Best Field Service Scheduling Apps: In-Depth Comparisons of 7 Software Solutions

Scheduling is a table stakes feature in field service management software (FSM). Virtually every FSM on the market offers some type of scheduling functionality.

However, the user experience of scheduling features and the extent to which they streamline scheduling workflows vary across FSMs. For example, some scheduling apps require CSRs to jump to multiple different screens to book a job, while others make this process more intuitive and seamless—reducing the time it takes to book jobs and thus allowing CSRs to book more jobs while providing better customer experiences. 

Furthermore, scheduling is just one of many key features to consider when choosing a field service software. So, it’s also important to look at the bigger picture and weigh how FSMs differ across feature sets to figure out which solution will work best for you. 

In this post, we share seven field service software options that offer scheduling features as a part of their platform. 

We’ll begin by walking through the unique scheduling features offered through our product, ServiceTitan, and explain how we streamline scheduling for field service businesses. Then, we’ll share six other FSMs and link to in-depth comparisons we’ve written between their products and ours. 

As we mentioned, it’s important to look at more than just scheduling features when shopping for an FSM, so those comparison posts discuss differences in scheduling among the other features that service businesses need.

In total, we’ll cover:

1. ServiceTitan

2. Housecall Pro

3. Kickserv

4. FieldEdge

5. Service Fusion

6. ServiceTrade

7. Jobber

Want to see how ServiceTitan works to streamline business management for field service companies? We specialize in helping HVAC, plumbing, electrical, landscaping, pest control, and select other trade service businesses grow revenue, work smarter, and keep their businesses on track. Schedule a call to get a free, live, one-on-one walk-through of how our platform works.

1. ServiceTitan

Streamline Call Booking and Scheduling for CSRs While Providing Remarkable Customer Experiences

When calls come in, ServiceTitan’s Call Booking workflow begins by showing CSRs the name, phone number, and address of the person calling—allowing back-office teams to greet customers by name and provide impressive, personalized experiences. 

If the caller is an existing customer, CSRs can view and access their complete service history (e.g. past estimates, work orders, invoices, membership information) from the very same screen, providing valuable efficiency gains and enabling CSRs to provide the utmost customer satisfaction while on the phone.

To book a job, CSRs are guided through a series of drop-down menus and text boxes that populate fields including:

• Job type 

• Job priority 

• Job summary 

• Marketing campaign information

• Additional details, such as security gate codes, notification of pets on premises, etc.

When it’s time to schedule the job, ServiceTitan offers two unique features that set our scheduling workflow apart from most FSMs: 

• Schedule Assistant

• Adjustable Capacity Planning

Schedule Jobs Faster and Improve Margins with Schedule Assistant

With many FSMs, scheduling requires jumping through different screens to view technician schedules, going back and forth with customers to check their availability, and trying to account for various factors such as technician skills and route optimization. This is difficult to do on the fly, even for the most experienced CSRs. 

ServiceTitan Schedule Assistant helps to solve these issues and improve margins by suggesting a date, time, and service technician for a given job that minimizes drive time. It can be used directly from the call booking screen, displaying the optimal day and time to schedule jobs based on drive-time efficiency, and reducing the amount of time it takes to find the optimal field technician for the job.

In addition, Schedule Assistant can be used from the Dispatch Board, job record, and on recurring service events. Technician skills, zones, and non-job events are factored into Schedule Assistant’s recommendations—so you can have peace of mind that the right field workers will be sent to the right jobs.

Maximize Profitability with Adjustable Capacity Planning

ServiceTitan also offers a unique functionality called Adjustable Capacity Planning, which allows service providers to define, automate, and implement a capacity planning strategy, which optimizes their schedules for profitability.

This feature allows businesses to increase or decrease technician capacity based on seasonal demand. For example, an HVAC business may choose to increase capacity for maintenance agreement jobs during shoulder seasons, or decrease capacity for maintenance visits during peak seasons (reserving more tech availability for urgent service and repair or system replacement jobs).

