WorkHoist vs JobTread: an honest comparison
If you’re a contractor weighing JobTread against WorkHoist, this page is written by the team behind WorkHoist — read it with that in mind. Every claim about JobTread comes from JobTread’s own pricing page, feature pages and help documentation, linked at the bottom. There’s a section on where JobTread is the better choice, and on price they beat us at most team sizes. We’ll show you that math rather than hide it.
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The short answer
Choose JobTread if you build or remodel homes, your client experience is the product — selections, allowances, warranties, financing — and you want a system you can shape to your own process with custom forms and fields.
Choose WorkHoist if you run commercial-style controls on a mid-size crew and you want RFIs, submittals, punch lists and equipment as real records you can report across, not forms you configured yourself.
Both publish their prices. That’s rarer in this market than it should be, and it means you can do this comparison on what the software actually does.
Where the two products actually differ
JobTread covers the same ground as WorkHoist on paper. The difference is in how each one is built, and it shows up the first time you try to report across a job.
RFIs and submittals
JobTread handles both through its custom forms feature — their help documentation lists RFIs and submittals among the things you can build a form for. WorkHoist has RFIs and submittals as their own record types, with their own fields and status. The practical difference is what happens when you ask “what’s outstanding across all six jobs?” A form is a document. A record answers the question.
Punch lists
In JobTread, a punch list is a checklist inside a task — their own getting-started guide describes using task checklists for punch lists at closeout. In WorkHoist a punch item is its own record. If closeout is a formal stage of your work rather than a to-do list, that distinction matters.
Equipment
JobTread’s documented approach to material tracking is custom fields plus a configured custom view inside the job budget. WorkHoist keeps equipment as an asset register in its own right, independent of any one job’s budget. Equipment is a Growth-plan feature at $999 a month; everything else described on this page is in the $399 plan.
Job financials
Both do budgeting, job costing, change orders and POs. WorkHoist adds AR aging, budget-against-actual and cash-flow views as built-in reports rather than something you assemble.
AI and automation
JobTread publishes AI tools for budgets, formulas and forms — features built into their product. WorkHoist exposes the system over MCP on every plan, so an AI assistant can read your jobs and write to them in plain language: log an expense, create a lead, pull AR aging. Every read tool works on the $399 plan, and every write tool except creating and updating equipment, which needs Growth. One is AI inside the product; the other is access to the product from outside it. If that distinction means nothing to you today, it may in a year.
The honest summary: JobTread gives you primitives and flexibility. WorkHoist gives you structure. Neither is simply better — but if your work involves commercial-style controls, structure is what you end up building by hand in the other system.
How each one prices
JobTread
JobTread publishes its price, which we respect and which most of this market doesn’t do. JobTread charges $199 a month, plus $20 a month per internal user, with tiered breaks that apply per band:
JobTread’s base is $199 a month, or $159 on annual billing. No contract, no setup fee, implementation and training included, and a 30-day money-back guarantee on monthly plans. Subcontractors, vendors and customers don’t count as users.
| Internal users | Monthly, per user | Annual, per user |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Included | Included |
| 2–10 | $20 each | $16 each |
| 11–20 | $15 each | $12 each |
| 21–30 | $10 each | $8 each |
| 31+ | $5 each | $4 each |
WorkHoist
$399 a month up to 20 users. $999 a month for 20 to 75. Custom above that. Annual prepay saves 15%. No per-user fees.
The number is on our pricing page.
What implementation costs
JobTread includes implementation and training for every customer, with no setup fee and no contract.
WorkHoist: onboarding is free for our first 25 customers, and after that it becomes a paid engagement. We’ll move your live work in for you — up to 25 open jobs with their subs, POs and contacts — from spreadsheets or any system we can export from.
Side by side
| Feature | JobTread | WorkHoist |
|---|---|---|
| Published price | Yes | Yes |
| Priced on | Base fee + per internal user, tiered | Flat fee by user band |
| Per-user fees | Yes | No |
| Bill changes when you hire | Yes | Not within your band |
| Sub, vendor and client access | Unlimited, free | Included |
| RFIs | Custom forms | First-class records |
| Submittals | Custom forms | First-class records |
| Punch lists | Checklists inside tasks | First-class records |
| Equipment register | Custom fields in job budget | Standalone register (Growth plan) |
| Accounting integration | QuickBooks Online, built in | None built in — connection set up during onboarding |
| Supplier integrations | Home Depot, SRS, PoolCorp, QXO, Heritage | None |
| AI capabilities | AI tools for budgets, formulas and forms | Read and write access over MCP on every plan; equipment writes need Growth |
| Implementation and training | Included for everyone | Free for first 25 customers |
| Best fit | Home builders, remodelers, pool and outdoor living | Contractors running commercial-style controls, roughly 10–250 staff |
Where JobTread is the better choice
We’d rather tell you this than have you find out three months in.
