Methodology
How the numbers here are sourced and checked
By Sam Wexler, independent analyst · Last updated
I don’t run a trade. I build software and analyse pricing. Every price on this site is read from the vendor’s own page on the date shown, and any number that is an estimate rather than a stated figure is flagged as one.
I earn a commission if you start a trial or subscribe through some links here. It never changes the numbers or which tool wins a segment. Where a program is not yet live, links go to the vendor’s own pricing page.
Field service software pricing is built to be hard to compare. Plans bundle different features, a per-seat fee sits under the headline number, card rates vary, and several vendors make you book a demo before they quote a figure. This page explains how WorkProfitRepeat pins down what can be pinned down, and how it treats what cannot.
Every figure is sourced and dated
No price, rate, or percentage appears on this site without a link to where it came from and the date it was read. Here is one, live: Jobber Core is $29/mo on annual billing (source, verified 26 Aug 2026). That small grey tag is the whole trust model in one line. A figure without a date is a figure you cannot trust, because you have no way to know whether it is this year’s price or last year’s.
The source is always the vendor’s own pricing page, not a review blog or a directory that may have copied a stale number. If a figure ever cannot be traced back to a primary source, it does not go on the page.
Estimates are labelled, not hidden
Some numbers are not published as exact figures. A per-seat fee may be stated as a range, or a card-processing rate may be advertised as a floor, an “as low as” number rather than the rate most shops will actually pay. Where that happens, the figure is marked as an estimate rather than dressed up as a fact, and it is labelled every place it feeds a total. The honest guess, clearly flagged, is worth more to a contractor deciding what to buy than a confident number that turns out to be a best case.
What the calculator actually does
The true-cost calculator is not a black box. It starts from each vendor’s published base plan, then adds the layers the sticker leaves out: a per-seat fee for every crew member above the plan’s included users, card-processing fees on your monthly card volume, and setup cost spread over the first year. The output is the all-in monthly cost, and the point at which one tool becomes cheaper than another as your crew or card volume grows.
all-in monthly = base plan + (extra seats × per-seat fee) + (card volume × card rate + transactions × per-transaction fee) + (setup ÷ 12)
Worked for a three-person HVAC shop running $15,000 a month across about 35 card payments, on Jobber:
| Component | Per month |
|---|---|
| Base plan (Jobber Core) | $29 |
| Extra seats (2 above the 1 included, at $29 each) | $58 |
| Card processing (2.9% of $15,000 + 35 × $0.30) | $446 |
| Setup, spread over 12 months | $0 |
| All-in monthly | $533 |
Every input is sourced (source, verified 26 Aug 2026), and the total is computed by the same engine that powers the calculator, not typed in by hand. The point it makes is the one the sticker hides: a $29 plan is a $533 bill once seats and card fees land.
The arithmetic is a plain, tested formula rather than a judgment call. It is covered by unit tests that lock in the real cost crossovers, so the number you see is the number the inputs produce, every time. Where an input is an estimate, the result inherits that flag and the page says so.
Prices first, opinions second
The verdict on any page leads with the vendor’s own published number, not an adjective. “Jobber Core is $29 a month on annual billing” is a fact you can check and cite; “affordably priced” is not. Where a vendor will not publish a price and routes you to a sales demo instead, that opacity is stated plainly, because it is itself worth knowing before you hand over your details.
A public fact is never hedged to keep a brand comfortable. “Pricing varies, check with the provider” when the number is printed on the vendor’s own page is not caution, it is a site protecting a relationship at the reader’s expense. Independence is the whole product here, so the price gets stated whatever it implies.
No single winner
This site never crowns one overall best tool, because there is no such thing. The cheapest option for a solo operator watching the base price is rarely the cheapest for a shop that runs heavy card volume, where a lower processing rate can outweigh a higher subscription. Every verdict is made per segment, from the real cost crossover, and the refusal to name a single winner is the point, not a dodge. Any site that tells you one tool wins for everyone is selling you something.
What I don’t claim
I build the tools and do the arithmetic. I don’t run a trade, and I don’t pretend to. Where a page describes how a tool feels to use or how contractors experience it day to day, that is drawn from what they report publicly, on Reddit, trade forums, and review sites, alongside each vendor’s own numbers, and it is labelled as such. If a first-hand trial of a tool ever appears here, it will be because the account was actually signed up for and driven, and it will say so.
More on the person behind the numbers is on the about page.
Common questions
- How does WorkProfitRepeat make money?
- Through affiliate links: if you start a trial or subscribe to a tool through a link here, WorkProfitRepeat may earn a one-time or recurring commission at no extra cost to you. That commission never changes a published price or which tool wins a given segment. Where a program is not yet live, links go to the vendor's own pricing page instead.
- Are the prices current?
- Every figure shows the date it was last read from the vendor's own page. Prices in this category change a few times a year, so the date is the honest signal of how fresh a number is. When a figure cannot be confirmed as an exact number, it is flagged as an estimate rather than presented as fact.
- Do software vendors pay to rank higher or win a comparison?
- No. Verdicts come from the sourced arithmetic, segment by segment. A vendor cannot buy a better verdict, and no figure is softened to keep a brand happy. If a price is public on the vendor's page, it is stated, sourced and dated here, whatever it implies.
See it in practice
The method is easiest to see on a real page. Run the numbers for your own crew on the true-cost calculator, or read every published figure, sourced and dated, on the pricing index.