RealCostLabs

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THE LAB · BY INDUSTRY

Software by industry

Generic software comparisons price the subscription. Every industry has a cost that is larger than the subscription — card processing, donation fees, per-claim billing, a feature locked four tiers up — and it is almost never the number being compared. These guides find that cost first, then work backwards to what you should buy.

CRM and practice software, by industry

HVAC & FIELD SERVICE

CRM for HVAC contractors

Card processing costs 12.7× the subscription.

Jobber takes 2.9% + 30¢ on cards and 1% on bank transfer. On a $600,000 business that is $10,680 a year against an $840 subscription — and half a point of rate is worth more than the whole plan.

Read the analysis → LANDSCAPING

CRM for landscapers

Routing sits four to five tiers above the entry plan.

The one feature that pays for itself is behind a paywall on every platform. Jobber Connect with a sixth user is $1,188 with no routing; Grow is $1,260 with routing, GPS and four spare seats.

Read the analysis → FINANCIAL ADVISORS

Best CRM for financial advisors

Redtail Launch costs the same as Pipedrive Growth.

Both are $39 a user. One is built to survive an SEC examination under Rule 204-2 — the rule the SEC has collected over $3 billion enforcing. Also: the sixth hire adds $1,908.

Read the analysis → THERAPY PRACTICE

CRM for therapists

The BAA test comes before every feature.

A vendor that will not sign a HIPAA business associate agreement is out before the comparison starts. Then the metered fees decide it — and the cheaper platform flips between solo and group practice.

Read the analysis → CHURCHES

CRM for churches

Identical giving, a $700 to $8,820 spread.

Planning Center charges 2.15% on cards and 0% on bank transfers; Tithely charges 2.9% and 1%. The payment method matters more than the platform, and recurring gifts do not transfer when you switch.

Read the analysis → NONPROFITS

CRM for charities

The platforms marketed as free cost 5.15% and 5.9%.

Fundraising fees stack — a platform percentage on top of a processing percentage, published separately. Zeffy is genuinely 0%. And one $50,000 gift through a card form costs $2,575.

Read the analysis → STARTUPS

Best CRM for startups

Startups do not pay the sticker price.

They pay seat minimums they cannot fill, onboarding fees that are mandatory and unadvertised, and annual commitments signed before anyone knows how the team will grow. Here is the real first-year bill.

Read the analysis →

How these are researched

Every guide in this series is built the same way, and it is a deliberately narrow method:

  1. Find the cost that is larger than the subscription. In field service it is card processing. In fundraising it is the stacked platform fee. In a therapy practice it is per-claim billing. It is almost never on the pricing page you were comparing.
  2. Verify every number at the vendor. If a rate is not published, we say it is not published rather than repeating a figure from a review site. Where third-party sources disagree, we say that too.
  3. Ask what the problem costs if you do not solve it. A no-show, a missed call, a lapsed recurring donor. That number decides whether $840 is expensive, and it is usually the largest figure in the guide.
  4. Check the constraint that is not a preference. A HIPAA business associate agreement, an SEC recordkeeping rule, an IRS acknowledgment threshold. These eliminate options before features matter.
  5. Recommend what the arithmetic says, including when that is a product we earn nothing from — which, on most of these pages, it is.

Where we earn, and where we do not. Several of these guides recommend tools we make no money from — Jobber, Planning Center, Zeffy, Redtail, TherapyNotes — because that is what the numbers support. Affiliate links are marked, sit against the specific sub-problem they actually solve, and are never the headline recommendation by default. On the therapy guide we spend a section explaining why you cannot use the email tools we earn from.

Start from a category instead

If you would rather compare products than industries:

Or read the underlying research: how much CRM software actually costs and the hidden costs of marketing software.

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