Field Service Software Under $50 a Month
Which field service software actually costs under $50 a month?
At one seat, three well-known options clear $50 on published monthly pricing: Tallie at $29/mo, Jobber Core at $49/mo, and — just barely — nothing else, since Housecall Pro Basic is $59/mo. The important caveat is that this only holds at exactly one seat. Add a second person and Jobber moves to $78/mo, which puts it over the line, while Tallie Pro covers 3 seats at $79/mo.
How we judged
- Published monthly price with no annual commitment required
- How many seats that price covers
- Whether core estimating and invoicing are included or gated
- What the price becomes at two and three people
- Whether a free trial exists without a credit card
At a glance
| Option | Price | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tallie(us) | $29/mo · 1 seat | Solo operators who want AI estimating inside the budget | AI capped near 33 estimates/month at this tier |
| Jobber Core | $49/mo · 1 seat | Solo operators who want the most mature product under the cap | A second seat adds $29/mo and breaks $50 |
| Housecall Pro Basic | $59/mo · 1 seat | Solo operators who need online booking specifically | Above $50 before any add-ons |
| Invoicing app only | $0–20 | Businesses that only need to bill, not to quote or schedule | No estimating, no job history, no scheduling |
Competitor pricing verified August 3, 2026 from each vendor's public pricing page. Pricing may change.
The $50 line is really a one-seat line
Almost every product in this category prices per user, so a monthly budget cap is functionally a headcount cap. Under $50 means one person, with essentially no exceptions among established tools.
The moment you add a second seat the math changes sharply. Jobber adds $29/mo per user, so two people on Core is $78/mo. Housecall Pro adds $35/mo. Tallie's answer is a bundled tier rather than per-seat: Pro is $79/mo for 3 seats, which is over $50 but is $26.33/mo per person.
What you give up under the cap
Sub-$50 tiers are real products, not demos, but they are deliberately limited. Across vendors the common exclusions are team features, advanced automation, and accounting integrations. On Tallie specifically, Starter excludes team seats, the lead pipeline, and the website builder, and caps AI usage.
That AI cap is the one worth understanding before you buy. Starter includes 1,000,000 tokens a month, roughly 33 full AI-generated estimates. If you quote more than that, you either write the extras manually — which still works — or you are on the wrong tier.
Per-person cost is the fairer measure
Judging by total monthly spend penalizes bundled plans unfairly. At three people, Tallie Pro works out to about $26.33/mo per person, while Jobber Connect at three seats is roughly $65.67/mo per person.
If your budget is genuinely fixed at $50 total, you are shopping for a one-person tool and should compare on that basis. If the real constraint is cost per head, the comparison opens up considerably.
Test before you commit the budget
Every vendor here offers a 14-day trial. Tallie's requires no credit card. Run the same two real jobs through each candidate — one simple, one you would normally have to think about — and compare the quotes you get out.
That takes an afternoon and tells you more than any feature matrix, including this one.
What it looks like
Tallie is a good fit if
- One-person operations with a firm software budget
- New businesses not yet sure the work will be steady
- Anyone testing whether software helps before committing real money
- Side operations run alongside a day job
Look elsewhere if
- Crews of three or more — no serious option stays under $50 at that size
- Businesses needing QuickBooks sync, which is not in any sub-$50 tier here
- Anyone who needs inventory, dispatch, or fleet features
- Operations where a native Android app is a requirement
Common questions
Is there any free field service software?
There are free invoicing tools, but nothing credible that also handles estimating, scheduling, and job history for free. Tools advertised as free in this category are usually trials or heavily limited tiers.
Can two people share one seat to stay under $50?
Technically often yes, practically it goes badly — you lose per-person scheduling and any record of who did what. If you have two people, price for two people.
Does the price go up after the first year?
Not on Tallie; $29/mo is the standing rate, and annual billing brings it to $24/mo effective. Check each vendor's terms, since promotional first-year rates are common in this category.
What is the cheapest way to send professional estimates?
A 14-day trial, then $29/mo, is the cheapest route we know of that includes AI estimating with live material pricing. If you only need to send a formatted document and already know your numbers, a template and a PDF tool costs nothing.
Sources
Competitor pricing verified August 3, 2026 from each vendor's public pricing page. Pricing may change.
Try it on a job you have already done
Quote a job whose real cost you already know and compare the output. That is a better test than any comparison page, including this one.
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