Housecall Pro vs Nexa The Real Comparison for Move Out Cleaners
Housecall Pro
$79/mo ($948/yr)
VS
Nexa
$279 once — own forever
or 3 payments of $99
Break even: 3.5 months at Housecall Pro's current price.
Does Housecall Pro Fit Move Out Cleaners? Our Read
What move out cleaners need from their software, from sources outside Housecall Pro and outside Nexa:
Property managers and landlords often require proof of professional cleaning before they release a tenant's deposit. A tenant on a practitioners' forum said their lease required a receipt showing professional cleaning, and the property manager confirmed 'as long as we receive a receipt for cleaning.' So a move-out cleaner needs to issue a dated, itemized receipt or invoice that names the address and the work done. Another poster said that if the unit needs more cleaning, the manager would have the company reclean it, so the cleaner also needs a way to schedule and track free re-cleans. (forum.slowtwitch.com)
Move-out quotes vary widely and depend on the unit's condition and on add-ons. In one forum thread, a 1,400 sq ft, 3-bedroom home was quoted about $800, and posters disagreed on whether that was fair. One poster said local cleaners charge $35–40 an hour and that move-out work includes appliances, blinds and grout. Another said move-out cleans cost more than regular cleans because they include the stove, fridge, appliances, blinds and vents. This points to quoting from a scope checklist, with priced extras such as windows and kitchen detail, instead of a single flat price. (forum.slowtwitch.com)
Disputes over the deposit can end up in court, so keeping a record of the work matters. One forum poster had paid receipts for a professional clean, but the landlord still withheld the deposit. A judge ruled the cleaning they paid for was 'more than reasonable' and awarded them $1,700. A cleaner who keeps dated records, such as photos and a signed-off checklist for each job, can help a client in that situation. (forum.slowtwitch.com)
A cleaner who hires helpers has to decide whether each one is an employee or an independent contractor, and the choice affects payroll and tax records. The IRS looks at three kinds of evidence: behavioral control (whether the business directs how the work is done), financial control (who controls the business side of the job), and the type of relationship (written contracts, benefits, how central the work is). The IRS says there is no 'magic' or set number of factors. If the status is unclear, Form SS-8 is available, and the IRS says a determination can take at least six months. (irs.gov)
A sole-proprietor cleaner has to pay self-employment tax and file Schedule SE once net self-employment earnings reach $400. The rate is 15.3%: 12.4% for Social Security and 2.9% for Medicare. Income and expenses, such as supplies and mileage between jobs, need to be tracked through the year to figure that net amount. (irs.gov)
Housecall Pro covers the paperwork a move-out cleaner needs. Professional invoicing, estimates, a price book and online payments let you issue a dated, itemized receipt for the address and the work done, which is what a property manager asks for before releasing a deposit. Flat-rate pricing, checklist automations and photo reports are on the Essentials plan, not the $79 monthly Basic plan. Those are the closest match to quoting from a scope checklist and keeping a per-job record. It also covers things Nexa does not: payroll, GPS tracking and route optimization, 'On My Way' texts, and live phone and chat support. The cost is a recurring subscription, and the best-fit record-keeping features are on a higher tier.
Nexa covers the receipt and quote side. It has invoices, estimates and quotes that convert to invoices, and clients can pay by card through your own Stripe account and sign estimates. Each job can hold before, after and progress photos taken with the phone camera, plus job costing and profit per job, recurring jobs, and a crew view for assigned helpers. It also has expense tracking, 1099 summaries and a payroll CSV of hours times rate. The limits matter for this trade. Nexa does not run payroll (no payroll taxes, pay stubs or direct deposit). It has no text messaging, no GPS or route tools, and no QuickBooks or Xero sync. Checklists are notes linked to a client, not attached to a job. Job photos stay in the job record, so no photo report goes to the customer. Its automated emails send only while Nexa is open on one of your devices, and support is self-serve.
Over three years, Housecall Pro at $79 a month costs $948 a year, or $2,844. Nexa is $279 once, or $458.64 with the optional $4.99 a month Cloud Sync. If you are a solo or small cleaner who mainly needs receipts, quotes, job photos and expense records, Nexa does that for far less and is worth a look. If you run helpers on payroll, rely on texts to customers, routes or photo reports sent to the client, or want a vendor to call, stay with Housecall Pro.
Our read for move out cleaners: A solo move-out cleaner who needs receipts, quotes and job photos can save a lot with Nexa, but anyone relying on Housecall Pro's payroll, texting, routing or customer photo reports should stay.
