Put three field service software quotes side by side and you’ll often find they don’t count the same thing. One bills per seat you commit to for a year. One bills per person who logs in. One sells a plan that includes a set number of users and charges more when you cross the line. The monthly totals look comparable. They aren’t, until you know which model each vendor uses and what happens to the bill when your headcount moves.
This guide explains the three common models, shows a worked quote for a 15-person team using published list prices, and ends with a worksheet you can fill in from your own quotes. It’s written for commercial trade contractors with 10 or more people in the field and office. We build Forz, which charges one rate per user with users committed until renewal on annual billing, so we say where our pricing costs more as well as where it helps.
Every vendor fact below comes from the vendor’s own website (pricing pages, terms, help center or articles), as of October 6, 2026. We don’t repeat third-party price estimates for vendors that don’t publish prices. If you want the estimates and their sources for ServiceTitan, they live on our ServiceTitan pricing guide.
The three models at a glance
| Model | What you pay for | Who usually counts | When headcount drops | Example (as of Oct 6, 2026) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Committed seats (often called seat-based) | A number of seats or users you commit to for the contract term; the rate can differ by seat type | Whoever holds a seat; field and office seats may be priced differently | You keep paying for committed seats until the term ends | FieldPulse; ServiceTitan bills per technician, and its terms provide for a minimum subscription level; Forz on annual billing ($50 per user per month, 10-user minimum; removing users lowers the bill only at renewal) |
| Per active user | Each active user, at one rate, often with a minimum | Every login, office and field | The bill follows active users, down to any minimum (ask how annual billing handles reductions) | Forz on month-to-month billing ($60 per user per month, 10-user minimum) |
| Tiered | A plan tier that bundles features and a set number of users | Users up to the tier’s included count, then extra users or the next tier | You can move down a tier, usually at the end of a billing cycle | Jobber; Housecall Pro |
The labels blur in sales conversations. A vendor may call per-seat pricing “per user,” and a tiered plan may add a per-user charge on top. Forz is an example: it charges per user, but on annual billing those users are committed until renewal. What matters is the mechanics: what is counted, what is committed, and what triggers a price change.
Committed seats: what you’re signing up for
In a committed-seat model, often called seat-based or per-seat pricing, you buy a number of seats up front for the contract term. Adding seats is usually easy. Giving them back mid-term usually isn’t.
FieldPulse is a clear example. Its pricing page says FieldPulse “is seat-based” and offers a custom quote rather than a price list. A FieldPulse article on plumbing software pricing (September 2026) describes two seat types, full-access seats and lower-priced field-only seats for techs who only need the mobile app, and three packages quoted per business after a demo. Its Terms of Service set a one-year initial term that, unless your agreement says otherwise, renews automatically unless you give 60 days’ written notice; charge users added above your order form “for the one-year term upfront” when they’re added, unless your order form says otherwise; keep billed seats unchanged when users are deactivated or removed; and make all fees non-refundable and non-cancelable, with the customer responsible for the full term’s fees “regardless of usage.” FieldPulse publishes no price for any package or seat type (as of October 6, 2026). Our FieldPulse pricing guide covers its add-ons and contract terms in full.
ServiceTitan’s pricing page describes “per-technician pricing” across three packages, each behind a “Request Pricing” button. Its Terms of Use (last updated September 16, 2026) add two seat-style rules: if you agree to a Minimum Subscription Level, you pay for at least that many subscriptions for the term, and monthly billing does not reduce for subscriptions removed during the period. The same terms say administrative user types “may be included in subscription packages in specified quantities at no additional charge,” so ask how many office users your package includes.
Forz’s annual billing sits on this side too, with one rate for every user and no seat types. You can add users above the 10-user minimum at any time, but removing them lowers the bill only at renewal, not mid-term.
What to ask on any committed-seat quote: the rate for each seat type, which roles need which type, the committed seat count, whether that count can go down before renewal, and the renewal notice date.
Per active user: paying for who logs in
Per-active-user pricing charges one rate for each user who is active in a billing period, so the bill can follow your headcount. It is the easiest model to forecast, because the math is a single multiplication. Two details decide whether it’s cheap or expensive for you.
- Who counts as a user. Usually everyone who logs in, including dispatchers, CSRs and billing staff. A 12-tech shop with three office staff is 15 users, not 12.
- The minimum. Many per-user plans have a floor. Below it, you pay for the minimum anyway.
Forz charges per user: $50 per user per month billed annually, or $60 month-to-month, with a 10-user minimum, and every core module in the one plan (Forz pricing). Office logins count. Month-to-month billing is the flexible option, with no annual lock-in, at $10 more per user per month. On annual billing, users above the minimum stay on the bill until renewal, as described above.
