Is Housecall Pro really not free at all?

Correct as of 2026. Housecall Pro offers a free trial (typically 14 days) but has no free tier for ongoing use. Their entry paid plan is $49/mo per user.

Why does FieldKrew Free charge a 1% platform fee?

To keep the app free for solo contractors while covering hosting and development. On $10k/month in card payments, that's $100/mo — less than the price of any paid plan on other platforms. Pro at $49.99/mo drops it to 0% and includes team seats.

What's the catch with Wave being fully free?

Wave makes its money on payment processing ($0.30 markup per transaction adds up fast at volume) and on their bookkeeping upsell. The field-ops UX (scheduling, quoting, customer messaging) is significantly less capable than a purpose-built field-service CRM.

Free CRM alternatives to Housecall Pro: what's actually free (and what has a catch)

Six free-tier contractor CRMs compared on real limits — customer count, invoice count, payment fees, feature gates. Two are genuinely free at scale. Three have caps that force upgrade fast.

"Free" is used loosely in field-service CRM. FieldKrew Free: unlimited customers + unlimited invoices, Stripe 2.9% + $0.30 + 1% platform fee, best for solo contractors. Jobber and Housecall Pro have no free tier at all. Joist Free: unlimited customers but only 3 invoices per month. Wave Free: unlimited but payment fee is 2.9% + $0.60 (higher than Stripe). Google Sheets: free forever but no CRM features. 4 hidden costs to check: per-invoice cap, payment fee markup above Stripe, team seat locks, feature gates on core work. For solo with steady work: FieldKrew Free. For side hustle <3 jobs/month: Joist. For accounting-first: Wave. For crew, nothing free works cleanly; FieldKrew Pro at $49.99/mo (10 seats) is cheapest sustainable.

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