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Bottom Line
Housecall Pro costs move out cleaners $948/year at today's list price. Nexa is $279 once for invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking and accounting in one suite — so after 3.5 months it has cost less than Housecall Pro, and you own it after that. What it is not: hosted-for-you software with a support desk and a roadmap you can lobby. That is the trade, and the rest of this page is the detail behind it.
Can it pay for itself?
Nexa is $279 once, about $23 a month over its first year. Its Drain Guard reads your expenses (from a linked bank, an imported statement, or ones you type in), finds the charges that repeat, and adds them up by the month. Keep or Cut then walks you through them one at a time. Cancel $23 a month of charges you'd forgotten about and Nexa has paid for itself inside the first year, before you count the Housecall Pro bill you'd stop paying.
It depends on what you find and what you cancel, so we don't promise a number. In our demo data, Drain Guard finds 5 subscriptions adding up to $110.13 a month. That is sample data, not a customer's.
The verdict for move out cleaners: Either can do the job, for the reasons in our read above. On price alone, that is $279 once against $2,844 for Housecall Pro over three years.
Choose Nexa if:
You're done paying monthly forever
You're a solo operator or small team (1-5)
You need scheduler, task manager and invoicing in one tool
You're tired of price increases
You want to own your tools like you own your equipment
Choose Housecall Pro if:
You have a large team (10+) needing enterprise features
You're deeply invested in Housecall Pro's specific workflow
You need a feature Nexa doesn't have yet
Sound Familiar?
A move-out clean isn't a tidy-up, it's a deposit hanging in the balance, and the bar is set by a property manager I'll never meet until the inspection. I walk in and the first thing I do is photograph the unit, every existing wall hole, carpet stain, and scratched floor, because if I don't, my crew owns damage that was there before us. Then it's the grind from the top down: blinds, ceiling fans, baseboards, light fixtures, the stuff inspectors run a finger along. The kitchen is the battlefield, with baked-on oven grease, the gunk behind and under the appliances nobody touched in three years, and a fridge that has to come spotless. Bathrooms mean limescale, grout, and the hard-water ring in the toilet that takes pumice and patience. Walls get every scuff and handprint erased, because a property manager's white-glove standard is the only standard that counts for the deposit. The stress is twofold: a unit that's far worse than the phone booking led me to believe, where my flat quote suddenly doesn't cover three years of neglect, and the clock, because the new tenant or the inspector is arriving and the keys change hands whether I'm done or not. I run the checklist, shoot after-photos, and hand off knowing the deposit rides on it.
Cleaning to an invisible landlord's standard for a deposit return, where 'clean' isn't subjective, it's whatever the property manager's white-glove inspection decides, and I'm liable for the gap
Walking into a far filthier unit than the booking described, with years of grease, pet damage, or a hoard, after quoting a flat move-out price over the phone sight unseen
Damage disputes, where pre-existing wall holes, carpet stains, or a scratched floor get pinned on my crew because nobody documented the unit's condition before we started
Tight handoff timing squeezed between the tenant moving out and the new tenant or inspection moving in, so a slow or overbooked day means a unit that isn't done when the keys change hands
Scheduling, job tracking, invoicing and client records are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
None of that is a software problem you can buy your way out of in one click — it is why the tool you pick matters more than what it costs. Housecall Pro solves some of it. So does Nexa. The difference is what you are left holding in three years.
What Housecall Pro Actually Costs Move Out Cleaners
Today's list price is $79/month — $948 a year, from Housecall Pro's own pricing page. Every figure below is that price, multiplied. Nothing is projected.
Three years at today's price
Year 1$948
Year 2$948
Year 3$948
Three years of Housecall Pro$2,844
Nexa: $279 once (or 3 × $99). Over the same three years, that is $2,565 less.
If Housecall Pro raises its price, the three-year cost goes up; if it cuts it, the cost comes down. We don't guess which. Add-ons, extra seats and card-processing fees are not included, on either side.
Feature-by-Feature
Feature
Housecall Pro
Nexa
Invoicing
✓
✓
Scheduling
✓
✓
CRM
✓
✓
Time Tracking
—
✓
Full Accounting
—
✓ (SIMPL)
Task Management
—
✓
Works offline
—
✓
Price
$79/mo
$279 once or 3 × $99
3-Year Total
$2,844
$279
You own it?
No — stop paying, lose access
Yes — forever
✓ and ✗ for Housecall Pro come from its own published feature list. — means the feature isn't in that list, which is not the same as Housecall Pro lacking it: check with them. Three years is at today's price.
What "$279 Once" Does And Doesn't Buy
It buys the software, not a service contract. You install Nexa and it runs on your machine. There is no seat count, and nothing stops working if you stop paying, because there is nothing to stop paying.
