Free 14-day trial · No credit card

Quoting is the easy half.
Know what the job really cost.

Quotara quotes the job, runs it, and rolls every hour on the floor back against the estimate — so you finally know which jobs made money. Built for small shops still working off a calculator and a spreadsheet, without the cost of an ERP.

14 days free  ·  No credit card  ·  Set up in minutes

Or watch it quote a real job in 4 min →

QUOTE · Q-1847DRAFT
CustomerPrecision Fab Co.
Part · revBRKT-10024 / B
Qty250
Material · 6061 plate$1,840.00
Laser cut · 12m$620.00
Press brake · 8m$340.00
Finish · powder$780.00
Margin · 32%+$1,145.00
Quote total (CAD)$4,725.00
Sent in 8 min
14 days
Free trialNo credit card required
Founder-led
Direct supportFrom the person who built it
CA$ / US$
Priced in bothMade in Canada
Live
Ready todaySpin up a workspace in minutes

Live walk-through · no sign-up

Watch a job go from RFQ to real cost.

This is the whole loop most shops run across a calculator, a whiteboard and three spreadsheets — in one place. Press play, or click a step.

app.getquotara.com/quotes/QT-0042
Quote · QT-0042
Precision Fab Co.
Draft
Part · rev
BRKT-10024 / B · qty 250
MAT6061 plate
$1,840
LABLaser cut · 12m
$620
LABPress brake · 8m
$340
OUTFinish · powder
$780
Subtotal$3,580
Margin · 32%+$1,145
Quote total$4,725
Quote · QT-0042
Sent to the customer
Accepted
Draft
Sent
Accepted
Buyer portal · Precision Fab Co. approved this quote — $4,725. Accepted in 2 days.
Work orders
Straight to the floor
Accept & create work order →
WO-0001Queued
BRKT-10024 / B — 250 pcs · Precision Fab Co. · due Fri
Steps · from the quote0 / 2
CNC Boring & FacingCurrent
est 5.0h
Press brake · form
est 3.0h
Schedule · 2-week Gantt
Plan the whole shop
GanttMonthList
MonTueWedThuFri
WO-0001 · Precision Fab
CNC + brake
WO-0002 · Academy Sheet
⚑ RUSH
WO-0003 · Vilno
Weld + finish
WO-0004 · Forktorque
Laser
ScheduledRush — glows everywhereToday
Floor · live
Clock into every step
In progress
WO-0001Dave M. clocked in
Steps1 / 2 done
CNC Boring & Facing
4.8h logged
Press brake · formCurrent
00:00 · running
Cost sheet · WO-0001
What it really made
On track
Material · 6061 plateest $1,840 · act $1,812
Labour · CNC + brakeest $960 · act $1,055
Finish · powderest $780 · act $780
Margin at quote
32.0%
Margin, actual
28.4%
Variance
+$67
QuotedActual
§ 02 / Problem

Quoting kills weekends.

For most small shops, quoting is a side-of-desk job. It happens at night. On a printout. In a spreadsheet that someone else built. The numbers get copied into an email, into an invoice, into an Excel cost sheet — and none of them stay in sync.

Quotara replaces that stack. One live quote, one live work order, one live cost sheet. You edit the quote; the rest follows.

Typical small-shop baseline
2.5hrs

Rough time to produce one real quote the old way — spreadsheet, PDF, and email. Owners put it between two and four hours; four isn't rare on a Sunday.

Quote re-entry into WO3 systems
Est. vs actual variancewide
Quotes lost to speedcommon
Weekend hrs quoting4+ / wk
§ 03 / Product
Everything you need to quote and track.
09 modules
All shown
01Quoting

Quote in minutes, not days.

Your parts library, materials, operations and margins — all one click away. Send a PDF quote straight from the browser.

PDF · Email · E-signIncluded, all plans
02Work Orders + Rush

Rush jobs go first. Always.

One click converts a quote to a live work order. Mark it Rush and it pins to the top of every queue — schedule, floor, and WO list — with a red alert your whole team sees instantly.

WO · Rush · AttachmentsIncluded, all plans
03Floor tracking

See who's on what job, right now.

Operators clock in against jobs or general shop work. Their name shows live on every job card and schedule bar. Estimated vs. actual hours tick up in real time.

Time clock · Live operatorsAll plans
04Schedule

Gantt, month, or list.

Switch between a 2-week Gantt, a full month calendar, or a sortable list. Rush jobs glow red everywhere. See which employee is clocked in on each bar.

Gantt · Month · ListAll plans
05Time reports

Payroll-ready in one click.

Run employee hours by person and date range. Breaks down by job and general work. Managers can edit time entries and export to CSV for payroll.

Reports · Edit · ExportAll plans
06Job costing

Estimated vs. actual, per job.

The quote is the baseline. Time and materials roll up against it as the job runs — so you know what hit and what missed, within the hour.

Variance · Per-job P&LProfessional +
07Inventory + BOM

Order the shortfall, not the shelf.

Every material rolls up by PO number. Log what's in stock and Quotara shows you what's actually left to buy — then pulls it from inventory automatically the moment a job is booked.

BOM · Stock · Auto-deductIncluded, all plans
08Customer + parts library

One source of truth — built as you work.

Every quote you save fills the library. Revisit, clone, revise. New quotes pre-fill themselves. Custom statuses let you match your workflow.

Customers · Parts · StatusesIncluded, all plans
09QuickBooks sync

Quote to ledger, no re-keying.

