Does Knowify's Core plan include job costing?

As of September 2026, Knowify's pricing page places job costing with automatic expense assignment and WIP reporting on the Advanced tier; Core covers bids, contracts, change orders, AIA billing and time. Obra includes job costing on the Free plan.

Can Obra produce AIA pay applications?

No. Obra records charges and payments per project and shows what's left to collect; it doesn't generate G702/G703 forms. Subs who bill on AIA forms usually keep Knowify or a template for that. The pay application entry in our glossary covers the arithmetic.

Which is cheaper for a crew of three?

Obra is $36 a month. Knowify Core with two extra users is about $160 a month on annual billing, and Advanced with job costing about $330 plus users. Prices checked September 4, 2026.

Obra vs Knowify: the QuickBooks-native job costing suite for subs, or the field ledger for small crews

Knowify is job management with a live two-way QuickBooks sync, AIA billing and WIP reporting on its higher tier. Obra is the job's money from field receipts.

The short version

Knowify is the construction front end on a QuickBooks Online file: bids, contracts, change orders, AIA pay applications, time tracking, and on its Advanced tier job costing with automatic expense assignment and WIP reporting, all synced two ways in real time, for about $100 a month on Core and about $330 on Advanced. Obra is a per-project ledger fed by a crew's receipts over WhatsApp, email or photo, with a reviewed forecast on every plan, for $12 a seat, with exports instead of a sync. If you bill on AIA forms and your bookkeeper wants job data in QuickBooks the moment it's entered, Knowify is the tool. If you're a small crew that needs the job's money honest this week without a $330 plan, Obra is.

Obra is the better fit when

A crew of one to fifteen that needs job costing on every plan, not the top tier
Receipts arrive from the field in Spanish or English, from people without a seat
A reviewed expected final cost matters more than a live sync
You want to start free on one project today

Knowify is the better fit when

You bill on AIA G702/G703 forms and need pay applications generated
A real-time two-way QuickBooks Online sync is a requirement
You want WIP reporting and automatic expense assignment, and can pay for Advanced
Geofenced time tracking with payroll integration is part of the job

Side by side

What you're comparing	Obra	Knowify
Starting price	Free for one active project; Pro is $12 per user per month or $120 per year.	Core about $100 a month annual for one user plus about $30 per extra user; job costing and WIP on Advanced at about $330 a month.
What it is	A per-project ledger: income, expenses, receipts, change orders, budgets, forecast, close.	Job management and billing for trade contractors, built on a live QuickBooks Online sync.
Job costing	On every plan: budget per category and a reviewed expected final cost.	Automatic expense assignment and WIP reporting on the Advanced tier; Core bids and invoices.
Receipts from the job site	WhatsApp, email or photo, read into a draft and confirmed by a person.	Expenses logged in Knowify or QuickBooks; bills and purchase orders from budgets.
Who can capture a cost	Anyone you invite as a submitter, without seeing the project's finances.	Users on paid seats; the mobile app clocks time in and out.
AIA billing and pay applications	Not included; charges and payments are recorded per project and what's left to collect is shown.	AIA G702/G703 pay applications on every plan.
Time tracking	Labor recorded on the job at a burdened rate; no time clock.	Geofenced mobile time tracking with payroll integration.
Languages	English and Spanish, in the app and on WhatsApp.	English-first product; check current language options.
Accounting handoff	CSV exports of anything, or the whole organization as a ZIP.	Real-time two-way sync with QuickBooks Online, Payroll and Time.

Facts about Knowify checked on September 4, 2026. Prices and plan names change; check the vendor's own site before you buy, and tell us at support@tryobra.com if something here is out of date.

Knowify is the answer to a specific question: how do I run construction jobs so that QuickBooks Online always has the truth? Its two-way real-time sync is the product, and everything else, bids, contracts, AIA billing, time tracking, job costing on the higher tier, is built to feed it. Obra answers a different question: how do I know what this job is costing this week, from receipts my crew sends, without waiting for the books?

Where the two products actually differ

Knowify's home is the accounting file. Expenses, bill payments and collections map to projects, vendors and cost categories on both sides at once, and on the Advanced tier the job costing and WIP reporting read straight from that. It's the strongest option we've compared for a sub who bills on AIA forms and has a bookkeeper who wants job data in QuickBooks the moment it exists.

Obra's home is the project. A receipt from the crew becomes a confirmed cost on a page that also shows the contract, the change orders and a reviewed expected final cost, on every plan including Free. The accountant gets dated, categorized exports. The WIP report guide shows how the same inputs produce the report Knowify generates, on paper, for a crew that doesn't need it monthly.

The receipts problem

Knowify captures costs through Knowify or QuickBooks users, bills and purchase orders. A foreman at the supply house with a paper ticket needs someone with a seat to enter it. Obra's submitter role and WhatsApp channel exist for that ticket: sent in Spanish or English from the app the crew already has, read into a draft, confirmed by a reviewer, on the job the same afternoon.

What Knowify does that Obra doesn't

AIA pay applications, a live two-way QuickBooks sync, geofenced time tracking with payroll, and WIP reporting as a built-in report. If any of those is a requirement, Knowify has it and Obra doesn't. The QuickBooks alternatives guide places Knowify as the option for subs who want the tightest QuickBooks pairing.

Price, plainly

Knowify's Core plan is about $100 a month for one user on annual billing, plus about $30 per extra user, and the tier with job costing is about $330. Obra is free for one active project and $12 per user per month; a crew of three pays $36 with job costing included. Prices checked September 4, 2026.

Questions people ask

Does Knowify's Core plan include job costing?: As of September 2026, Knowify's pricing page places job costing with automatic expense assignment and WIP reporting on the Advanced tier; Core covers bids, contracts, change orders, AIA billing and time. Obra includes job costing on the Free plan.
Can Obra produce AIA pay applications?: No. Obra records charges and payments per project and shows what's left to collect; it doesn't generate G702/G703 forms. Subs who bill on AIA forms usually keep Knowify or a template for that. The pay application entry in our glossary covers the arithmetic.
Which is cheaper for a crew of three?: Obra is $36 a month. Knowify Core with two extra users is about $160 a month on annual billing, and Advanced with job costing about $330 plus users. Prices checked September 4, 2026.

Free download

Not ready for an app? Start with our free Excel template.

A ready-made spreadsheet to track costs and income per project — with categories and the totals already set up.