Estimating Software for Contractors: What Each Publishes

Jobber is the one estimating and quoting vendor publishing a full price list today. Its plans run $49/mo for one user on Core, $139/mo on Connect, $199/mo on Grow and $499/mo for five users on Plus, with extra seats at $29/mo each. Buildertrend’s pricing page returned an HTTP 403 and published no figure we could verify. Everything below is computed from Jobber’s own numbers.

Key points

• The cheapest verified quoting seat is Jobber Core at $49/mo for one user; the cheapest five-seat option is the Connect five-user tier at $199/mo, or $39.80 per user per month.
• Every plan charges $29/mo for each user beyond the tier allowance, and each tier step adds five seats for $100/mo, so tier jumps beat top-ups from the fourth extra user onwards.
• The lowest per-user rate available anywhere on the published list is $26.60/mo, on the 15-user Connect tier at $399/mo.
• The advertised “save up to 40%” is not reachable from the published pairs; the largest computable discount is 28.8 percent, on one-user Connect with a one-year commitment.
• The three-month intro price makes year two cost roughly 8 percent more than year one on monthly billing, on every tier we could compute.

What does each vendor actually publish?

Only Jobber. The Jobber pricing page lists four plans, four seat tiers within most of them, three billing terms and a per-seat add-on rate. Buildertrend’s pricing URL refused the request, and no substitute figure has been used in its place.

Jobber is a field service platform rather than a takeoff-and-assembly estimator, so read the quoting feature line carefully. Quoting is in every plan. Connect adds automated quote and invoice follow-ups. Grow adds rich visuals on quotes and optional upsell line items. Plus adds automated job costing and profitability tracking, which is where estimate-versus-actual reporting lives.

What assumptions sit behind the tables?

• Prices are monthly, no commitment, as published on 22 August 2026, unless a row says otherwise.
• Extra users are $29/mo each, applied on top of the cheapest tier that gets you to the seat count.
• A “user” is anyone accessing the account in the office or the field, per Jobber’s own definition.
• Payment processing, SMS and any add-on module fees are excluded, because the pricing page text supplied did not state their rates.
• Sales tax is excluded.

What does Jobber cost at 1, 3, 5, 8, 12 and 20 users?

The cheapest published route to each seat count, with the arithmetic shown. Where two routes exist, the cheaper is used and the loser is noted.

Users	Core	Connect	Grow	Plus
1	$49	$139	$199	$499 (5-seat floor)
3	$107 (est. ceiling)	$197 ($139 + 2 × $29)	$257 ($199 + 2 × $29)	$499 (5-seat floor)
5	$165 (est. ceiling)	$199 (5-user tier)	$299 (5-user tier)	$499 (5-user tier)
8	not published	$286 ($199 + 3 × $29)	$386 ($299 + 3 × $29)	$586 ($499 + 3 × $29)
12	not published	$357 ($299 + 2 × $29)	$457 ($399 + 2 × $29)	$657 ($599 + 2 × $29)
20	not published	$544 ($399 + 5 × $29)	$644 ($499 + 5 × $29)	$844 ($699 + 5 × $29)

Core caveat: the only Core figure published in full is $49/mo for one user. Core’s five and ten-user tier prices were not readable, so the $107 and $165 cells are the top-up route only and are a ceiling, not a confirmed price. Do not budget from them without asking the vendor.

Two rows are worth reading twice. At eight users, Connect costs $286 by holding the five-user tier and adding three seats, against $299 for the ten-user tier: a $13/mo saving for buying fewer seats than you might expect. At twelve users, the same logic saves $42/mo on Connect and Grow alike.

Where is the cheapest seat?

Per user per month, on the published bundled tiers only:

Plan	1 user	5 users	10 users	15 users	20 users (tier + top-up)
Connect	$139.00	$39.80	$29.90	$26.60	$27.20
Grow	$199.00	$59.80	$39.90	$33.27	$32.20
Plus	n/a	$99.80	$59.90	$46.60	$42.20

Connect bottoms out at $26.60 per user on the 15-user tier and then rises again, because every seat past 15 costs $29, above the plan’s own effective rate. Grow and Plus keep falling past 15 because their effective tier rates ($33.27 and $46.60) are still above $29.

How much does the billing term change the bill?

Two axes here: plan tier down the rows, billing term across the columns. Annual figures are the published post-promo monthly rates, multiplied by twelve.

