Guide
Nine questions to ask before buying field service software
Updated
Every vendor in this category will demo well. The differences that decide whether the purchase works show up in answers to specific questions, most of which are not published anywhere, and all of which should be in writing before you sign.
On price
What does this cost at my exact headcount and job volume? What is the one time implementation or onboarding fee? What is the price in year two? And what is the card processing rate?
The last two are asked least. A discount applying only to year one is a payment plan, and processing revenue is where this category actually earns: Kickserv publishes a 5% discount on monthly fees for processing $1,000 to $3,000 in online payments, which tells you how much the processing is worth to them.
On what you are buying
How many users does the plan include, and what happens when I add one more? Kickserv answers in bundles of 5, 10 and 20; ServiceM8 answers unlimited and charges for jobs instead; ServiceTitan answers per technician; FieldPulse answers in two kinds of seat. Housecall Pro does not publish an answer.
That single question reorders the whole market depending on your team shape, which is why no comparison including this one can tell you who is cheapest without it.
On the field, where it fails
Does the mobile app work with no signal, and what happens to work recorded offline? None of the six publishes this, and it is where implementations quietly die: an engineer who cannot record readings in a basement writes them on a hand.
Test it directly during a trial. Airplane mode, complete a job, reconnect, check nothing was lost.
On getting out
What is the contract length, can I downgrade, and can I export my data in a usable form? FieldEdge is the only vendor here publishing an answer to the first two, and it permits downgrades only at the end of the current contract period.
Ask for an export during the trial rather than at the end of the relationship. A vendor that makes it easy has told you something reassuring; one that treats it as a support ticket has told you something too.