What is the best field service software for a team of hundreds of technicians?
Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service is the best field service software for a team of hundreds of technicians when cost per user decides it, because its published price is the lowest on this list and it has a cheaper plan for outside contractors. A custom system from Black Badger ranks second, and it moves to first when per-technician fees become your largest software cost.
Large asset service teams that accept a quoted price
Asset history at the center, for makers that service installed equipment
Asset 360 extends Salesforce Field Service
No published price list
Sold as three separate packages, so fit depends on which is quoted
No way to price or trial it without talking to sales
The ranking, entry by entry
1 Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service
Best for teams of 200 or more where seat price decides the choice
At several hundred technicians the license cost decides the choice, and Dynamics 365 Field Service has the lowest published price here, charged per user and billed yearly. External technicians can go on the lower-priced Contractor plan. Multiply the difference between this and the next published price by 300 people and by every month of the contract. That difference is the only reason Dynamics 365 Field Service is first on this list.
Watch for. Optimized scheduling is a separate add-on charged per resource a month, and a team this size will want it. Add it to the seat price before you compare.
How it charges
Per user, billed yearly, with per-resource add-ons
Main limit
Schedule optimization is an add-on charged per resource
Best for large teams where technician licenses are the biggest software cost
A custom system ranks second for large teams because of how the products charge. Every product on this list charges by the user, the technician or the resource, so the bill grows with every hire and every subcontractor you add. A system Black Badger builds for you has no seat fee, which matters more at 400 technicians than at 40. We publish this guide and build custom software, and you own what we build.
Watch for. You take on the job of deciding how dispatch, parts and billing should work, which a product decides for you. Expect discovery and a written scope before anything is built.
How it charges
One-time build scoped in writing, then running costs such as hosting
Main limit
Needs a scoping call first, and suits companies of 50 or more employees
Best for large teams that need field work tied to service cases
Salesforce Field Service is third when cost per user leads. Its Dispatcher and Technician licenses are published per user on Enterprise Edition and at a higher price on Unlimited Edition, and per-user products need an annual contract. That is the highest published seat price on this list. Its advantage for a large team is that the field schedule and the service case are on one platform, and for some companies that is worth the difference.
Watch for. Dispatcher and Technician licenses cannot be used for contact center, call center or case management. Price the Service Cloud seats your office staff need alongside them.
How it charges
Per user, billed annually, on top of Service Cloud
Main limit
Needs a Service Cloud license and at least one Dispatcher license
Best for large trades teams that want payroll and dispatch together
ServiceTitan is fourth. It prices per technician, which is the right unit for a company whose staff are mostly technicians, and it puts dispatch, invoicing and payroll in one system. It cannot rank higher on a cost list because every plan shows Request Pricing, so there is no figure to multiply by your technician count. Payroll management starts at the Essentials plan, and commission tracking is not listed on Starter or Essentials.
Watch for. Ask for the per-technician price in writing at your real count, with any Pro products itemized. They are sold separately and have no published price.
How it charges
Per technician, by plan, quoted on request
Main limit
Payroll, advanced reporting and commissions sit in higher plans
Best for large organizations buying field service with a wider platform
IFS Cloud Field Service Management ranks fifth for cost at this headcount. It is sold to large service organizations as part of an enterprise platform that holds assets and service contracts, and at that size the price is negotiated with each buyer. There is no published price to work from. If cost per technician is your first question, you will only get the answer from IFS after a demo and a sales conversation.
Watch for. Ask how the quote changes as you add technicians, since nothing on the product page says how licensing scales with headcount.
How it charges
Quoted by sales, no published price
Main limit
No published price, sold through a sales conversation
Best for large asset service teams that accept a quoted price
ServiceMax ranks sixth on a cost list. PTC says its pricing varies with the size of the organization, the features required and the number of user licenses, so headcount drives the bill here as well, and none of it is published. One of its three packages, Asset 360, extends Salesforce Field Service. A buyer counting cost per technician needs to know whether Salesforce licenses sit inside that quote or beside it.
Watch for. Get the quote for the specific package, ServiceMax Core, Asset 360 or FieldFX. A price for one tells you little about another.
How it charges
Quoted by organization size, features and user licenses
Main limit
Three separate packages and no published price for any
We ranked for a team of 200 or more technicians with dispatchers, regional managers and subcontractors, where the per-user license is the largest line in the software budget. Published price per user counted most, then what has to be added to that price before the team can schedule, then how the vendor charges for outside contractors.
Vendors that publish no price cannot win a cost list, however good the product. They are ranked by how plainly they say what drives the quote.
Questions buyers ask
How much does field service software cost for 300 technicians?
Field service software cost can be worked out in advance only for the two vendors that publish a price. For those two, multiply the per-user figure by your user count and by twelve, then add the add-ons you need. On the dates we checked, Microsoft and Salesforce each listed a per-user price, and the Microsoft price was the lower of the two. The other vendors on this list quote per customer, so the only way to get the number is to ask for it in writing.
Do dispatchers and office staff need field service software licenses as well as technicians?
Dispatchers and office staff usually need field service licenses as well, so include them in the count. Salesforce sells separate Dispatcher and Technician licenses and requires at least one Service Cloud user license. Count everyone who will schedule, approve, invoice or look up a job, as well as the people in trucks.
When does per-technician pricing for field service software stop making sense?
Per-technician pricing stops making sense when the yearly license bill passes what it would cost to build and run a system of your own. That point arrives sooner for large teams, because the license bill grows with headcount and a system you own does not. Our product versus custom page sets out the comparison.