The best marketing software for trades
Marketing software bills you by the size of your customer list, not by how many people use it. That flips the usual math. The better you get at collecting customer details, the more you pay every month, whether you send anything or not. Constant Contact Standard runs $35 a month at 500 contacts and about $110 at 5,000 (as of August 2026).
Who wins where
I want the tool that covers the most ground. Ranked by how many of this category's jobs the tool does out of the box. Features that cost extra count for less than ones that are included, and we do not reward a long feature list if half of it is an add-on.
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Constant Contact2 of 4 included outright, 1 sold as add-ons.Our review - 2
Mailchimp2 of 4 included outright, 1 sold as add-ons.Our review - –
BirdeyeNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
ChatGPTNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
ClaudeNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
Google GeminiNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
Housecall ProNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
HubSpotNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
Method:CRMNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –Microsoft CopilotNot enough researched detail to judge.
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NiceJobNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
PodiumNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
Service AutopilotNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review - –
ServiceTitanNot enough researched detail to judge.Our review
What decides it in marketing & email
The bill grows with your customer list
Price these tools at the list you will have in two years, not the one you have today. Mailchimp is free up to 250 contacts and starts around $13 a month at up to 500. Constant Contact Lite is $12 a month at 500 contacts, with Standard at $35 and Premium at $80 for that same list size (as of August 2026). At 5,000 contacts, Standard is about $110. Mailchimp counts people who unsubscribed toward your total, so the number only climbs unless you clean the list yourself. HubSpot works the same way on its marketing side, where cost rises with contact count. An HVAC or pest control shop with ten years of customers should budget from the top of the ladder, not the advertised entry price.
Automation is the part they hold back
You buy this so past customers hear from you without you remembering. That is the piece the cheap plans limit hardest. Mailchimp's free plan gives you one welcome email. Essentials gets you four-step flows, and multi-step flows start on Standard. Constant Contact Lite runs one automated path only, Standard gets three, and Premium is unlimited. One path is enough for a thank-you after a job. It is not enough to run a spring tune-up reminder, a winter reminder and a win-back for customers you have not seen in two years, all at once. Count the campaigns you want running on their own, then buy the tier that holds that many. Paying for a plan whose automation you never grow into is the common mistake here.
Texting is billed on top, almost always
Texts get read, so most shops want them. Few of these include them in the plan price. Mailchimp sells texting as a paid add-on from Essentials up, bought as credits per message. Constant Contact adds about $10 a month for texting on Lite and Standard, and includes 500 texts on Premium. Birdeye is reported to charge per message on top of its per-location price. Podium is built around a texting inbox but publishes no price, and is reported to sit around $399 a month for its Core plan (all as of August 2026). The AI assistants in this category are a different kind of buy. ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini will write the email or the ad for about $20 a month, and none of them hold your list or send anything.
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