Moxie alternative
Looking for a Moxie alternative?
Moxie is the closest thing to a like-for-like comparison on this site. Similar price, similar ambition, both aimed at independent operators who want one place instead of six. The differences are real but specific, and they mostly come down to how deep the money side goes.
In short
Moxie is good, and if you are choosing between the two on features alone you will find a lot of overlap: projects, proposals, invoicing, time tracking, a white-label client portal, and an AI assistant. Moxie has things we do not, including a built-in phone line, workflow automation, and QuickBooks integration on Pro. Where The Contractor Codex goes further is the money: six quote billing modes including named milestone schedules, retainers with an allowance of included hours and automatic overage approvals, a four-level dunning ladder with automatic late fees, provider passthrough for hosting and licenses, and a full set of books ending in profit per job on an append-only ledger. It also exposes an MCP server, so an AI agent can operate the whole workspace rather than assist inside it.
The Contractor Codex vs Moxie, at a glance
Both tools cover the basics. The differences sit in price, workflow shape, and which kind of service business each was built for.
| Dimension | The Contractor Codex | Moxie |
|---|---|---|
| Starting price | $15/month, or $12.50/month billed annually ($150/year) | $12/month, or $10/month billed annually (Starter) |
| Price for a white-label client portal | $15/month. White-label is the default on every plan | Pro, $25/month or $20 billed annually |
| Team members | Unlimited internal users on both plans | Teams plan, $40/month or $32 billed annually, for up to five members |
| Quote billing modes | Six: deposit only, bill in full now, draft on completion, deposit plus draft, deposit plus progress payments, and a named milestone schedule | Invoicing, recurring invoices, and deposits |
| Retainers with included hours | Yes. Included hours, automatic overage requests, and billable work pauses when the allowance runs out | Retainer billing, not an hours allowance with approval gating |
| Project budgets with approval gating | Yes. Work stops at 100% of the cap and the client types the amount they approve | Budget tracking |
| Collections | Four-level dunning ladder at 3, 7, 14, and 30 days, configurable, with automatic late-fee invoices | Invoice reminders |
| Rate rules | After-hours, overnight, and weekend multipliers, minimum time increment, and an auto-approve ceiling, held on a reusable service plan | Per-project and per-client rates |
| Passthrough costs the client pays directly | Yes. Hosting, domains, SSL, API and AI usage, and licenses disclosed as estimates you never bill | Not a native concept |
| Books and profit | Profit per job, P&L, cash flow, spending, and tax exports on an append-only hash-chained ledger. Costs come from receipts and manual entry today, with Plaid bank connection built and rolling out | Basic accounting, plus QuickBooks integration on Pro |
| QuickBooks sync | No. CSV import in, P&L and tax exports out | Yes, on Pro. A real advantage |
| Phone line | No | Communicator phone line on Pro. We have no equivalent |
| Workflow automation | Automations for recurring billing, dunning, and approvals; not a general builder | Workflow automation on Pro. More general than ours |
| Two-way client email | Yes. Your own sending domain, and client replies thread back into the portal and into your mailbox | Client portal messaging and support ticketing |
| AI | MCP server. Run the whole workspace from Claude or ChatGPT, with approval required before anything sends or bills | AI assistant inside the product |
| Free trial | 30 days; you pick a plan and add a payment method up front, nothing charged until it ends | 14 days |
Moxie pricing read from their public pricing page on August 11, 2026. Published prices change often, so check theirs before you decide.
Pick The Contractor Codex when…
- You bill in stages, on milestones, or against a retainer allowance rather than with plain invoices
- You want collections to escalate on their own instead of remembering to send reminders
- You pass through hosting, domains, or licenses the client pays directly
- You want profit per job, not just income and expense totals
- You want an AI agent that can operate the business, not only assist inside the app
- You have a team and do not want to move up to a five-seat tier to add people
Pick Moxie when…
- You want a business phone line built into the same tool. We have nothing like it
- QuickBooks sync matters to you or your accountant
- You want general workflow automation you can shape yourself
- You are a solo operator who does not need white-label and Starter at $10 annually covers you
- You would rather trial without a credit card, which their 14-day trial allows
Similar price, different depth
On the surface these products rhyme. Moxie is $12/month, or $10 billed annually, for Starter; Pro is $25/month or $20 annually and adds a custom domain, a white-label client portal, support ticketing, workflow automation, a phone line, and QuickBooks. Teams is $40/month or $32 annually for up to five members. We are $15/month, or $12.50 billed annually, with every feature on both plans and unlimited internal users; the $35 Pro plan only lowers the service fee on payments, which is 0.8% on Standard and 0.1% on Pro, charged on top of Stripe's normal processing rates. The practical difference is that white-label and a custom domain are a paid tier for them and the default for us, and that team size never changes our price. If you are solo and do not care about branding, Moxie Starter is genuinely cheaper.
