Weighing PaintScout against an all-in-one painting CRM? QuoteIQ combines estimating, scheduling, GPS time tracking, AI tools, payments and review requests in one login, with plans from $29.99 to $699 a month.
QuoteIQ is a strong PaintScout alternative for painting contractors who want estimates, crew scheduling, payments, customer messaging and AI tools on one platform. Plans start at $29.99/month for one user (Essentials) and reach $699/month for unlimited users (Max). Competitor prices and feature lists change often, so this guide leaves PaintScout’s numbers to PaintScout’s own site and focuses on what QuoteIQ includes at each plan, so you can compare like for like. See the painting software overview for the trade-specific view.
TL;DR: QuoteIQ gives painters line-item estimates with Options pricing, MapMeasure Pro satellite measurements, the AI Estimator, scheduling, online payments, Review Multiplier and job costing. Plans run $29.99 to $699 a month, and the 14-day trial covers the plan you choose. If you only need a painting-specific estimating engine, a narrower tool may be enough; if you also run crews, routes and follow-ups, one platform saves tool sprawl. Every plan and price below follows QuoteIQ’s published plan matrix. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31% of painters are self-employed, and pre-1978 homes fall under the EPA’s lead-safe RRP rule.
PaintScout presents itself as software built for painting contractors, and for the proposal stage of the job that focus is a real strength: production-rate pricing, room-by-room takeoffs and polished presentations are exactly what a painting estimator wants. The question for a growing painting business is what happens after the customer says yes. Somebody has to schedule the crew, track hours across a multi-day exterior, collect the deposit, send the final invoice, and ask for the review.
The numbers show why this matters. The Bureau of Labor Statistics counted 326,900 construction and maintenance painters in 2025, with a median wage of $49,400 a year. About 42% worked for painting and wall covering contractors and 31% were self-employed. In other words, most painting work is done by small teams where the owner is also the estimator, the scheduler and the bookkeeper, so every extra login and every handoff between tools costs real time.
This guide does not argue that estimating-first software is bad. It lays out what a painting operation typically needs beyond the estimate, shows where QuoteIQ’s features cover it and at which plan, and gives you a checklist you can run against any vendor, including us. Competitor pricing is deliberately left out because it changes; pull current numbers from each vendor’s own pricing page and compare them with the QuoteIQ plan table below.
Estimating is the front door. These are the jobs that happen behind it, and where QuoteIQ handles each one.
Build Quick, Standard, Options and Package estimates, measure from satellite with MapMeasure Pro, and send a branded proposal with photos, services and customer reviews. Customers sign on their phone with e-signatures.
Put the work on a drag-and-drop calendar, text customers when you are on the way, track hours and location with EmployeeHub, and keep before-and-after photos and inspection reports in QuoteIQ Cam.
Take deposits and final payments with invoicing, offer consumer financing, sync to QuickBooks Online, then trigger a review request with Review Multiplier and follow up with email and text automations.
PaintScout’s current feature list and pricing are on its own website. We do not reproduce competitor numbers or “does not include” claims here because they go stale; instead, use the table and checklist below to test any vendor against the same yardstick.
Every row is something a painting company handling interior repaints, exteriors, cabinets, deck staining and commercial work uses day to day. Plan names show the lowest plan that includes it.