Plan and seats	Monthly (12 mo)	Annual (12 mo)	Annual saving	1-year commitment (12 mo)	Commitment saving
Core, 1 user	$588	$468	$120 (20.4%)	not published	—
Connect, 1 user	$1,668	$1,428	$240 (14.4%)	$1,188	$480 (28.8%)
Connect, 5 users	$2,388	$2,028	$360 (15.1%)	$1,788	$600 (25.1%)
Connect, 10 users	$3,588	$3,108	$480 (13.4%)	$2,748	$840 (23.4%)
Connect, 15 users	$4,788	$4,068	$720 (15.0%)	$3,588	$1,200 (25.1%)
Grow, 1 user	$2,388	$2,028	$360 (15.1%)	$1,788	$600 (25.1%)
Grow, 5 users	$3,588	$3,108	$480 (13.4%)	$2,748	$840 (23.4%)
Grow, 10 users	$4,788	$4,188	$600 (12.5%)	$3,588	$1,200 (25.1%)
Grow, 15 users	$5,988	$5,148	$840 (14.0%)	$4,788	$1,200 (20.0%)
Plus, 5 users	$5,988	$5,268	$720 (12.0%)	$4,788	$1,200 (20.0%)
Plus, 10 users	$7,188	$5,988	$1,200 (16.7%)	$5,388	$1,800 (25.0%)
Plus, 15 users	$8,388	$7,188	$1,200 (14.3%)	$6,348	$2,040 (24.3%)

Worked example, Plus at 10 users. Monthly list is $599, so $599 × 12 = $7,188. Annual list is $499, so $499 × 12 = $5,988, a difference of $1,200, and $1,200 ÷ $7,188 = 16.7 percent. The one-year commitment rate is $449, so $449 × 12 = $5,388, a difference of $1,800, and $1,800 ÷ $7,188 = 25.0 percent.

The saving is not a flat percentage. It swings from 12.0 percent (Plus, 5 users, annual) to 28.8 percent (Connect, 1 user, commitment). Check your own row rather than the banner.

What happens to the bill in year two?

The promotional prices on the page are three-month intro rates, then the list price. That makes year one cheaper than every year after it. Year one on monthly billing is three promo months plus nine list months.

Plan and seats	Year 1 (3 promo + 9 list)	Year 2 (12 list)	Increase
Core, 1 user	$546 (3 × $35 + 9 × $49)	$588	+$42 (7.7%)
Connect, 1 user	$1,545 (3 × $98 + 9 × $139)	$1,668	+$123 (8.0%)
Connect, 5 users	$2,211 (3 × $140 + 9 × $199)	$2,388	+$177 (8.0%)
Connect, 10 users	$3,321 (3 × $210 + 9 × $299)	$3,588	+$267 (8.0%)
Connect, 15 users	$4,431 (3 × $280 + 9 × $399)	$4,788	+$357 (8.1%)
Grow, 1 user	$2,211 (3 × $140 + 9 × $199)	$2,388	+$177 (8.0%)
Grow, 5 users	$3,321 (3 × $210 + 9 × $299)	$3,588	+$267 (8.0%)
Grow, 10 users	$4,431 (3 × $280 + 9 × $399)	$4,788	+$357 (8.1%)
Grow, 15 users	$5,541 (3 × $350 + 9 × $499)	$5,988	+$447 (8.1%)
Plus, 5 users	$5,541 (3 × $350 + 9 × $499)	$5,988	+$447 (8.1%)
Plus, 10 users	$6,651 (3 × $420 + 9 × $599)	$7,188	+$537 (8.1%)
Plus, 15 users	$7,761 (3 × $490 + 9 × $699)	$8,388	+$627 (8.1%)

The rise clusters at 7.7 to 8.1 percent because the promo is a uniform 30 percent off for a fixed quarter: 0.30 × 3 ÷ 12 = 7.5 percent of a year, and rounding on the promo figures accounts for the rest.

Annual billing carries its own intro. Connect at five users is $102/mo for three months then $169/mo, so year one is 3 × $102 + 9 × $169 = $1,827, against $2,028 in year two: a rise of $201, or 11.0 percent. The annual intro discount is deeper, so the year-two step is steeper. Offer text on the page states it ends 31 August.

To hit a target per-user cost, what team size do you need?

Reverse the tables. If your budget is set per head, this is the seat count that gets you there.

