Disclosure: This guide has no affiliate links yet. If we add any later, we’ll label them, and we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Read our affiliate disclosure.
How we put this together: We haven’t run mowing crews on these apps. This guide compares what each company publishes (prices, plan limits and listed features) and prices them for a typical one- or two-crew lawn business. Use the free trials to confirm anything that decides it for you.
The short answer
- Lowest bill for two crews that each ride together: GorillaDesk Basic, about $99/month for 2 routes. It charges per route, not per person, and crew members are free users.
- Strongest all-round quoting, invoicing and auto-pay for recurring mowing: Jobber Connect, $149/month billed annually with 5 users included.
- Already know Housecall Pro, or want consumer financing for bigger landscape jobs: Housecall Pro Essentials, $149/month billed annually with 5 users included.
For an owner plus two crew leads, all three land at $99-$149 a month on list prices. The real differences are in how they count people, how they handle recurring billing, and how they treat your off-season.
1. How each one counts your crews
This matters more than the headline price.
- GorillaDesk charges per route (schedule). Its FAQ says crews that ride together share one schedule, and admin, manager, sales and crew users are free on every plan. Two crews = two routes.
- Jobber charges per user. A user is anyone who accesses the account to view or manage the schedule. Plans come in 1-, 5-, 10- and 15-user sizes, and extra users are $29/month each.
- Housecall Pro also counts users: Basic includes 1 user, Essentials 5, MAX 8. Extra users on MAX are $35/month each.
So if only you and your two crew leads log in, the user-based tools fit inside a 5-user plan. If every crew member needs the app to clock in or see the day’s jobs, the user-based plans get more expensive and GorillaDesk’s per-route model gets more attractive.
2. Prices for a 1-2 crew business (checked Oct 2026)
| GorillaDesk | Jobber | Housecall Pro | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry option | Basic $49/mo, 1 route | Core $29/mo billed annually ($49 no commitment), 1 user only | Basic $59/mo billed annually ($79 monthly), 1 user |
| Typical 2-crew plan | Basic, 2 routes: $99/mo | Connect, 5 users: $149/mo annual / $169 (1-yr monthly) / $199 (no commitment) | Essentials, 5 users: $149/mo annual / $189 monthly |
| Step-up plan | Pro, 2 routes: $149/mo; Growth, 2 routes: $199/mo | Grow, 5 users: $229/mo annual / $259 / $299 | MAX, 8 users: $299/mo annual / $329 monthly |
| Extra people | Crew users free; extra routes +$50/mo (Basic routes 2-3; Pro/Growth) | +$29/mo per user | +$35/mo per user (MAX) |
| Free trial | 14-day trial mentioned on GorillaDesk’s affiliate page | 14 days with Grow features, no card | 14 days on MAX, no card |
Sources: GorillaDesk pricing, Jobber pricing, Housecall Pro pricing, all checked Oct 2026. GorillaDesk prices are shown as paid monthly. Housecall Pro’s page also showed limited-time intro discounts. We’ve left those out because they change.
Year-one math for owner + 2 crew leads (list prices, our arithmetic):
- GorillaDesk Basic, 2 routes: $99 x 12 = $1,188
- GorillaDesk Pro, 2 routes: $149 x 12 = $1,788
- Jobber Connect, 5 users, annual: $149 x 12 = $1,788
- Housecall Pro Essentials, annual: $149 x 12 = $1,788
3. Recurring mowing and getting paid automatically
Weekly or biweekly mowing lives or dies on recurring billing.
- Jobber Connect lists “Collect payments automatically” and automatic payments for recurring work, which charge a client’s saved card. It also lists automated invoice follow-ups and QuickBooks Online sync.
- GorillaDesk Pro lists automated subscription billing through Stripe or Square. It isn’t listed on Basic, so if you want auto-billing, the real comparison is GorillaDesk Pro ($149/mo for 2 routes).
- Housecall Pro lists invoices with automated reminders and online payments from Basic. Recurring Service Plans (recurring maintenance agreements) are listed on MAX.
Card fees: Jobber publishes 2.9% + 30 cents for online cards and 1% for ACH bank payments. Housecall Pro says card processing is “as low as 2.59%” with a 1% fee on bank payments. GorillaDesk uses Stripe and Square, so you pay those processors’ rates.
4. Routing and the daily schedule
- GorillaDesk: Basic routing is limited to 25 stops at a time. Pro adds Drive Matrix routing with real-time street routing and drive times. Growth adds drive time between jobs, Best Available Time and Job Magnet to pull nearby jobs together.
- Jobber: lists Routing (“optimize daily or weekly routes for your whole team”), GPS tracking and a “Find a Time” scheduler. Its pricing page lists crew scheduling (grouping teammates into crews) as a feature of the higher Plus plan, and also lists crew time tracking without saying clearly which plan it’s on. We couldn’t confirm from the page which tier routing starts on, so check in the trial.
- Housecall Pro: Essentials lists Routes (group and sequence jobs). Route optimization using real drive time and live traffic is listed on MAX.
If a crew does more than 25 stops on a busy day, test GorillaDesk Basic’s limit with a real route before you commit.
5. Quoting new lawns and upselling
- GorillaDesk Growth lists Map Estimation Tools: map out a property, get measurements in seconds, and save the drawing to the location. Of the three pricing pages, it’s the only one listing property measuring. Growth also adds estimate packages.
- Jobber Grow lists quotes with images and reviews, optional line items for upsells, and job costing.
- Housecall Pro lists a price book and job costing from Basic, flat-rate pricing on Essentials, and a sales proposal tool on MAX.
6. Winter and the off-season
For many lawn businesses this is the deciding factor.
- GorillaDesk: monthly accounts can be frozen if the business is seasonal. Plans are month-to-month with no contracts.
- Jobber: no-commitment monthly can be cancelled anytime. A 1-year commitment keeps billing monthly until the term ends, and prepaid annual plans are non-refundable.
- Housecall Pro: no long-term contracts required. Downgrades take effect at the end of the current billing period.
The annual prices above are the cheapest per month, but only if you’d keep paying through winter anyway. For a strictly seasonal business, compare 8 months of monthly billing against 12 months of annual.
7. Which to pick
Pick GorillaDesk if your crews ride together, you want the lowest predictable bill, and you value the winter freeze. Go to Pro if you want automatic subscription billing.
Pick Jobber if you want polished quotes, a client hub and automatic payments in one tool, and only a few people need to log in.
Pick Housecall Pro if you also do larger landscape jobs where consumer financing helps close the sale, or your team needs the Spanish-language app. Jobber’s mobile app is also available in Spanish for team members.
Related guides
- New to GorillaDesk’s route-based pricing? Read GorillaDesk Pricing Explained: Routes and Text-Message Credits.
- Deciding between the two user-based tools? See Housecall Pro vs Jobber for Cleaning and Landscaping.
- Doing pest or weed control alongside mowing? See GorillaDesk vs Jobber for a Solo Pest Control Operator.
Bottom line
For a lawn business with one or two crews, GorillaDesk Basic is the cheapest place to start. Jobber Connect and Housecall Pro Essentials cost the same at list price ($149/month billed annually for 5 users), so choose between them on features, not price. Run one real week of mowing routes and one recurring auto-charge through your top two trials before you pay.
Prices and features change. This page was checked against each vendor’s pricing page in October 2026 (last on October 17, 2026). Spot something out of date? Email mopandmower@gmail.com.
Leave a Reply