What It Costs to Add a User to Field Service Software - One Job, a Season, or Your First Hire
A helper for one Saturday shouldn't cost you a month of software. Here's what adding a person really costs, and how to make it zero.
Updated October 9, 2026
A helper for one Saturday shouldn't cost you a month of software. Here's what adding a person really costs, and how to make it zero.
Published October 7, 2026.
What does it cost to add a user to field service software?
On ToolBerry Free, adding a person costs nothing, whether they help for one job, one season or for good. On the big field service apps, each extra person can cost $29 to $61 a month, or push you onto a bigger plan. Add help the day a big job lands, and remove them when it's done.
Most apps charge "per seat," meaning one paid login for each person. Here is what three of them list for one more person (checked September 25, 2026):
| App | Cost to add one more person |
|---|---|
| Jobber | $29 a month per extra user, on plans that allow more than one user |
| Housecall Pro | Basic is one user. Essentials, for up to 5 users, costs $90 a month more. Past 8 users on MAX, $35 each |
| Tradify | $47 to $61 a month for every user |
| ToolBerry Free | $0 |
Sources: Jobber pricing, Housecall Pro pricing, Tradify pricing. The full bill, beyond seats, is in What Field Service Software Actually Costs in 2026 (Jobber, Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan Compared).
What does that look like over one real year?
A small shop rarely adds people one clean hire at a time. Help shows up for a day, then for a summer, then maybe for good, and per-seat pricing bills you for every one of those steps. Here is how that plays out for one small business over a single year.
Imagine you run a one-truck pressure washing business. In April a customer books a deck strip and seal that needs two people on a Saturday. You call a guy you've worked with before and pay him cash for the day.
From June through September your nephew helps three days a week. In October a regular customer hands you a second route, and you hire your first real employee.
On a per-seat app, each of those people is a seat, billed by the month. The Saturday helper can cost a full month for one day of work. The nephew costs four months, and the new hire costs every month from October on.
At Jobber's $29 a seat, that's $29 + $116 + $87 = $232 for the year, on top of the plan itself. At Tradify's lowest price, $47 a seat, the same year comes to $376.
There's also a hidden cost: someone has to remember to remove the nephew in September. Forget, and you keep paying for a seat nobody uses.
What does it cost me on ToolBerry?
Nothing per person. You add your helper on your People page, give them a role and text them a link. Removing them later is one tap on Remove shared access. In the year above, the Saturday helper, the nephew and the first hire all cost the same: $0. There's no seat to buy, so there's nothing to forget to cancel.
Your helper doesn't need an account, an email or a password. How the link works is in Add an Employee With a Link - No Account, No Email, No Password.
ToolBerry can skip the seat fee because on Free there's no ToolBerry server holding your crew's data. Your crew's jobs travel through your own Dropbox, so a new person costs us nothing to run. Why that keeps Free free is in No Cheese in the Trap: The Rule Behind ToolBerry Free.
I care about this because I've seen the other side. I once worked with an owner who ran several companies, and every person needed a paid license in every one of them, so trying out one helper meant paying for one more license. The longer story is in Why we are building a free way for your crew to share one workspace.
What if my crew keeps growing?
Keep adding people on Free for as long as it works for you. There's no cap on how many teammates you invite. Once you have four or more, the People page suggests ToolBerry Pro, for live updates and locks that really stop staff from opening what they shouldn't. It's a suggestion, not a limit, and inviting keeps working.
Pro is priced per business, not per seat, so growing still doesn't add a fee for each person. What each plan is for, and when to switch, is in Free vs Pro: The ToolBerry Story, and What Each Plan Is For.
The honest tradeoffs
Adding people is free, but Free has limits you should know before your first helper joins. Your Dropbox may need more space, roles hide screens rather than lock data, updates take minutes, and a few things are Pro or phone-only. None of these stop a small crew from working, but each is worth a minute before you invite anyone.
- Your Dropbox might fill up. Dropbox's free plan holds 2 GB. A crew taking lots of job photos may need Dropbox Plus, about $12 a month. That's one bill for the whole crew, not one per person.
- Roles hide screens, they don't lock data. On Free, anyone you invite can reach your business data, so invite people you'd trust with a paper work order.
- Updates take minutes, not seconds. Fine for "here's Saturday's job," not for sending someone to a call right now.
- No team-wide history of who changed what. That's the Audit log, part of Pro.
- Your crew needs the app on their phone. Staff join from the ToolBerry app, not a web browser.
What should I do next?
Wait for the next job that needs two people, and add your helper for just that job. Put the job in, add them on your People page, give them a role and send the invite. If it goes well, keep them. If not, tap Remove shared access, and it cost you nothing.
The full setup, screen by screen, is in How to Add Your Team to ToolBerry, Step by Step (Including Your Own Tablet).
Questions? Email contact@toolberry.net. ToolBerry is a free, offline-first field service management app for small service-trade businesses. Get it on the App Store or Google Play.