Disclosure: Some links in this article are paid links. If you sign up for Jobber or BookingKoala through them, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. We don’t earn anything from ZenMaid. That doesn’t change how we compare the tools: every price below comes from the vendor’s own pricing page, checked October 16, 2026.

How we put this together: We haven’t run a cleaning business on these three apps. This guide compares what each company publishes: prices, plan limits and listed features. It then works out what a typical small cleaning team would actually pay. Confirm details in a free trial before you commit. All three offer one.

The short answer

• Solo, under ~40 cleanings a month, smallest budget: ZenMaid Starter, listed at $19/month. Watch the 40-appointment cap.
• Small team that wants its own booking website plus online booking forms: BookingKoala Growing, listed at $57/month for up to 15 providers.
• Planning to add other services later (windows, carpets, move-outs) or wanting strong quoting, invoicing and QuickBooks sync in one tool: Jobber. It costs more for teams: Connect with 5 users is $149/month billed annually.

Below are the details behind those picks.

1. Pricing at a glance (as listed October 16, 2026)

	ZenMaid	BookingKoala	Jobber
Entry plan	Starter $19/mo, up to 40 appointments/month	Starter $27/mo, 5 providers	Core $29/mo billed annually ($49 no commitment), 1 user
Mid plan	Pro $39/mo, unlimited appointments	Growing $57/mo, 15 providers	Connect, 5 users: $149/mo annual / $169 (1-yr monthly) / $199 (no commitment)
Upper plan	Pro Max $49/mo	Premium $197/mo, 50 providers	Grow, 5 users: $229/mo annual / $259 / $299
Extra users	Price calculator scales by team size (check for your headcount)	Tiers based on providers/storage	$29/mo per added user
Text messages	“SMS charges not included”	SMS notifications listed from Growing	Automated reminders from Connect
Free trial	14 days	14 days (30 days via partner links)	14 days on Grow plan, no card needed
Contract	Month to month, cancel anytime	No contracts, cancel anytime	No-commitment monthly, 1-year commitment, or annual prepaid (non-refundable)

Sources: ZenMaid pricing, BookingKoala pricing, Jobber pricing (all accessed 2026-10-16; Jobber’s page metadata shows it was last modified 2026-09-23). BookingKoala’s 30-day trial via affiliate links is described in its affiliate help article.

A catch to know about: on Jobber’s pricing page, Core is shown only for “Just me”. For a 2–5 person team, the self-serve options start at Connect. That one fact explains most of the price gap between Jobber and the two cleaning-specific tools.

2. What a 3-person team (owner + 2 cleaners) would pay

This is our own math from the list prices above, before tax and payment-processing fees:

• ZenMaid Pro: listed at $39/month, plus SMS usage. Pro is the first ZenMaid plan with unlimited appointments, digital checklists and cleaner GPS tracking. ZenMaid’s pricing page has a team-size calculator, so enter “3” and confirm the figure.
• BookingKoala Growing: $57/month. Starter ($27) already covers 5 providers, but SMS notifications and GPS clock-in/out are listed starting on Growing.
• Jobber Connect (5 users): $149/month billed annually, or $199/month with no commitment.

Over a year, that’s roughly $468 (ZenMaid Pro), $684 (BookingKoala Growing), or $1,788 to $2,388 (Jobber Connect, depending on billing). Whether Jobber’s extra cost is worth it depends on the features in section 4.

3. Feature by feature: what matters to a cleaning business

Recurring scheduling and filling open slots

Most residential cleaning revenue is weekly or biweekly repeat visits.

• ZenMaid Pro lists “Spotfinder for easy scheduling of new recurring customers.” It’s meant to help you fit a new recurring client into your existing routes.
• BookingKoala calls its scheduling engine “smart scheduling.” Its Growing plan adds map and horizontal calendar views, and Premium adds “daily discounts” to push bookings onto slow days like Monday or Tuesday.
• Jobber offers online booking on all plans. It lists routing, GPS tracking and a “Find a Time” scheduling suggestion tool, but its pricing page doesn’t mark which plan each one starts on. Check in the trial.

Online booking that customers actually use

• BookingKoala is built around customer-facing booking forms and an included website/theme builder with your own domain. That suits you if you don’t have a website yet.
• ZenMaid lists “high-converting booking forms” on Pro (with ZenMaid branding) and your own branding on Pro Max.
• Jobber includes online booking, request forms, a client hub where customers approve quotes and pay, and a basic website on Core.

Checklists (so every clean is consistent)

• ZenMaid: digital checklists from Pro.
• BookingKoala: lists provider checklists. Premium adds real-time progress, checklist dependencies and exporting completed checklists. Confirm which tier you need during the trial.
• Jobber: job checklists from Connect.

Getting paid

• Jobber publishes its card rate: 2.9% + 30¢ online, 2.7% + 30¢ for Tap to Pay, and 1% for ACH bank payments. Automatic payments for recurring work are also listed.
• ZenMaid lists online payments through Stripe and Square, so you pay those processors’ own fees.
• BookingKoala lets you charge and refund cards inside the app, set cancellation fees, and collect tips. Its pricing page doesn’t list a processing rate, so ask before you switch.

If a client cancels the morning of, a cancellation fee you can charge automatically (BookingKoala lists this) can matter more than a few dollars’ difference in subscription price.

Team management and payroll

• ZenMaid Pro lists payroll and QuickBooks integration. Pro Max adds cleaner availability/PTO tracking.
• BookingKoala Growing adds GPS & clock in/out.
• Jobber Connect lists time and expense tracking and QuickBooks Online sync. Jobber also lists a Gusto payroll integration.

4. Who should pick which

Choose ZenMaid if… you only do residential cleaning, want the lowest monthly bill, and like a tool built just for maid services. Starter is fine while you’re doing fewer than 40 cleanings a month. Once you pass that, you can’t add appointments for the rest of the month without upgrading (per ZenMaid’s FAQ). Plan to move to Pro early.

Choose BookingKoala if… you need a website and booking form at the same time, expect to grow past 5 cleaners (Growing covers 15 providers), or want built-in gift cards, referrals and ratings (Growing) and marketing campaigns (Premium).

Choose Jobber if… you quote a lot of one-off jobs like move-out, post-construction or deep cleans, want polished quotes with automated follow-ups, or plan to add non-cleaning services. You get a broader tool, and at team size you pay for it.

5. Questions to settle during your free trial

1. Enter your real team size into each pricing page or calculator and write down the monthly total, including tax.
2. Book one recurring biweekly client and check how easily you can reschedule a single visit without breaking the series.
3. Send a test reminder text and find out what SMS will cost you per month.
4. Run a $1 test payment and compare the deposited amount to the listed fees.
5. Ask support how to export your client list if you ever leave. (ZenMaid’s FAQ says you own your data, and Pro Max lists a data export. BookingKoala lists booking exports.)

Bottom line

For most new residential cleaning businesses with 1–5 people, ZenMaid Pro or BookingKoala Growing costs the least each year. Pick ZenMaid for focus and simplicity, BookingKoala if you also need a website and booking site. Jobber costs roughly 2.5 to 5 times as much per year for a small team (our math above), but it covers quoting, invoicing and multiple service types better. Start a free trial of your top two and run your next two weeks of real jobs through them before you pay.

Prices and features change. This page was last checked against the vendors’ pricing pages on October 16, 2026. If you spot something outdated, tell us and we’ll fix it.