Housecall Pro's monthly fee is not only rent. It pays for their hosting, their support desk, and their engineers shipping changes every week. If those matter to how you work, that is a real thing you would be giving up.
Cross-device sync is the one optional extra — $4.99/month if you want your data mirrored between machines. Skip it and Nexa still works; you just sync manually.
The honest risk of buying once: you are betting on us still being here to improve it. The honest risk of renting: the price is theirs to raise, and the graveyard section below is a record of tools that did exactly that.
What Housecall Pro Does Better
Straight from Housecall Pro's own feature set. If one of these is the reason you pay them, that reason does not disappear because Nexa is cheaper.
Online booking for home services
GPS tracking
Postcard marketing campaigns
Professional invoicing
Review collection
A smaller bill up front: plans start at $79/month, against $279 paid once for Nexa.
Housecall Pro is the better call if you need online booking for home services specifically, or if your team is large enough that per-seat pricing still beats buying software outright.
What Housecall Pro Is Built For
Housecall Pro describes itself as 'Tailored for teams of 1 to 100+' and aimed at home service pros across 50+ industries, including HVAC, plumbing, electrical, cleaning, lawn care and pest control. (housecallpro.com)
Three plans: Basic at $59/mo billed annually ($79 monthly) for 1 user, Essentials at $149/mo annual ($189 monthly) for 5 users, and Max at $299/mo annual ($329 monthly) for 8 users. Extra Max users cost $35/mo each. (housecallpro.com)
Every plan includes live phone and chat support, a free iOS and Android app in English and Spanish, offline viewing, AI team members, and card processing rates 'as low as 2.59%'. (housecallpro.com)
The free trial lasts 14 days with no credit card required, and the FAQ says it includes full access to the Max plan. The page says long-term contracts are not required. (housecallpro.com)
Essentials adds routes, flat-rate pricing, checklist automations, photo reports, employee GPS tracking, commissions and QuickBooks Online sync. Max adds a sales proposal tool, recurring service plans, route optimization, open API access, a dedicated onboarding specialist and escalated phone support. (housecallpro.com)
The feature set covers scheduling and dispatching, estimates, a price book, online booking, invoicing, online payments, financing, time tracking, payroll, job costing, vehicle GPS and 'On My Way' texts. It also has a CSR AI that answers calls and books jobs. (housecallpro.com)
Support and learning resources include a Help Center, a Pro Community, webinars, a Mastermind program and a Trade Academy. Housecall Pro lists 4.7 stars on Capterra from 2,700+ reviews, though that figure is its own claim. (housecallpro.com)
What people outside Housecall Pro and outside Nexa say:
SoftwareConnect rates Housecall Pro 4.5/5 from 10 reviews. Its editorial pros are full QuickBooks integration, a large library of training tutorials, and texting customers and employees from the app. A user review calls it an 'Amazing all in one platform for running a service provider company.' (softwareconnect.com)
SoftwareConnect's editorial cons are limited CRM functionality, some reported lag, and some users needing multiple programs. Users say scheduling is 'rigid' and multi-day jobs can't be extended. One reviewer says invoices don't produce usable internal reports and had to move away from the program. Another says it does not let them add many jobs or locations to one customer. (softwareconnect.com)
Read on each linked page in October 2026. Check them again before you decide; vendors change plans often.
Where business tools fit — for a move out cleaner
Software doesn't do the actual work — it automates the business around it. And that part is the same for every move out cleaner: find the work, manage it, bill for it, get paid. Each step has a tool — and the right single tool runs the whole loop, so the handoffs are automatic and you get back to the actual work. Tap a step to see what gets automated.
1
Find the work
Win the job
↓
A lead, a call, a referral — and a quote or estimate that turns it into a booked job.
CRM / contacts
Estimates & proposals
Booking / scheduling
then ↓
2
Manage the work
Do the job
↓
The part you actually get paid for — with the time, materials, add-ons, and tasks tracked as you go, not guessed at later.
Job / project tracking
Time tracking
Expenses, materials & add-ons
then ↓
3
Bill for it
Send the bill
↓
The work becomes the invoice — the hours, the add-ons, the materials, the deposit credited — totaled and sent, instead of re-typed at 9pm.
Invoicing
Deposits & credits
then ↓
4
Get paid
Collect payment
↓
Paid by card or link, the deposit credited, and what's overdue chased — without you doing it by hand.
Card / online payments
Automatic reminders
You can stitch four separate subscriptions across these four steps, or run one tool that does the whole flow so a booking becomes a job becomes an invoice becomes a payment without re-typing. Either way the goal is the same: less time on the business of the business, more on the actual work. (Nexa is built to be the one — but the honest options for each step are above and below.)
