What is the best field service software for a company already on Salesforce or Microsoft?
Salesforce Field Service is the best choice for a company already on Salesforce, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service is the matching answer for a company on Microsoft, because each adds field work to records your office already keeps. A custom system built by Black Badger ranks third, since it can read and write to either platform without adding another per-user license for every technician.
Companies ready to move service onto a separate enterprise platform
Field service inside an enterprise platform
Covers assets and service contracts for large service organizations
No published price
Sold only through a demo and a sales conversation
The ranking, entry by entry
1 Salesforce Field Service
Best for companies whose customer and case data already live in Salesforce
If your accounts, cases and service history are already in Salesforce, adding Field Service keeps technicians working from the same records as the people who take the calls. The product assumes the platform is there, since it requires at least one Service Cloud user license. The Dispatcher and Technician licenses are published per user on Enterprise Edition, billed annually.
Watch for. The Scheduling Agent requires Flex Credits on the Dispatcher, Technician and Contractor Plus licenses. Ask how many credits your scheduling volume would use.
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 companies that run Dynamics 365 and Microsoft 365 already
For a Microsoft company the same logic points to Dynamics 365 Field Service. It connects field work to the other Microsoft tools your people use, and it is priced per user, billed yearly, with a lower-priced Contractor plan for external technicians. It is second on this list only because the list has to have an order. If you are a Microsoft company and not a Salesforce one, read it as first.
Watch for. Running prebuilt and custom agents needs Copilot Credits and an Azure subscription, and Microsoft lists no price for the credits. Schedule optimization is a separate add-on.
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 platform companies that do not want a license per technician
Running Salesforce or Dynamics in the office does not oblige you to license it for every technician. Black Badger publishes this guide and builds custom software. We can build a field system that reads customers and cases from the platform you keep and writes completed work back to it. The office stays where it is. The technicians get screens built for their jobs, and there is no per-seat fee for them.
Watch for. Someone on your side has to own the connection between the two systems after launch. We document it and build it on accounts in your name, but it is yours to run.
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 salesforce companies that service installed equipment
ServiceMax is fourth and belongs on this list for one reason. One of its three packages, Asset 360, is sold as an extension of Salesforce Field Service, so a Salesforce company that services installed equipment can add asset history on the platform it already has. The other two packages, ServiceMax Core and FieldFX, are separate products. PTC publishes no price for any of the three.
Watch for. Ask whether the Asset 360 quote includes the Salesforce licenses it sits on or assumes you buy them separately.
How it charges
Quoted by organization size, features and user licenses
Main limit
Three separate packages and no published price for any
Best for companies whose service desk already runs on ServiceNow
ServiceNow Field Service Management ranks fifth here because it answers the same question for a third platform. A company that runs ServiceNow for IT or customer service can put field work on it. A company committed to Salesforce or Microsoft would be adding a second platform to get a field tool, which is why it sits below the options that extend what you already own. The price is by custom quote only.
Watch for. ServiceNow says non-production instances may not be used with production data, so a pilot on live jobs needs a commercial subscription.
How it charges
Quoted by sales, as a ServiceNow subscription
Main limit
Runs on the ServiceNow platform and needs its own subscription
Best for companies ready to move service onto a separate enterprise platform
IFS Cloud Field Service Management is sixth on this list, and the position says nothing about the product. IFS sells field service inside its own enterprise platform, with assets and service contracts alongside. For a company whose customer records live in Salesforce or Microsoft, that means a second system of record and an integration to keep them in agreement. It makes sense when you are ready to move service operations as a whole.
Watch for. IFS shows no price on its product page. Budget for the integration to your existing platform as well as the licenses.
How it charges
Quoted by sales, no published price
Main limit
No published price, sold through a sales conversation
We ranked for a company of 50 or more employees whose customer records, cases or finance already sit in Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics. Keeping one set of customer records counted first, then the published price of the field licenses, then what else has to be licensed before a technician can be scheduled.
The first two entries are equals for different readers. Salesforce companies should read the first as their answer and Microsoft companies the second.
Questions buyers ask
Do we have to buy the field service product from our CRM vendor?
No, you do not have to buy the field service product from the vendor whose platform your office runs on. Buying it there is the easiest route and often the right choice, because the technician and the office share one record. Any system that can read and write to your platform can do the field work, including a custom one.
What does Salesforce Field Service need besides the field licenses?
Salesforce says Field Service requires at least one Service Cloud user license, and technicians and contractors need at least one Dispatcher license in place to use the scheduling tool. The Dispatcher and Technician licenses cannot be used for contact center or case management work.
What costs extra on Dynamics 365 Field Service beyond the per-user license?
Dynamics 365 Field Service charges extra for schedule optimization and for agents. On the date we checked, Resource Scheduling Optimization was an add-on charged per resource a month, and agents needed Copilot Credits and an Azure subscription with no credit price listed. The Contractor plan for external technicians has limited access to scheduling and vendor management.