A Jobber alternative for plumbers: what to compare before you switch

The short answer

For a plumbing shop of up to 10 people that quotes flat-rate on site, Fixerlane is the cheaper Jobber alternative: a price book with plumbing starter prices, tank-or-tankless options and a deposit on one quote, water heater records with warranty reminders, and an app that keeps quoting in a basement with no signal. It costs $19.99 a month for the whole team; six people on Jobber cost $229 a month on Connect, billed annually.

Jobber is still the better pick if you want calls answered for you after hours, text messages, or financing on water heaters and repipes — Fixerlane has none of the three. Larger plumbing companies with dispatchers and flat-rate books built by a consultant usually end up on ServiceTitan or FieldEdge.

What plumbing asks of field service software

Every trade quotes, schedules and invoices. Plumbing adds pressure in three places:

• Emergencies. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes plumbers are often on call to handle emergencies. A leak at 7 a.m. goes to whoever answers first, so how a request reaches you matters more than in most trades.
• Flat-rate pricing on site. A drain clearing, a toilet swap or a 50-gallon water heater is priced from a book, in the driveway, often with a cheaper and a better option side by side.
• Basements and crawl spaces. The quote is often written where the phone has no signal.

The trade is big and mostly small businesses. BLS counts 510,600 plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters in 2025, projects 7% growth to 2035 and about 42,000 openings a year. The Census Bureau counted 111,207 plumbing, heating and air-conditioning contractor businesses with employees in 2023 — it does not split plumbing from HVAC — and 64,871 of them had fewer than five employees. Those are the shops that pay per-user prices hardest.

How Jobber handles plumbing work, need by need

Jobber’s plumbing page promotes emergency rescheduling, good-better-best quotes, financing and its Receptionist. Checked against Jobber’s own help center, and next to Fixerlane, it looks like this:

The Jobber column is read from Jobber's own website and help center on October 14, 2026; each page is linked under Sources.

Emergency calls: where Jobber is ahead

Jobber’s Receptionist answers calls and texts around the clock, books visits and escalates to you, and you can set keywords such as “burst pipe” that it treats as urgent. It needs a Jobber phone number (US, Canada and UK) and costs $29 a month with 30 conversations, then $0.79 each; it is included on Plus.

Fixerlane does not answer phones. Requests from your Fixerlane listing, your booking page and the forms on your own website arrive in one inbox and as a notification on your phone, with what is leaking and where; one tap turns a request into a client and a job. Calls still come to your own number. If most of your emergency work starts as a phone call at night, that difference is worth more than the price gap.

Flat-rate quotes in the driveway

Both apps keep a price list you quote from. Jobber’s products and services list imports from CSV on every plan, and its Home Depot integration (US) adds catalog items to quotes. Markups and line-item images on quotes need Grow, and those images do not appear on PDFs. Showing a tank and a tankless heater side by side uses optional line items, also on Grow and Plus.

In Fixerlane all of that is on the one plan: a price book with photos and tax rates, starter plumbing prices to edit into yours, supplier price lists imported from a file, and quote options with optional extras. A deposit can be requested on the same quote, as an amount or a share, so the water heater is paid for before you order it.

Water heaters and warranties

A water heater installed today is a warranty question, a flush and eventually a replacement — three more jobs for whoever kept the record. Jobber has no equipment feature in its help center; a custom field (from Connect) can hold a model and serial as text.

Fixerlane keeps equipment on the property — tank and tankless water heaters, softeners, sump and well pumps among them — with brand, model, serial, install date, warranty end and a service interval. A list shows units with service due in the next 14 days and warranties ending in the next 30, so the call to the homeowner comes from you.

What a plumbing shop of six pays in a year

Take an owner, three plumbers, an apprentice and someone in the office — six people. Jobber prices by user, so six means its 10-user tier. Tank-or-tankless options and job costing on repipes need Grow.

• Fixerlane: $149.99 a year, or $19.99 a month ($239.88 a year). Up to 10 people.
• Jobber Connect, 10 users: $2,748 a year billed annually ($229 a month), or $3,588 with no commitment ($299 a month).
• Jobber Grow, 10 users: $3,588 a year billed annually ($299 a month), or $4,788 with no commitment ($399 a month).
• Jobber Receptionist: $348 a year more ($29 a month) for 30 conversations a month.
• Housecall Pro Max, for 6 to 8 users: $3,588 a year billed annually ($299 a month).
• ServiceTitan and FieldEdge: not published; both quote by team size.

