A PaintScout alternative for iPhone: BidCoat compared
PaintScout is a well-known estimating and proposal platform for painting companies. It runs in a web browser, and there's no PaintScout app in the App Store. If you bid from your phone at the client's house, that's the gap BidCoat fills.
Here's a straight comparison. PaintScout's prices come from its pricing page, checked on 24 October 2026; they change, so check them there too.
At a glance
| PaintScout | BidCoat | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | A web browser, on a computer, tablet or phone | An iPhone and iPad app that works with no signal |
| Price for one estimator | Sales plan: $99 a month billed yearly ($1,188 a year), or $119 month to month | $299.99 a year, or $39.99 a month |
| More users | Operations add-on $79 a month billed yearly; team seats $20 a user a month | No per-user charge: one account on your phone and iPad |
| Onboarding | Included; optional paid packages $999–1,999 | Not needed |
| Measuring | Entered on the estimate | Room scan on an iPhone or iPad Pro, or typed on any iPhone |
| Pricing | Production rates, highly customizable | Production rates by the hour, or your own square-foot prices, with every number shown |
| Proposal | Presentations with options the customer picks | Three options (Standard, Premium, Top grade) the client picks and signs on their phone |
| Payments | Cards and ACH, Wisetack financing | Deposits go straight to your own Venmo, PayPal, Zelle, Cash App, Square or Stripe |
| Scheduling, work orders, job costing | Yes, with Operations | No: BidCoat does the bid |
| QuickBooks | Yes | No |
When PaintScout is the better choice
- Several estimators and office staff share the work.
- You want the bid, scheduling, work orders and job costing in one system, connected to QuickBooks.
- You build estimates at a desk, and want to customize every rate and template.
- You want to offer clients financing.
When BidCoat is the better choice
- You're the one who bids, from your phone, at the client's house.
- You want the proposal in the client's hands before you leave the driveway, not after an evening at the computer.
- You'd rather pay one flat price a year than a monthly plan and add-ons.
- You work in basements and new builds with no signal: everything saves on the phone as you go.
- You want deposits paid straight to you. BidCoat never takes a cut of your deposits.
- You or your clients prefer Spanish or Portuguese: the app and each proposal can be in English, Spanish or Portuguese.
Switching from PaintScout
Your PaintScout rates carry straight over. In BidCoat's setup, enter your labor cost per hour, your production rates for walls, ceilings, trim and doors, your paints and their prices per gallon, overhead and profit, your deposit and your terms. Then price your next job in both and compare the numbers. The 7-day trial is enough for a few real bids, and you cancel in your iPhone's Settings if it isn't for you.
Sources
- PaintScout pricing, checked 24 October 2026.
- App Store search for “PaintScout”, United States, 24 October 2026: no PaintScout app.
- PaintScout help center.