ChatGPTTL;DR
- "HVAC estimating software" is two products. One prices a repair or a replacement on a tablet in the customer's kitchen. The other measures ductwork off a plan set for a commercial bid. Every price here was read on the vendor's own page on November 1, 2026.
- Service and replacement quoting: Housecall Pro $59 to $299 a month billed annually (Max has the good-better-best proposal tool), Jobber $29 to $149 for one user, Service Fusion $208 to $533 with unlimited users. ServiceTitan and FieldEdge print no price.
- The flat-rate book is a separate buy. Profit Rhino SmartPrice is $39 to $59 per tech a month, The New Flat Rate starts at $99 per tech, and Housecall Pro's Profit Rhino book is $199 a month per its help center.
- Ductwork takeoff: FastDUCT is $4,995 one time or $250 a month, Trimble Estimation MEP Pro is $1,950 a user a year, PlanSwift Core is $3,000 a seat. QuoteSoft, Wendes and McCormick are demo-only.
- Housecall Pro's own data puts the average HVAC repair at $1,205 in 2025, up from $818 in 2021, and ServiceTitan's survey found 54 percent of thriving contractors show three options on at least half their jobs against under 10 percent of struggling ones.
- Skip the $5,000 takeoff package if you never see a plan set, and skip a proposal add-on until your techs present three options on every ticket.
Search "HVAC estimating software" and Google hands you ductwork takeoff programs from 1995 next to field service apps that were built for a two-truck residential shop, as if a sheet metal estimator pricing 40,000 pounds of duct and a tech quoting a capacitor swap were the same buyer. They are not, and the vendors know it. ServiceTitan's own HVAC estimating page sorts the work into three estimate types, and then says plainly that "ServiceTitan doesn't perform takeoffs directly" and names PlanSwift, FastDUCT and Trimble as the tools that do. So this post is in two halves. The first prices the service and replacement quoting tools and the flat-rate books that feed them. The second prices the mechanical takeoff software. Every figure is the vendor's page on November 1, 2026, and where a vendor prints nothing we quote the button it prints instead. If the estimate queue is the problem rather than the estimate, our free website audit is the faster fix, and the HVAC leads post ranks the channels that fill it.
Two products share one name
A residential HVAC estimate is a price book and a presentation. The tech opens the app, taps the repair, the book returns a flat rate that already carries overhead and margin, and the customer sees one, three or five options on the tablet. The software that does this is a field service platform (Housecall Pro, Jobber, ServiceTitan, FieldEdge, Service Fusion) plus a flat-rate book that is sometimes bundled and usually sold separately (Profit Rhino, The New Flat Rate, FieldEdge Flat Rate, which used to be Coolfront). A replacement quote is the same workflow with a load calculation and equipment options in front of it.
A mechanical estimate starts with a plan set. Someone has to measure every run of rectangular, round and oval duct, pick the gauge and the joint, count the equipment, apply SMACNA labor units and price the sheet metal by the pound before a bid goes out. That is what FastDUCT, QuoteSoft, Wendes, Trimble, PlanSwift and STACK sell, and none of them does a flat-rate repair ticket. ServiceTitan draws the line itself: its estimating page describes "Good-Better-Best Proposals" for residential service and replacement, "Detailed Line-Item Estimates" that can be "imported from external takeoff tools or spreadsheets," and "Rough Project Estimates" for large commercial jobs, and says the platform is "built to receive your takeoff data" rather than produce it. Buy from the half of this post that matches the job that pays your payroll. Either way, the estimate only matters if the phone rings, which is the part of the business our HVAC marketing work and the HVAC SEO playbook cover.
