A $0 line on a pricing page is not one product. Four vendors publish a forever-free or $0 subscription as of 2026-09-03. They bill four different ways. This page does not rank a winner. We have not tested these apps.
What free means
Verified fact: A forever-free plan stays $0 while you stay inside the vendor’s published cap or funding model. A trial is a clock. A cheap paid plan still charges a monthly subscription.
Those three are not interchangeable. PSS publishes a capped forever-free plan. BlueRoute and ProBase publish $0/month software. DoorstepHQ publishes a free core platform. Skimmer, Pool Brain, Paythepoolman, POM, and Jobber publish paid subscriptions. Some of those paid pages also advertise a trial. A trial is not a free plan.
Editorial judgment: Compare the bill (property cap, required processing, a marketplace that is not live, or unpublished add-ons) before you compare the feature list.
Four $0 models
PSS (property-capped). PSS publishes a Free Plan under a 10-unit cap. The Google Play listing says 10 clients/properties. The FAQ says 10 clients or less. The vendor says all features are included on that cap. The Free Plan is not on the signup chooser. Paid bands on that signup page: Dive In $49.99/mo (11–50 properties), Ripple Effect $99/mo (51–100), Wave Maker $0.95/property/mo (101+). Stripe is 2.9% plus $0.30. Optional setup is $50. Under the cap this is forever-free, not a trial.
BlueRoute (processing-funded). BlueRoute pricing publishes $0/month for every feature. Cards are 3%. ACH is 1%. BlueRoute Payments is required. Bring-your-own processor is not offered. A Founding Member rate lock is published for the first 100 companies. Client, technician, and location caps are not published. We do not invent “unlimited techs.” FAQ answers that sit behind JavaScript are not treated as published here. Competitor cost tables on BlueRoute pages are ignored.
ProBase (marketplace-funded, marketplace not live). ProBase pricing publishes All Features at $0/mo forever. Why ProBase is free describes a marketplace-funded model. That marketplace is coming soon. The take-rate is unpublished. The vendor states the current build has no LSI, no QuickBooks, and no offline. Stripe Connect is named. The Stripe percentage is unpublished. The product is lawn plus pool (pool page). ProBase competitor dollar ranges are ignored.
DoorstepHQ (add-on plus processing). DoorstepHQ publishes the core platform as free, with unlimited customers, quotes, invoices, and bookings. The features page says unlimited members. Review requests and a business phone are add-ons; those prices are unpublished. A processing rate is not published on the primary pages we fetched. We do not lock a 3.5% blog figure. We do not lock 3-versus-5 user caps from blogs. /pricing returned 404. This is general field-service software with a dedicated pool page.
Comparison table
Verified fact: Primary pages checked 2026-09-03. Unpublished cells are unpublished, not guessed.
| Product | $0 claim | How they get paid | Published cap | Missing on the fetched pages |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSS Free Plan | Forever-free under the 10-unit cap. All features on that cap | Paid bands after 10. Stripe 2.9% + $0.30. Optional setup $50 | Play: 10 clients/properties. FAQ: 10 clients or less | Free Plan not on the signup chooser. Client vs property wording differs |
| BlueRoute | $0/month, every feature | Required BlueRoute Payments: 3% cards, 1% ACH. BYO processor not offered. Founding Member lock for first 100 companies | None published | Technician, client, and location limits. JS-hidden FAQ answers |
| ProBase | All Features $0/mo forever | Marketplace-funded; marketplace coming soon. Take-rate unpublished. Stripe Connect; Stripe % unpublished | None published | LSI, QBO, offline (vendor says not in the current build). Live marketplace |
| DoorstepHQ | Core platform free. Unlimited customers, quotes, invoices, bookings. Features: unlimited members | Add-ons (review requests, business phone) unpublished. Processing unpublished | Features say unlimited members | /pricing 404. Add-on prices. Processing rate on a primary page |
Paid contrast
These products do not publish a forever-free plan. A trial or a first-month promo is still a paid product.
| Product | Published subscription (prior locks, 2026-09-03 unless noted) | Trial or promo is not a free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Poolside | Starter $29.99/mo | 50% off first month is a promo |
| Jobber | Core $29/mo on annual billing, dated 2026-06-08. Unconfirmed for current monthly | Official pricing was blocked 2026-09-03. Not a free plan |
| Skimmer | Getting Started $49/mo (49 serviced locations) | Scaling Up first month free is a promo, not a forever-free plan |
| Pool Founder | Solo $49/mo | 30-day trial advertised |
| Paythepoolman | $65/month for 1 technician (homepage calculator) | 30-day trial advertised |
| Pool Brain | $65/tech. Monthly total unpublished | Trial button present; terms not stated on that page |
| POM | $125/mo first user | Free trial advertised; day count not stated |
Editorial judgment: $29.99 and $49 are cheap next to some team tools. They are still subscriptions. Do not file them next to PSS Free or BlueRoute $0/month.
Units and QuickBooks detail stay on the solo-operator guide, the small-team guide, Skimmer vs Pool Brain, Poolside vs Skimmer, and the QuickBooks guide.
Gaps
PSS is the only forever-free plan here with a named property/client ceiling. Confirm whether your stops are clients or properties before you count to 10. The Free Plan is missing from the paid signup chooser, so ask how you actually start on $0.
BlueRoute’s software price is $0 if you accept their processor and the published 3% / 1% rates. We cannot model headcount cost because caps are unpublished and hidden FAQ answers are not used.
ProBase’s $0/mo claim is current. The funding model that is supposed to replace a subscription is not live, and the take-rate is unpublished. The vendor already says LSI, QuickBooks, and offline are absent.
DoorstepHQ’s core is free on the pages we have. Add-on and processing dollars are unpublished, and the pricing URL 404s. Blog figures are out of scope.
Questions for a trial
- Is this forever-free under a written cap, a trial clock, or $0 software funded another way?
- For PSS: is the cap 10 clients or 10 properties, and how do I start on Free if it is not on the signup chooser?
- For BlueRoute: is BlueRoute Payments still required, and is a third-party processor still not offered?
- For ProBase: when does the marketplace go live, and what is the take-rate?
- For DoorstepHQ: what do review requests and the business phone cost, and what processing rate is on a primary page?
- What happens to features and price when I add the 11th property or a second technician?
- What can I export if I leave?
What we are not claiming
We have not run these products on a route. We are not ranking a winner. We did not import BlueRoute or ProBase competitor tables. We did not invent unlimited BlueRoute technicians. We did not lock DoorstepHQ processing at 3.5% or user caps at 3 versus 5 from blogs.
Ask for the cap, the processor rule, and the add-on price in writing. Then compare that bill to a paid quote. Pricing units for the paid shortlist are on the solo-operator guide and the small-team guide.