This compares our own product with Service Fusion, so weigh it with that in mind. The two are priced on opposite ideas: Service Fusion charges one flat monthly price and gives you unlimited users, while TradesWork charges per tech or sales seat and lets office staff in free. For most shops past two trucks, Service Fusion's list price is lower. The rest of this page is about whether what you get for the difference matters to you.
Service Fusion facts come from its pricing page, help center and subscription agreement, all checked on October 15, 2026.
Where Service Fusion is stronger
Price for a real crew. Service Fusion publishes Starter at $208, Plus at $325 and Pro at $533 a month when you pay annually, or $245, $382 and $627 month-to-month.1 The page says that no matter which plan you choose, you get unlimited users. A three-tech TradesWork shop on Essentials already pays $237 a month on annual billing. At ten techs, TradesWork Pro is $990 a month against $533 for Service Fusion Pro. That gap is real and it grows with every truck.
A big office costs nothing extra. CSRs, dispatchers, a bookkeeper and a part-time office helper all get logins on Service Fusion without moving you up a band. TradesWork doesn't charge for office staff either, so the difference here is about techs and sales staff, not the office.
QuickBooks Desktop. Service Fusion's help center has setup instructions for QuickBooks Desktop as well as Online.2 TradesWork connects to QuickBooks Online only. If your accountant runs Desktop and won't move, that settles it.
Track record. Service Fusion says it has more than 6,500 customers and 40,000 active users, and lists HVAC, plumbing, electrical, garage door, locksmith and appliance repair among its trades.3 TradesWork launched in 2026 and far fewer shops run on it. Onboarding and phone, email and chat support are included on every Service Fusion plan.1
Where TradesWork is stronger
Portal and e-sign without the top plan. On Service Fusion, the customer web portal, eSign documents, custom documents and progress billing with recurring invoicing are included on Pro and sold as add-ons on Starter and Plus. Job photo uploads, inventory and job costing are add-ons on Starter.1 TradesWork gives customers a link per job, a portal and e-sign on the tech's phone on every plan.
Memberships from the middle plan. Service Fusion's newer Service Agreements module, with automated invoicing, starts when you upgrade to Pro or add the Service Agreements add-on.4 TradesWork includes memberships from its Pro plan: dues charge themselves, failed cards get an update link, visits come due on schedule and member pricing applies on estimates.
Working with no signal. Service Fusion's Worker App has an offline mode: techs can add notes, job tasks, photos and documents, while customer information, jobs and estimates are view-only until the connection returns.5 TradesWork Field keeps creating estimates, notes, photos, forms and time entries with no signal and catches up later. For techs who build good/better/best options in basements and crawlspaces, that's the difference that matters.
Trial and terms. Service Fusion's pricing page offers a free demo, not a trial.1 TradesWork has a 14-day trial with no card, month-to-month billing, and an annual plan that never auto-renews at a higher price.
AI phone answering included. ServiceCall.ai is an add-on on every Service Fusion plan, with no price listed.1 TradesWork's AI plan includes an AI receptionist, in early access, that answers after hours or when you're busy.
Price at three shop sizes
Here are worked examples at annual list prices, not quotes. Assume the shop wants customers to approve estimates online, which means Pro on Service Fusion.
| Example shop | Service Fusion Pro | Service Fusion Starter (no portal) | TradesWork Pro |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 techs, 1 office | $533 | $208 | 2 × $99 = $198 |
| 5 techs, 4 office | $533 | $208 | 5 × $99 = $495 |
| 12 techs, 6 office | $533 | $208 | 12 × $99 = $1,188 |
Service Fusion's add-ons (GPS fleet tracking, ServiceCall.ai, and the portal or e-sign if you stay below Pro) have no listed price, so ask for a written total.1 The point of the table is simple: against Service Fusion Pro, TradesWork Pro is cheaper up to 5 techs (5 × $99 = $495 against $533) and costs more from 6 (6 × $99 = $594). Against Starter, TradesWork wins only at one or two techs. Above that you'd be paying for the trade-specific depth and the no-signal app, and you should decide whether those earn back the difference.