| Capability | In QuoteIQ | Lowest plan | Why painters care |
|---|---|---|---|
| Estimate types | Quick, Standard, Options and Package estimates | All plans | Offer good/better/best coat and prep packages instead of one number |
| Paint Calculator and price book | Business Calculators plus your own per-square-foot rates; try the free painting cost calculator | All plans | Material quantities and consistent pricing across estimators |
| E-signatures and proposals | E-signatures on estimates; branded Proposal+ with gallery and reviews | All plans | Signed approval on the customer’s phone, same day |
| Online payments | Cards, ACH, Apple Pay and Google Pay, plus cash and check recorded in-app | All plans | Collect deposits before you buy materials |
| Consumer financing | Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay | All plans | Helps close larger whole-house and exterior jobs |
| Scheduling calendar | Drag-and-drop calendar with map view, reminders and multi-day jobs | All plans | Multi-day repaints display as one continuous job |
| AI Estimator, Before and After AI, AI Autopilot | AI Estimator, Before and After AI, AI Autopilot (IQ Credits) | All plans | Photo-to-quote and finished-look previews |
| Satellite measurement | MapMeasure Pro with screenshots attached to estimates | Beginner | Size exterior footprints, decks and fences before you visit |
| Photos and inspection reports | QuoteIQ Cam and inspection forms | Beginner | Document prep, repairs and finished work |
| Expense tracking | Expense Tracking with receipts and job linking | Beginner | Paint and supply receipts tied to the job |
| Business phone and texting | ClientHub with call and text history on the customer record | Pro | One number, every conversation logged |
| Customer portal | Client Portal for estimates, invoices and requests | Pro | Customers approve and pay without an app download |
| Automations | Email and text automations, on-the-way texts | Pro | Estimate follow-ups without remembering to send them |
| Job costing | Job Costing: price minus labor minus expenses | Pro | See the real margin on every repaint |
| QuickBooks Online | QuickBooks Online sync | Pro | Invoices and payments flow to your books |
| Customer self-booking and self-quoting | InstaSchedule and InstaQuote | Elite | Estimate requests arrive without phone tag |
| Routing | Route Optimization and Route Density | Elite | Cluster jobs by zone, cut drive time |
| GPS time tracking | EmployeeHub, Location Tracking, Time Tracker Pro | Elite | Verified clock-ins by job site |
| Pipelines, inventory, campaigns | Pipelines and Deals, Inventory, Mass Campaigns | Elite | Track bigger commercial bids and bulk outreach |
| Review requests | Review Multiplier: post-payment redirect plus email/text request | See plan pages | Ask at the moment the customer is happiest |
| Crews and unlimited users | Crew creation and scheduling, Sales Team Tracker, unlimited users | Max | Run multiple painting crews and a sales team |
Plan placement follows QuoteIQ’s published plan matrix. Review Multiplier and a few other features are listed on the pricing page for the current gate. Competitor columns are intentionally omitted: confirm every row you care about directly with each vendor.
Whichever platform you shortlist, ask these before you sign anything, and ask them on a call or a live demo rather than reading a feature page. The QuoteIQ answers are included so you can hold us to them.
One customer record carries the job from first call to five-star review, so nobody retypes an address or hunts for a photo.
Website contact request forms and the client database collect new customers. The Virtual Call Team can answer calls around the clock, qualify leads and filter spam; it does not book appointments, and it bills in IQ Credits at 125 per minute.
Size the property with MapMeasure Pro or the AI Estimator, then price with your own rates. Present Options so customers choose between a basic repaint and a premium prep-and-two-coat package.
Customers approve with e-signatures, and a deposit requirement on the estimate means the schedule fills with committed work. Editing an estimate after sending voids the outstanding signature request, so the customer never signs an outdated number.
Drag the job onto the calendar, assign people, and let automated reminders and on-the-way texts cut no-shows. Use Schedule Later when the date depends on color selection or material lead times.
Capture prep, repairs and finished walls with QuoteIQ Cam, send the final invoice with one tap, and collect by card, ACH or Apple Pay. Stock deducts from Inventory when the invoice is paid.
Review Multiplier sends customers to your Google, Facebook, Yelp or Angi page right after payment, or sends an email and text request on a trigger you choose.
Most painting companies sell more than one kind of work. This is how each service maps onto QuoteIQ’s tools.
| Service | How to set it up | Tools to use |
|---|---|---|
| Interior repaints | Create price book lines for walls, ceilings, trim and doors using your per-square-foot or per-room rates. Offer a basic, standard and premium package so the customer picks the level of prep. | Paint Calculator, Options estimates, free painting invoice template |
| Exterior and siding | Measure the footprint from satellite imagery before you drive out, attach the screenshot to the estimate, and capture photos of failing caulk or rot on site. | MapMeasure Pro, Property Street View, siding software |
| Cabinet refinishing | Sell it as a fixed package with a deposit, then use before-and-after photos as the proof in your gallery and your review request. | Package estimates, QuoteIQ Cam, kitchen remodeling software |
| Deck staining | Measure the deck from above, quote by square foot, and schedule weather-dependent work with the Schedule Later option. | MapMeasure Pro, deck cost calculator, deck building software |
| Drywall repair and prep | Add patching and texture as separate line items so the repair is visible on the estimate and not discounted away. | drywall cost calculator, drywall contractor software |
| Pressure washing before painting | Bundle the wash, scrape and paint into one package so exterior customers see a single price and a single schedule. | pressure washing calculator, pressure washing software |
| Commercial and property-manager work | Attach the signed contract, invoice on net terms, and use recurring invoices for maintenance repaints. Track bigger bids as deals. | Contract attachments, invoice subscriptions, Pipelines and Deals |
If you also do light remodeling, carpentry or punch-list work between paint jobs, the same account handles it. QuoteIQ serves 50+ trades, including remodeling, handyman and general contractor businesses, so adding a service does not mean adding a second platform.
