Electrical Billing Software: 3 Steps to Pick One in 2027

Start with billing type, then three steps

Electrical billing software turns completed jobs, labor hours, materials and approved change orders into invoices, collects payment, and posts the results to accounting. The category decision comes first. A residential shop that bills single jobs should compare field-service suites with built-in invoicing against accounting-first tools, while a commercial contractor that bills against a schedule of values needs progress billing before anything else.

Use three steps to shortlist:

1. Sort by billing type. Single-job invoices point toward Housecall Pro, Jobber, Tofu, Agiled or Workiz. Pay applications point toward Knowify. Multi-crew dispatch, pricebook and payroll in one suite point toward ServiceTitan.

2. Check the entry plan, not the headline plan. The plan you can buy at your crew size decides whether QuickBooks sync, card payments and invoice limits apply to you.

3. Get a written quote wherever no price is public. Export a sample of customers and invoices before you sign, so you know what leaves if you switch.

The market is large, and its revenue is slipping slightly: NAICS 238210 industry revenue: $370.9bn in 2026 according to IBISWorld (2026), with growth of -1.14% in the same year.

TL;DR: pick by billing type, confirm that the entry plan lists QuickBooks sync and card payments, and get a written quote for any tool with no public price.

Key Takeaways

• Housecall Pro's Basic plan lists invoicing and estimates but no QuickBooks sync. The sync appears on Essentials and above.

• Jobber lists QuickBooks Online sync and automatic payment collection from its Connect tier, not from Core.

• Tofu prices by worker count and adds a 1% platform fee on card payments on every plan.

• Knowify's pricing page lists progress billing and AIA G702 and G703 pay applications on all three plans, but it does not clearly tie a price to any plan.

• Three tools (ServiceTitan, Workiz and Knowify) publish no usable plan price, so their total cost depends on written quotes.

• Automation only helps when the records behind it are consistent. EC&M's October 2026 coverage of NECA 2026 makes the same point about data quality.

Who this is for

This guide is for the owner or operations lead of an electrical business that sends invoices to customers and wants billing to reach the accounting system without re-keying. It is most useful if you are choosing between two or three tools this month and need plan details rather than sales copy.

Good fits include a residential or light commercial shop with a small field crew that takes card payments on site or by link, an office already running QuickBooks Online that wants invoices and payments posted there automatically, and a commercial contractor that must bill progress against a schedule of values.

Red flags: a plan with no accounting sync when your books live in QuickBooks, a tool that cannot produce progress or pay-application invoices for commercial work, and a vendor that will not put a price in writing before you commit.

How we evaluated these tools

We weighted seven criteria by how much each one changes whether an invoice is sent, paid and posted correctly. The weights are our judgment as an informed buyer, not vendor data. Each tool is scored only on what its public pages state, and where a page is silent we record "not listed" instead of assuming the feature exists.

Market context comes from IBISWorld and a 2026 EC&M article. We also looked for review-site ratings, but those pages did not open for us, so this guide does not use ratings.

Feature matrix: what each plan page lists

A "Not listed" cell means the public plan page is silent. Treat it as a question to put to the vendor, not as proof the feature is missing. Only Knowify's page lists progress and pay-application billing, which makes it the first stop for commercial work.

Pricing and total cost

Pricing checked October 18, 2026. The figures below are the ones printed on each vendor's own pricing page, shown at annual billing where the page offers it. Taxes, add-ons and processor fees are excluded unless stated.

Basic plan on Housecall Pro: $59/mo billed annually according to Housecall Pro (2026). The Basic plan is $79 a month billed monthly and covers one user, with estimates and invoicing but no listed QuickBooks sync. Housecall Pro's Essentials plan is $149 a month billed annually for five users and adds QuickBooks Online sync, and its Max plan is $299 a month billed annually for eight users, with extra users at $35 a month each, according to Housecall Pro.

Jobber's Core plan is $29 a month billed annually for one user, and its Connect plan is $99 a month billed annually for one user, with Connect adding QuickBooks Online sync and automatic payment collection, according to Jobber. The same page lists extra users at $29 a month each, a credit card rate of 2.9% plus 30 cents, and bank payments at 1%, and it marks tiers above 15 users as quote-based.

Tofu's Solo plan is $15 a month billed annually, its Team plan is $50 a month for up to five workers, and its Business plan is $100 a month for up to ten workers, according to Tofu. Tofu charges Stripe's standard card fee plus a 1% Tofu platform fee on every plan, while cash, check and outside bank transfers recorded manually carry no fee, according to Tofu.

