Comparison

Cheapest CRM for HVAC and plumbing businesses in 2026: an honest roundup

Free CRMs exist, and a few field-service tools start under $100. Here is what the cheapest options actually include, checked on each vendor's own pricing page, and what you give up at each price.

Published October 22, 2026 · 9 min read

"Cheapest CRM" means different things depending on what you need it to do. A free CRM is real and works for a contact list. A field-service tool does far more and costs more. This roundup lists the cheapest options a small HVAC or plumbing shop is likely to look at, with prices checked on each vendor's own pricing page in October 2026, and says what you give up at each price. We make one of these products, Ringvance Inbox, and we say where the others are stronger.

Every price below was checked on the vendor's own pricing page in October 2026 (links at the end). Prices are the regular listed prices; several vendors also run short-term introductory discounts. Plans change, so check before you buy.

The list, cheapest first

Tool	Entry price	What it is	What you give up
HubSpot free CRM	$0, up to 2 users	General sales CRM	No business texting listed on the free tier. No scheduling, dispatch or invoicing.
Bigin by Zoho	Free (1 user). Express $7/user/mo billed yearly, $9 monthly	General small-business pipeline CRM	Priced per user. No dispatch or job scheduling for techs listed. Facebook and Instagram appear as lead-ad integrations, not a message inbox.
Ringvance Inbox	$9/mo flat, plus usage	CRM plus one inbox for texts, email, Facebook and Instagram	No scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, booking, review requests or automations today.
Jobber Core	$49/mo, or $29/mo billed annually. 1 user	Field-service management	Two-way texting is listed on Grow ($199/mo, or $149/mo annual) and up, not Core.
Kickserv Start	$60/mo, 5 users (20% off annual)	Field-service management	Reviews only on Scale ($199/mo). Texts listed as automated reminders, not a shared inbox.
Housecall Pro Basic	$79/mo, or $59/mo billed annually. 1 user	Field-service management	Highest entry price of the three field tools here. Two-way texting not itemized by plan.
Workiz	Not published (request pricing)	Field-service management	No public price. Two-way texting comes with the Genius Phone add-on, sold separately.
ServiceTitan	Not published (request pricing)	Field-service management, larger shops	No public price and no self-serve signup on the pricing page.

Free: HubSpot and Bigin

If all you need is a contact list and a deal pipeline, you do not have to pay anything. HubSpot's free CRM is free for up to 2 users with no credit card. Bigin by Zoho has a free plan for a single user, and paid plans from $7 per user per month billed yearly ($9 month to month). Both include a mobile app and email integration.

Where they fall short for a trade shop: they are general sales tools. Neither lists a shared inbox for business texts plus Facebook and Instagram messages on its pricing page, and neither is built around dispatching techs or invoicing jobs. Bigin is priced per user, so a three-person office pays three times the per-user rate.

$9 a month: Ringvance Inbox

Ringvance Inbox is $9 a month flat for the account (or $90 a year). It is a CRM (contacts, notes, a job pipeline, unlimited contacts) plus one inbox where texts, email, Facebook and Instagram conversations land together, with the free LeadConnector mobile app. Among the tools we checked, it is the cheapest way to get texts, email and social messages into one shared inbox next to a pipeline.

The honest total is more than $9. An optional local business number is $2.50 a month; calls run $0.025 a minute inbound and $0.035 outbound; texts are $0.015 per segment; email is $1.50 per 1,000. Texting needs a one-time carrier registration ($22.50 for most small shops) and a carrier campaign fee of $1.50 to $10.50 a month. Full rates are on the pricing page.

What you give up: no scheduling, dispatch, invoicing, payments, online booking, review requests or automations. Missed-call text-back, booking, automatic follow-ups and review requests are planned for Core ($97 a month), which is coming soon and not available yet.

Under $100: Jobber Core, Kickserv Start, Housecall Pro Basic

Jobber Core

$49 a month month to month, or $29 a month billed annually, for one user (extra users $29 a month each). Includes scheduling, quoting, invoicing, online booking and a mobile app. Stronger than any CRM on this list for running the job itself. Two-way texting with customers is listed on the Grow plan ($199 a month, or $149 billed annually) and Plus.

Kickserv Start

$60 a month for 5 users, with 20% off for annual billing and a 30-day free trial. Includes an embeddable contact form, automated email and text reminders, 20+ reports, time and expense tracking and QuickBooks Online integration. Good value per user for a small crew. Review features start on Scale ($199 a month).

Housecall Pro Basic

$79 a month month to month, or $59 a month billed annually, for one user. Includes online booking, scheduling and dispatch, estimates and invoicing, payments, a price book, job costing and review management, plus a free mobile app and live phone and chat support on every plan. The most complete entry plan of the three field tools here.

No public price: Workiz and ServiceTitan

Workiz lists Standard, Pro and Ultimate plans with "request pricing" instead of a number. Standard includes scheduling, invoices, jobs and estimates, online payments and 5 automations; two-way texting comes with its Genius Phone add-on, sold separately. ServiceTitan's Starter, Essentials and The Works plans are also "request pricing" only. Both may be the right tool for a larger shop, but neither can be priced without a sales conversation.

How to pick the cheapest one that actually fits

You only need a contact list: start free with HubSpot or Bigin.
Your problem is messages scattered across phones and apps: Ringvance Inbox at $9 puts them in one place with a pipeline.
Your problem is scheduling, dispatch and getting paid: a field-service tool (Jobber, Kickserv, Housecall Pro) is worth the higher price, and is stronger than any CRM here at that job.
You want automatic missed-call text-back today: we did not find it listed as included on the entry plans above; some vendors sell AI call answering as a separate add-on. Ringvance plans text-back for Core, which is not live yet.

Sources (checked October 2026)

Ringvance Inbox is $9 a month, no annual contract, cancel anytime, usage billed separately. It is the cheapest way we found to get texts, email, Facebook and Instagram into one inbox with a pipeline. It is not a field-service tool, and it is not free; if you only need a contact list, a free CRM will do.