Accounting · All-in-One Platforms with Accounting
Striven Review
All-in-one business platform with built-in accounting, job costing and technician scheduling, priced per user
Quick verdict
Who Striven fits: Small-to-mid contractors (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, GC) who want to replace the QuickBooks-plus-scheduling-plus-CRM patchwork with one platform that has built-in accounting and technician scheduling. Trade-offs: Per-user pricing plus a $25/user charge under five users; payroll needs an outside provider; a broad platform needs setup work; portal fees above 100 customers or vendors.
Pricing
Standard $35/user/mo · Enterprise $70/user/mo, on monthly plans; teams under 5 users add $25/user. Customer, vendor and career portals are free up to 100 customers, vendors or applications a month, $99/mo up to 500, and $499/mo unlimited. Free trial offered (length not stated on the pricing page).
Affiliate disclosure: The link to Striven on this page goes to its own site and is not an affiliate link.
About Striven
Striven is an all-in-one business platform made by Miles IT, Inc., a technology company that says it has operated under the same ownership since 1997 and is wholly owned by its founder and CEO, Chris Miles, and family trusts. Striven combines accounting, CRM and sales, project and task management, inventory, HR, portals, workflows and field service in one system, and has industry pages for HVAC, plumbing, electrical contracting, landscaping, construction and other field services.
Accounting is built in rather than synced: Striven lists a general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, bank reconciliation, online banking, billing and invoicing, sales tax management, expense tracking and financial reports. Striven says its construction tools capture labor hours and material and equipment costs at the source to show project profitability and cost overruns, and that budgets can be tracked down to individual expense and revenue items. For service trades, it describes scheduling that matches technicians' skills and availability to jobs, including emergency calls, plus parts inventory with restocking, fleet tracking, and tracking of subcontractor qualifications and documents. Projects can be viewed as Kanban boards, Gantt charts or lists, with project budgets and profitability reports.
Payroll is not part of the platform: Striven says it integrates with your preferred payroll provider. Staff can log time by hourly rate or service item from desktop or mobile, request time off and submit expenses. Striven says its support (chat, ticket submission and how-to questions) is free, and it offers implementation guides, videos and webinars.
The trade-off: Striven can replace QuickBooks plus separate scheduling and CRM tools, but per-user pricing ($35 or $70 a user, plus $25 a user under five users) adds up for a crew, payroll needs an outside provider, and a system that covers this many functions needs real setup work.
How it works
Striven is an online platform with mobile-friendly access for crews. Customers, vendors, items, projects and employees live in one database: project budgets are set up front, and labor, material and equipment costs recorded against a job flow into the built-in general ledger. The office schedules technicians, tracks parts and vehicles, and invoices from the same system, and customers and vendors can use portals (free up to 100 each). Payroll runs through an outside provider that Striven integrates with. Striven positions itself as a replacement for QuickBooks rather than an add-on to it. Pricing is per user per month.
Pros & cons
What works
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Built-in accounting
General ledger, AP and AR, bank reconciliation, sales tax and financial reports live in the same system as your jobs, so costs don't have to be synced to separate books.
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Job cost and budget tracking
Striven says it captures labor, material and equipment costs at the source and compares them with budgets to show project profitability.
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Field service tools included
Technician scheduling (including emergency calls), parts inventory with restocking, fleet tracking and subcontractor document tracking are part of the platform.
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Trade-specific solution pages
Striven has industry pages for HVAC, plumbing, electrical contracting, landscaping, construction and other field services.
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Free support and training
Chat and ticket support, implementation guides, videos and webinars come at no extra charge, per Striven.
What doesn't
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Per-user cost adds up
$35 or $70 per user per month, plus $25 per user for teams under five users; a 10-person crew on Standard pays $350/mo before portal fees.
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No built-in payroll
Striven integrates with your payroll provider rather than running payroll itself.
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Setup work
A platform that covers accounting, CRM, projects, field service, inventory and HR needs more setup than a single-purpose app.
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Portal fees above 100
Customer and vendor portals are free up to 100 each; beyond that they cost $99/mo (up to 500) or $499/mo (unlimited).
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$60/mo for a one-person shop
A solo owner pays $60/mo on Standard ($35 plus the $25 small-team charge) for a platform that also covers CRM, projects, field service, inventory and HR.
Features & integrations
Key features
Integrations
Frequently asked
Is Striven actually built for contractors?
Striven is a general all-in-one business platform with industry pages for HVAC, plumbing, electrical contracting, landscaping, construction and other field services. It combines built-in accounting with technician scheduling, job cost and budget tracking, parts inventory, fleet tracking and subcontractor document tracking.
Does Striven replace QuickBooks?
It is designed to. Striven has its own general ledger, accounts payable and receivable, bank reconciliation and financial reports, and it publishes a Striven vs QuickBooks comparison and an 'Outgrowing QuickBooks' guide. Your books move into Striven rather than staying in QuickBooks alongside it.
How much does Striven cost?
Standard is $35/user/mo and Enterprise $70/user/mo on monthly plans, plus $25 per user if you have fewer than 5 users. Customer, vendor and career portals are free up to 100, $99/mo up to 500, and $499/mo unlimited. A 10-person crew on Standard pays $350/mo before portal fees; a solo owner pays $60/mo.
What is the main downside of Striven?
Cost and scope. Per-user pricing adds up, payroll runs through an outside provider, and a platform that covers accounting, CRM, projects, field service, inventory and HR takes more setup than a single-purpose app. Striven includes free chat and ticket support plus implementation guides and webinars.
Other accounting software
QuickBooks Online
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Xero
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FreshBooks
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Wave
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QuickBooks Desktop / Enterprise
QuickBooks' Windows desktop accounting for larger contractors, with a Construction & Contractors edition
Sage 50
Sage 50: installed accounting software with job, phase and cost code tracking, inventory and purchase orders