Agiled's Starter plan costs $24 a month billed annually, its Pro plan costs $59, its Business plan costs $99 and its Scale plan costs $199, with a 20% discount for annual billing, according to Agiled. Starter caps invoices at 100, unlimited invoicing starts at Pro, and the QuickBooks or Xero integration is listed on Business.

Workiz, ServiceTitan and Knowify do not publish usable plan prices. Workiz labels its Standard, Pro and Ultimate plans "Request pricing" and says annual billing is discounted, per Workiz's pricing page. ServiceTitan's Starter, Essentials and The Works plans each end in a "Request Pricing" button, per ServiceTitan's pricing page. Knowify's page shows per-month figures beside add-on labels rather than beside plan names, so this guide treats its pricing as quote-based, per Knowify's pricing page.

The table restates the figures cited above, and the annual cost column is the monthly rate multiplied by 12.

Worked example (illustrative, not a real customer): a five-person shop on Jobber's Connect plan for five users pays $215 a month billed annually (the $99 base plan plus four extra users at $29 each), or $2,580 a year, according to Jobber. If that shop sends 40 card-paid invoices a month averaging $450, card volume is $18,000, and 2.9% plus 30 cents adds $522 plus $12, or $534 a month, which is $6,408 a year, so the subscription and card fees together come to $8,988 a year before taxes and add-ons. In a Stripe-based invoicing flow, a reminder check can read amount_remaining and due_date on each Invoice object, where due_date is null for invoices charged automatically, according to Stripe.

Vendor profiles

The table below separates when each tool fits from when it does not, and the profiles that follow give the evidence for each row.

Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro fits home-service shops that want scheduling, dispatch and invoicing together and will move up to Essentials when QuickBooks Online sync matters. Its limits are specific: Basic has one user and no listed QuickBooks sync, and the Max plan points to a sales demo rather than a self-serve purchase. Start implementation by moving customers, price items and tax settings, then map invoice templates to your QuickBooks chart of accounts before the first live invoice. The evidence is the vendor's own Housecall Pro pricing page.

Jobber

Jobber suits service businesses that want automated invoice follow-ups and QuickBooks Online sync at public prices up to 15 users. Core does not list QuickBooks sync or automatic collection, and extra users cost $29 a month each. Its invoicing feature page describes quick-create invoices, reminders and batch invoicing, but does not list progress invoicing, and it describes deposits only through a customer testimonial. Confirm the QuickBooks Online mapping on Connect before you migrate open invoices.

Tofu

Tofu fits solo operators and small crews that send estimates and invoices by text, email or link and take card payments. Team plan on Tofu: $50/mo for up to five workers. The pricing page does not mention QuickBooks or Xero, so settle the accounting export before you commit. Card payments carry a 1% platform fee on top of the standard card fee on every plan, which matters for card-heavy shops.

Agiled

Agiled suits shops that want CRM, proposals, scheduling and invoicing in one platform rather than a dedicated field tool. Starter caps invoices at 100, the QuickBooks or Xero integration is listed only on Business, and Scale's accounting intelligence and general ledger features are marked "coming soon." Extra seats cost $20 a month on Pro, Business and Scale. Confirm which accounting features are live on the plan you buy, then export a sample.

Workiz

Workiz suits home-service companies that want unlimited invoices and estimates, online payments and QuickBooks Online sync on every plan. The limits are visible on the page: sales proposals appear only on Ultimate, card readers are sold separately, and no plan shows a price. It offers a seven-day trial with no card required. Get the quote in writing for the plan that includes proposals if you need them, and confirm that QuickBooks sync is configured before go-live. The evidence is the Workiz pricing page.

ServiceTitan

ServiceTitan suits larger operations that need dispatch, pricebook, payroll and reporting in one suite and are prepared to budget from a quote. No plan shows a public price, and the plan lists do not place payments or accounting integrations in any tier, so ask those questions directly. Plan the pricebook and payroll setup as separate workstreams, since the plan list names both. The evidence is the ServiceTitan pricing page.

Knowify

Knowify suits commercial and mixed-scope electrical contractors that need progress billing, AIA G702 and G703 pay applications, and QuickBooks Online sync on every plan. Job costing and work-in-progress reporting are not in Core, QuickBooks Desktop appears only on Enterprise, and the pricing page does not clearly tie a price to a plan. Set up the schedule of values and cost codes before the first pay application, since the pay-app forms depend on them. If your schedule of values starts in estimating, the electrical estimating guide covers that step. The evidence is the Knowify pricing page.

