Best accounting software for contractors

What contractors need from accounting software

General small-business software covers invoicing and bank feeds. Contractors need a few things on top of that, and the plan you pick decides whether you get them:

• Job costing: costs and income tagged to each job, so you can see whether a job made money while it is still running.
• Deposits, retainers and progress billing: invoicing part of a job up front or as stages complete, and deducting what has been paid.
• Subcontractor payments and 1099s: tracking what you pay each subcontractor and preparing Form 1099-NEC at year end.
• Receipt capture on site: photographing receipts from a phone so supply runs are not lost.
• Payroll, if you have employees: either built in or as an add-on.

How we compared them

We checked which plan includes each contractor feature on each provider’s official US pages on 2 November 2026. We did not test the products ourselves, and FigureLane publishes this guide. Prices change often, so we link to our alternatives pages, which carry entry prices checked in October 2026 and link to each official pricing page.

QuickBooks Online: the default for most contractors

Intuit says QuickBooks Online Plus and Advanced include job costing: turn on Projects, add a project under each customer, then assign invoices, expenses and time to it. The same plans track contractor payments and prepare 1099 forms at tax time. Simple Start and Essentials do not include Projects, so contractors who want job costing usually start on Plus.

Choose it if you want the software most bookkeepers and accountants already use, or you expect to add payroll. The trade-off is price: Plus costs well above entry plans, and add-ons such as payroll are extra.

• Compare QuickBooks alternatives and prices

Xero: projects on the top US plan only

Xero’s US pricing page lists tracking time and costs for projects under the Established plan; Early and Growing do not include it. Established also adds multiple currencies and expense claims. Xero does not charge per user, which helps if an office manager and a bookkeeper both log in.

Choose it if your accountant works in Xero or you want unlimited users. If you need job costing, budget for Established rather than the entry plan.

• Compare Xero alternatives and prices

FreshBooks: simple billing, profitability on Premium

FreshBooks makes invoicing and estimates easy, and its Plus plan adds retainers: bill an amount up front and time worked is deducted from the balance. Project profitability reports, project estimates and expense markup need the Premium plan or above. FreshBooks is strongest for owner-operators who bill time and want clean, client-friendly invoices.

Choose it if invoicing clients is the main job and you have few employees. It is a weaker fit for contractors who need detailed job costing on a budget plan.

• Compare FreshBooks alternatives and prices

Zoho Books: projects and 1099s at a lower price

Zoho Books has projects with time tracking, retainer invoices that you apply to later project invoices, and invoices for partial or full completion of a project. Its construction page also says it collects W-9s and generates 1099-NEC and 1099-MISC forms. Plan placement for these features changes, so check Zoho’s current pricing page for the tier you need.

Choose it if you want project billing and 1099s without paying for a larger suite, especially if you already use other Zoho apps.

Wave: free invoicing, no job costing

Wave’s Starter plan is free for invoicing and basic bookkeeping, and Pro adds bank import and receipt capture. It does not offer project-level job costing, so it suits a contractor with a handful of jobs who mainly needs to invoice and keep income and expenses in order.

• Compare Wave alternatives and prices

Construction-specific suites

Larger contractors with crews, certified payroll for public work, retainage and AIA-style pay applications often outgrow general software. Construction-specific accounting suites cover those needs, but they are priced by quote and usually need setup help. If you are a small residential contractor, a general tool plus good job tracking is usually enough.

At a glance

Do you need accounting software at all?

Many sole-trader contractors pay an accountant or bookkeeper to keep the books. If that is you, what helps most is clean records: an invoice for every job, a receipt for every cost tagged to its job, and the originals kept together. A spreadsheet tracker and a monthly check can do that without a subscription, and your accountant can enter the totals in their own software.

FigureLane is built for that approach rather than as a full ledger: it creates invoices, collects and reads receipts, and prepares reviewed Excel or PDF reports for your accountant. It does not do job costing, payroll or 1099 filing, so if you need those, choose one of the tools above.

• Download the construction expense tracker
• Use the construction invoice template
• Compare FigureLane with QuickBooks

How to choose in five minutes

• Ask your accountant which software they work in; matching it saves fees and mistakes.
• If you need job costing, rule out entry plans: QuickBooks Plus, Xero Established or FreshBooks Premium.
• If you pay subcontractors, check the plan prepares 1099-NEC forms or exports what your accountant needs.
• If you take deposits or bill in stages, try invoicing a sample job in the free trial before you commit.
• During a free trial, export a month of transactions and check your accountant can use the file.
• If you only need invoices and tidy records for your accountant, start with a template and a tracker.

Common questions