The best plumbing software for most small and mid-size shops is one that answers the emergency call, books it, prices the job from a flat-rate book and collects payment before the truck leaves. For 2026 the shortlist is Contruva, Housecall Pro, Jobber, ServiceTitan, Workiz, ServiceM8 and Kickserv. ServiceTitan suits large multi-truck operations; the rest are built for owner-operators and crews of 2 to 20.
Most “best plumbing software” lists are written by review sites that earn referral fees, and they rarely tell you which plan a feature lives on. That’s where plumbers get caught: flat-rate pricing, GPS and service plans are often locked to a higher tier. Every price below was checked on the vendor’s own pricing page in November 2026, and we say plainly where Contruva doesn’t do something.
The seven at a glance
| Software | Starting price (checked Nov 2026) | Per-user fees | Call answering | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contruva | One plan, see pricing | ✓ None | ✓ AI receptionist included | Small crews who want calls, quotes, jobs and marketing in one app |
| Housecall Pro | $79 USD/mo (Basic, 1 user) | Users capped by plan; $35 each over 8 on Max | Add-on (CSR AI, price not listed) | Residential service and repair shops |
| Jobber | $49 USD/mo (Core, 1 user) | $29/mo per extra user | Add-on ($29/mo), included in Plus | Home service teams of any size |
| ServiceTitan | Not published | Quoted per technician | Add-on (AI Virtual Agent) | Large shops with dispatchers and an office team |
| Workiz | Not published (request pricing) | Not published | Add-on (Genius Answering) | Dispatch-heavy emergency work |
| ServiceM8 | Free, then $29 USD/mo (50 jobs) | Unlimited users on paid plans | Add-on (Office Agent Pro, $39/mo) | Solo plumbers and small crews paying by job volume |
| Kickserv | $60/mo (Start, 5 users) | Users capped by plan | ✕ Not listed | Budget-minded shops that want QuickBooks sync |
What does a plumbing business need from software?
A generic job app covers a calendar and invoices. Plumbing has a few habits that separate useful software from the rest. Test these during any trial:
- After-hours triage. A burst supply line at 11 p.m. is a big job you can’t miss; a dripping tap can wait until Tuesday. Something has to answer, ask the right questions and tell you which is which.
- A flat-rate price book. Toilet rebuilds, tank swaps, hose bibs and drain clears should be one tap each, with parts and labour built in. Check the plan you’re pricing actually includes flat-rate, not just a product list.
- Good, better, best options. A water heater replacement sells better as three choices (like-for-like tank, higher-capacity tank, tankless) than as one take-it-or-leave-it price.
- A schedule that survives a bad drain. A “quick” clear that turns into a camera inspection and a dig pushes every job after it. You need to move jobs between techs and have the customer told automatically.
- Photos on the job. The corroded shut-off, the crawl space, the finished install. Photos protect you on warranty calls and make the next visit faster.
- Recurring work. Annual water heater flushes, backflow tests and boiler start-ups should book themselves each year.
- Payment on site. Card on the customer’s phone before you leave, and a reminder that chases it if they don’t.
Depending on your shop, you may also need things not every tool has: GPS truck tracking, parts inventory per van, consumer financing for big replacements, or a membership program. Know which of these you actually use before you pay a higher tier for them. If you want the long version of how this works day to day, our plumbing software page walks through a full day, from the overnight call to the review request.
1. Contruva
Who it suits: owner-operators and small to mid-size plumbing and heating shops that lose work to missed calls and slow quotes, and want the website and marketing handled too.
Price: one plan, Contruva Pro, with everything included and no per-seat pricing, so adding an apprentice doesn’t change your bill. Billed monthly or yearly. See Contruva pricing; every account starts with a 7-day free trial, no credit card.