Approved quotes push directly to QuickBooks Online as invoices. Materials posted. Taxes handled. No CSV export dance.

QBO · Live syncProfessional +
§ 04 / Calculator

Dial in your shop rate before you quote your next job.

Most small shops are quoting $85/hr because that's what the other guy charges. Quotara starts from your actual numbers — overhead, labor, machine utilization — and shows you the rate you should be billing.

Free, no signupSaves to your browser. Export as PDF, or email to yourself and pick up in Quotara on trial day one.
RATE CALCULATOR / CNC · 3-axis mill
Machine purchase price
$180,000CAD
Expected lifespan
7years
Operator wage · loaded
$38/hr
Shop overhead allocation
$22/hr
Machine utilization
68%uptime
Target margin
32%over cost
True shop rate · this machine
$114.97 / hr
Start free trial →
Drag the sliders above to match your shop

Email me a copy of my shop rate.

We'll email you about Quotara. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.

§ 05 / Job costing
Every finished job makes your next quote sharper.
Job · WO-4821
Live example · Day 3 of 5

The quote is the baseline; every hour on the floor rolls back against it. Quotara holds your estimate next to what actually happened — line by line, as the job runs — then carries that history into the next quote you write. Quoting software that only quotes never learns what the job really took.

01
Every quote line becomes a budget

When a quote converts to a work order, its line items lock in as the baseline estimate. No re-keying.

02
Floor time and material post live

Time clocks, material pulls, and outside ops roll up against their budget line — in the hour, not at month-end.

03
Variance surfaces the moment it exists

When a line crosses its estimate, the job card flags. Fix it, quote it better next time, or charge it — your call.

04
Next quote corrects itself

Quoting a job like one you have run before? Quotara shows what those jobs actually took — "last 4 ran 38% over" — and offers the corrected hours. You decide whether to take it.

COST SHEET · WO-4821
BRKT-10024 / B
Precision Fab Co. · qty 250 · due Fri
ON TRACK
LineEst.ActualΔ
Material · 6061 plate$1,840$1,812−$28
Laser cut · 12m$620$645+$25
Press brake · 8m$340$410+$70
Finish · powderin-progress$780
Quoted total$3,580$2,86780% posted
EST.
Actual postedQuoted baseline
Margin at quote
32.0%
Margin, tracking
28.4%
Variance · live
+$67
§ 07 / Why Quotara

Built for job shops.
Not adapted from something else.

Spreadsheets are flexible but dumb. ERPs are built for factories with 200 people and a six-month implementation. Quoting tools stop the moment the quote goes out — they never find out what the job actually took. Quotara runs the whole job and feeds the result back into your next quote.

22 capabilities comparedUpdated continually
Capability
Quotara
Quoting tool
Spreadsheet
Full ERP
Professional branded PDF quotes
AI estimates from job description
RFQ inbox — quotes from inbound email
Reads uploaded drawings & PDFs
Parts library with your rates & markup
~
Smart Quote Review (tolerance, flags)
~
Quote → work order in one click
Job schedule — Gantt + calendar
Floor time tracking per job
Estimated vs. actual hours per job
Past jobs correct your next quote
Live inventory & stock levels
~
Bill of materials by PO number
Auto stock deduction on job booking
Rush job flagging & queue priority
QuickBooks integration
Customer quote portal (accept/decline)
~
Works on phone or tablet
~
~
Setup in under an hour
No IT team required
Priced per shop, not per seat
Available in Canada
~
IncludedPartialNot available
Start free — no card needed
§ 06 / Pricing
Priced per shop — not per seat you'll regret.
14-day trial · no card
CAD$ · billed monthly
Show prices in
Save 20% yearly
QuoteP-01
$79/mo · CAD

billed monthly

For the owner-estimator quoting on their own. Quoting only — no floor tracking.

  • 1 user
  • Unlimited quotes
  • Full quoting module + PDF
  • Send quotes by email
  • Customer & parts library
  • Material & machine rate library
StarterP-02
$149/mo · CAD

billed monthly

For small shops that need to know what’s on the floor, not just what was quoted.

  • Up to 3 users
  • Everything in Quote
  • Work orders from quotes
  • Basic job status tracking
  • Inventory & BOM
  • Email support
Most popular
ProfessionalP-03
$349/mo · CAD

billed monthly

For growing shops that need to know whether the job actually made money.

  • Up to 10 users
  • Everything in Starter
  • Job costing — est. vs. actual
  • Floor tracking & time clock
  • Gantt scheduling
  • QuickBooks Online sync
  • Email + chat support
  • 1 onboarding call
ScaleP-04
$599/mo · CAD

billed monthly

For established shops running multiple teams and reporting across them.

  • Unlimited users
  • Everything in Professional
  • Advanced reporting + export
  • Priority phone support
  • Dedicated onboarding
Every plan is priced per shop — add people without adding cost  ·  Switch to annual and save 20% ·  Prices in CAD
Andrew W., Founder
Founder · 2026
§ 07Built by
“I saw a gap. Small shops were using tools built for giant manufacturers — or nothing at all. So I built something that fits.”
Andrew W.Founder · Quotara
Made in CanadaPriced in CA$ & US$
§ 08 / Try it

Fourteen days. No card. Your shop, priced honestly.

Spin up a real Quotara workspace in under two minutes. Load your customers, quote a real job, run a real work order — decide on day 14.