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Painting contractor working on the exterior of a home
Free for painting pros

Free Painting Software,
Forever.

Send a three-tier exterior repaint estimate with photos from the driveway, take the deposit before you place the Sherwin-Williams order, and have Menutize text the homeowner a one-tap Google review link the day the drop cloths come off. $0/month. Forever.

Free CRM, invoicing & payments — forever. Save $300–$1,000/yr vs the $49/mo platforms.

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What's Free, Forever

Everything you need to run a residential or commercial painting business — and not a feature gated behind an upgrade. No credit card to start. No "trial expired" emails in 14 days.

Customer CRM

Every homeowner, color spec, before/after photo, and warranty term in one place. Searchable. No per-seat fees.

Photo Estimates & Quotes

Send branded three-tier estimates with photos from your phone. Customer approves with one tap.

Invoicing

Auto-generate clean invoices the moment the punch list is signed off. No QuickBooks license required.

Card & ACH Payments

Homeowners pay deposits and balances online. Money lands in 1-2 business days. Standard processing rate, no monthly fee.

Google Review Requests

Auto-text every happy homeowner a one-tap review link the moment you mark the job complete.

Tip Collection

Built-in tip prompts at checkout. The lead painter actually keeps the cash because tips route to the operator.

Built for the way painting actually works.

Painting isn't a same-day service call. You're walking the property for 45 minutes, measuring 4,800 square feet of exterior siding, picking sheen and SKU on the spot, and then sending a bid that has to compete with two other guys whose ladders were leaning on the same gutter yesterday. The free plan accounts for all of it.

Most "free" small-business software is a generic invoice template with a Stripe button bolted on. It works for a freelance designer and falls apart the second a homeowner asks why your bid is $1,400 higher than the other guy's, what brand of paint is in the "Better" tier, and whether you'll caulk the trim before the second coat. Menutize was built around the four workflows below — the ones that actually decide whether a painting shop closes the bid or eats the windshield time.

Three-Tier Estimates with Photos

Stop letting the homeowner pick the cheapest tier by default because that's the only number the other guy gave them. Send a digital estimate with three options side-by-side: Good (one-coat freshen), Better (two-coat premium with caulk and minor patching), Best (full prep, trim and doors, 3-year touch-up warranty). Each tier shows the paint brand and SKU, the prep scope, the warranty, and the total. Drop in 6-12 photos of the actual surfaces from your phone walk-through so the bid stops feeling like a number pulled from thin air. Painters who switch from a one-line phone quote to three-tier visual bids report 25-30% of homeowners self-select up to Better or Best, on the same lead pipeline that used to default Good.

Deposit Before the Paint Order

Custom-tinted gallons aren't returnable. A homeowner who ghosts you mid-job after you've already picked up $1,800 of Cashmere Medium Lustre in a tinted accent color is a hole you don't crawl out of on a residential repaint margin. Set a deposit percentage (most painters use 30-50% on residential, 25% on commercial repaints), and Menutize takes the card the moment the homeowner approves the estimate — before you place the Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore order. The remaining balance becomes a second payment link the customer taps after the punch-list walk-through. Suddenly a "soft yes" can't waste a $2,000 paint order, and you stop financing your customers' indecision.

Estimate & Invoice Open-Tracking

Painting bids sit in inboxes for a week while the homeowner "thinks about it." Most of the time, "thinks about it" means they already gave the job to the cheaper guy and feel awkward calling you. Menutize logs every estimate email open, every estimate page view, every invoice email open, and every invoice view — and notifies you the moment it happens. You see the $7,800 exterior bid get opened twice on Tuesday at 8pm (spouse review, you've got a live one), or you see it never get opened at all (probably went to spam, follow up by text). Same on invoices: when the bill gets opened, when it gets viewed, when it gets paid. Most field-service tools either don't ship this or gate it behind a paid tier; we ship it free.

Date-Stamped Before/After Photo Log

Color disputes are the most expensive callback in painting. A homeowner who insists in March that the front door was supposed to be Iron Ore instead of Tricorn Black, when you painted it in November, is a $1,500-$2,500 problem unless you can prove the spec. Every photo you snap during prep, between coats, and at the final walk-through stores on the customer record with a date stamp and the user who uploaded it. Lead-paint disclosures on a pre-1978 home? Drop the disclosure photo in the same record. Commercial walk-around with the property manager? Same record. When the call comes in, you pull up the customer on your phone and the signed estimate, the color spec, and the post-install photo are all right there.

Three Things Every Painting Pro Wishes They Had

Most "free" software either nags you to upgrade or leaves out the features that actually move the needle. We made the three biggest ones core to the free plan.

Auto Google Reviews

The moment you mark a paint job complete, the homeowner gets a one-tap review link by text. No copy-paste. No "I'll do it later." Painting is one of the most review-driven trades on Google — the next ten leads in your area come from the homeowner who scrolls past four 4.4-star painters and lands on yours at 4.8. Most operators see their rating climb a half star in the first 60 days.