Service and replacement quoting, priced
Prices are the annual-billing figure first where a vendor prints both. Ratings are Software Advice and Trustpilot on the same day; Capterra, GetApp and G2 block our reads, and Software Advice shares the Gartner review pool with both, so one count stands for three.
| Tool | Price as printed | Quoting features that matter | Ratings, Nov 1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Housecall Pro | Basic $59, Essentials $149, Max $299 a month billed annually ($79, $189, $329 monthly); $35 per extra user on Max; 14-day trial, no card, no contract | Price book with AI import and AI descriptions on every plan; flat-rate pricing on Essentials; good-better-best sales proposal tool on Max ("$40/mo value"); Profit Rhino book $199 a month per the help center | 4.7 across 2,749 on Software Advice; 2.9 across 700 on Trustpilot |
| Jobber | Core $29, Connect $99, Grow $149 a month for one user billed annually ($49, $139, $199 month to month); Grow for five users $229 annual or $299 monthly; $29 per added user | Quotes on Core; automated quote follow-up on Connect; optional line items, rich-visual quotes and job costing on Grow; "Auto-drafted quotes" and AI Voice that creates quotes in the field | 4.6 across 1,487 on Software Advice; 4.2 across 234 on Trustpilot |
| ServiceTitan | No price printed; "per-technician pricing" and "Request Pricing" on Starter, Essentials and The Works | Pricebook and mobile estimates on every plan; Pricebook Pro add-on with regional pricing averages and one-click good-better-best templates, no price printed; Conduit LiDAR load calculations acquired September 2025 | 4.3 across 342 on Software Advice; 4.0 across 423 on Trustpilot |
| FieldEdge | No price printed; "Request Pricing" on Select, Premier and Elite; "does not offer a free trial" | Pricebook and flat rate pricing on every tier; single-option quotes on Select, multi-option on Premier; Proposal Pro good-better-best is "Call for Pricing" below Elite; FieldEdge Flat Rate is the Coolfront book with 25,000 repairs | 4.2 across 314 on Software Advice; 2.8 across 47 on Trustpilot |
| Service Fusion | Starter $208, Plus $325, Pro $533 a month billed annually ($245, $382, $627 monthly); unlimited users on every plan; month to month, no contract | Estimates and jobs on Starter with a single estimate option; multiple estimate options and job costing on Plus; eSign and customer portal on Pro | Not read |
| Kickserv | Start $60 for 5 users, Run $119 for 10, Scale $199 for 20 a month billed annually ($75, $149, $249 monthly); 30-day trial | Estimates and invoicing; no price book or proposal tool named | Not read |
| Profit Rhino SmartPrice | Starter $39, Plus $49, Pro $59 per tech a month; HVAC light commercial add-on $69 a month per company; coaching and implementation fee required, amount not printed; no contracts | Prebuilt flat-rate book with quarterly parts updates and OEM search; Pro adds the mobile sales tool for presenting options; Integrate license $299 a month to feed another platform's price book | No profile on either site |
| The New Flat Rate | "Pricing starts at $99/month per tech"; six plans that differ by onboarding, not software, with no dollar figures printed | Five-option menu pricing that bolts onto ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or FieldEdge; "train techs in 30 minutes" | Not read |
| Verdict | Housecall Pro Essentials at $149 with flat-rate pricing is the residential pick under eight users; Max at $299 if you want the proposal tool inside. Jobber Grow at $149 for the shop that sells optional line items more than tiers. Add Profit Rhino at $39 to $59 a tech if your book is a spreadsheet. | ||
The two request-only platforms are the two most HVAC-specific. ServiceTitan's pricing page prints no dollar figure on any of its three plans and describes the model as per technician; FieldEdge's prints none either, says plans "can vary based on several factors, such as how many technicians or employees are on your team," and declines a free trial because "new members have the most success when our team walks you through the onboarding process." Both are the right answer for a 15-truck company with a dispatcher, and both ask you to take a sales call to find out what that costs. The HVAC CRM guide covers the dispatch and office side of all five platforms; this post stays on the quote.
