Is RenoJira really free?

As of September 2026 its site says the app is free on iOS and Android with no subscription and the QuickBooks integration included. We found no published paid tier. What a free product will look like in three years is a question worth asking about anything your records live in.

Can my foreman use RenoJira?

Anyone can install it, but it's built around one person's phone; we found no published submitter or reviewer roles. Obra's submitter role exists so a crew can capture without a seat on the books.

Which one works with QuickBooks?

RenoJira pushes a project's customers, payments and expenses to QuickBooks Online one way. Obra exports dated, categorized CSVs your bookkeeper records at the level the books need. Neither replaces QuickBooks.

Obra vs RenoJira: a free phone app for one person, or a ledger for a crew

RenoJira is a free phone app for logging job expenses yourself; Obra is a per-project ledger a crew feeds over WhatsApp. When free is enough and when it costs receipts.

The short version

RenoJira is a genuinely free phone app for a contractor who logs their own receipts, payments and change orders per job and wants nothing more. Obra is built for the moment a second person buys materials: submitters capture receipts over WhatsApp, email or photo without seeing the finances, a reviewer confirms them, and each project carries a reviewed forecast of where it will land. If you work alone and never miss a receipt, RenoJira costs nothing. If a crew holds the receipts, free is the expensive option.

Obra is the better fit when

More than one person buys materials, and their receipts arrive by text
Your crew works in Spanish, English or both, and shouldn't need a login to the books
You want an expected final cost that counts the costs you know are coming, not just what's been logged
You need the office and the field on the same ledger, on any device

RenoJira is the better fit when

You work alone and log every receipt yourself from one phone
You want an app store app with no subscription at all
Quotes with e-signature from the same app matter more than a crew workflow
You already sync everything to QuickBooks Online yourself and like it that way

Side by side

What you're comparing	Obra	RenoJira
Starting price	Free for one active project; Pro is $12 per user per month or $120 per year.	Free on iOS and Android, no subscription tier published.
What it is	A per-project ledger: income, expenses, receipts, change orders, budgets, forecast, close.	A job expense and profit tracker with quotes, payments and change orders per project.
Runs on	Web app on any phone or computer; installs to the home screen and works offline.	iOS and Android apps; no web version published.
Receipts from the job site	WhatsApp, email or photo, read into a draft and confirmed by a person.	Photo in the app, with total, tax and date read automatically; works offline.
Who can capture a cost	Anyone you invite as a submitter, from their own phone, without seeing the finances.	Whoever has the app on their phone; no separate submitter role published.
Change orders	Logged per project with date, amount and attachment; original contract stays visible.	Logged per project alongside quotes and payments.
Forecasting a job's final cost	Built in: recorded cost plus a reviewed remaining to spend, never below what's recorded.	Spend against the quote and real profit to date; no published forecast of the finish.
Languages	English and Spanish, in the app and on WhatsApp.	English site and app; check the store listing for other languages.
Accounting handoff	CSV exports of anything, or the whole organization as a ZIP.	One-way push of customers, payments and expenses to QuickBooks Online, per project.

Facts about RenoJira 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.

RenoJira and Obra both start from the same observation: contractors don't know what a job cost until it's over. They answer it for different people. RenoJira answers it for the contractor holding the phone. Obra answers it for the contractor whose crew holds the receipts.

Where the two products actually differ

RenoJira is a single-operator app. You photograph the receipt, it reads the total, you log it against the job, and the app shows spend against the quote. That's a complete loop for one person, and it's free, which for a solo remodeler is the whole argument.

Obra assumes there are more people than phones with the app. A foreman sends a receipt to a WhatsApp number from the WhatsApp they already use; Obra answers in their language, reads it, and files a draft on the right job. A reviewer confirms it. The foreman never sees the contract value or the margin, and never needed an account on the books. The project shows recorded cost, cash collected and an expected final cost that moves with every confirmation.

The receipts problem, again

Every comparison on this site comes back to the same thing, because every job costing failure does. The margin report is only as true as what reached it. A free app that only the owner uses is accurate about the owner's receipts. The crew's receipts, on most jobs the larger share, still travel by text and still get lost. Obra's WhatsApp channel and submitter role exist for that share; the bilingual crew guide walks through a week of it.

What RenoJira does that Obra doesn't

Quotes with e-signature from the same app, and a native app store presence. Obra doesn't estimate or quote, and installs from the browser as a progressive web app instead of from a store. If quoting from your phone is the feature you'd use daily, RenoJira has it and Obra doesn't.

Price, plainly

RenoJira is free. Obra is free for one active project and $12 per user per month after that; a crew of three pays $36. The honest comparison isn't $0 against $36. It's $36 against the receipts that never make it into a one-person app, and on most crews that's more than $36 a week.

Questions people ask

Is RenoJira really free?: As of September 2026 its site says the app is free on iOS and Android with no subscription and the QuickBooks integration included. We found no published paid tier. What a free product will look like in three years is a question worth asking about anything your records live in.
Can my foreman use RenoJira?: Anyone can install it, but it's built around one person's phone; we found no published submitter or reviewer roles. Obra's submitter role exists so a crew can capture without a seat on the books.
Which one works with QuickBooks?: RenoJira pushes a project's customers, payments and expenses to QuickBooks Online one way. Obra exports dated, categorized CSVs your bookkeeper records at the level the books need. Neither replaces QuickBooks.

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.