The money engine is where we go deeper
Both tools invoice. The question is how many shapes an invoice can take. A quote here carries one of six billing modes: deposit only, bill in full now, draft on completion for time and materials, deposit plus draft, deposit plus progress payments, or a named milestone schedule where every stage and amount is printed on the quote so accepting it means agreeing to the whole schedule. Lines can be one-time, monthly, or annual. Retainer clients get an allowance of included hours, and when it runs out the portal raises an overage request, emails the client, pauses billable work, and lets them approve a specific number of extra hours and choose which project to prioritize. A service plan holds standing terms once, including after-hours, overnight, and weekend multipliers, the minimum time increment, and an auto-approve ceiling. And when someone does not pay, four levels of reminder fire on their own at three, seven, fourteen, and thirty days, with automatic late-fee invoices. Moxie covers invoicing, recurring invoicing, and deposits well; it does not model staged schedules, hour allowances, or an escalating collections ladder.
Books that end in profit per job
Moxie has basic accounting and a QuickBooks integration on Pro, which is a perfectly reasonable design: keep light records, sync to the real ledger. We took the other path and built the ledger. Costs come in from receipt capture and manual entry, get sorted onto jobs, and produce profit per job, a P&L, cash flow, and spending views plus tax-ready exports. Every money event writes to an append-only chain where each entry carries a hash of the one before it, so a changed or deleted record breaks the chain visibly. The honest trade is that we have no QuickBooks sync in either direction beyond CSV, and Moxie does on Pro. If your accountant lives in QuickBooks, that is a real point for them.
An agent that operates the business, not an assistant inside it
Both products advertise AI, and the distinction matters. Moxie has an AI assistant within the app. This exposes an MCP server, which means you connect Claude, ChatGPT, or any MCP-compatible client and it operates the workspace from outside: draft a quote from a description, look up who owes you money and how late, start and stop work sessions, record a payment that arrived as a check, chase an unsigned contract, invite a teammate. Anything that would email a client or move money stops and asks for approval before it goes, and that gate is enforced in the tools rather than in the prompt. There is also a daily advisor that reads your numbers and drafts the follow-ups, and a client-facing assistant that answers your clients' questions about their own projects and invoices. If you want to run your business by talking to it, that is a structural difference rather than a feature-list one.
What Moxie has that we do not
A phone line. Moxie's Communicator gives you a business number inside the product on Pro, and we have no equivalent and no plan for one. General workflow automation you can shape yourself, where ours is fixed automation around billing, dunning, and approvals. QuickBooks sync on Pro. And a 14-day trial that does not require a credit card, where ours is 30 days but asks for a payment method up front. If a business phone line in the same tool is something you actually want, that alone may settle it.
Switching from Moxie
Export your client list from Moxie and re-create the records here, or bulk-load them with the create_client tool through an AI agent. Proposal and contract templates will need rebuilding as Contract Templates and Quote Library entries; the 240-item starter library across 24 industries covers most common lines to start from. The piece worth planning rather than importing is recurring revenue: a Moxie retainer is a billing arrangement, and a retainer here is an allowance of included hours with approval gating, so decide each client's included time before you move them. If you use the Communicator phone line, understand you are giving that up and have a replacement ready. Most people run both for one billing cycle before cancelling.
FAQ: The Contractor Codex vs Moxie
How is this different from Moxie?
Mostly depth on the money side. Six quote billing modes including named milestone schedules, retainers with an allowance of included hours and automatic overage approvals, project budgets that stop billable work at the cap, a four-level dunning ladder with automatic late fees, passthrough costs the client pays providers directly, and books that end in profit per job on an append-only ledger. Plus an MCP server so an AI agent can operate the workspace from outside rather than assist inside it. White-label and unlimited internal users are included here rather than gated to a higher tier.
What does Moxie do better?
It has a business phone line built in, which we do not have at all. It has general workflow automation you can shape yourself, where ours is fixed around billing and approvals. It syncs with QuickBooks on Pro and we do not sync with anything. And its trial does not ask for a credit card. If a phone line or QuickBooks sync is load-bearing for you, Moxie is the better buy.
Which is cheaper?
Depends on branding and team size. Moxie Starter is $12/month, or $10 billed annually, which is cheaper than our $15, but a white-label client portal and custom domain need Moxie Pro at $25/month or $20 annually, and adding people means Teams at $40/month or $32 annually for up to five. We are $15/month, or $12.50 billed annually, with white-label and unlimited internal users on every plan. Add our 0.8% service fee on payments, 0.1% on the $35 Pro plan, on top of Stripe's processing rates.
Do both have a white-label client portal?
Yes, but at different prices. Moxie puts a custom domain and white-label portal on Pro, $25/month or $20 billed annually. Here it is the default on every plan: your logo, accent color, domain, and sending address on every page, PDF, email, signing page, and receipt, with nothing referencing us anywhere a client can see.
Can I bill a project in named stages?
Yes, and this is a genuine gap in most tools at this price. A milestone quote prints every stage and amount on the quote itself, so accepting it means the client has agreed to the whole schedule. The first stage bills on acceptance, and each later stage bills when you mark the work done or click to bill it. Stages can be billed in any order, billing one twice never sends a second invoice, and the last stage settles the remainder so the stages add up to the quote total to the cent.
How long is the free trial?
30 days, on both the monthly and annual plans, and it is the full portal rather than a limited version: send real quotes, sign real contracts, and take real payments. You pick a plan and add a payment method when you sign up, and nothing is charged until the trial ends. Moxie's trial is 14 days and does not ask for a card.
Try The Contractor Codex free
30-day free trial, unlimited clients and projects, every feature on every plan. From $15/month after the trial. You pick a plan and add a payment method up front, and nothing is charged until the trial ends. Send your first quote in under a minute.