Target per user per month	Connect	Grow	Plus
Under $100	5 users ($39.80)	5 users ($59.80)	5 users ($99.80)
Under $60	5 users ($39.80)	5 users ($59.80)	10 users ($59.90)
Under $40	5 users ($39.80)	10 users ($39.90)	not reachable
Under $35	10 users ($29.90)	15 users ($33.27)	not reachable
Under $30	10 users ($29.90)	20 users ($32.20) — not reachable	not reachable
Under $27	15 users ($26.60)	not reachable	not reachable

Plus never goes below $42.20 per user on any published or computable combination, because its cheapest tier starts at five seats for $499 and the $29 add-on rate only pulls the average down asymptotically. A four-person outfit wanting Plus pays the five-seat price regardless.

Which two things do contractors get wrong here?

“Adding users is the cheap option.” It is, up to a point, and then it flips. Each seat tier buys five more seats for $100/mo, an effective $20 per seat, against $29 for a top-up. Three top-ups cost $87/mo and still beat the $100 tier step. Four cost $116/mo and lose by $16. The break-even sits at 3.45 users, so the rule is: top up for one to three extra people, move tier at four.

“Estimating software costs about $50 a month.” That figure is real but narrow. Core at $49/mo covers one user. A five-person contractor wanting automated quote follow-ups pays $199/mo on Connect, four times as much, and $2,388 a year on monthly billing. A ten-person outfit wanting job costing against estimates pays $599/mo on Plus, $7,188 a year. The gap between the headline and a working configuration is a factor of 12 at the top end.

When is this estimate wrong?

• Core beyond one user. Only the single-user Core price could be read in full. If Core’s bundled five and ten-user tiers are priced below the top-up route, the Core column above overstates the cost.
• Payment processing. The published text lists payment collection as a feature but states no card or ACH rate. Card fees on real invoice volume can exceed the subscription. A contractor billing $60,000 a month through the platform pays more in processing than in software at any plan level, whatever the rate turns out to be.
• Add-on modules. Marketing Suite, Pipeline and the AI Receptionist appear as Plus inclusions on the page. Whether they carry usage charges on top is not stated, so treat Plus as a floor.
• The promo window. Every promotional figure here is tied to an offer the page says ends 31 August. After that date, use the list column only.
• Mid-term seat changes. How a mid-cycle seat addition is prorated is not published. On a one-year commitment, adding four seats in month two may or may not reprice the term.
• Multi-entity contractors. Nothing on the page addresses whether separate legal entities need separate accounts. Two entities may mean two subscriptions, doubling every figure above.

What could not be verified today?

Buildertrend. The pricing page at buildertrend.com/pricing returned HTTP 403 to our request on 22 August 2026, so no plan name, seat allowance, contract length or dollar figure from that vendor appears in this article, and no Buildertrend row appears in any table. Figures for Buildertrend circulate widely on comparison sites; none of them were used, because none could be checked against the vendor’s own page.

This site does not use these products. Everything above is a record of what the vendor publishes, arithmetic applied to it, and nothing else.

What should you check before you buy?

1. Confirm the seat count you will actually license. Jobber counts anyone who views or manages the schedule, office or field, so a dispatcher and a part-time apprentice both consume seats. Count heads before you pick a tier, then run the top-up-versus-tier break-even at 3.45 users.
2. Ask for the Core tier prices in writing if you are a one to five person shop. The $49/mo entry point is verified; the rest of the Core ladder is not.
3. Get the processing rate quoted separately. It is not on the pricing page and it will likely be your largest line.
4. Price the commitment against the annual. On Connect at one user the commitment saves $480 a year against monthly, twice what plain annual billing saves. On Grow at 15 users the two options converge to $1,200 and $840, so the commitment is worth far less.
5. Budget from year two, not year one. Every monthly-billed tier costs about 8 percent more once the three-month intro lapses.
6. Re-check the current pricing page on the day you sign. The offer text carries an end date of 31 August, and every figure here is stamped 22 August 2026.

Read next

• Best CRM for Roofing Contractors: Published Pricing
• FieldPulse: What You Actually Pay Beyond the Base Plan
• Kickserv Pricing for a 20-Person Team
• FieldPulse SMS and Dispatch Fees: What’s Included and Extra

Also worth reading: Jobber vs FieldPulse: What Estimating Costs at Each Tier