The flat-rate book is a separate line item
Every platform above says "price book" on its card, and in most cases that means an empty table you fill. The book, the thing that already knows a blower motor replacement is a 1.4-hour job at your rate with your markup, is a second product. Profit Rhino prints the clearest prices: $39, $49 or $59 per tech a month depending on whether you want the prebuilt book only, the ability to customize it, or the tablet sales tool that presents options, plus a required coaching and implementation fee it does not print and a $69 a month add-on for light commercial repairs under 20 tons. Housecall Pro customers get the same book through the platform at $199 a month, a figure that appears in Housecall Pro's help center rather than on its pricing page. The New Flat Rate starts at $99 per tech a month for its five-option menus and sells six plans that differ only in how much onboarding, from self-guided videos to a field ride-along. FieldEdge folds its book, the former Coolfront with 25,000 repairs in its database, into every tier at no printed price.
Two numbers explain why the book matters more than the platform. Housecall Pro's Trades Pulse, built from about 2 million HVAC jobs on its platform and updated April 1, 2026, puts the average repair at $1,205 in 2025, up from $818 in 2021, with repair revenue climbing from 21.6 percent of HVAC revenue in late 2021 to 31.3 percent in late 2025. The repair ticket is where a flat-rate book earns its fee, and it is a bigger share of the business than it was four years ago. ServiceTitan's 2025 Residential Services Report, a survey of more than 1,000 contractors run by Thrive Analytics, found that 54 percent of thriving contractors present good, better and best on at least half their jobs while struggling contractors do it on fewer than 10 percent, and that 47 percent of contractors over $10 million in revenue get 11 to 15 percent of their income from following up on estimates. Options and follow-up are features on the cards above. They are also the difference between the two groups in the survey.
average HVAC repair revenue per job in 2025, up from $818 in 2021, across about 2 million jobs on Housecall Pro (Trades Pulse, updated April 1, 2026)
On the replacement side, the sizing step is moving into the same apps. ServiceTitan announced on September 18, 2025 that it was acquiring Conduit Tech, whose iPad app scans a home with LiDAR, builds the floor plan and runs an ACCA load calculation "in under 15 minutes," and Conduit now sits in ServiceTitan's product menu with no price printed. For a replacement-heavy shop that is the feature to ask about on the pricing call.
Mechanical and ductwork takeoff, priced
These tools price a plan set. The old guard sells per PC, one time or on a lease, with a maintenance contract that keeps the material pricing current. The newer SaaS tools sell per seat per year. Two of the most-used names in the trade, QuoteSoft and Wendes, print no price at all.
| Tool | Price as printed | What it does for HVAC | Term and trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| FastEST FastDUCT | $4,995 one time for the first application, $2,495 each additional, $7,490 for the FastPIPE and FastDUCT combo; or lease at $250, $105 and $355 a month; maintenance $1,250 a year after year one | Rectangular, round and oval duct takeoff with SMACNA labor; catalog of more than 250,000 items; pounds, square feet and shop and field hours in one click; Excel export | Lease is owned after 36 payments; 60-day money-back guarantee; first year of maintenance included on purchase |
| QuoteSoft Duct | No price printed; "Contact Sales" and "Live Web Demo" | Labor and material for rectangular, round and oval duct, accessories and equipment; override labor and material during takeoff; import from and export to AutoCAD and Revit MEP | Subscription includes one year of support, training and maintenance; per-station licensing |
| Wendes WenDuct | No price printed; "Schedule a Demo," "Download Your Free Software Trial" | Digital takeoff with duct auto-connect between fittings; per-piece labor studies; pricing from Ferguson, Harrison, Trade Service and AllPriser; "AI Takeoff Interface" named with no description | One year of training, support and updates included; trial length not printed |
| Trimble Estimation MEP Pro | $1,950 per user a year, US only, "Buy now" | AI-powered 2D takeoff, estimating, managed material pricing and labor, distributor pricing; positioned for small MEP contractors | No trial printed; Estimation Desktop HVAC and AutoBid Mechanical are "Request a demo" |
