The Top 5 Cleaning Business Software Options for Your Small Business

Running a cleaning business is demanding and requires excellent management skills. You need to choose a cleaning business software solution that will help you schedule more efficiently.

As commercial and residential construction increase year by year, cleaning services continue to be in high demand. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the industry will grow by 7% between now and 2028, which is faster than most other industries. Chances are, if you run a cleaning business, you're just going to get busier and busier.

Every business owner loves to hear that, but it does bring challenges you can't overlook: specifically, how do you manage a business that is getting increasingly complex?

Whether you're looking for commercial or home cleaning software, you need something that will keep you organized and operating with maximum efficiency, moving from one property to the next. But how do you choose one that works for you? We've done the research for you.

Here are the top cleaning business software options for your small business:

• mHelpDesk
• Jobber
• Housecall Pro
• Service Fusion
• Intuit Field Service Management

What to look for in a great cleaning business software

The cleaning business is, at its heart, a field service operation, and as such you will have many of the same needs as other field service industries. But the cleaning business has a few unique needs, so look for work order software with three characteristics in particular.

1. Efficient scheduling

Cleaning businesses need software that does a good job of scheduling jobs. To be successful in this industry, you really need to pack your schedule as much as possible, so you'll need a software with good technician scheduling that allows you to fit as many jobs into a day as possible -- and provides you with a good top-down view of what all your cleaners are doing so you can easily figure out who's available and who's not.

2. Administrative tools

It's important that your business be clean and well-kept -- not just your customer's houses and businesses. You need software that can help you keep everything in order, from taxes to insurance to day-to-day operations. Look for options that make it easy to run the administrative side of the house.

3. Ease of use

Your business involves constantly rushing from job to job, so the last thing you want is a complex system that is difficult to use. You're going to want a simple interface that puts everything in front of you.

Also, since most cleaning jobs are fairly straightforward and there isn't a huge amount of variation, you often won't need the expensive, feature-laden versions that are out there. A maid service software program that will receive calls, track customer information, handle administrative tasks, schedule cleanings, and dispatch your cleaners is probably all you'll need.

Our 5 top picks for the best cleaning business software options

Most field service management software options should meet your needs, but we chose the following five options based on how well they were likely to meet the needs of a typical cleaning business.

1. mHelpDesk

The reason mHelpDesk tops this list is because while they are a bit on the pricey side, we found this software option to be the easiest to use in all of field service management.

It organizes all of your invoices by jobs, and it has a bar of icons at the top of the screen that lets you easily access your invoices and see how many have been sent and which are overdue. They are further organized by date of issue, customer, balance, and if payment is due.

The software also has a mobile app that will help your cleaners on the road see exactly what their workload schedule is from their phones. You can easily switch to the next job when you're done, and it even provides a Google Maps image of the destination.

mHelpDesk’s dashboard provides a good top-down overview of your business. Image source: Author

From a home office standpoint, the desktop version of the software has a dashboard that provides a good overview of what all of your cleaners are scheduled to be doing today.

Pricing: At $374/month, it's certainly on the pricey side. But the good thing is that, for a small operation, that will cover all of your employees if you have 10 or less. After that, you'll need to pay $35 per person, and you'll need custom pricing past 15 users, which may mean you can get a better per-user deal.

Read The Ascent’s full mHelpDesk review

2. Jobber

Jobber is perfect for a business that just wants something easy to use and inexpensive for managing their cleaners. Their desktop version is good for the ones managing the operation at the home office, while their mobile app helps cleaners keep on top of their jobs.

We like how this cleaning management software option organizes invoices, showing clearly what's been paid and what hasn't. You can sort invoices by "Awaiting Payment-Past Due," and there's a search bar so you can dial up the person you're thinking of quickly. You can bill a job through the app, and can choose to invoice now or later via text message or email.

Jobber’s invoicing tool helps you organize invoices. Image source: Author

Jobber provides a great top-down view of your work orders, showing which jobs are active, as well as if there are invoices that need to be sent out. The app allows the cleaner to see the day's schedule, and there are also handy functions for time sheets and clients.

The customer database is thorough, and displays clients in a simple list with their name, phone, properties, and status. Clicking on an individual customer will bring up other details.

