MailerLite
ActiveCampaign
Omnisend
Klaviyo
SE Ranking
Mangools
Semrush
Ahrefs
Pipedrive
Zoho CRM
Salesforce
HubSpot
Systeme.io
GoHighLevel
ClickFunnels
VendastaSoftware 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
CRM for gyms and fitness studios
The free plan costs more than the $159 plan above 126 members.
A gym bills the same member every month, so the processing rate compounds. PushPress charges 4.99% on cards for free accounts and 2.89% on paid — and bank draft is worth $4,536 a year at 300 members.
Read the analysis →PHOTOGRAPHERSCRM for photographers
Your inventory is thirty Saturdays.
One unbooked date is $3,500 — four times the entire software stack, and it cannot be sold later. Dubsado and HoneyBook are $13 apart, so choose on the lead form limit.
Read the analysis →ACCOUNTING FIRMSCRM for accountants and bookkeepers
One vendor publishes only a three-year price. Another charges by client.
The three leaders land within $1,000 of each other on subscription, so the decision is made on the pricing model. Canopy’s per-client add-on overtakes its whole subscription at 131 clients.
Read the analysis →COACHESCRM and email marketing for coaches
Kajabi charges 2% extra for using your own payment processor.
On $100,000 of sales that penalty is $2,000 a year — more than the $1,716 subscription. Meanwhile Systeme.io and Kit both run a one-offer coaching business on a permanent free plan.
Read the analysis →RESTAURANTSRestaurant CRM and email marketing
The delivery apps take up to 30% commission — and keep the guest.
On a $60,000-a-month restaurant that is $50,400 a year, charged again on every repeat order because the marketplace never hands over the email. A guest list is the only way to stop paying it.
Read the analysis →HVAC & FIELD SERVICECRM 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 a $1,260 subscription — and half a point of rate is worth more than the whole plan.
Read the analysis → LANDSCAPINGCRM for landscapers
Routing is never on the entry plan — but the step varies 30% to 5×.
The one feature that pays for itself is behind a paywall on every platform. At two crews Jobber Connect is $1,932 with no routing and Grow is $2,520 with it — while Service Autopilot charges four times its entry price for the same thing.
Read the analysis → FINANCIAL ADVISORSBest 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 PRACTICECRM 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 → CHURCHESCRM 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 → NONPROFITSCRM 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 → STARTUPSBest 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 →Pricing breakdowns for the tools in these guides
Where a guide names a product, we price it separately and in full — every tier, every add-on, every metered fee, and what the bill actually looks like at realistic sizes.
Jobber pricing
Year two costs 42% more than the price you signed up for.
Jobber prices by team-size band, not per seat, and the advertised annual rate runs for twelve months only. The full grid, both years, plus what card processing adds on top.
See the full breakdown →FIELD SERVICEHousecall Pro pricing
The sixth user costs $1,200 a year on his own.
Extra seats on Essentials are $100 a month each, so at seven users the expensive Max plan becomes the cheaper one. And the annual discount shrinks from 25% to 9% as you climb.
See the full breakdown →CHURCHESPlanning Center pricing
One ladder, seven products, 0% on bank transfers.
Every product uses the same steps — free, $15, $32, $69, $115, $179, $239 — and only the unit changes. The member database is free forever, and exceeding a limit breaks nothing.
See the full breakdown →THERAPY PRACTICESimplePractice pricing
Claims are 50¢, and half the rates live on a different page.
Plans are $49 to $99, but a five-clinician practice pays about $7,030 once claims, CPT access and clinician seats are counted. The PDMP add-on carries a $699 setup fee.
See the full breakdown →FINANCIAL ADVISORSWealthbox pricing
The AI add-on costs more than two tier upgrades.
$59 to $99 per user, with no annual discount and no volume break. Basic has no workflows and no email sync, which makes Pro at $75 the real entry tier.
See the full breakdown →FINANCIAL ADVISORSRedtail CRM pricing
The sixth hire adds $1,908.
Launch is $39 but caps at five users and leaves out document storage, compliant texting and workflows. The old $99 per-database plan is no longer on the price list.
See the full breakdown →How these are researched
Every guide in this series is built the same way, and it is a deliberately narrow method:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Best CRM software 2026 — the full ranking with real costs at realistic team sizes
- Best email marketing software
- Best all-in-one marketing platforms
- Best SEO software
- Real Cost Calculator — model your own bill before you commit
Or read the underlying research: how much CRM software actually costs and the hidden costs of marketing software.
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