Payment fees matter on big tickets too. On a $6,000 repipe paid by bank transfer, Jobber’s 1% is $60; Fixerlane’s bank payments are 1% capped at $20, Stripe’s fee included. Card payments cost Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ with no Fixerlane fee, against Jobber’s 2.9% + 30¢.

Other Jobber alternatives for plumbers

Three others come up most for plumbing, and each publishes the plumbing features on its own site:

• Housecall Pro: a price book with bundles and recurring pricing, equipment on property profiles, and Wisetack financing. Five users on Essentials cost $149 a month billed annually.
• ServiceTitan: Pricebook Pro flat-rate pricing and good-better-best proposals presented from the tech’s phone. For companies with dispatchers and office staff; pricing on request.
• FieldEdge: flat-rate pricing and Proposal Pro for good, better, best and budget options. Pricing on request and no free trial.

For the comparison across all trades, see apps like Jobber and Housecall Pro. Run an HVAC side too? The Jobber alternative for HVAC covers maintenance plans and refrigerant records.

When to stay with Jobber

Stay if one of these is how you win work today:

• Calls answered for you at night, by Jobber’s Receptionist.
• Text-message reminders and “on my way” texts, from Connect.
• Wisetack financing on water heaters and repipes.
• A live QuickBooks Online or Xero sync — Fixerlane imports from QuickBooks once and does not sync back.
• Route optimisation across several vans — Fixerlane orders a day’s stops by straight-line distance.

Why plumbers choose Fixerlane

Fixerlane is built for owner-operators and small crews; the plumbing software page walks through a week of plumbing work in the app. In short:

• One price for the crew: $19.99 a month for up to 10 people. The apprentice and the office cost nothing extra.
• Flat-rate quotes with options and a deposit, written and sent from a basement with no signal.
• Water heater and pump records with warranty and service reminders.
• Job costing and timesheets on the base plan.
• New customers, not just software: a free listing in the Fixerlane directory, where homeowners with a leak look for a plumber, and enquiries arrive as leads at no charge.

Moving a plumbing business from Jobber

There is no one-click Jobber import. This order keeps the phones covered:

1. Start the 14-day trial from the pros page. No card is needed.
2. Claim your free directory listing first, so new requests start arriving while you move.
3. If Jobber syncs to QuickBooks, export customers, products and invoices from QuickBooks and upload them. You review what it found before anything is saved.
4. Import your supplier price list, or start from the plumbing starter prices, and set your flat rates.
5. Add water heaters you installed under warranty, so the reminders start.
6. Run both apps until Jobber’s open jobs are invoiced, then cancel it.

Common questions

What is the best Jobber alternative for plumbers?

For a plumbing shop of up to 10 people, Fixerlane: flat-rate quotes with options and deposits, water heater records and an offline app for $19.99 a month for the whole team. For after-hours call answering, texting or financing, Jobber or Housecall Pro; for larger shops with dispatchers, ServiceTitan or FieldEdge.

How much does Jobber cost for a plumbing business?

On Jobber’s pricing page, five users cost $149 a month billed annually on Connect, and six to ten users $229. Optional line items and job costing need Grow: $229 for five and $299 for ten, billed annually.

Does Jobber answer emergency plumbing calls?

Its Receptionist add-on answers calls and texts 24/7 and can treat keywords like “burst pipe” as urgent. It costs $29 a month for 30 conversations and needs a Jobber phone number. Fixerlane has no phone answering.

Can I quote flat-rate plumbing prices in Fixerlane?

Yes. Build a price book or start from the plumbing starter prices, import a supplier price list, and add options such as tank or tankless to one quote, with a deposit.

Does Fixerlane offer financing on water heaters?

No. Jobber, Housecall Pro and ServiceTitan offer customer financing; Fixerlane does not.

Does Fixerlane work offline in basements?

Yes. Quotes, deposits, checklists and photos are saved on the phone without signal and sync when it reconnects.