PaintScout vs Contractor Autopilot
PaintScout is $119/user/mo Sales, plus $49/user/mo CRM — about $168/user/mo for the full setup — and it is one piece of your business. Contractor Autopilot is $149–$499/mo flat for the whole company, unlimited users: one source of truth, 60+ features from the missed call to the paid invoice. No integrations to build, nothing to keep in sync.
What PaintScout does well
The best painting estimator on the market. Walls, ceilings, trim, doors and windows as separate line items, production rates per surface, and proposals a homeowner can actually read.
Best for: Painters who live and die by room-by-room estimating accuracy.
Where it leaves you exposed
- →Priced per user — a three-person office is over $500/mo before anyone answers a phone.
- →It is an estimating and sales tool. No receptionist, no website, no reviews, no Google profile.
- →Painting only. If you also do pressure washing, drywall repair or handyman work, it does not follow you there.
One app for the whole business — finally
An estimating tool at the front, and everything after the signature handled somewhere else.
The call, the lead, the quote, the job, the invoice, the review and the website all live on the same customer record. Your whole crew and your office get their own login — we never charge per seat.
Get found, capture leads, quote & close, run jobs, get paid — the whole business, not one slice of it.
No Zapier, no CSV exports, no paying a consultant to wire your tools together every time something changes.
The time it gives you back
Estimate in one system, schedule in another, invoice in a third, chase the review by hand. One connected source means the accepted estimate is already the job and already the invoice.
What it really costs to run PaintScout
Until now, nobody ran a contracting business on one app. Here is the rest of the bill you are still paying.
| PaintScout Sales + CRM (per user) | $168/user/mo |
| Scheduling / job management | $50–$200/mo |
| Answering service | $300+/mo |
| Website + hosting | $50–$300/mo |
| Review + social tool | $50–$150/mo |
| Typical all-in | $620–$1,100+/mo across 4–5 vendors, and it climbs with every user |
| Contractor Autopilot — all of it, one bill | $149–$499/mo |
Stack costs are typical published US market rates for each category, August 2026. Your numbers will vary — run our free business review and we will price your actual stack.
What it costs at 1, 5 and 10 people
Their price grows with your crew. Ours does not — every plan is unlimited users, so the tenth hire costs you nothing in software.
| Crew size | PaintScout | + what it doesn't include | Their all-in | Contractor Autopilot |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Just you | $168/mo | $850/mo | $1,018/mo | $499/mo |
| 5 people | $840/mo | $850/mo | $1,690/mo | $499/mo |
| 10 people | $1,680/mo | $850/mo | $2,530/mo | $499/mo |
At five people that is $1,690 a month — more than Autopilot Pro — and it still does not answer your phone, build your website, or ask your customers for reviews.
Same money buys the whole business instead of one slice of it: 60+ features across all five stages, unlimited users, one bill.
PaintScout column uses their published list price, read August 2026. "What it doesn't include" is the same basket every time: answering service ~$300, website and hosting ~$150, reviews and social ~$100, local SEO help ~$300. Our column is Autopilot Pro at $499/mo — everything, unlimited users. Starter is $149 and Autopilot is $399.
Side by side
| Feature | Contractor Autopilot | PaintScout |
|---|---|---|
| Answers your calls 24/7 (real AI receptionist) | Included on Autopilot Pro | No |
| Builds and hosts your website + custom domain | Yes | No |
| Room-by-room painting estimates | AI estimates + price book that learns | Best in class |
| Interactive proposals with options | Yes | Yes |
| Pipeline + automated follow-up | Yes | CRM add-on |
| Scheduling, job management, crew time tracking | Yes | No |
| Invoicing, card payments, job costing | Yes | Payments only |
| Priced per company, not per user | Yes | No |
| Price | $149–$499/mo, whole company | $119/user/mo Sales, plus $49/user/mo CRM — about $168/user/mo for the full setup |
PaintScout pricing and features from their published information, read August 2026. If something here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
The honest verdict
If estimating precision is the only thing you want to buy, PaintScout is excellent. It is also the most expensive way to run a small shop, because everything else — the phone, the website, the reviews, the job — is still your problem and still costs money somewhere else.
Questions contractors ask
Is Contractor Autopilot cheaper than PaintScout?
For anyone past one user, yes. PaintScout is roughly $168 per user per month for Sales plus CRM. Contractor Autopilot is $149–$499 per month for the whole company, no matter how many people log in.
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