Quick take
Housecall Pro is a strong choice for residential home service businesses — HVAC,
plumbing, electrical, cleaning — where consumer-facing booking and dispatch are the core
workflows. The product is mature and the dispatch UI is well-loved by office managers.
Where Novara is a better fit:
- You want to start free and run real jobs before paying.
- Your work involves complex bids and frequent change orders (remodeling, commercial
service, mid-size projects), and you want photo evidence and digital approval as
first-class workflows.
- You want AI drafting for estimates and customer messages.
- You're operating at per-user economics rather than per-technician tiers.
Where Housecall Pro is a better fit:
- You run high-volume residential service (dozens of one-hour jobs per week) and need
optimized dispatch and consumer-facing booking.
- You rely on HCP's online booking widget to accept work from your website.
- You're already on HCP and your team prefers its specific dispatch UI.
Pricing — the honest version
Housecall Pro's published pricing (as of mid-2026):
- Basic: $59/mo, 1 technician
- Essentials: $149/mo, up to 5 technicians
- MAX: $249+/mo, custom
Novara's pricing:
- Free: $0/mo, no credit card. Core CRM, jobs, scheduling, mobile capture, basic
documents, limited AI drafting.
- Starter: $19.99/user/month.
- Pro: $49.99/user/month.
- Custom/Growth: contact sales.
For a 5-technician shop, year-one cost:
- HCP Essentials: $149 × 12 = $1,788
- Novara Pro (5 seats): $49.99 × 5 × 12 = $2,999
- Novara Starter (5 seats): $19.99 × 5 × 12 = $1,199
- Novara Free: $0 (with usage caps)
Novara is cheaper at Starter and pricier at Pro — Pro buys you AI workflow automation, QBO
sync, lead-source integrations, and communication automation that HCP charges for in MAX or
adds on separately.
Where each product is stronger
Housecall Pro is stronger at:
- Consumer-facing online booking (real differentiator if your website is a meaningful lead
source).
- Dispatch UX for high-volume one-hour jobs.
- Integrated marketing (postcards, email campaigns) bundled in higher tiers.
Novara is stronger at:
- Bid → change order → invoice workflows for jobs that evolve.
- Photo evidence attached to scope changes.
- AI-assisted drafting for estimates, customer updates, and bid messages.
- Free tier — actually run a job through the workflow before paying.
- Per-user pricing instead of per-technician tier jumps.
Migrating from Housecall Pro
- Export customers from HCP (Settings → Export).
- Export historical jobs and invoices.
- Import into Novara via CSV.
- Run new jobs in Novara for 30 days; finish in-flight HCP jobs in HCP.
- Sync both to the same QuickBooks Online account during the overlap so accounting stays
clean.
Note: HCP's customer portal accounts don't transfer. Customers will receive Novara approval
and update links via SMS/email instead of logging into a portal — most prefer this.
FAQ
Does Novara support online booking like HCP?
Not yet. If consumer-facing online booking is core to your lead flow, that's a real reason to
stay on HCP or wait for Novara to add it.
Does Novara have AI Receptionist / call answering?
No. HCP's AI Receptionist handles inbound calls. Novara's AI features are focused on
workflow drafting — estimates, customer messages, lead intake from messages.
Can I migrate my recurring plans?
Yes. CSV import with a recurring plan template, then verify next-visit dates. Plan on a
30-minute cleanup pass after import.
Is the comparison table current?
Based on public pricing as of 2026-05. Verify on housecallpro.com before deciding.
Try a real workflow
Start free with Novara — no credit card. Run one bid → change order → invoice
flow this afternoon and decide whether the workflow fits.
Novara