The AI receptionist answers every call in your business name, day or night, captures the problem and books real open slots, so the 2 a.m. no-hot-water call lands on the calendar instead of in voicemail. Quotes are built from your price book, customers sign and pay a deposit on their phone, and the invoice comes from the approved quote. The crew app keeps photos, checklists and notes on the job and shows each job’s margin. Recurring jobs handle annual service. Payments run through Stripe with no extra Contruva fee on top of standard card processing, and it syncs with QuickBooks and Xero. You can also text Contruva AI to chase an invoice or follow up an open quote from the truck.
- ✓ AI receptionist, website, reviews and marketing in the same plan
- ✓ No per-seat pricing as you hire
- ✓ Flat-rate price book and quote options on the one plan
- ✕ No GPS truck tracking or route optimization
- ✕ No parts inventory, payroll or consumer financing
- ✕ Not built for multi-location or franchise operations
2. Housecall Pro
Who it suits: residential service and repair plumbers who want booking, dispatch, financing and service plans in a well-known app.
Price (USD, checked November 2026): Basic $79 a month on monthly billing or $59 on annual (1 user), Essentials $189 or $149 (5 users), Max $329 or $299 (8 users, extra users $35 a month each). 14-day free trial, no long-term contract.
Read the tiers carefully. The price book is on every plan, but flat-rate pricing starts at Essentials. QuickBooks Online sync also starts at Essentials, and Recurring Service Plans and full route optimization are Max only. Consumer financing is on every plan. CSR AI, which answers calls and books jobs, is a separate add-on with no listed price.
- ✓ Published prices, no long-term contract
- ✓ Consumer financing on every plan
- ✕ Flat-rate pricing not on Basic
- ✕ Service plans need Max
- ✕ Call answering is an add-on
More in Housecall Pro pricing, explained.
3. Jobber
Who it suits: home service businesses that want a mature, widely used job app with good quoting and client communication.
Price (USD, checked November 2026): Core $49 a month for one user with no commitment. Connect starts at $139 (1 user) or $199 (5 users), Grow at $199 (1 user) or $299 (5 users), and Plus at $499 (5 users), with lower rates on a one-year commitment or annual billing. Extra users are $29 a month on Connect and above. AI Receptionist ($29), Pipeline ($49) and Marketing Suite ($99) are add-ons below Plus. 14-day free trial.
QuickBooks sync starts at Connect, and job costing and optional line items (for upselling) start at Grow. A five-person plumbing shop that wants job costing is looking at Grow, not Core.
- ✓ Polished quoting and client hub
- ✓ Clear published pricing
- ✕ Job costing needs Grow
- ✕ Per-user fees and add-ons raise the total as you hire
Weighing the two big names? See Jobber vs Housecall Pro.
4. ServiceTitan
Who it suits: large residential and commercial plumbing companies with many trucks, a dispatcher, a call centre and an office team.
Price: not published. Its pricing page lists Starter, Essentials and The Works, each with “Request Pricing”, and says pricing is per technician. Add-on “Pro” products include Pricebook Pro, AI Virtual Agent, Dispatch Pro, Fleet Pro and Marketing Pro, also without prices.
If you run 15 or more trucks and need deep reporting, memberships and technician commissions, it deserves a demo. For a two-truck shop, it’s usually more system, and more commitment, than you need. See our ServiceTitan pricing breakdown for the estimates we found.
- ✓ Deep reporting and dispatch for big operations
- ✓ Built around the trades it serves
- ✕ No published prices
- ✕ Key tools such as Pricebook Pro are separate products
5. Workiz
Who it suits: dispatch-first plumbing shops that live on emergency calls, online booking and moving techs around all day.
Price: not published when we checked in November 2026. Standard, Pro and Ultimate all show “Request pricing”. Genius Phone, Genius Answering and Genius Marketing are add-ons sold separately. 7-day free trial, no credit card.
Fleet and team location tracking and QuickBooks Online sync are on every plan, which a lot of plumbers will like. But flat-rate pricing, service plans and inventory are on Ultimate, the top tier.
- ✓ GPS tracking on every plan
- ✓ Strong phone and dispatch tools
- ✕ Flat-rate pricing only on Ultimate
- ✕ Prices not published
More in Workiz alternatives.