Included free, forever.

Tip Requests at Checkout

Customers see a 15/20/25% tip prompt right at payment — same flow they're used to from Square or DoorDash. Painters on the free plan typically see 12-18% of invoices come back tipped, $40-100 a pop on residential repaints. Money the lead painter was leaving on the table because nobody was asking.

Included free, forever.

Google Calendar Two-Way Sync

Every booking lands in your real Google Calendar. When the forecast flips and you have to push a Tuesday exterior repaint to Friday, drag it on Google Calendar — Menutize updates the homeowner's confirmation automatically. The free plans on most painting CRMs don't include calendar sync. Ours does.

Included free, forever.

Why Painting Businesses Pick Menutize Over the $49/mo Platforms

The legacy field-service tools were built for 20-truck shops. You're a one-to-five truck operator with a lead painter, a helper, and a part-time prep guy. You don't need a dispatch board with seven-figure routing — you need invoicing that doesn't cost $588/year.

Feature $49/mo platform Menutize Free
CRM, photo estimates, invoicing Included Included — $0
Online card & ACH payments Standard processing Standard processing — no platform markup
Google review automation Often $20+/mo add-on Included free
Estimate & invoice open-tracking Higher tier only Included free
Tip collection Rarely supported Included free
Google Calendar two-way sync Higher tier only Included free
Per-seat fees $29-49 / user / mo $0
First-year cost (1 owner, 2 painters) ~$1,716 $0

Comparison reflects published pricing from common field-service platforms as of May 2026. Card-processing fees still apply on both sides; Menutize uses standard Stripe rates with no platform markup.

“We were eating two or three custom-tint paint orders a year on homeowners who flaked after they approved the bid — that's $4,000 a year in non-returnable Sherwin-Williams sitting on my shelf. Switched to Menutize free, turned on the 40% deposit at approval, and the flake-out problem just stopped. The estimate open-tracking told us which bids were live and which were dead so we stopped chasing ghosts on Tuesday afternoons. Auto Google review request took us from 4.4 to 4.8 in two months — that's where 70% of our exterior leads come from.”

DC
Derek Caldwell
Ridgeline Paint Co. · Asheville, NC

Painting Software Questions, Answered

The ones painters actually ask before they sign up.