Pricing: In terms of pricing, you're not likely to do much better than Jobber. Ranging from $69/month for a single user in their core plan to $169 month for up to 5 users in their connect plan and topping out at $349/month for up to 15 users in their Grow plan. All plans also offer annual subscriptions discounts.

Read The Ascent’s full Jobber review

3. Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro is really well-suited for the cleaning business, although it’s slightly expensive. You get a powerful cloud-based field service software option that is also simple to use -- two important attributes for anyone in your line of work.

It scores strongest when it comes to ease of use. You'll be able to quickly onboard your crew with minimal training required. And beyond its simple interface, there are also great features that will simplify your business such as automatic invoicing and notifications.

Housecall Pro’s invoicing feature shows you the invoice’s current status. Image source: Author

One unique feature that comes with Housecall Pro is that your customers can also get their own version of the app, which they can use to book your services directly. This reduces the amount of form-filling and data entry required of your staff.

The scheduling feature was very intuitive. You only need to click on a time slot, select "job," choose a customer, and then provide any notes or documentation. It will then show up on your dashboard and on your cleaner's schedule.

Pricing: Housecall Pro is not the cheapest cleaning software option out there, but it's not unaffordable either. It'll cost you $49/month for one user if you're willing to sign up for a year ($65 otherwise), and $109/month ($149 month-to-month) for up to five users, with $30 for each additional user. If you want a lot more users than that, you'll need custom pricing.

Read The Ascent’s full Housecall Pro review

4. Service Fusion

Service Fusion really shines when it comes to support, which is important for businesses that may not be very tech-savvy and thus require a little hand-holding to get up to speed. And good support is helpful anytime, because you never know what kind of road blocks you'll come across.

The software boasts a basic user interface that makes onboarding easy. And while the pricing structure might be better suited for larger enterprises, there's no reason you can't make this work for a smaller cleaning business.

The software automatically generates invoices with the click of a button, and you can then set it up to automatically fire out invoices as soon as they are created. This definitely simplifies things on the administrative side.

Service Fusion’s job dashboard lets you dial up details on an individual cleaning job. Image source: Author

The app has a nice, clean design, allowing cleaners to tap on "My Work" to see what their schedule looks like. You can also look at the map view, customers, inventory, and other things via the app.

Pricing: Service Fusion offers three pricing tiers -- $99, $199, and $349/month -- and all of them include unlimited users. So while this may be on the expensive side when it comes to professional cleaning software if you only have one or two users, it can save you a ton of money if you have 10 or more users in your business.

The differences in price come down to features, with the Starter package providing the most basic features but not including more advanced options like inventory management or the ability to upload pictures -- features your cleaning business might not need anyway.

Read The Ascent’s full Service Fusion review

5. Intuit Field Service Management

If you want to run the administrative side of the house better, you can't do much better than Intuit Field Service Management, brought to you by the same folks who created QuickBooks.

We found this software to be easy to use, and -- of course -- it easily syncs with QuickBooks, bringing all the accounting in your business under one roof. The main downside is that you can't customize the software a whole lot, but that often isn't too important in the cleaning business.

What this software is effective in doing is issuing work orders and dispatching cleaners to the field. It even offers a feature called Bread Crumbs that tracks where cleaners have been so you can monitor their progress.

Intuit Field Service Management offers inventory management so you can track cleaning supplies. Image source: Author

The app your cleaners will use shows the day's tasks in chronological order, and tapping on the task will dial up all necessary information, such as who the customer is, what work has been requested, how long it should take, and contact details.

Pricing: The price tag on the software is a bit on the higher side, starting out small but adding up quickly as you add more users. You'll pay between $28/month and $35/month per user, with the price declining the more users you have. One nice aspect is you'll get the full version of the software, with no extra price for additional tiers of features -- although there are two optional add-on packages.

Read The Ascent’s full Intuit Field Service Management review

It’s time to take your business to the next level

Good cleaning service software is essential if you want to take your business from one or two cleaners frantically racing from house to house to a larger operation with potentially dozens of cleaners methodically hitting property after property, leaving nothing but squeaky-clean counters and satisfied customers in their wake.

But you’ve got to choose the right software, because every cleaning business is different. Invoicing may be your biggest headache, while others struggle with scheduling. It’s best to try out a few software options to see which works best for you before you make a decision, and then go from there.