Tiered pricing: watch the boundaries
Tiered plans bundle features and a set number of users at each price point. The entry tier looks inexpensive, and the real price depends on which tier holds the features you need and how close your headcount sits to a boundary.
Jobber’s pricing page (as of October 6, 2026) sells four plans: Core, Connect, Grow and Plus. Connect and Grow are priced for 1, 5, 10 or 15 users, Plus for 5, 10 or 15, and Core for a single user, each on three billing options: annual, a 1-year commitment billed monthly, or no commitment. Jobber counts as a user anyone who accesses the account, in the office or the field, to view or manage the team’s schedule. Each plan card lists extra users at $29 a month (Jobber’s help center says Core can add only one), and choosing 16 or more users shows Contact Sales instead of a plan price. Our Jobber pricing guide breaks down what each tier gates.
Housecall Pro’s pricing page (as of October 6, 2026) lists Basic with 1 user, Essentials with 5 users and MAX with 8 users included, plus $35 a month per additional user on MAX. Housecall Pro’s help center lists additional logins as “available only for MAX plans.” The comparisons below assume the $35 monthly extra-user rate applies to both billing cycles. Its FAQ says it doesn’t require long-term contracts. If you’re in HVAC, plumbing or electrical, ask which price list your quote is on; our Housecall Pro pricing guide explains its trade packages.
Tiers create step changes. On a plan that includes five users, the sixth hire can mean a higher tier, not one more seat. That isn’t bad pricing, but it means you should price the tier you’ll be on in a year, not the one you’re on today.
A worked quote: 15 users (12 techs plus 3 office staff)
Illustrative example, not industry data: the team is hypothetical. The prices are each vendor’s published list price, as of October 6, 2026, for a plan that covers 15 users. For Jobber we show Grow, the tier where job costing starts; Connect, one tier lower, is $299 a month for 15 users on annual billing. Features differ by vendor and tier, so this compares the subscription line only.
| Vendor and plan | How the 15 are counted | Monthly, billed annually | Monthly, other billing options | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber Grow | 15-user band; office schedulers count | $399 | $429 (1-year commitment, billed monthly); $499 (no commitment) | getjobber.com/pricing |
| Housecall Pro MAX | 8 included + 7 extra users at $35 | $544 ($299 + $245) | $574 ($329 + $245), billed monthly | housecallpro.com/pricing |
| FieldPulse | Full-access and field-only seats for the term | No published price | No published price; one-year term by default | fieldpulse.com/pricing, Terms of Service |
| ServiceTitan | Per technician; some office users may be included | No published price | No published price | servicetitan.com/pricing, Terms of Use |
| Forz | 15 users × $50 (or × $60) | $750 | $900 (month-to-month) | forz.io/pricing |
At list price, Jobber and Housecall Pro cost less than Forz for this team on the subscription line. Two quotes can’t be priced at all until a sales call. The table doesn’t show what each subscription includes, and that’s where the comparison usually turns: Jobber’s job costing starts at Grow, its Plus plan includes the AI Receptionist, Marketing Suite and Sales Pipeline that are add-ons on lower tiers, and Forz puts every core module in one plan, including inspections and service agreements.
Now change the headcount. Same list prices, annual billing, subscription line only:
| Users | Jobber Grow | Housecall Pro MAX | Forz |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | $299 (10-user band) | $369 | $500 (minimum) |
| 15 | $399 (15-user band) | $544 | $750 |
| 20 | Not listed (16+ shows Contact Sales) | $719 | $1,000 |
| 25 | Not listed | $894 | $1,250 |
Read the shape of the numbers. Tiered pricing is low inside a band; past the top band it either goes to a sales quote (Jobber) or adds a per-user charge (Housecall Pro’s MAX). Per-user pricing rises in a straight line. Seat-based pricing can’t be charted from public pages at all, which is a reason to get a written quote at two headcounts, not one.
When your headcount moves during the year
Most commercial trades don’t hold one headcount for 12 months. HVAC adds techs for the summer, and other trades add helpers for seasonal peaks. The model decides what that swing costs.
Illustrative example, not industry data: a shop runs 15 users from May through September and 11 users from October through April.
- Committed seats, 15 for the year: you pay for 180 seat-months (15 × 12) and use 152 (15 × 5 + 11 × 7). That’s 28 seat-months, about 16% of the commitment, paid for empty seats. Under terms like FieldPulse’s, those fees are owed regardless of usage.
- Forz, annual billing (committed until renewal): 15 users for the year cost 15 × $50 × 12 = $9,000. You can add users above the 10-user minimum at any time, but removing the four seasonal users in October lowers the bill only at renewal, so the 28 unused user-months are paid for, as with committed seats.
