"Route optimization" covers two different jobs. A lawn, pest or cleaning company has the same customers every week and wants the order of stops that wastes the least driving across the whole crew. An HVAC or plumbing shop gets new calls all day and wants the next job to go to the closest qualified technician. Software that does one well may not do the other. We read the vendors' help articles and pricing pages on October 28, 2026. Nothing here comes from a hands-on trial.
For whom: a service business with 2 to 20 technicians on the road, especially one with recurring visits. Not for: a single owner-operator with a handful of stops a day, for whom a free map app is enough.
Where each one optimizes, and on which plan
| Jobber | Housecall Pro | ServiceTitan | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plan with optimization | Connect, Grow and Plus | Essentials groups and sequences jobs to cut drive time; Max reorders jobs by real drive time and live traffic | Dispatch Pro, which requires its own subscription |
| Scope | One technician, a group or the whole team; up to 7 days at once | Max: reorders one technician's jobs within one day; does not move jobs to other days or reassign technicians; locked jobs stay in place | Assigns best-matched technicians automatically (Auto Mode) or as suggestions (Assist Mode, the default) |
| Limits | Only "anytime" visits, without a fixed start or end time; admins only; run on the web, not the app | Not stated on the pricing page | Most effective for residential service and replacement businesses that dispatch for revenue, per ServiceTitan's help |
| Entry price for that plan | Connect, one user: $70 a month for the first 12 months, then $99, billed annually | Essentials $149 a month (5 users); Max $299 (8 users), billed annually | Not stated in the Dispatch Pro documentation; confirm the subscription terms |
Our pick
Jobber Connect, for recurring routes. Recurring work is exactly the case its optimizer is built for: visits without fixed appointment times, optimized across the whole team and up to a week at a time. A lawn or pest company can rebuild next week's routes in one pass and push the order to the technicians' app.
- Choose Housecall Pro Max if each technician's day mixes timed appointments with flexible jobs: you lock the fixed appointments, and the optimizer reorders the rest of that technician's day on drive time. It does not move jobs between days or technicians. Essentials, at half the price, only groups and sequences the day.
- Choose ServiceTitan with Dispatch Pro if you run a residential HVAC or plumbing operation large enough to dispatch for revenue: it predicts the value of incoming jobs and matches technicians to them. ServiceTitan's own help says it fits that model, not a company that only wants shorter drives.
Before you switch on optimization
- Mark which visits are flexible. Jobber optimizes only visits without fixed times; a schedule full of fixed appointments gains little.
- Check addresses. Optimizers work on geocoded addresses; bad ones produce bad routes.
- Run it for a week next to your current routes and compare total drive time before you change customers' days.
For recurring service plans and billing, see field service software for recurring service; for pest control specifics, see pest control.
Traceable evidence
Sources for this decision
- vendorJobber official product siteJobber · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Small home-service teams that want a clear path from quote through job and invoice. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorHousecall Pro official product siteHousecall Pro · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Home-service shops prioritizing dispatch, customer communication, and office usability. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorServiceTitan official product siteServiceTitan · checked Aug 5, 2026 · supports: Vendor-published product scope used to verify capabilities relevant to this buyer context: Established service businesses evaluating deep dispatch, operations, and multi-team workflows. It does not prove the guide's fit verdict, configured performance, current pricing or compliance.Open source ↗
- vendorJobber help: route optimization (updated July 31, 2026)Jobber · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Jobber's help article updated July 31, 2026: route optimization is available on Connect, Grow and Plus, can run for one team member, a group or the whole team, covers up to 7 days at once, optimizes only anytime visits without a fixed start or end time, is run by admin users on Jobber.com, and the app shows the optimized order; it does not state prices.Open source ↗
- vendorJobber pricing page, plan tiersJobber · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Jobber's pricing page as read on October 28, 2026: Core for one user at $21 a month for 12 months then $29 billed annually ($49 monthly); Connect for one user at $70 a month for 12 months then $99 billed annually ($139 monthly), with 5, 10 and 15-user tiers; Grow and Plus above; additional users $29 a month; online booking from Core, quote follow-ups from Connect, job costing on Grow and Plus. It does not show plan checkmarks for route optimization or GPS.Open source ↗
- vendorHousecall Pro pricing page, plan tiersHousecall Pro · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Housecall Pro's pricing page as read on October 28, 2026: Basic $59, Essentials $149 and Max $299 a month billed annually ($79, $189, $329 monthly) with 1, 5 and 8 users; consumer financing, online booking and job costing on all plans; Essentials adds Routes (group and sequence jobs to cut drive time) and employee GPS; Max adds route optimization that reorders jobs on real drive time and live traffic; it does not state consumer financing fees.Open source ↗
- vendorHousecall Pro help: optimize by drive time (August 24, 2026)Housecall Pro · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: Housecall Pro's help article dated August 24, 2026: optimize by drive time, available only on the MAX plan, reorders the jobs within a single technician's day to reduce miles between stops, does not reschedule jobs to other days or change the assigned technician, and leaves jobs locked with the lock icon in place while arranging the others around them; it does not state prices.Open source ↗
- vendorServiceTitan help: Dispatch ProServiceTitan · checked Oct 28, 2026 · supports: ServiceTitan's Dispatch Pro help page as read on October 28, 2026: Dispatch Pro uses settings, machine learning and hard constraints to predict the value of incoming jobs, assigns best-matched technicians automatically (Auto Mode) or with suggestions (Assist Mode, the default), is most effective for residential service and replacement businesses that dispatch for revenue, and requires a Dispatch Pro subscription; it does not state a price.Open source ↗