Bonsai vs Joist

Two invoicing & payments tools side by side. Prices are the starting plan a small business would pick, in USD.

Compare	BonsaiBonsai	JoistJoist
In one line	Proposals, contracts, time tracking, and invoices for freelancers	Estimates and invoices from your phone, built for contractors
Starting price	From $19/person	From $8.34/mo
Six-person team	$114/mo	$8.34/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	$315/mo	$367/mo
Plans	Basic $9/user/mo has no invoices or payments; Essentials $19/user/mo is the cheapest with invoicing; Premium $29; Elite $49 (3-user minimum), billed annually (monthly $15/$25/$39/$59); payments 2.9% + 30¢, 1% extra with Stripe or PayPal	Billed yearly: Basics $8.34/mo (5 documents/mo); Pro $14.17 (unlimited); Elite $26.67; Run $58.33 introductory. Monthly $10/$17/$32. Cards 3.49% + 49¢, ACH 1% capped at $15
Pricing model	Free trial	Free trial
Free trial	7 days	14 days
Users	Per user	Solo and small crews
Both connect to	QuickBooks Online
Also connects to	Xero	No others on record
Team size	Just me · 2–10 people	Just me · 2–10 people
Available in	US · UK · CA · AU	US · CA
Phone support	None listed	None listed
Live chat	Plans not stated	Plans not stated
Support hours	Email: 24/7	Not published
Incidents posted	Bonsai has a public status page. Status page	We found no public status page for Joist.
Capterra score	4.6 / 5 from 95 reviews	4.2 / 5 from 90 reviews
Trustpilot score	4.3 / 5 from 641 reviews	4.5 / 5 from 76 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	10	10
Fit: Restaurant or café	5	5
Fit: Service business	85	55
Fit: Agency or studio	88	10
Fit: Trades or contractor	45	95
Fit: Online store	10	5
Why people pick it	Contracts and time tracking included Cheap entry plan	Estimate to invoice to payment from a phone Cheap entry plan
Where it falls short	Per-user pricing for teams Short 7-day trial	Basics caps you at 5 documents a month Card fees of 3.49% + 49¢
	Visit Bonsai ↗	Visit Joist ↗

Six-person prices are what a team of six would pay on the published plans; "Not listed" means those plans don't cover six. Card sales costs include the plan price and card fees at US rates, at a $500 average sale. How we calculate prices