typing
$99 flat — texting, AI, payments included
Estimate from texted notes
You type every line item into the app yourself
Yes — text the notes, priced estimate in ~90 sec
To-scale sketch that prices itself
No — you type line items, no drawing
Included — draw it, it counts the lumber, prices from your rate book
Deposit paid from the estimate
You send the estimate, then chase the deposit yourself
Yes — paid right from the emailed estimate, straight to your own Stripe
Texting + AI included
No assistant, no texting — it formats what you enter
Included on the one plan
App required
App
No — it all runs by text
Takes a cut of your deposits
No commission (processing fees apply)
Never — 100% of deposits to you
Setup time
Quick
~5 min, by text

Reflects publicly available info as of July 2026 and each provider's general model — check current plans on their site. Booxt isn't affiliated with Joist.

Why contractors move to Booxt

You’ve already done the hard part

If you run Joist, you already estimate and invoice from your phone — you just still type every line at 9pm. Booxt writes it for you: text or voice-memo the walkthrough and a phased estimate comes back priced from your own rate book in ~90 seconds.

The deposit gets collected, not chased

Joist sends the estimate; following up on the money is your job. Booxt emails a branded estimate the customer e-signs, and the deposit is paid right on that page — straight to your own Stripe, with Booxt holding 0%.

It runs the rest of the job too

Auto-invoice the moment they sign, a pay-the-balance link when the work’s done, a handed-over check recorded from a text, crew and subs coordinated, and maintenance customers on monthly plans — all in the same thread.

In fairness: Credit where it’s due: Joist got a generation of contractors off carbon-copy pads, and its free tier is genuinely free. If you write a couple of estimates a month and don’t mind typing them, keep it. Booxt is $99 because it’s an assistant that writes the estimate and collects the money — not a form.

Estimates in minutes. Paid in seconds.

Text it — see it work

or start the free week — flat $99/mo, no contract.