| PlanSwift | Essential $2,000 and Core $3,000 a year per seat | Linear and segment takeoff for duct and pipe, symbol counts, Division 23 assemblies in the starter pack; Core adds Auto Takeoff, which PlanSwift calls "a starting point, not a finished bid" | 14-day trial of Core, no card; annual only |
| STACK Takeoff & Estimate | Free tier; Premium $299 and Pro $349 per user a month billed annually | Takeoff with symbol search and AI takeoffs on Premium; BNI regional cost library, assemblies and proposals on Pro; a 5 Seasons Mechanical testimonial on the page but no HVAC trade page | 12-month terms; free tier allows one project and 50 measurements a month |
| Bluebeam Revu | Basics $260, Core $330, Complete $440, Max $590 per user a year | Measurement and markup only: counts, perimeters and Dynamic Fill from Core and Complete; no duct database, labor units or pricing service | 14-day trial of Max |
| McCormick Mechanical | No price printed; "Request A Demo" | Trade database of more than 100,000 plumbing and mechanical SKUs, assemblies for pumps, boilers and chillers, cloud-based | Not printed |
| Verdict | FastDUCT on the $250 lease is the sheet metal pick if you want the SMACNA catalog and the lease ends in ownership. Trimble Estimation MEP Pro at $1,950 a year is the cheapest seat with material pricing built in. PlanSwift's 14-day trial is where a residential shop finds out it does not need any of this. | ||
The FastEST page is the most useful pricing page in the category because it prints the whole lifecycle: $4,995 to own FastDUCT with the first year of maintenance, $1,250 a year after that for pricing and catalog updates, or $250 a month on a non-binding lease that converts to ownership after 36 payments, which is $9,000 against $4,995 plus two years of maintenance at $7,495. The combo with FastPIPE is $7,490 or $355 a month. A mechanical contractor bidding duct and pipe from the same set runs both. The requirements are Windows and Excel 2016 or later, which tells you who it was built for.
Trimble is three products with one printed price. Estimation MEP Pro, the web-based tool "for small MEP contractors," is $1,950 per user a year with AI takeoff and Trade Service material pricing inside. Estimation Desktop HVAC and AutoBid Mechanical, the full desktop programs with more than 100,000 items and MCAA and PHCC labor, are "Request a demo." The Trimble page that matters for an owner deciding whether any of this is worth it is its August 2026 results post, which reports across more than 4,000 US contractors that the AI set 97 percent of drawing scales with no manual change and cut object counting time by 60 percent, and that "AI does not complete or finalize any part of the process." We unpack the AI claims across the whole takeoff market in the AI estimating software post.
The estimate is only worth what the lead is
We build the HVAC website and the search program that fills the request queue, then wire the request straight into whichever quoting tool you pick.
Where AI actually shows up
On the service side the AI is clerical. Housecall Pro's price book page names two features: "Quickly import services, pricing, and materials into Price book with AI" and "Use AI to create clean, customer-ready descriptions in seconds." Jobber's pricing page lists "Auto-drafted quotes," which drafts a quote from a new request for you to review and send, and its AI page says Voice can create a quote from the truck. ServiceTitan's Pricebook Pro has "Smart Start powered by Titan Intelligence," which adds a few hundred common services to a new pricebook so it is "ready in a day." None of these prices a job for you. They fill in the form faster.
On the takeoff side the AI counts and measures, and the vendors hedge it themselves. PlanSwift's HVAC page says Takeoff BOOST "can help speed up supported first-pass takeoff work" and "the results are a starting point, not a finished bid." Trimble's post says every AI count carries a confidence rating and goes to an estimator for review. Wendes prints the phrase "AI Takeoff Interface" on the WenDuct page with no description, accuracy figure or speed claim attached, which is the honest minimum. ServiceTitan's September 2026 State of AI in the Trades survey of 1,017 contractors is the number to hold against all of it: 66 percent say AI saves them at least three hours a week, fewer than half report improved profitability, and only 11 percent place high trust in the AI tools they use. Our AI for HVAC post ranks the uses that clear that bar.