Upload a property photo and the AI Estimator analyzes the surfaces, asks targeted follow-up questions, and drafts line-item pricing for your local market. It is included on every plan and used once per new estimate, so it works as a fast first draft you then adjust with your own rates.
Pair it with AI Autopilot, the conversational manager that runs 55 tools across 13 categories by voice or text. Real commands include moving all of today’s jobs to Friday and texting every customer, or invoicing all of today’s completed jobs and sending them. AI text generation drafts customer messages inside ClientHub.
AI actions draw on monthly IQ Credits (500 on Essentials up to 8,000 on Max). Each action shows its credit cost before it runs, and credits have no cash value.
Before
AfterHomeowners buy color and condition, not square footage. Before and After AI generates a realistic preview from the customer’s own photo in roughly 15 to 20 seconds, and you can attach it to any estimate type or invoice. Each regeneration costs IQ Credits again, so pick the strongest version before you send it.
For the real thing, the Before and After Photo Editor inside QuoteIQ Cam builds side-by-side comparisons from job photos, and the gallery lets you share finished work with customers. The example photos shown are sample house-siding images.
Review Multiplier works two ways. After a customer pays, it can send them straight to your review page, and it can also run an email and text review request automation with four event triggers. Destinations include Google Business Profile, Facebook, Yelp and Angi. For a painter, the best moment to ask is the walk-through, when the customer is looking at a finished room.
Reviews matter because painting is a high-trust purchase: strangers work inside the customer’s home. Pair the request with automations so a thank-you and a referral ask follow the review without anyone remembering to send them. Check the pricing page for the current plan that includes Review Multiplier.
Painters often take estimate calls from a ladder. InstaSchedule lets homeowners book an estimate appointment around the hours you actually have open, and it live-syncs with your QuoteIQ calendar. InstaQuote lets them pick services from your list and see a real-time total, then submit the request for your approval.
Both are Elite features. On Pro, the Client Portal still gives each customer a branded, secure link to approve estimates, pay invoices and request service without downloading anything. Neither replaces a site visit for complex jobs; they remove the scheduling back-and-forth that comes before it.
A painting crew rarely works one address for one day. Exteriors run for a week, interiors run for three days with a callback, and the owner is estimating on the side. That is why scheduling and time data sit at the center of a painting back office.
Scheduling on every plan. The scheduling calendar offers day, week, month and employee-timeline views. Multi-day jobs render as continuous events, recurring series can be dragged one occurrence at a time, and the map calendar view shows jobs geographically. Pro lets you assign people to jobs. Crew creation, crew tracking and crew scheduling are Max-only features, alongside unlimited users.
Time and location on Elite. EmployeeHub bundles Location Tracking, Time Tracker Pro and Team Communication. Time Tracker Pro records GPS clock in and out, per-job hours and break counts, with admin-only manual adjustments and a full edit history. The live team map shows employees only while they are clocked in; clocked-out employees are never displayed. Access is governed by roles and permissions.
Routing on Elite. Route Density shows where your work clusters so you can plan a zone for the day, and Route Optimization sequences the stops, accounts for appointment times and recalculates when a late job is added. QuoteIQ’s figure for the effect is a 15 to 30% cut in drive time.
Drive time has a hard dollar value. The IRS business mileage rate is 76 cents per mile from July 1, 2026, so a crew that trims 20 miles a day cuts $15.20 a day of mileage at that rate, or $76 across a five-day week, before counting the labor hours. Safety is the other cost of a busy crew: ladders and falls are part of every painting job, and OSHA’s fall protection resources are the starting point for your safety program.