Where invoices stall and where a workflow fits

Invoices usually stall in the gap between the finished job and the send. A configurable design that US Tech Automations could build for that gap starts when a job is marked complete in the field-service tool (the trigger), pulls labor hours, materials and approved change orders into a draft invoice in QuickBooks Online (the action), and places the draft in an office approval queue (the output). This is a proposed design, not a deployed system. Its prerequisites are API or export access to job and invoice records, a QuickBooks Online connection, and a mapped list of service items, and its human review points are an office approval before any draft reaches a customer and an owner sign-off on any change order.

A second proposed design handles collections. The trigger is an open invoice whose due date has passed with a balance still showing, the action sends a reminder through the email or text tool the shop already uses, and the output is an entry on a collections list. The same invoice-level data is required, and a reviewer should mark disputed accounts before any reminder goes out, so that sensitive customers stay with a person.

Build it yourself or buy?

Zapier, Make and n8n can move these same records between tools. When configured, they can keep run histories, retries and error branches, and audit evidence can be built from those logs. The buyer still designs and owns observability, idempotency so that a retry does not create a second invoice, escalation paths, access controls, and maintenance when QuickBooks or the field tool changes. A proposed US Tech Automations design would configure the approval gates, the exception queue and the field mapping up front, but the shop would still own the prerequisites, the mapping tables and the person who works the queue.

When NOT to use US Tech Automations

A simpler tool wins in three cases. If you send a handful of invoices a month by hand, Tofu's Solo plan or Jobber's Core plan may cover the work without a workflow layer. If your books are not in QuickBooks Online or Xero, an accounting-sync design has nothing to connect to, and the entry plan's own invoicing has to carry the job. If your field tool already sends invoices and posts payments correctly, a workflow layer only adds another system to maintain. For a broader comparison of home-service invoicing platforms, see the home-services billing guide, and for a look at billing software outside the trades, see the insurance agency billing guide.

Decision checklist

1. Confirm in writing that your specific plan lists QuickBooks Online or Xero sync, not just the tool as a whole.

2. Ask whether card payments carry a processor fee and a separate platform fee.

3. Confirm the invoice limit and user count on the exact plan you will buy.

4. For commercial work, confirm progress and pay-application billing on that plan.

5. Export a sample of customers, invoices and payments before you sign.

6. Get a written quote for any tool that publishes no price.

Frequently asked questions

Which electrical billing software fits a small shop already on QuickBooks Online?

Jobber's Connect plan and Agiled's Business plan are the lowest public-price tiers on this list that list QuickBooks sync, with Housecall Pro's Essentials plan a step above, so start there and confirm the sync setup in writing. Compare their per-user prices against your crew size before you choose.

Does Housecall Pro's entry plan sync with QuickBooks?

No, the Basic plan lists invoicing and estimates but no QuickBooks sync, and the page places QuickBooks Online sync on Essentials and above. Confirm the plan name on the page before you buy.

Do electrical contractors need progress billing?

Only if you bill against a schedule of values or AIA pay applications, and of the pricing pages reviewed here, only Knowify lists those features on every plan. Residential shops that bill single jobs can skip this requirement.

Do card payments add cost on top of the subscription?

Usually, yes, because card rates are charged per transaction and several plans add a percentage plus a fixed fee or a platform fee. Jobber lists 2.9% plus 30 cents for credit cards, and Tofu adds a 1% platform fee on top of the standard card fee.

Should I build this in Zapier, Make or n8n instead?

Those tools can run the logic and keep run histories when configured, but you own the observability, retries, approvals and access controls yourself. Build it yourself only if you can staff that ongoing maintenance.

Is ServiceTitan worth the cost for a small electrical shop?

Public pricing cannot answer that question, because ServiceTitan publishes no plan prices, so the decision depends on a written quote and on whether you need its dispatch, pricebook and payroll scope.

Closing: a shortlist you can verify

Start with the entry plan rather than the headline price, and shortlist two tools whose plan pages list your accounting sync in writing. Take the plan names and the export sample to each vendor, and ask for the quote in writing wherever the page shows none. If your invoices start from a job workflow that needs review gates, see how US Tech Automations configures this, and bring the same plan and export questions to that conversation.