Invoice Ninja vs Joist

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

Compare	Invoice NinjaInvoice Ninja	JoistJoist
In one line	Open-source invoicing with a free tier and self-hosting	Estimates and invoices from your phone, built for contractors
Starting price	Free	From $8.34/mo
Six-person team	$0/mo	$8.34/mo
On $10,000 of card sales	Your own card processor	$367/mo
Plans	Free up to 5 clients; Ninja Pro $14/mo ($140/yr); Enterprise from $18/mo for 1-2 users	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 tier	Free trial
Free trial	—	14 days
Users	1 on free	Solo and small crews
Both connect to	QuickBooks Online
Also connects to	No others on record	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	None listed	Plans not stated
Support hours	Not published	Not published
Incidents posted	Invoice Ninja has a public status page. Status page	We found no public status page for Joist.
Capterra score	4.7 / 5 from 167 reviews	4.2 / 5 from 90 reviews
Trustpilot score	2.8 / 5 from 6 reviews (few reviews)	4.5 / 5 from 76 reviews
Fit: Retail shop	30	10
Fit: Restaurant or café	20	5
Fit: Service business	85	55
Fit: Agency or studio	85	10
Fit: Trades or contractor	70	95
Fit: Online store	45	5
Why people pick it	Open source and self-hostable Cheap paid tiers	Estimate to invoice to payment from a phone Cheap entry plan
Where it falls short	Dated interface Fewer native integrations	Basics caps you at 5 documents a month Card fees of 3.49% + 49¢
	Visit Invoice Ninja ↗	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