Jobora — Self-Hosted Job Management: Quotes, Scheduling, Job Costing vs. renting SaaS
Self-hosted field-service software: quotes that turn into jobs, a drag-and-drop schedule board, real job costing and invoices — bought once.
The subscription math
Jobora — Self-Hosted Job Management: Quotes, Scheduling, Job Costing — yours
$129.00
one-time · self-hosted · your data, your server
Buy once
Jobber — rented
Core $49/mo billed monthly with no commitment (1 user); Connect $139/mo, Grow $199/mo, Plus $499/mo [1]
Break-even: 3 months
of Jobber equals the one-time price.
Assumption: The no-commitment monthly price on the entry tier, which includes one user. The ladder above it runs $139, $199 and $499/mo as the crew grows. Committing to a year is cheaper and a promotion was running the day this was read — neither is quoted here, because a promo price is not the price. Jobora is one payment for any number of technicians.
How their pricing grows:
Jobber sells tiers sized by team, so the bill steps up as people are added rather than staying where it started.
“Built for your team size” — read 2026-08-22
What Jobber does that we don't:
Jobber ships native iOS and Android apps for running the day from the van.
If you need a native mobile app, card payments taken in the field, or customer financing, stay with Jobber — Jobora is responsive web only, processes no payments, and offers no financing.
Housecall Pro — rented
Basic $59/mo billed annually ($79/mo month-to-month), 1 user included; Essentials $149/mo, Max $299/mo [2]
Break-even: 3 months
of Housecall Pro equals the one-time price.
Assumption: The annual-billing figure on the entry tier — the LOWER of the two published numbers, chosen deliberately so this comparison understates rather than overstates. Month to month it is $79. One user is included, and the tier above charges $100/mo for each extra person.
How their pricing grows:
Housecall Pro includes a fixed number of users in each tier and charges a flat monthly fee for every person beyond it.
“Additional users $100/mo each” — read 2026-08-22
What Housecall Pro does that we don't:
Housecall Pro sells consumer-facing online booking that takes the job straight off a Google listing.
If you need a customer booking page and card payments taken inside the product, stay with Housecall Pro — Jobora has neither; the customer sees one document at a time and pays you however you already get paid.
Tradify — rented
Lite $47 USD per user/month (Pro $51, Plus $61 per user/month) [3]
Break-even: 1 month
of Tradify equals the one-time price.
Assumption: Straight per-user pricing with no bundled seats — the figure shown assumes a three-person crew on the entry tier, 3 x $47 = $141/mo. A sole trader pays $47 and should compare on that basis; the meter is the thing that grows. Jobora is one payment whatever the headcount.
How their pricing grows:
Tradify prices every plan per user per month, so each extra person on the tools adds the full tier price again.
“$47 USD per user/month.” — read 2026-08-22
What Tradify does that we don't:
Tradify puts every feature into its free trial instead of gating them behind a plan.
If you need Google Calendar sync for a crew already living in Google Workspace, stay with Tradify — Jobora publishes a read-only calendar feed and does not write back to anybody else's calendar.
Savings calculator
SaaS figures use the cited plan price above (see the sources below); per-seat plans scale by the seat count from the same cited price. This is arithmetic, not a quote.
Why owning beats renting here
- One payment. No per-month, per-seat, or per-location fees — the license is perpetual.
- Your data stays on your server. Customer records never live in someone else's cloud.
- No plan ceilings. Records, users, and usage are limited by your hosting, not a pricing tier.
- It keeps working if the vendor doesn't. Self-hosted software can't be sunset out from under you.
Fair trade-offs: you host it, you back it up, and updates are yours to apply — see the product page for honest limitations.
Sources
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Jobber — price checked 2026-08-22 —
source
“'$49/mo' ... '1 user' ... 'All prices in USD. Subscription plan prices exclude sales tax' (a 'Save up to 40% Offer ends Aug 31.' promotion was live on the fetch date; the regular price is the one cited)”
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Housecall Pro — price checked 2026-08-22 —
source
“'$59' ... '1 user included' ... 'Additional users $100/mo each' ... '5 users included'”
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Tradify — price checked 2026-08-22 —
source
“'$47 USD per user/month.' ... '$51 USD per user/month.' ... '$61 USD per user/month.'”
Competitor prices change — always confirm on the linked page. We only print figures we could verify on the date shown.