Calculate Your Full Stack
Housecall Pro plus whatever else you're paying for:
Email yourself this comparison?
Switching from Housecall Pro
1
Export your data — Go to Settings → export customers, job history, and invoices as CSV files.
2
Set up Nexa — 15-minute setup. Import your customer list by CSV; re-enter your core services.
3
Parallel run — Run both for 2 weeks. Transition dispatching and booking to Nexa.
4
Cancel Housecall Pro — Cancel subscription (check for early termination fees). Download all records.
✓ 30-day money-back guarantee. Zero risk.
What This Means for Move Out Cleaners
The median Move Out Cleaner earns $38,000/year. At $948/year, Housecall Pro is a recurring slice of that — paid again every year, whether the year was good or not. Owning the same jobs outright is $279 once, and the slice stops.
Nexa is $279 once. Invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, accounting — all connected, built for move out cleaners. You own it like you own your Heavy-duty degreaser, oven cleaner, and a baked-on grime scraper for the kitchen.
Is Nexa actually right for a move out cleaner?
An honest fit check — because the wrong tool is worse than no tool.
Right for you if
You run solo or a small crew — like the 30,000 move out cleaners in the US who do, and you wear every hat.
You're tired of paying every month for a monthly subscription stack and a pile of apps that don't talk to each other.
You want to invoice, schedule, and track from the field — not from a back office.
You'd rather own your software once, the way you own your Heavy-duty degreaser, oven cleaner, and a baked-on grime scraper for the kitchen.
Look elsewhere if
You run a 20+ move out cleaner fleet that needs enterprise dispatch and multi-crew routing — Nexa is built for 1–5, and a fleet platform will serve you better.
You need full payroll for a large team or deep, SKU-level inventory — that's not what Nexa is for.
You're genuinely happy paying monthly and don't mind stitching tools together. No tool fixes a workflow you already like.
The honest fit: if you're a solo or small move out cleaners business that owns its tools and is sick of renting software, Nexa replaces your whole stack for $279 once. If you're scaling past a handful of crews, a fleet platform may fit better — and we'd rather tell you that now than sell you the wrong thing.
Move Out Cleaners by the numbers — by place
Tax, licensing & seasonality where you operate
1-13.3%income tax
CSLB (Contractors State License Board)licensing
Year-round construction in SoCal. Fire season (June-November) drives restoration demand. Drought impacts landscaping. Earthquake retrofitting is ongoing market.
DBPR (Dept of Business and Professional Regulation)licensing
Hurricane season June-November creates massive restoration demand. Snowbird season November-March boosts service volume 30-40%. Year-round construction. Pool service is year-round industry. Pest control peaks in summer humidity.
Harsh winters in upstate, moderate in NYC. Construction limited in winter upstate. NYC market is enormous but hypercompetitive. Brownstone/pre-war building maintenance is specialized trade. NYC licensing is notoriously complex.
Scheduling, job tracking, invoicing and client records are the pieces of that day. Some tools rent you each piece separately. A few — Nexa among them — bundle the lot and carry their own booking link, with no per-appointment cut. The sections below price both routes honestly.
What move out cleaners actually deal with
Cleaning to an invisible landlord's standard for a deposit return, where 'clean' isn't subjective, it's whatever the property manager's white-glove inspection decides, and I'm liable for the gap
Walking into a far filthier unit than the booking described, with years of grease, pet damage, or a hoard, after quoting a flat move-out price over the phone sight unseen
Damage disputes, where pre-existing wall holes, carpet stains, or a scratched floor get pinned on my crew because nobody documented the unit's condition before we started
Tight handoff timing squeezed between the tenant moving out and the new tenant or inspection moving in, so a slow or overbooked day means a unit that isn't done when the keys change hands
A day in the life of a move out cleaner
A move-out clean isn't a tidy-up, it's a deposit hanging in the balance, and the bar is set by a property manager I'll never meet until the inspection. I walk in and the first thing I do is photograph the unit, every existing wall hole, carpet stain, and scratched floor, because if I don't, my crew owns damage that was there before us. Then it's the grind from the top down: blinds, ceiling fans, baseboards, light fixtures, the stuff inspectors run a finger along. The kitchen is the battlefield, with baked-on oven grease, the gunk behind and under the appliances nobody touched in three years, and a fridge that has to come spotless. Bathrooms mean limescale, grout, and the hard-water ring in the toilet that takes pumice and patience. Walls get every scuff and handprint erased, because a property manager's white-glove standard is the only standard that counts for the deposit. The stress is twofold: a unit that's far worse than the phone booking led me to believe, where my flat quote suddenly doesn't cover three years of neglect, and the clock, because the new tenant or the inspector is arriving and the keys change hands whether I'm done or not. I run the checklist, shoot after-photos, and hand off knowing the deposit rides on it.