Price, at most sizes.
Shown above. Under 12 users or over 20, JobTread costs less than WorkHoist, and on annual billing the gap widens. That’s not a technicality, it’s most contractors.
Residential client experience.
Selections and allowances, homeowner financing, warranty management, customer portals, online payment collection. If your client is a homeowner who wants to pick tile and pay online, JobTread has spent years on exactly that. WorkHoist has a client portal, but it’s read-only and covers one project per client — and WorkHoist has none of the rest.
Estimating depth.
Takeoff, a cost catalog, bid requests, contracts with eSignatures. If your day starts in an estimate, JobTread’s toolset is real and WorkHoist’s is thinner.
Supplier integrations.
Home Depot, SRS Distribution, PoolCorp, QXO, Heritage Pool Supply. For material-heavy trades those are worth actual money in time saved, and WorkHoist has no equivalent.
Accounting that connects itself.
JobTread has a built-in QuickBooks Online integration you enable yourself. WorkHoist doesn’t have one. We wire your accounting up during onboarding instead, which works, but it isn’t the same thing and you should know that before you choose.
Onboarding for everyone.
JobTread’s implementation and training are included for every customer. WorkHoist’s are free for the first 25 and paid after that.
If two or more of those describe you, talk to JobTread. We mean that.
Where WorkHoist fits
What we don’t do yet.
WorkHoist is a smaller team and a younger product. WorkHoist doesn’t do takeoff, eSignatures, selections, homeowner financing or payment collection, has no built-in accounting integration, has a short integration list and no supplier integrations at all. WorkHoist’s client portal is read-only and covers one project per client. If any of those is load-bearing for your business, WorkHoist is not the right answer today.
Questions contractors ask
- Does JobTread charge per user?
- Yes. JobTread charges $199 a month plus $20 per internal user, with tiered breaks — $15 each for users 11–20, $10 for 21–30 and $5 for 31 and above. Subcontractors, vendors and customers are free. WorkHoist charges no per-user fee; the price is flat within your user band.
- Does JobTread have RFIs and submittals?
- Yes, built as custom forms — JobTread’s help documentation lists RFIs and submittals among the form types you can create. WorkHoist has RFIs and submittals as first-class records with their own fields and status, which is what lets you report across jobs.
- Does JobTread have a punch list?
- JobTread handles punch lists as checklists inside tasks. WorkHoist has punch items as their own record type.
- Is JobTread cheaper than WorkHoist?
- At most team sizes, yes. JobTread costs less than WorkHoist below 12 internal users and above 20, and on annual billing at nearly every size. WorkHoist is cheaper between roughly 12 and 20 users.
- What accounting software does JobTread work with?
- QuickBooks Online. JobTread’s published integration list names QuickBooks Online as its accounting integration. WorkHoist has no built-in accounting integration; the connection is set up during onboarding.
- How much does WorkHoist cost?
- WorkHoist costs $399 a month for up to 20 users, $999 a month for 20 to 75, and custom pricing above that. Annual prepay saves 15%. WorkHoist charges no per-user fees. See pricing.
- Can you move our data across from JobTread?
- Yes. WorkHoist migrates up to 25 open jobs with their subcontractors, POs and contacts, from spreadsheets or any system we can export from — including JobTread, provided you can export your data from it.
- What happens to my data if I leave JobTread?
- JobTread has the strongest answer of any vendor we compare, and it is worth saying plainly. They publish an open query API with the full schema documented, and you do not need an account to read the documentation — jobs, customers, vendors, documents, tasks, cost items, cost codes, daily logs, time entries and payments are all queryable, with filtering and pagination. Two catches are documented: grant keys expire after three months of inactivity, and the documentation states that a rate limit exists without ever quantifying it. If getting your records out in a structured form is what you care about, JobTread is ahead of us here.
See it on one of your own jobs
Book 20 minutes and we’ll set it up with you on the call — so you spend your 14-day trial running jobs, not configuring software.