What QuoteIQ does not do. It has no native payroll and does not calculate overtime automatically; hours export to the payroll system you already use. If one system must run payroll, scheduling and estimating together, say so when you evaluate any vendor.
A repaint can look profitable on the estimate and lose money in the field if prep runs long or the crew makes a second trip for paint. Job Costing on Pro adds a Report tab to each job: total price, minus labor, minus expenses, equals profit, with a margin bar. Labor pulls automatically from time tracking (hourly rate times clocked hours), and expenses link to the job through Expense Tracking.
Run the same math on your last ten jobs and sort by margin. Jobs that miss your target usually point to the same cause: underpriced prep, repeat trips, or hours that never made it onto the estimate. Business analytics then rolls the results up by service, customer and employee. For deeper cash-flow planning, the Small Business Administration’s management guides cover financial management and taxes, and the free home service business calculators help with pricing.
Paint jobs run into four-figure tickets, and the deposit is what funds materials. Every QuoteIQ plan lets customers pay online by credit or debit card, ACH bank transfer, Apple Pay and Google Pay, and lets you record cash and check in the app. Estimates can require a deposit, invoices support partial payments and tips, and automated reminders chase unpaid balances.
Financing. Consumer financing is available on every plan: Affirm for up to $30,000 per job over 3 to 36 months, Klarna Pay-in-4 and Pay-in-30, and Afterpay Pay-in-4. The customer applies at checkout and gets an instant decision, and you are paid in full upfront while the provider owns collections.
Processing. Online customer payments run through the QuoteIQ Payments Service, powered by Whop for new subscribers (legacy accounts may still run on Stripe). Fees vary by payment method, configuration and volume, so read the terms before you quote customers a number.
Accounting. The QuickBooks Online integration on Pro and above syncs invoices, payments, customers and expense categories. Recurring work, such as seasonal maintenance repaints for a property manager, can run on invoice subscriptions, and you can start from the free painting invoice template before you move billing into QuoteIQ.
For homes built before 1978, the EPA’s Renovation, Repair and Painting (RRP) rule requires firms to be certified and workers to be trained in lead-safe practices. OSHA’s lead resources cover exposure limits for workplaces where paint removal and similar tasks occur. Check both agencies directly for what applies to your jobs; this page is not legal advice, and no software makes a company compliant on its own.
What software can do is keep the paper trail tidy. With QuoteIQ Cam you capture photos organized by job and date, build custom inspection forms and job reports, and keep everything on the customer record. Contract attachments hold signed paperwork, and e-signatures time-stamp customer approvals. If a customer calls about a scuff six months later, the before photos and the signed scope are one search away.
Two small habits help here. Sanity-check a bid with the free painting cost calculator before you enter it, and let the AI Copilot edit line items and draft customer messages inside an open estimate.
Flat monthly prices per plan, with user counts built in. Annual billing is the monthly price times 10.
| Plan | Monthly | Annual | Users | IQ Credits/mo | Good fit for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essentials | $29.99 | $299.99 | 1 | 500 | Solo painter quoting, invoicing and scheduling from a phone |
| Beginner | $74.99 | $749.99 | 2 | 1,500 | Owner plus one adds MapMeasure Pro and QuoteIQ Cam |
| Pro | $149.99 | $1,499.99 | 4 | 3,000 | Small crews that want ClientHub, Client Portal, job costing and QuickBooks Online |
| Elite | $299 | $2,990 | 10 | 5,000 | Growing companies that want self-booking, routing and GPS time tracking |
| Max | $699 | $6,990 | Unlimited | 8,000 | Multi-crew operations that need crew scheduling and a sales tracker |
Every plan includes a 14-day free trial. Optional extras: AI Website Builder at $34.99/month (included on Max) and Done-For-You setup at $299.99 or $999.99 one time. IQ Credit allocations follow the current pricing page. Upgrades mid-cycle are prorated. See the full pricing page for plan details.
To compare cost fairly, add up everything you pay today for estimating, scheduling, time tracking, payments, messaging and review requests, including per-user fees and add-ons, then set that total against one QuoteIQ plan. Ask PaintScout, or any vendor, for a written quote at your real headcount so the comparison uses their current published terms and not a number from a blog post.