The tools a working move out cleaner actually owns
Heavy-duty degreaser, oven cleaner, and a baked-on grime scraper for the kitchen
Grout brush, pumice stone, and limescale remover for tubs and toilets
Microfiber pack, extendable duster, and a HEPA vacuum for baseboards and blinds
Magic-eraser-style sponges and wall-spot cleaner for scuffs and handprints
Steam cleaner for appliance interiors and stuck-on residue
Move-out checklist clipboard and a before-and-after camera
Local move out cleaners on Nexa
Real move out cleaners near you who run their business on Nexa — book directly, no platform fee.
Are you a move out cleaner? Post your business and get found in your area — $2.99 one-time.
Or browse every move out cleaner on Nexa →
The kit a working move out cleaner owns
The tools of the trade — each a one-time buy that earns its keep for years.
Heavy-duty degreaser, oven cleaner, and a baked-on grime scraper for the kitchen
Grout brush, pumice stone, and limescale remover for tubs and toilets
Microfiber pack, extendable duster, and a HEPA vacuum for baseboards and blinds
Magic-eraser-style sponges and wall-spot cleaner for scuffs and handprints
Steam cleaner for appliance interiors and stuck-on residue
Move-out checklist clipboard and a before-and-after camera
You paid for these once because good tools last. That's the bar your software should clear too — priced like a tool you own, $279 once, not a subscription that costs more than your kit every year.
How To Read This Page
We make Nexa. It is one of the two options compared here, so read this with that in mind. We have tried to make Housecall Pro's case the way we would want ours made — their strengths above are their own published feature list, not our summary of it.
The prices are Housecall Pro's published list prices, checked on the date shown in the sources below. Plans change; check theirs before you decide.
No customer quotes appear on this page because we do not have any from move out cleaners we can verify. For user testimony, read the independent reviews — Housecall Pro on G2 and on Capterra — where the reviewers are not selling you anything.
Check the price yourself:Housecall Pro's own pricing page is the source for every figure above, read on the date shown in the sources section below.
We are not neutral about subscriptions, and that is the argument, not a hidden assumption: software you pay for once is cheaper over three years than software you rent, unless you need something only the rented one does.
How we put this guide together
We build a move out cleaner's guide the same way every time, and we'd rather you trust it than take it on faith. Nexa is our product, so the test we hold ourselves to is simple: a tool only "wins" a job here when it genuinely does that job better for a move out cleaner — and where something free, open-source, or buy-once does it better, we say so and link you to it. Where Nexa falls short (payroll is the honest example), we name the alternative outright.
Where the numbers come from
Vendor pricingJobber $588/yr, Housecall Pro $948/yr, QuickBooks $456/yr, Square — taken from each company's published plans, last verified September 2026. Pricing moves; each name above links straight to that vendor’s own pricing page so you can confirm it before you decide.
Income contextThe $38,000 median we cite for the typical move out cleaner is occupational median annual pay from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Occupational Employment & Wage Statistics), compiled April 2026. We use it only to show software spend as a share of real income — your own numbers will differ.
The field's own bodiesWe anchor what move out cleaners actually need to the people who set the standards — ISSA. We don't speak for them; we point you to them so you can weigh this guide against the profession's own.
Three-year mathMulti-year totals are today's list price multiplied by the number of years. No price rise is projected, so the figure can be checked against the vendor's own pricing page; if they raise it, the real cost is higher.
Found something out of date? Prices change and we don't catch every move the day it happens. This guide is published and maintained by the Nexa team; if a figure here is wrong, tell us and we'll fix it — getting it right matters more to us than the sale.
FAQ
Is Nexa really a Housecall Pro replacement?
For solo move out cleaners and small teams, yes. invoicing, scheduling, CRM, time tracking, task management, and full accounting — all for $279 once. Housecall Pro may be better if you have a large team (10+) or need enterprise-specific features.
What does Housecall Pro do that Nexa doesn't?
Housecall Pro has features like Online booking for home services and GPS tracking that some businesses rely on. For most solo move out cleaners, these aren't dealbreakers.
How fast does Nexa pay for itself?
At $79/month, Nexa pays for itself in 3.5 months. After that: $948 saved every year.
Can I pay in installments?
Yes. Nexa is $279 as a one-time payment, or 3 payments of $99 ($297 total). Either way it's a one-time purchase — no subscription, no recurring fees ever.