With adjustable capacity planning, businesses can set rules to automate the implementation of these strategies—i.e. when CSRs select a certain job type during the booking process, they’ll only see availability based on the parameters that have been defined. This can have a positive impact on profitability. Without this feature, it’s very difficult for office teams to execute this in practice.

Provide Modern Booking Experiences and Set Up Field Service Teams for Success

Additionally, our call booking and scheduling system includes:

• Call recordings: Automatic recordings of every customer call that dispatchers and techs can reference when they need clarification about job details.

• Web scheduler: A user-friendly website widget that allows customers to book their own appointments online without talking to a CSR. It still collects all the necessary job details that a CSR would on a call.

• Automated job confirmations: With automated job confirmations, text or email notifications are automatically sent to the customer to confirm appointment requests, and all scheduled appointments are updated to confirmations within the dispatch board.

Once a job is booked and scheduled, it’s viewable through the dispatch board, where dispatchers can access all of the same information and functionality discussed above. 

Easily Coordinate Field Service Operations with Our Drag-and-Drop Dispatch Board

ServiceTitan’s easy-to-use dispatch board allows dispatchers to perform most of their tasks without needing to leave the board. This includes being able to see which jobs are unassigned, unconfirmed, dispatched, working, paused, and more. 

From the dispatch board, users have access to:

• Drag-and-drop functionality: The ability for dispatchers to easily assign or reassign a tech; confirm or reschedule a job; view property data; and more. 

• Live activity feed: A feed to see real-time job activity (e.g., Arrived, Paused, Complete) and to direct-message and communicate with techs (individually or en masse). 

• Notifications: Alerts that notify the dispatcher of unusual activity or problems that need to be addressed.

• Technician GPS tracking: With technician GPS tracking, dispatchers (and clients, if enabled) can track the location of field service team members as they’re on their way to a job.

• Schedule optimization and optimized technician routes: Options that help dispatchers coordinate appointments with techs in an efficient way, including identifying jobs in locations where a tech is already working.

The Technician Experience: Viewing Schedules and Dispatch Updates in the Field

ServiceTitan’s mobile app (compatible with Android and iOS mobile devices) offers an intuitive user experience that techs love, beginning with the home screen dashboard:

From the dashboard, techs can quickly see the jobs they have scheduled for that day, each presented as a job card with basic information such as:

• Customer’s name

• Scheduled date and time

• Address 

• Arrival window

• Tags identifying other key job information (e.g. potential member, replacement opp, etc.)

Then, each card can be tapped to pull up a dedicated page with further details about that job, including contact information, directions to the job site, customer call recordings, previous service history, and more.

If enabled, techs can dispatch themselves when they’re ready to head to the job, and office staff will receive automated notifications as they reach the job, begin work, or complete work. Alternatively, businesses can adjust settings so that only dispatchers, office staff, or certain team members have the ability to dispatch techs.

As soon as techs are dispatched, customers receive a notification that the tech is on the way, along with the option to track the tech’s location in real-time using GPS tracking technology. Dispatch can also follow the tech’s travel, so they always know where field team members are located.

ServiceTitan can be configured so that when a tech arrives within a certain radius of the destination, the dashboard automatically updates the tech’s location to ‘Arrive’, or the tech can manually tap ‘Arrive’ themselves.

With our mobile app, techs can also: 

• Take and upload pictures

• Create estimates and proposals

• Document work

• Collect signatures on work orders

• Order parts

• Collect check and credit card payments

• And more

Beyond Scheduling and Dispatching: Streamline and Scale Operations with ServiceTitan

The features we’ve discussed throughout this post have focused on scheduling and dispatching from the office and field. However, our field service software does much more than this.

For example, ServiceTitan also offers:

• Payroll features that decrease payroll prep time by automatically providing time tracking (while syncing with the dispatch board); calculating overtime, commissions and bonuses; and helping you track and monitor crucial job-costing data in real-time.

• Accounting software integration with Viewpoint Vista, QuickBooks®, and Intacct.