6. ServiceM8
Who it suits: solo plumbers and small crews who want to pay by how much work they do, not by how many people they have.
Price (USD, checked November 2026): Free for 30 jobs a month (1 user), then Starter $29 (50 jobs), Growing $79 (150 jobs), Premium $149 (500 jobs) and Premium Plus $349 (1,500+ jobs, then 20¢ a job). Paid plans have unlimited users. Office Agent Pro is $39 a month and ServiceM8 Phone starts at $19 a month. 14-day free trial.
Watch the job count. A busy service plumber can run through 150 jobs a month quickly. Proposals and bundles start at Growing, and job costing and markup billing start at Premium.
- ✓ Unlimited users on paid plans
- ✓ A genuine free plan to start
- ✕ Price climbs with job volume
- ✕ Job costing needs Premium
7. Kickserv
Who it suits: budget-minded plumbing shops that want scheduling, estimates and QuickBooks sync without a big monthly bill.
Price (checked November 2026; the page uses “$” without naming a currency): Start $60 a month (5 users), Run $119 (10 users) and Scale $199 (20 users), with 20% off on annual billing. 30-day free trial. QuickBooks Online is on every plan; QuickBooks Desktop is on Run for an extra $50 a month. GPS starts at Run.
- ✓ Low price for a five-person team
- ✓ Long 30-day trial
- ✕ No GPS on Start
- ✕ No call answering listed
What does plumbing software really cost?
The headline price is for the smallest team on the smallest plan. Here’s an illustrative example: a four-person shop (owner, two plumbers, one office person) that wants flat-rate pricing, QuickBooks sync and call answering, on monthly billing in USD.
| Software | Plan you’d need | Monthly before add-ons | Call answering |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housecall Pro | Essentials (flat-rate and QuickBooks start here) | $189 | CSR AI add-on, price not listed |
| Jobber | Connect, 5 users (QuickBooks starts here) | $199 | +$29 AI Receptionist |
| Jobber with job costing | Grow, 5 users | $299 | +$29 AI Receptionist |
| ServiceM8 | Premium if you run over 150 jobs a month | $149 | +$39 Office Agent Pro |
| Kickserv | Start, 5 users | $60 | Not listed |
| Contruva | Contruva Pro, the only plan | See pricing | Included |
Then do your own maths before you trust any list, including this one:
Everyone who needs the app, including the office and the apprentice you’re hiring in spring.
Flat-rate, job costing, GPS and service plans are the usual tier jumps for plumbers.
Call answering, marketing, website, extra phone lines. Add each one.
In the trial, quote a water heater swap from the driveway and book an after-hours call. Time it.
Most of these list prices in US dollars, so the cost moves with the exchange rate and your card may add a foreign transaction fee. Contruva bills Canadian businesses in Canadian dollars, and quotes show the HST or GST line under the subtotal.
Which plumbing software should you pick?
| If you are… | Look at |
|---|---|
| A solo plumber just starting, under 30 jobs a month | ServiceM8 Free, or Kickserv if you want QuickBooks sync |
| An owner-operator or small crew losing jobs to missed calls and slow quotes | Contruva |
| A residential service shop that sells a lot of financing and service plans | Housecall Pro (Max) |
| A home service team that wants a proven job app and doesn’t need call answering built in | Jobber |
| A dispatch-heavy shop that needs GPS on every truck | Workiz |
| A 15+ truck operation with dispatchers and an office team | ServiceTitan |
There isn’t one best plumbing software for everyone. A shop that wins on emergency calls needs the phone answered more than it needs another report. A big commercial shop needs dispatch depth. Pick the tool that fixes the thing costing you the most work today.
If that’s missed calls, slow quotes and chasing payments, try Contruva free for 7 days with no credit card. See how it runs a plumbing and heating day on the plumbing page, read our guide on how to get paid faster, or go straight to pricing.