Updated October 2026
For a small electrical, plumbing or HVAC shop whose work is quoted jobs, the ServiceTitan alternatives worth a demo are Knowify, Tradify, Simpro and Trade Agent, four tools built around the quote and what each job costs. A panel upgrade or a new-construction install for a builder is the kind of work this comparison covers.
If most of your work is same-day repair calls booked by phone, you need a dispatch board and maintenance memberships more than anything on this list, ours included. Housecall Pro, Jobber and FieldEdge fit that shop better, and the questions at the bottom of this post cover them.
We make Trade Agent, so read the comparison with that in mind. Every claim about another product comes from that company's own website, checked in October 2026.
How do the ServiceTitan alternatives compare for job work?
Knowify is built for specialty subs that bill general contractors, Simpro for larger commercial contractors, Tradify for small shops that want to pay per user, and Trade Agent for shops that want the AI to write the quote and match supplier bills to the job. The table puts each one's monthly price next to what its AI does and the catch worth knowing before a demo.
| Tool | Best for | Monthly price | What its AI does | Watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knowify | Specialty subs sending AIA pay apps to GCs | $149 for 1 user, $399 for 10 | Lets ChatGPT or Claude answer questions like "what's my WIP?" (Advanced and up) | WIP and phase-level costing need Advanced; dispatch is a $199 add-on |
| Simpro | Commercial contractors running projects and maintenance contracts | Not published; setup fee | On its Lightning platform: answers from your data, job notes transcribed, AI scheduling | No self-serve trial; several AI features need Lightning |
| Tradify | Two- or three-person shops that want to pay per user | $47 to $61 per user | Reads a photo of a bill and writes descriptions from your quote and invoice lines (Plus only) | Doesn't send its own texts in the US |
| Trade Agent | Shops of 3 to 25 people that quote and build jobs | Not listed; ask for a quote | Writes and prices the quote from your description; matches emailed supplier bills to the right job | No dispatch board, price book or memberships |
Which ServiceTitan alternative fits which trade shop?
How you bill usually decides it. A sub sending pay apps to general contractors every month should start with Knowify, a commercial contractor with maintenance contracts with Simpro, and a two- or three-person shop with Tradify. A shop that wants AI writing its quotes and matching its supplier bills should start with Trade Agent.
Knowify says it was "built from the ground up with specialty contractors in mind," and its billing shows it. AIA G702 and G703 pay applications, retainage and change orders come on every plan, from $149 a month. Real-time WIP reporting and phase-level job costing start on Advanced, at $399 a month for 10 users. Dispatch and maintenance agreements are a $199-a-month add-on. If monthly pay apps to GCs are most of your billing, start your demos here.
Simpro pitches shops with "five or 200 staff," and its commercial edition, Simpro Premium, is in its own words "the digital tool for commercial field service management." It suits a commercial electrical, fire or security contractor running projects and contracted maintenance side by side. It supports US G702/G703 prep and retainage and QuickBooks Desktop Premier and Enterprise, and takeoffs from plans come as an add-on. Expect a setup fee and a demo instead of a trial. Several of its AI features need its Lightning platform.
Tradify suits a two- or three-person shop that wants something simple. Its Pro plan costs jobs from bills and timesheets and does progress invoicing. Plus adds automatic service reminders and its AI tools. It doesn't send its own texts in the US.
What should a shop that quotes jobs test in a demo?
Bring a job you finished last month and make every vendor run it from the quote to the final invoice while you watch. A shop that quotes its work makes or loses money at four points along that path, and a demo on the vendor's sample job can't show you how yours will go.
- The quoteTime it from your description of the job to a priced quote the customer can sign on a phone.
- A supplier billEmail the supply house's bill for that job, then watch who has to put it on the job.
- Crew hoursLog one tech's day. It should land in the job's cost at your labor rate.
- Profit, then the invoiceHalfway through, see what the job has made so far. At the end, send the invoice without retyping a line.
Most of that work lands on the owner. Marco Radocaj, owner of Balance HVAC, told ACHR News in May 2026: "At this scale, the volume of backend work outgrows what one person can reliably handle without sacrificing quality, responsiveness, or accuracy. The owner/manager becomes the bottleneck."
Hiring is hard across the trades, too. In the AGC and NCCER 2026 workforce survey, 81% of firms with electrician openings and 77% with HVAC technician openings had trouble filling them. The ACCA's 2025 Contractor of the Future study of more than 1,000 contractors found 56% of HVACR contractors have field-service software, and that most underuse it.
What should a small shop know about ServiceTitan's pricing and contract?
ServiceTitan doesn't publish its core price, and it sells subscriptions on order-form terms that bill you for the rest of the term if you leave early. Its pricing page says pricing is per technician, and every tier from Starter to The Works says "Request Pricing." The one published figure is for an add-on: Dispatch Pro costs $138 per managed technician a month on month-to-month billing, for shops with 1 to 14 technicians.
Read the contract before you book the demo. ServiceTitan's terms of use say subscriptions bought under an order form run for the term set there, that you pay for at least the number of subscriptions you committed to, and that leaving early means "a termination fee equal to all the remaining payments."
ServiceTitan's annual report for the fiscal year ended January 31, 2026 counts about 10,800 "Active Customers," which it defines as customers with more than $10,000 of annualized billings. The trades it sells to are mostly very small businesses. Of the 111,207 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor establishments in the Census Bureau's 2023 County Business Patterns data, 88.7% had fewer than 20 employees. For electrical contractors it was 88.1% of 83,342. Put the two trades together and more than half of all shops had fewer than five people on the payroll.
Where Trade Agent fits
Trade Agent is for a trade shop of roughly 3 to 25 people that quotes and builds jobs. Arti, its AI, writes the quotes and reads the supplier bills, and it starts on the bills before anyone opens the app.
Tell Arti the job on your phone, the way you'd text the office, and it writes and prices every line from current prices, with its sources in the estimate for you to check. The customer signs on their phone without making an account. Supply houses email bills to your shop's Trade Agent address, and Arti matches each one to the job named on it. A bill it can't place waits for you to pick the job. Approve the bill and the cost lands on the job. Crew hours from the phone timer get costed to the job at your rates when you approve the week.
The job's P&L compares those approved costs with what you planned while the crew is still on site. Start the invoice from the job on your phone, pick the quote, and its lines fill in. With Stripe connected, it goes out with a button to pay online. Approved bills and expenses go to QuickBooks Online, and payments you make there come back.
Trade Agent has no dispatch board, flat-rate price book or maintenance memberships. Our price isn't listed, so ask us for a quote.
Our panel upgrade and EV charger walkthrough follows one job from the quote to the paid invoice, and we've written about why plumbers wait 42 days to get paid. Book a demo with one of last month's jobs and its messiest supplier bill, and we'll run the four checks above on it while you watch.