The reasons to switch are usually operational. When a painting business needs crews, routes, payments, customer messaging and AI on one platform, QuoteIQ’s feature set is built for that, and you can compare it with other tools on our comparison hub.
QuoteIQ is the best PaintScout alternative for painting contractors who want estimating, scheduling, payments and customer follow-up in one platform. It starts at $29.99 a month for one user and reaches $699 a month for unlimited users, and it serves 50+ industries, so a painter who also stains decks or repairs drywall can run every service from one login. You keep the pricing flexibility painters like, including Options and Package estimates and the Paint Calculator, and you add scheduling, online payments, job costing and the AI Estimator. PaintScout presents itself as software built specifically for painting contractors, so it may still fit if you only want an estimating tool and handle the rest elsewhere. The honest test is whether your workday stops at the proposal or continues through crews, payments and reviews. Compliance matters too: homes built before 1978 fall under the EPA’s RRP rule. See our painting software page for the trade overview.
QuoteIQ costs $29.99 to $699 a month depending on the plan: Essentials is $29.99 for 1 user, Beginner is $74.99 for 2 users, Pro is $149.99 for 4 users, Elite is $299 for 10 users and Max is $699 for unlimited users. Annual billing is the monthly price times 10, so Elite is $2,990 a year. Most small painting crews land on Pro, which adds ClientHub, the Client Portal, job costing and the QuickBooks Online integration. Elite adds InstaSchedule, Route Optimization and GPS EmployeeHub time tracking. AI tools run on monthly IQ Credits, from 500 on Essentials to 8,000 on Max. For PaintScout’s current pricing, use its own pricing page, because competitor rates change often and we do not reproduce them. Add up every tool you pay for today and compare that total with one plan, and use the SBA’s management guides to model cash flow. The pricing page has the full matrix.
Yes. Every plan includes a drag-and-drop scheduling calendar with day, week, month and employee views, and Pro lets you assign people to jobs. Elite adds EmployeeHub with GPS location tracking and Time Tracker Pro, which records GPS clock in and out, per-job hours and break times; clocked-out employees never appear on the map. Crew creation, crew tracking and crew scheduling are Max-only features, along with unlimited users. Route Optimization and Route Density sequence and cluster the day’s stops on Elite and above. QuoteIQ has no native payroll and no automatic overtime calculation, so hours export to your existing payroll system. Routing pays for itself in miles: the IRS business rate is 76 cents per mile from July 1, 2026, so ten fewer miles a day is worth $7.60. Hours also feed job costing so labor shows up against each repaint.
Yes, on Elite and above. InstaSchedule lets customers book estimate appointments 24/7 against your real calendar availability, and InstaQuote lets them build a quote from your service library and pricing, with a real-time total delivered by email or text. Below Elite, the Pro-plan Client Portal gives each customer a branded self-service link to approve estimates, pay invoices and request service, and contact request forms capture leads from your website. The Virtual Call Team can answer calls around the clock, qualify leads and filter spam, though it does not book appointments, and it bills in IQ Credits at 125 credits per minute. Fast response matters in a trade where, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 31% of painters are self-employed and the estimator is often also the one holding the brush.
Yes. The AI Estimator is included on every plan: upload a property photo, answer a few follow-up questions, and it drafts line-item pricing for your local market. MapMeasure Pro, on Beginner and above, measures square footage from satellite imagery inside the estimate, which helps size exterior footprints, decks and fences, and screenshots attach to the estimate as proof of scope. For materials, the Paint Calculator in Business Calculators estimates quantities, and you can cross-check a bid with the free painting cost calculator. Before and After AI generates a finished-look preview in roughly 15 to 20 seconds, and AI Autopilot runs 55 tools across 13 categories by voice or text. AI actions use monthly IQ Credits (500 on Essentials, 5,000 on Elite) and show their cost before they run. Always verify measurements on site, and for pre-1978 homes follow the EPA lead-safe guidance.
