TradeDesk vs Jobber: an honest comparison for small crews
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Comparison

TradeDesk vs Jobber

Jobber is a good tool. It has been around, it works, and plenty of shops run on it happily. If you are already on it and it is fine, stay. This page is for the contractor doing the math on what he is actually paying, and what he gets for it.

Prices below are Jobber's publicly listed rates as of 2026. Check their site before you decide, and check ours.

The short answer

Pick Jobber if

  • You want customers booking themselves online off your website
  • You need built-in route optimization for a lot of short stops
  • Your bookkeeper insists on a live QuickBooks Online sync
  • You want automated review requests to build Google reviews

Those are real strengths and we are not going to pretend otherwise. We do not do those four things today.

Pick TradeDesk if

  • You want the whole crew on one rate, so hiring never raises your software bill
  • You want lien deadlines, RRP paperwork and apprentice hours handled in the app, not in a folder
  • You want books, mileage and tax prep built in, not a second subscription
  • You want miles and hours logged for you, without anyone remembering to hit start
  • You work in basements and dead zones and need it to keep working with no signal
  • You want to reach the two people who built it, not a call center

One flat rate, whole crew included, and the compliance paperwork nobody else touches.

What it costs when you hire

This is the part that catches people. Jobber's plans are priced per tier plus a fee for each additional user. Add a couple of guys and the number moves.

Monthly cost comparison as crew size grows
Your crew Jobber TradeDesk
Just youfrom $49/mo$99.99 · founder $29.99
You + 2$129–$187/mo$99.99 · founder $29.99
Crew of 10around $349/mo$99.99 · founder $29.99
Books & mileageseparate subscriptionincluded

Jobber figures are their published plan prices plus listed per-user fees; your quote depends on tier and add-ons. Illustrative, not a quote. TradeDesk is $99.99 flat for your whole crew, or $29.99 locked for life on one of the ten founder seats. Every feature and every crew member is included either way.

Feature by feature

  Jobber TradeDesk
Estimates, scheduling, invoicingYesYes
Card paymentsYesYes, your own Stripe
Whole crew, no per-user feePer-user feesIncluded
Bookkeeping, mileage & tax prepSeparate toolBuilt in
Mechanic's-lien deadline trackingNoAll 50 states
Lead-paint RRP paperworkNoPamphlet signed & kept
Apprentice OJT hour logsNoYes
Online customer bookingYesNot yet
Automated review requestsYesNot yet
QuickBooks Online syncTwo-wayCSV exports
Works with no signalLimited offlineOffline-first

The elephant in the room

We will not put a robot in front of your phone.

Several tools in this category now sell an AI that answers your calls for you. Before you switch that on, ask yourself one question. Have you ever called a company, gotten dropped into a maze of automated prompts, and just wanted to reach a human being?

If that ever frustrated you, remember that feeling, because it is what your next customer feels when a robot answers instead of you. Your phone is the first impression of your business, and homeowners are deciding whether to trust you with a key to their house.

So we built the opposite. Your phone rings to you, and you answer it. What TradeDesk does is make sure the call is worth answering: type the address and the property details are already pulled, so you can price the job while you are still on the line. A real voice, better prepared, beats a machine that never misses a ring.

Why we tell you what we don't do

Because you are going to find out in week two anyway, and then you will not trust anything else we said. Online booking, review automation and a live QuickBooks sync are on the list. They are not shipped. If one of those is the reason you would switch, do not switch yet.

What we do have is the money side: the paperwork that protects you when a client goes quiet, the books that keep your taxes straight, and a price that does not punish you for hiring your nephew.

Run one week on it. Then decide.

Two weeks free, no card. Send us a CSV from Jobber and we will load your clients and open jobs for you.

Start free

Or text us the question first. You get one of the two of us, not a call center.