Should you pay for Jobber or ServiceTitan, or get software built to fit?

First, the honest disclosure: Hausstack builds custom software for electrical contractors, so we have a side in this question. That is exactly why every number on this page comes from the vendors’ own published pricing pages or is clearly marked as third-party reporting, with links, so you can check each one yourself.

What the big platforms cost, from their own pricing pages

Checked against each vendor’s published pricing on August 24, 2026, at month-to-month rates for a solo operator (annual prepay is cheaper on every platform, and Jobber’s page steps its prices up as you add people):

Three things hide inside those tables. Jobber’s prices are the solo rates: pick “2 to 5 people” on their own page and the same plans step up, with 2026 buyer’s guides reporting Connect at about $199 and Grow at about $299 month to month for a small crew. The features you actually want usually live a tier or two up from the entry price. And the add-ons stack: on Jobber, the marketing suite is another $99 a month and the AI receptionist another $29, per their pricing page. The advertised number is the floor, not the bill.

The five-year picture

Software for your business is not a monthly decision, it is a decade decision, so run the math the way you would price a job. Take a three-person operation on each platform’s mid tier, month to month:

Five years, three techs, mid tier, month to month: Housecall Pro at its published rate, Jobber and ServiceTitan at the rates 2026 buyer’s guides report. The math, line by line:

• Housecall Pro Essentials: $189 a month covers 5 users. Over five years that is $11,340.
• Jobber Connect:$139 a month at the solo rate, but Jobber prices by team size: 2026 buyer’s guides report about $199 a month for a 2 to 5 person crew, month to month. Over five years, $11,940.
• ServiceTitan: at the reported $245 to $500 per tech, three techs run $735 to $1,500 a month, which is $44,100 to $90,000 over five years, before implementation fees. Multiple independent comparisons conclude it is built for much larger operations.

None of that is a scandal. It is rent, and rent is sometimes the right call. But you should see the ten-year number before you sign, because nobody selling a subscription is going to show it to you.

What the subscriptions genuinely do well

Fair is fair. The platforms are live tomorrow morning, no build time. They are proven at massive scale. Their mobile apps are mature. If your business runs the way their template assumes, and thousands of businesses do, they are good products, and you should not let anyone talk you out of them just to sell you something else.

Where they pinch

Three places, and they are the same three we hear from electricians on every call:

• You pay for the whole menu and use six things. The platforms are built for every trade at every size, so most of what you pay for is not for you.
• The workflow bends you, not the other way. How you quote, how you schedule around service calls versus bid work, how you invoice a general contractor versus a homeowner: if your way does not match the template, you work around your own software every day.
• Per-user pricing taxes growth. Hiring your third tech should not raise your software bill. On per-user plans, it does, every month, forever.

What custom-built looks like instead

Custom used to mean a six-figure development project, which is why nobody offered it to a five-person electrical company. That has changed. Our own published pricing is a flat $349 to $799 a month depending on how much of the business the system runs, website included, month to month, and it is the same price whether you have two people or ten. A website alone is $2,500 once, then $49 a month for hosting and support. Those numbers are on our pricing page, in public, next to the vendors’ numbers above, so the comparison is apples to apples.

The difference is not mainly price. It is that the system is built around how your business already runs: your quoting, your schedule, your words, your paper trail. Nothing to work around, nothing you pay for and never open.

The honest decision rule

Buy the subscription if you need software running this week, your workflow is close to standard, and the mid-tier price at your real headcount does not bother you after you have done the five-year math.

Look at custom if you keep fighting the template, if per-tech pricing is punishing your growth, or if you are tired of running your website, your quoting, your invoicing, and your customer list in four different places. And whichever way you go: make the vendor show you the full price at your real headcount with the add-ons you actually want, in writing, before you sign.