Three to skip
The first is a mechanical takeoff package for a residential company. FastDUCT at $4,995, PlanSwift Core at $3,000 a year and STACK Pro at $4,188 a year all price a plan set, and a replacement shop that sells from a load calc and a tablet never opens one. If a commercial bid lands twice a year, PlanSwift's 14-day trial and STACK's free tier cover it.
The second is building a flat-rate book from scratch inside the platform. Every card above says "price book," and an empty one costs your office a month of evenings. Profit Rhino at $39 per tech a month ships a prebuilt book covering what it says is 90 percent of common repairs with quarterly updates, and The New Flat Rate bolts onto ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro and FieldEdge. Start with a book and edit it.
The third is paying for a proposal tool before the techs present options at all. Housecall Pro's Max tier carries the sales proposal tool at a $40 a month value over Essentials, FieldEdge's Proposal Pro is "Call for Pricing," and ServiceTitan's Pricebook Pro is a separate demo. The ServiceTitan survey's gap, 54 percent of thriving shops presenting three options on most jobs against under 10 percent of struggling ones, is a habit before it is a feature. Jobber's optional line items on Grow and Housecall Pro's good-better-best estimates on Essentials present options without the add-on.
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Frequently asked questions
What is the best HVAC estimating software?
For a residential service and replacement company, Housecall Pro Essentials at $149 a month billed annually with flat-rate pricing, or Max at $299 with the good-better-best proposal tool, plus a Profit Rhino book at $39 to $59 per tech. For a sheet metal or mechanical contractor bidding from plans, FastDUCT at $4,995 one time or $250 a month on lease, or Trimble Estimation MEP Pro at $1,950 per user a year. Prices are the vendor pages on November 1, 2026.
How much does HVAC estimating software cost?
Field service platforms with quoting run $29 to $533 a month: Jobber from $29 for one user, Housecall Pro $59 to $299, Service Fusion $208 to $533 with unlimited users, all billed annually. ServiceTitan and FieldEdge price per technician on request. Flat-rate books add $39 to $99 per tech a month. Ductwork takeoff software runs $1,950 a user a year (Trimble Estimation MEP Pro) to $4,995 one time (FastDUCT), with QuoteSoft and Wendes on request.
Can AI design an HVAC system?
Not from a chatbot. The sizing step is a load calculation, and the AI-adjacent tool doing it inside an estimating platform is Conduit, which ServiceTitan agreed to acquire in September 2025: it scans the home with an iPad's LiDAR, builds a floor plan and runs an ACCA load calculation in under 15 minutes. The AI in the takeoff tools counts and measures duct from a drawing; PlanSwift calls its output "a starting point, not a finished bid."
Does ServiceTitan do HVAC takeoffs?
No. ServiceTitan's own HVAC estimating page says "ServiceTitan doesn't perform takeoffs directly, but it's built to receive your takeoff data," and names PlanSwift, FastDUCT and Trimble as the tools HVAC contractors use to measure plans. Its estimating covers good-better-best proposals from the pricebook, line-item estimates imported from a takeoff, and rough project estimates.
What is a flat-rate price book and what does it cost?
A prebuilt list of repairs with a fixed customer price that already includes your labor rate, overhead and markup, so the tech quotes without doing math on the driveway. Profit Rhino SmartPrice is $39, $49 or $59 per tech a month with quarterly updates, Housecall Pro sells the same book for $199 a month, The New Flat Rate starts at $99 per tech a month, and FieldEdge includes its Coolfront-based book on every tier with no printed price.
Is there free HVAC estimating software?
STACK's Takeoff & Estimate free tier is permanent, with one active project and 50 measurements a month after seven days of Pro. PlanSwift gives 14 days of Core with no card. Housecall Pro's 14-day trial runs the Max plan with the proposal tool, Kickserv's trials are 30 days, and Wendes offers a free software download with no printed length.