Is Menutize really free for painting contractors? What's the catch?
Yes, free forever. CRM, photo estimates, invoicing, online card and ACH payments, automated Google review requests, tip collection, and two-way Google Calendar sync are all included on the free plan. The only thing you ever pay is standard payment processing on cards (~2.9% + 30¢, same as Stripe direct) and ACH (0.8%, capped at $5). No monthly fee, no per-seat fee, no credit card required to sign up.
Can I send three-tier good/better/best painting bids?
Yes. Send a digital estimate with three options side-by-side — say, one-coat refresh, two-coat premium with caulk and minor patching, and full-prep premium with trim, doors, and a 3-year touch-up warranty. The homeowner sees scope, materials (Sherwin-Williams Cashmere vs ProMar 200, etc.), warranty terms, and total price on one screen and self-selects. Painters report 25-30% of customers self-pick Better or Best when the options are visual, instead of always picking the cheapest when read aloud over the phone.
Can I collect a deposit before I order the paint?
Yes — set a deposit percentage (most painters use 30-50% on residential repaints, 25% on commercial) and Menutize collects it the moment the homeowner approves the estimate. The card hits before you place the Sherwin-Williams or Benjamin Moore order, so a homeowner who ghosts you mid-job hasn't already cost you $1,800 in custom-tinted gallons. The remaining balance becomes a second payment link the customer taps when the walk-through is done and they sign off on the punch list.
Can I see when a customer opens my painting estimate?
Yes — and this is one of the most-loved features on the free plan. The moment your customer opens the estimate email or views the live estimate page, Menutize logs the event and notifies you. You'll know whether the homeowner has actually seen the $7,800 exterior bid before you call to follow up — so you stop guessing and you stop chasing leads who already chose another painter. Same tracking on invoices: when the customer opens the bill, when they view it, when they pay it. Most field-service tools either don’t ship this or gate it behind a higher tier; we ship it free.
How do I attach photos to a painting estimate?
Photos are core to a painting estimate, not an afterthought. Snap shots of the trim with cracking caulk, the south-facing siding with the failed paint, the closet door that needs the cabinet-grade enamel, and drop them into the estimate from your phone. The homeowner sees the same evidence you do and the bid stops feeling like a number pulled from thin air. Photo upload is unlimited on the free plan — store before/after shots on the customer record so the warranty conversation in 2028 has actual proof attached.
How does Menutize handle exterior weather windows and reschedules?
Exterior painting lives or dies by a five-day dry window. When the forecast flips and you need to push a Tuesday exterior repaint to Friday, drag the job on your Google Calendar and Menutize updates the customer's confirmation automatically — no separate text, no missed call. The two-way sync means the same calendar your office uses, your prep crew uses, and your paint crew uses is all the same calendar. Block time for an HOA walk-through or a paint-store run on your phone, and the booking page won't double-book you.
Can I bill recurring HOA or commercial repaint contracts?
Yes. Set up a recurring contract once — say, $4,800/yr split quarterly for an HOA's clubhouse and pool-house touch-ups, or a 3-year exterior maintenance plan for a commercial property — and Menutize charges the card or runs the ACH on the renewal date and schedules the visits on your Google Calendar. You stop hand-tracking which property manager paid for what quarter in a spreadsheet, and you get predictable cash flow during the slow winter months when interior work alone won't cover payroll.
Does Menutize work for both residential and commercial painters?
Yes. Residential painters use it for one-day cabinet refreshes through full exterior repaints with three-tier bids and homeowner deposits. Commercial painters use it for property-management contracts, HOA repaint cycles, and tenant-improvement work with progress invoicing on milestone completion. The CRM, estimates, invoicing, payments, calendar, and review automation are all the same — what changes is the menu of services you set up. Most painters who run both sides of the book just publish two service lists on the same booking page.
How do customers pay me through Menutize?
Customers pay by credit/debit card or ACH bank transfer through a payment link sent by text or email. They tap the link, enter the card or routing number once, and pay. Money lands in your bank account in 1-2 business days. Standard Stripe rates apply: roughly 2.9% + 30¢ per card transaction, 0.8% capped at $5 for ACH. On a $9,000 exterior repaint balance, ACH costs you $5 instead of $260 in card fees — most painters teach the homeowner to use the ACH option once and never go back to checks.
How does the auto Google review request work for painting jobs?
The moment you mark a paint job complete in Menutize, the homeowner gets an SMS with a one-tap link straight to your Google Business Profile review screen — no copy-paste, no searching for your business name. Painting is one of the most review-driven trades on Google: the next ten leads in your area come from the homeowner who scrolls past four 4.4-star painters and lands on yours at 4.8. Most painting operators see their Google rating climb a half star and their monthly review volume 3-5x within 60 days.
Do painting customers really tip?
More than you'd think — especially after a multi-day repaint where the homeowner watched the crew tarp the floors, save the trim, and clean up every drop cloth on the way out. When the 15/20/25% tip prompt is on the payment screen, about 12-18% of painting invoices come back tipped, usually $40-100 on a residential repaint. The tip routes to whichever account the operator chooses, so the lead painter actually sees and keeps what the homeowner sent. Most painters are surprised how often the tip shows up once you give the customer the prompt.
Can I store warranty terms and date-stamped photos for color disputes?
Yes — and this is the one feature that will save you a $2,400 callback. Every photo you upload during prep, between coats, and at final walk-through stores on the customer record with a date stamp and the user who uploaded it. When a homeowner texts you in March insisting the front-door enamel was supposed to be SW Tricorn Black instead of Iron Ore, you pull up the record on your phone and the signed estimate, the color spec, and the post-install photo are all there. Lead-paint disclosures on a pre-1978 home? Drop the disclosure photo in the same record. We're a tool, not a defense lawyer, but the documentation you'll wish you had is already on the customer.
Can my crew see the schedule without paying for a separate seat?
Yes — unlimited users on the free plan. The legacy field-service tools charge per seat ($29-$49 per user per month), so a one-owner-plus-three-painter shop ends up at $116-$196/mo just to let the crew see where they're going Monday morning. Menutize Free doesn't charge per seat, ever. Add the lead painter, the helper, the part-time prep guy, and the office spouse — same $0. Different roles get different permissions: the lead can mark jobs complete and trigger the auto review request, but only the owner sees the bank deposit data.
Does Menutize replace QuickBooks for a painting business?
No, and we don't try to. Menutize handles the front-of-house: customers, photo estimates, invoices, deposits, balance payments, scheduling, reviews, tips. Your bookkeeper still wants QuickBooks (or whatever they like) for the back-of-house: payroll, sales tax on materials, profit and loss, contractor 1099s. Export your Menutize invoice and payment data to CSV at any time and hand it off — most painting shops do a weekly or monthly drop.
How long does setup take for a painting shop?
About 10-15 minutes to be ready to send your first estimate: sign up (no credit card), connect Stripe for payments, connect your Google Business Profile so the auto review request can fire, hook up your Google Calendar for two-way sync, and add a service menu. Most painting shops start with five menu items: free in-home estimate (or paid measure if you charge), interior single-room repaint, full-interior repaint, exterior repaint, and cabinet refinishing. You can import your existing customer CSV later or let your customer list build naturally.

Free painting software is finally good.

Photo estimates, deposits, invoicing, payments, Google reviews, tips, calendar — all on the free plan, all the time. Set up takes 10 minutes. No credit card.

Start free — no credit card

Set up in 10 minutes. Free forever. Cancel anytime (but you won't need to — there's nothing to cancel).

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