Switching takes four steps: start a trial, import customers, rebuild your price book and go live. Export your customer list from PaintScout as a CSV file if your account allows it, then use AI Smart Import to map the columns automatically. Rebuild your services in the price book and build Standard, Options and Package estimates, then set up invoicing and online payments, turn on scheduling reminders and connect Review Multiplier. Run a few live jobs in both systems before you cancel PaintScout so you can confirm the workflow. Done-For-You setup is a paid option at $299.99 or $999.99 one time if you would rather have help with the import and price book. Keep your old estimates and invoices for tax and warranty records, and see the SBA’s guidance on managing your business for record-keeping basics.
Yes to both. QuoteIQ syncs with QuickBooks Online on Pro and above, covering invoices, payments, customers and expense categories, through the QuickBooks Online integration. Customers can pay invoices by credit or debit card, ACH bank transfer, Apple Pay and Google Pay online, and you can record cash and check in the app. Every plan supports invoicing, deposits, partial payments, tips and automatic payment reminders through online payments. The QuoteIQ Payments Service is powered by Whop for new subscribers, legacy accounts may still run on Stripe, and fees vary by payment method and account setup. Consumer financing through Affirm, Klarna and Afterpay is available on every plan; Affirm covers up to $30,000 per job over 3 to 36 months, and you are paid in full upfront. Pair large exterior bids with e-signatures and a deposit, and review the SBA’s financial management guidance when you plan cash flow.
QuoteIQ offers a 14-day free trial with full access to the features of the plan you choose, one trial per person, business and payment method. A credit or debit card is required to start. The trial converts to a paid subscription at the selected plan’s rate unless you cancel before it ends, and you can cancel any time during the trial. Because the trial covers only the plan you pick, choose the plan that includes the features you want to test: Beginner for MapMeasure Pro and QuoteIQ Cam, Pro for ClientHub, the Client Portal and job costing, or Elite for InstaSchedule, routing and GPS time tracking. Use the trial on real work: import a few customers, build one estimate in each style, schedule a job and send one invoice. The BLS counted 326,900 painters in 2025, and most work in small teams, so time spent testing should mirror a normal week.
A quick look at the platform painting contractors use for quotes, scheduling, payments and AI tools.
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Sign up at the pricing page link or register directly, and choose the plan that matches the features you want to test. The trial gives you full access to that plan’s features.
Export your customers from PaintScout as a CSV file, then use AI Smart Import to map the columns automatically and bring customers into the client database.
Add your painting services and rates, set up Options or Package estimates, and save an estimate template for repaints, exteriors and cabinets.
Enable online payments, load your crew on the calendar, switch on Review Multiplier, run a few jobs in parallel, then cancel PaintScout when you are confident.
A 20+ year service business owner who built and scaled his own pressure washing business before co-founding QuoteIQ. His YouTube channel has 580,000+ subscribers, where he coaches home service contractors on pricing, hiring, customer acquisition and scaling.
Read Mike’s insights →A serial entrepreneur who has built and scaled multiple home service businesses, with a focus on systems, pricing discipline and operations that run without the owner. He creates the ForeverSelfEmployed YouTube channel and co-founded QuoteIQ.
Read Justin’s insights →“I have been using quoteiq for a year and a half now and I can't express enough how easy/User friendly it is to use. I have tried a couple other crm's and though they also had a lot of features they were hard to navigate and had a poor layout. I get tons of compliments from customers on how professional my quotes look and how easy it is to make payments. Also the cost of quoteiq is second to none, by far most affordable. I highly recommend!!”
Josh Shaffer · Google Play“I'm on my second year of business and have been using QuoteIQ for 4 months. It has been great for me. It reduces the time required by me to manage customer information, quoting, scheduling, and invoicing. It streamlined a lot of my processes to help grow my business.”
Terry Hinson · Google Play“This app really makes life easy. 1. It makes sending estimates really easy, as well as invoices so you can be paid quicker, and make it easy on the costumer. 2. Being able to schedule work times really drives up effeciency, making you more money. 3. Being able to price your services by square foot in the app saves time wasting calculations 4. Having all your finances in one place makes life so much easier. I'd reccomend this app to any new and upstarting businesses, as well as old ones. 5/5”
Kyler Clay · Google PlayPick the plan that includes the features you want to test, and put real painting jobs through it for 14 days.
Tell Google that QuoteIQ is a source you trust. One tap unlocks up to 40% off your annual plan. No free trial — billed in full at checkout.