Comparison

Workbill vs Chalkline

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Workbill

Streamline your freelance business by tracking billable hours, generating professional quotes, and sending invoices in seconds. Get paid faster by easily recording various payment types and managing outstanding balances. Protect against scope creep with budget alerts.

Highlights
  • One-tap time tracking
  • Live earnings display
  • Quick quote generation
  • Two-tap invoice creation
  • Multiple payment recording
  • Scope creep protection
  • PDF generation and export
Features
Read full description

Track time. Send quotes. Get paid. Workbill runs your entire job — from the first hour tracked to payment collected — in one app. Built for freelancers, contractors, and tradespeople who bill by the job or by the hour. No spreadsheets. No invoicing software that takes 20 minutes to learn. Just three taps and you are billing. TRACK TIME One tap starts the timer. Watch your live earnings grow as you work. Workbill keeps your active job in the Dynamic Island so you never lose track of a minute on-site. Stop the timer and convert straight to a quote — no re-entering anything. SEND QUOTES IN 60 SECONDS Build itemized quotes on-site before you leave the job. Add labor, materials, and any task with quantity, unit, and unit price. Quick-pick suggestions for common trades work (Install, Demo, Inspection, Travel) so you are done in under a minute. Your client sees a clean, professional subtotal. Tax is added when you convert to invoice. INVOICE IN 2 TAPS When a quote is accepted, hit Create Invoice. All line items carry over — zero re-entry. Set the tax rate and due date. Done. Need to bill without a quote? Create a spot invoice directly for emergency callouts, cash jobs, or repeat clients. Add line items, set tax, pick a due date — same flow, no quote needed. COLLECT PAYMENT Record cash, check, Venmo, Zelle, and card payments in one tap. Outstanding balance updates instantly. The home screen shows exactly who owes you and how much, with overdue invoices surfaced first. SCOPE CREEP PROTECTION Tie a quote to a project with an hourly estimate. Workbill alerts you when you are approaching or over budget — before the client conversation gets awkward. FREE — ALWAYS - Unlimited time tracking and projects - Live earnings as you work - 3 quotes and 3 invoices to get started - No credit card required PREMIUM — GROW YOUR BUSINESS - Unlimited quotes and invoices - Import tracked time directly into quotes (one tap) - PDF generation and sharing - CSV export for accounting - Unlimited history - $2.99/month or $24.99/year — cancel anytime Workbill is designed for speed. Every screen is built for one-handed use on a job site, in a van, or between calls. It gets out of your way so you can focus on the work. Terms: https://gautam-u.github.io/timekit-website/terms/ Privacy: https://gautam-u.github.io/timekit-website/privacy-policy/

About

Chalkline

Features
Read full description

You are standing in a kitchen the homeowner wants gutted. They ask what it will cost. The honest answer is "I'll email you tonight" — and by tonight the job is someone else's. Chalkline turns the walkthrough into a real estimate before you get back in the truck. ◆ PHOTO-ASSISTED JOB BREAKDOWNS Photograph what you are looking at. Chalkline reads the photo and lays the visible work out as editable line items — surfaces, quantities, tasks. Nothing is final until you say so. Every quantity is yours to correct. ◆ YOUR PRICES, NOT AI GUESSES Chalkline never invents a dollar amount. It prices from the price book you set up: your labor rate, your material costs, your markup, your overhead, your mobilization minimum. Change a rate once and every future estimate follows. ◆ ESTIMATES THAT LOOK LIKE A CONTRACTOR WROTE THEM Itemized labor and materials, scope of work, exclusions, customer and job-site details, and a labor / materials / total breakdown. Your business name, license number and contact block sit at the top. Edit any line before it leaves your phone. ◆ SCAN THE ROOM INSTEAD OF GUESSING IT On an iPhone with a LiDAR scanner, walk the room once. Chalkline measures the floor area, the wall area with door and window openings already deducted, and the perimeter for trim — then writes them in as line items. These numbers are measured, not estimated from a photo. ◆ WORTH-QUOTING SUGGESTIONS YOU CONTROL When the photo shows related work — no drip edge above the tear-off, rot beside the window being replaced — Chalkline flags it with the reason you can repeat to the homeowner. Suggestions sit in their own section, switched off, and never touch your total until you tick them. ◆ INVOICES FROM THE APPROVED ESTIMATE Turn an approved estimate into a numbered invoice with issue date, due date and terms. Deposits and part payments are credited on separate lines so the balance due matches what the homeowner sees in their bank. The invoice bills the work on the estimate — extra work still goes on a change order. ◆ WORK ORDERS FOR THE CREW Send the crew a sheet with the tasks, quantities, estimated hours, the schedule date, the site contact and your gate-code notes — and no prices on it. What your customer pays is not the crew's business. ◆ SEE HOW THE READING IS DOING Every quantity you correct before sending is measured against what the app read. Chalkline shows you whether it reads high or low on your own jobs, trade by trade. That stays on your phone. ◆ CHANGE ORDERS, NOT DO-OVERS When the homeowner adds a bathroom halfway through, the original estimate stays intact. Chalkline issues a numbered change order that shows what changed, what it was, what it is now, the difference, and how the schedule moves — on its own page, with its own signature block. That page is what you point at when the final invoice gets questioned. ◆ PDF YOU CAN SEND FROM THE DRIVEWAY Preview the finished document, check the required contractor details are on it, and share it straight from your phone. Revisions go out as the quote plus its change order page, in one file. Invoices and work orders share the same line items, so two sheets never disagree. ◆ BUILT FOR SMALL CONTRACTORS General contractors, remodelers, painters, flooring installers, plumbers, electricians, landscapers, roofers, siding and deck crews — anyone who bids the job standing in it. ◆ YOUR DATA STAYS YOURS Estimates, price book and customers live on your device. No account to create. Photos are sent for reading only when you take one. ◆ TERMS AND PRIVACY Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/ Privacy Policy: https://sites.google.com/ra2lab.io/ra2lab-privacy-policy/home

Screenshots

Workbill4 screens
Chalkline4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is update cadence: Chalkline at every 2 days against Workbill's monthly. Chalkline also leads on iOS requirement (13.0 vs 17.0). On price, ads, in-app purchases and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Workbill sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $2.99 per month and Chalkline sells 3 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Workbill ships an update monthly, Chalkline every 2 days. The most recent releases landed on October 30, 2026 and November 10, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard2 real differences · 7 level
Workbill versus Chalkline: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterWorkbillChalkline
PriceFreeFree
Rating3.0 (2 ratings) — better—
Number of ratings2 — better—
Update frequencyMonthlyEvery 2 days — better
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesYes
MonetizationFreemium—
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPod
Requires iOS17.013.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size3 MB59 MB
Age rating4+4+
DeveloperSunitha Vaishnavi NalainthranRA2 Lab

In-app purchases

2 purchases

Workbill

Subscriptions2
  • Premium Monthly$2.991 Month
  • Premium Yearly$24.991 Year
3 purchases

Chalkline

Subscriptions3
  • Chalkline Starter7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Chalkline Pro7 Days trial$29.991 Month
  • Chalkline Pro7 Days trial$239.991 Year

Questions

Is Workbill free?
Workbill is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Chalkline free?
Chalkline is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Do Workbill or Chalkline have ads?
Neither Workbill nor Chalkline shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Workbill or Chalkline?
Workbill ships an update monthly, and Chalkline every 2 days. Most recently, Workbill was updated on October 30, 2026 and Chalkline on November 10, 2026.

Other comparisons