InstaBid - 2026 Pricing, Features, Reviews & Alternatives

InstaBid is estimating software for residential contractors. John Dudley built it after 30 years as a general contractor. He co-hosts the home-improvement radio show Around the House. It's made for the owner who still writes estimates at the kitchen table after a full day on the job.

How it works

Describe the job, or let your customer fill in the smart web form on your own website. InstaBid builds an itemized estimate across 11 trades: roofing, plumbing, electrical, drywall, painting, flooring, siding, HVAC, cabinets, countertops and full remodels. Every line opens to show the part, the unit and the labor. On the Shop plan, a kitchen, bath or addition prices as one multi-trade estimate instead of six separate ones.

Your cost, your markup

The engine gives you real material and labor cost, adjusted for your region, with zero platform markup. Eco, standard and premium grades map to real products. Materials bill the way you buy them: 397 feet of copper bills as 40 sticks. Labor, materials, multipliers, markup, tax and deposit are all editable. A price you type in stays yours through every catalog update.

The close

The PDF estimate, contract and Stripe deposit link go out together. Your customer can read the bid, sign, pay the deposit and book a start date on your calendar without a phone call. Change orders are priced at your numbers, approved or declined with no login, and rolled into the job total with the original bid frozen.

Your subs

Keep a book of the subs you use, by trade. When an estimate lands, the right ones get the scope by SMS and email, in English or Spanish. On Crew and Shop, their bids come back in one table, cheapest first, and they never see your cost or your markup.

Running the business

An estimate dashboard, a list of the bids that went quiet, materials search, calendar sync, and reusable bid templates and a no-login client portal on Crew and Shop. A webhook sends signed data on every estimate, change-order approval and deposit, so you can connect Zapier, your CRM, Slack or QuickBooks.

In Spanish

Signup, onboarding, dashboard, estimate, PDF and email all run in Spanish. 496 material names and 212 labor lines were translated by hand, and prices match to the penny in either language. Change orders are English-only in version 1.

Pricing

Solo: $99/month for one trade. Crew: $249/month for three trades and 3 seats. Shop: $499/month for every trade and 5 seats, including InstaBid 411 and InstaBid LIVE. 10 days free, no card. Cancel from the dashboard. We take no percentage of your jobs and we don't sell your leads.