Per-seat pricing costs you the seat price multiplied by everyone who needs a login, and that count rises with every hire, including people who open the software twice a week. The figure to plan around is not today's bill but next year's headcount at the price of whichever tier that headcount puts you in.
Count who needs a login
In a home service business the list is longer than the office. Field service software is used by dispatchers and office staff, by every technician carrying the mobile app, by estimators, and by the owner. Some plans price office users and field users differently and some count every login the same, so read yours before counting.
- Office staff and dispatchers.
- Technicians and installers using the mobile app.
- Estimators and salespeople.
- Part-time and seasonal staff.
- Subcontractors who need to see job details.
- Your bookkeeper or outside accountant.
- Owners and managers who only look at reports.
Part-timers and seasonal crews
A seat is billed for the month whether its holder works five days a week or one. A weekend helper costs the same as your lead technician.
For seasonal work, the question is whether seats can come off as easily as they go on. On a monthly plan you may be able to drop seats when the season ends. On an annual contract the seat count may only move upwards until renewal, so extra hands hired for the busy months are paid for through the quiet ones. Ask the vendor which applies and get the answer in writing.
Why sharing logins bites
The obvious dodge is two technicians on one login. It costs more than it saves. The vendor's terms may forbid it, which puts the account at risk. You lose the record of who did what: who changed the quote, who marked the job complete, who took the payment. When one of the pair leaves you have to change a password the other still needs. Some apps sign out the first phone when a second signs in, so the two keep knocking each other off in the middle of jobs.
Watch for tier jumps
Pricing pages are built in steps. A plan may cover up to a set number of users, and the next one may carry a higher price per seat for everyone, not just for the new hire. Features can be tied to tiers as well, so a function you rely on may only be sold with a minimum number of seats. Find the thresholds either side of your current headcount and note what changes at each.
Project next year's bill
Suppose you pay 30 dollars a seat a month for 8 people. That is 240 a month and 2,880 a year. You plan to add four technicians and a dispatcher, which makes 13 seats: 390 a month and 4,680 a year. If 13 seats also pushes you onto a tier at 45 dollars a seat, it is 585 a month and 7,020 a year, for the same software. Those numbers are invented to show the sum. Put your own seat price and headcount into our software bill calculator, a free calculator that shows the yearly and three-year totals.
Per-seat pricing is not a trick. For a small, steady team it can be the cheapest way to get good software, and you should keep it if so. It becomes a problem when you are growing and the bill grows faster than the use you get from it.
That is the case we built Hiro for: one flat monthly price with no per-seat fees, so adding the whole staff does not move it. Our page on what home service contractors rent and can rebuild has the detail, and our guide to renting versus owning business software covers when staying with a rented product is the better call.