- Forz, month-to-month: if you remove the four seasonal users when the season ends, you pay for 152 user-months at $60, or $9,120 for the year, against $10,800 for 15 users all year on the same billing. In this example flexibility costs $120 more than annual at 15 users. With a peak one month shorter (148 user-months, $8,880), month-to-month would cost less than the $9,000 annual figure.
- Tiered: Jobber’s pricing FAQ says you can upgrade at any time and downgrade “at the end of your current billing cycle,” whether month-to-month or annual, and its terms say a downgrade lowers your fees “as of the next billing cycle,” with no refunds for downgrades. On annual prepaid billing that cycle is the full year. On the 1-year commitment billed monthly, the terms say you can’t downgrade your plan tier until the year is up. Only no-commitment monthly billing lets a smaller plan take effect the next month. Jobber doesn’t spell out how a smaller team size is handled mid-term, so ask.
How to compare quotes: a six-step method
- Count users by role. List every tech, dispatcher, CSR, estimator and billing person. Mark who needs full access and who only needs the mobile app.
- Ask each vendor what it counts. Seats, technicians, users who touch the schedule, or included users plus extras. Write the answer on the quote.
- Price two headcounts. Today’s team and the team you expect in 12 months. Tiered and seat-based models often change shape between the two.
- Separate the subscription from everything else. Card processing, add-ons, onboarding and migration are separate lines. Audit them on their own so a low subscription can’t hide them.
- Turn every quote into the same two numbers: monthly cost per active user (total monthly ÷ people who log in regularly), and total committed (monthly × term in months).
- Test the downside. Ask what happens if you lose three people in January: does the bill drop, stay, or wait until renewal?
Quote comparison worksheet
Fill one column per vendor from the written quote, not the sales call.
| Line | Vendor A | Vendor B | Vendor C |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model (committed seats, per active user, tier) | |||
| Who counts (roles included) | |||
| Users or seats quoted today | |||
| Rate per user, seat type or tier | |||
| Office users included free (if any) | |||
| Monthly subscription today | |||
| Monthly subscription at +12 months headcount | |||
| Term in months and renewal notice date | |||
| Can the count go down mid-term? | |||
| Total committed (monthly × term) | |||
| Monthly cost per active user |
Where Forz fits, and where it doesn’t
Forz charges one per-user rate on one plan. You pay $50 per user per month on annual billing or $60 month-to-month, with a 10-user minimum, and every core module is included: scheduling and dispatch, route optimization, inspections, service agreements, the customer portal, two-way QuickBooks Online sync and offline mobile apps (features). On annual billing, users above the 10-user minimum can be added anytime, but removing them lowers the bill only at renewal; month-to-month ($60) is the flexible option. For larger teams, Forz offers volume discounts through sales. The core per-user rate is guaranteed for 3 years. Optional extras such as usage-based AI, telephony and messaging, and payment processing are priced separately, and you see the price before you turn them on. Full details are on the Forz pricing page.
Forz is not the cheapest option if:
- Your feature needs fit inside Jobber’s or Housecall Pro’s plans. At list price, their subscription line is lower than Forz’s at every headcount in the table above where they show a price.
- You have fewer than 10 people. You’d pay the 10-user minimum, though new customers under 10 people with up to $1M in revenue can apply for the Small Business Program.
- You need job costing today. Our roadmap lists the Job Costing module as in progress.
- Your headcount swings and you want the annual rate. Users you remove on annual billing stay on the bill until renewal, so price month-to-month for a seasonal team too.
If you’re weighing Forz against a committed-seat quote, see Forz vs FieldPulse or our FieldPulse alternative page. For a wider shortlist, our field service software roundup compares 11 tools, and how to choose field service management software covers the rest of the evaluation.
FAQ
What is the difference between seat-based and per-user pricing?
Vendors use the two terms loosely, so ask what’s committed. Seat-based pricing usually commits you to a number of seats for a term, sometimes with cheaper field-only seats, and the bill doesn’t drop until renewal. Per-user pricing charges one rate per user, often with a minimum, but that alone doesn’t mean the bill follows your headcount. Forz, for example, charges per user, yet on annual billing you can add users above the 10-user minimum at any time and removing them lowers the bill only at renewal. Its month-to-month billing is the flexible option. The question that matters is whether the bill drops when your headcount does, and when.
Is per-user pricing cheaper than tiered pricing?
Not automatically. Inside a tier’s user band, tiered plans are often cheaper at list price. Per-user pricing tends to look better when you’d need a top tier for one feature, when you’re past a tier’s published user limit, or when your headcount swings and the billing lets the bill follow it. Price both at today’s team and next year’s.
