Total monthly cost
Current as of November 2026. Prices read on November 1, 2026 from the linked pages. Other companies change their prices, so check the links. This page gives a method, not an answer. Which option is cheaper depends on the shop.
Doing Work
| Item | Price | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Doing Work fee | A fee on payments taken through Doing Work, in bands. $5,000 a month costs $50.00, $20,000 costs $87.50, $60,000 costs $145.50, $100,000 costs $161.50, $160,000 costs $185.50. | Pricing |
| Card and bank processing | Stripe's standard rates, 2.9% + 30¢ for a domestic card. Bank rates are on Stripe's page. | stripe.com/pricing |
| An always-on agent | Grok Bot is included in plans at $30, $100 and $200 a month. Dots needs ChatGPT Pro (from $100 a month). Muse is free to start, with paid plans at $20 and $100 a month. | Chat vs agent and each provider's pricing page |
| Phone number (Twilio) | $1.15 a month for a local number, $2.15 toll free. | twilio.com voice pricing |
| Calls (Twilio) | Local: $0.0085 a minute inbound, $0.0140 outbound. Toll free inbound $0.0220. Recording $0.0025 a minute. | twilio.com voice pricing |
| Texts (Twilio) | $0.0083 per SMS segment. MMS $0.022 out, $0.0165 in. Carrier fees of about $0.0035 to $0.005 per text, plus 10DLC registration fees. | twilio.com SMS pricing |
| AI that answers calls: ElevenLabs | Plans with included minutes: Starter $6 (75), Creator $22 (275), Pro $99 (1,238), Scale $299 (3,738), Business $990 (12,375). Extra minutes $0.08. The language model is billed separately. Twilio bills its minutes on top. | elevenlabs.io/pricing/agents |
| AI that answers calls: Grok | $0.08 a minute for realtime voice. Twilio bills its minutes on top. | docs.x.ai voice guide |
Other software
| Software | Plan price | Per user and add-ons | Payments | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jobber | Billed monthly: Core $29 to $49 (1 user). Connect $139 (1 user) to $399 (15 users). Grow $199 to $499. Plus $499 to $699 (5 to 15 users), with AI Receptionist. Annual billing shows lower prices on the same page. | $29 a month per extra user. AI Receptionist $29, Marketing $99, Pipeline $49. | Card 2.9% + 30¢, ACH 1%. | getjobber.com/pricing |
| Housecall Pro | Billed annually: Basic $59 (1 user), Essentials $149 (5 users), MAX $299 (8 users). | $35 a month per extra user on MAX. Service plans and the API are on MAX. | Card from 2.59%, bank 1%. | housecallpro.com/pricing |
| ServiceTitan | Quote only. | Quote only. | Quote only. | servicetitan.com/pricing |
| FieldEdge | Quote only. | Quote only. | Quote only. | fieldedge.com/pricing |
| Workiz | Quote only. Maintenance plans, equipment and inventory are on Ultimate. | Quote only. | Quote only. | workiz.com/pricing-plans |
How to add it up
- Take the shop's payments in a normal month and read the Doing Work fee from the bands, or call fees.preview.
- Add the agent subscription the shop would use.
- Estimate a month of calls and texts. Multiply minutes and texts by the Twilio rates. If an AI answers calls, add its plan or per-minute cost.
- For the other software, pick the plan that covers the shop's user count and the features it uses, and add per-user and add-on charges. For quote-only software, get a quote.
- Compare processing too. A rate difference on card volume can be larger than any plan price.
- Add the cost of what each option lacks that the shop uses today: the time someone spends covering it, or the separate tool that fills it. See Compare.
- Count office time. If an agent takes over calls, scheduling or billing follow-up, estimate the hours saved. If the office has to check the agent's work or cover gaps, count those hours too.
Worked example
An example to show the method, with assumed numbers. Change them to match the shop. An HVAC shop with 8 people takes $160,000 a month in payments and gets about 600 minutes of inbound calls and sends about 1,000 texts a month.
| Line | Doing Work | Source of the number |
|---|---|---|
| Doing Work fee on $160,000 | $185.50 | From the bands on the Pricing page. Check with fees.preview. |
| Agent | $30 to $200 | Depends on the agent and plan. |
| Phone number | $1.15 | Twilio local number. |
| 600 inbound minutes | $5.10 | 600 × $0.0085. |
| 1,000 texts | about $12.30 to $13.30 | 1,000 × $0.0083 plus carrier fees. 10DLC fees extra. |
| AI answering 600 minutes | $48 (Grok) or $99 (ElevenLabs Pro, model use extra) | Rates above. |
For the same shop on other software, add the plan for 8 users, any extra users and add-ons, and the processing rate. Then add step 6 and step 7 for each option. Processing is charged in every option and differs by rate, so compare it on the shop's own card and bank mix.