Day to day
Office. Service Fusion's back office covers customers, estimates, jobs, dispatch, invoicing, payments and reporting on every plan.1 Its permissions let you set who can view, create, update or delete each area.7 TradesWork puts the caller's history, open jobs, balance and membership on screen before you answer and gathers website and referral leads into one inbox.
Techs. Both have a technician mobile app. TradesWork walks each visit step by step, from arrival to wrap-up, with good/better/best options built from your price book and a monthly payment figure under each. Financing lenders aren't connected yet, so the customer applies with your lender separately.
HVAC records. Service Fusion tracks equipment on the customer record with model, serial number, install date and warranty details.8 TradesWork also keeps equipment history, and adds a refrigerant log tied to each tech's EPA 608 number, leak repair deadlines and warranty claim tracking.
Price book. Service Fusion splits a Product Catalog and a Service Catalog, each with a regular price and a member price, and products can be exported to Excel in one step.9 TradesWork keeps one price book with member pricing applied automatically.
Service Fusion fits when
- You have 3+ techs and a flat price matters most
- Your office is large and growing
- You run QuickBooks Desktop
- You want a long-established vendor
TradesWork fits when
- You want portal, e-sign and memberships below the top plan
- Techs must create estimates with no signal
- You want a no-card trial and month-to-month terms
- You sell memberships and replacements in HVAC, plumbing or electrical
Switching from Service Fusion to TradesWork
Be clear on this before you trial: TradesWork has no dedicated Service Fusion importer. Service Fusion files come in through the general "Another system or a spreadsheet" option in the importer.
What that does: you export your customer list and your price list from Service Fusion, drop the CSV or Excel files in, and map the columns (name, phone, email, address, code, price, category). Each customer's address becomes their first service location. You see a preview before anything is saved, rows that fail go to a list you can download as CSV and fix, and you can import into a separate sandbox company first. Re-dropping a newer export updates the same records instead of duplicating them, so you can run both systems side by side.
What it doesn't do: job history, invoices, estimates and service agreements don't import. Keep those Service Fusion reports as your archive and open them in Excel when you need a past job. Memberships are rebuilt by hand in TradesWork. Stored cards always need re-collecting, phone numbers move by porting, and automations and templates are rebuilt.
Service Fusion's Customer List report can pull every customer to Excel when you leave the date range blank.10 Our step-by-step Service Fusion export guide covers every report, and the migration guide lays out a week-by-week plan. If you're still shortlisting, see our Service Fusion alternatives page.
Which should you choose?
Service Fusion if you have three or more techs, a flat price with unlimited users is what you value most, you run QuickBooks Desktop, or you want an established vendor.
TradesWork if you're a 3 to 50 tech HVAC, plumbing or electrical shop that wants the portal, e-sign and memberships without the top plan, needs a tech app that works with no signal, and wants to trial it with no card first.
Score both on your own priorities with the field service software scorecard, and ask Service Fusion for a written 12-month total including add-ons.
Footnotes
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Service Fusion, Pricing (plans, unlimited users, add-ons, no-contract FAQ), checked October 15, 2026. https://www.servicefusion.com/pricing ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9
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Service Fusion Help Center, QuickBooks Desktop Setup Instructions. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360001111652-QuickBooks-Desktop-Setup-Instructions ↩
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Service Fusion, home page (customer and user counts, industries). https://www.servicefusion.com/ ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, Moving from Legacy Service Agreements to the New Service Agreements Overview. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/48463538166541-Moving-from-Legacy-Service-Agreements-to-the-New-Service-Agreements-Overview ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, Worker App Offline Capability Overview. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/45674870450189-Worker-App-Offline-Capability-Overview ↩
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Service Fusion Subscription Agreement, sections 7.1 and 8.1 to 8.2, last modified March 23, 2026. https://www.servicefusion.com/subscription-agreement ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, System Access Permissions. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360028668572-System-Access-Permissions ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, Using Equipment. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/11939936568333-Using-Equipment ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, Product Catalog and Service Catalog Breakdown. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/4409646851213-Product-Catalog-and-Service-Catalog-Breakdown ↩
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Service Fusion Help Center, Creating a Customer List Report. https://servicefusion.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360024040191-Creating-a-Customer-List-Report ↩