• Customer relationship management (CRM) tools that help improve office organization and workflow (in addition to improving the customer experience).

• Service Agreement Software that helps you grow and manage preventative maintenance contracts.   

• Field Reporting Software that helps you monitor key financial performance indicators (KPIs), such as: CSR and technician metrics, revenue trends, and more.

To see why our cloud-based field service management solution is trusted by 100,000+ service professionals, schedule a call to get a free, live, one-on-one walk-through of how our user-friendly software can help you grow revenue, work smarter, and keep your business processes on track.

2. Housecall Pro

Housecall Pro is a mobile field service management software solution for home service businesses. It offers a wide range of features outside of invoicing, such as scheduling and dispatching, estimates, QuickBooks integration, and more. 

However, when compared to Housecall Pro, ServiceTitan offers:

• Greater native pricebook functionality

• Ability to drill down further into reporting metrics and trust your numbers

• Automated tagging features that help increase revenue

• Gated work sequences and customizable forms to facilitate accountability across the organization

• Offline functionality that allows techs to use our mobile app when out of cell service zones

3. Kickserv

Kickserv is another field service management software offering a variety of tools for large and small businesses. Like other FSM software, they provide a mobile app as well as desktop features for job management, scheduling, managing your workforce, and more. 

However, when compared to Kickserv, ServiceTitan offers:

• Mobile app with customer convenience features with stable offline functionality

• Customizable forms and pricing tools in the field

• Two-way SMS text messaging for customer inquiries and scheduling changes

• Pre-appointment GPS Tech Tracking for accurate arrival times

• End-to-end presentation mode: A visual pricing tool and estimate builder with good, better, best options

• And more

4. FieldEdge

FieldEdge offers a wide range of features including functionality for quotes and invoicing, scheduling and dispatching, service agreements, and more. 

However, when compared to FieldEdge, ServiceTitan offers:

• For residential service businesses

  • Integration with Google Local Services Ads

  • Seamless access to membership information during call booking

  • Adjustable capacity planning to optimize schedules for max profitability

  • Real-time technician tracking

  • Greater customization and drill-down capabilities for reports

• For commercial service businesses

  • Ability to create customer-specific pricing

  • Built-in customer portal with base subscription

  • A suite of project management and project tracking tools for longer-term projects

  • Dynamic form capabilities that ensure staff follow best practices and improve data quality

  • Native equipment tracking and inventory management

5. Service Fusion

Service Fusion describes itself as an “All-In-One Field Service Management Software.” It offers a wide range of features, including estimates, customer management, scheduling and dispatching, and more. 

However, when compared to Service Fusion, ServiceTitan offers more as a part of our base product (while Service Fusion charges extra for many of these features):

• Robust membership billing capabilities (bulk membership billing, and automated monthly or annual billing options)

• Scheduled report automations

• Call booking automations for easier job booking and better customer experiences

• Property data to spot sales opportunities and drive revenue

6. ServiceTrade

While ServiceTitan serves both residential and commercial businesses, ServiceTrade provides software exclusively for commercial service contractors. Its functions include scheduling, real-time dispatching, time tracking, payroll integration, and more.

However, when compared to ServiceTrade, ServiceTitan offers:

• Robust tools for servicing both commercial and residential business divisions

• Advanced reporting features with greater customizability and drill-down capabilities

• Automations that streamline the job booking process

• Natively built pricebook functionality that offers greater flexibility and control over service pricing

7. Jobber

Jobber is a field service scheduling software that also offers a wide range of features for field service business management. Like ServiceTitan, it offers functionality for estimating, quotes, scheduling, invoicing, and more.

However, when compared to Jobber, ServiceTitan offers:

• More robust, native pricebook functionality

• In-app access to top industry supplier equipment catalogs

• Extensive marketing functionality that reduces the need for third-party marketing hires

• More flexibility and customization for membership plans and recurring services

• Offline functionality for our mobile app that allows techs to work seamlessly (even when they’re out of a cell service zone)

• Deeper reporting capabilities that allow business owners to drill down into the sources of their data