Who each product is built for
QuickBooks Online serves small businesses across industries. Intuit describes project profitability and job costing on its Plus and Advanced plans, and on Advanced it now describes construction features including AIA-style invoicing tied to project phases, WIP reports and change orders. Certified payroll reports are described as part of its separate payroll products.
EZBilling does one thing: AIA-format billing and job cost accounting for general contractors, including the subcontractor side of each job.
EZBilling and QuickBooks Online side by side
| EZBilling | QuickBooks Online | |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | General contractors. | Small businesses in general. Construction is one of the industries served. |
| Pay applications in the G702/G703 format | Yes. Owner pay applications from the schedule of values, plus subcontractor pay applications recorded against each subcontract. | Intuit describes AIA-style invoicing tied to project phases on QuickBooks Online Advanced. The continuation sheet and application summary formats are not named on the vendor pages we reviewed. |
| Retainage | Retainage receivable and retainage payable tracked separately. Retainage can be released part-way through a job and the reduction shows on the pay application. | Not stated on the vendor pages we reviewed. |
| Subcontractor billing and compliance | Subcontracts with their own schedule of values, sub retainage, backcharges and joint checks. Lien waivers (four types) and insurance certificates tracked per vendor. | Collecting W-9 information from contractors is described. Subcontractor pay applications, lien waivers and insurance certificates are not stated on the vendor pages we reviewed. |
| Job costing and WIP | Job costing by project and cost code, and a WIP schedule with over and under billing. | Project profitability and job costing on Plus and Advanced. WIP reports on Advanced. |
| General ledger | Built in. Invoices, bills and payments post to a double-entry general ledger. Bank reconciliation and financial statements are on the Professional plan. | Yes. QuickBooks Online is a general ledger accounting system. |
| Certified payroll | WH-347 certified payroll reports generated from imported payroll data. EZBilling does not process payroll. | A WH-347 report is described within QuickBooks payroll products, which are separate from the accounting subscription. |
| Pricing | Flat monthly plans, published on the pricing page. | Published on the vendor pricing page, with a 30-day free trial. |
Where a cell says something is not stated, it means the vendor pages we reviewed did not describe it. It does not mean the product cannot do it.
Choose QuickBooks Online if
- Construction is only part of what your business does, or your jobs are billed with ordinary invoices, not pay applications.
- Your accountant and your other software are built around QuickBooks and you need that ecosystem.
- You need payroll processing in the same product family.
Choose EZBilling if
- Most of your revenue is billed on pay applications against a schedule of values.
- You need retainage receivable and retainage payable carried as their own balances, with releases part-way through a job.
- You manage subcontracts, sub billings, lien waivers and insurance certificates and want them in the accounting system.
Frequently asked questions
Can QuickBooks Online do AIA billing?
Intuit describes AIA-style invoicing tied to project phases on QuickBooks Online Advanced. Check the current QuickBooks pages for which plan and which features apply to you.
Does QuickBooks Online track retainage?
Retainage is not described on the QuickBooks product and help pages we reviewed. Ask Intuit or your accountant how retainage would be handled on your plan before relying on it.
When does a general contractor outgrow general accounting software?
Usually when billing moves to pay applications with retainage, when subcontractor billings and compliance documents have to be tracked per job, and when a bank or surety starts asking for a WIP schedule.
Sources
Statements about other products are taken from each vendor's own public pages, as of October 11, 2026. Products change; check the vendor's site for current details. Product names are trademarks of their owners and are used here only to identify the products being compared.
See it on your own jobs
We will walk through a pay application on a job like yours, from schedule of values to payment.
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