The HVAC business owner's guide to dispatch & route planning software
In this guide
What actually matters when you're comparing tools
Search "HVAC dispatch software" and the same five or six names come up everywhere: ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro, FieldEdge, Service Fusion, Workiz. Most of them are dispatch boards first — a visual calendar where an office manager drags jobs onto a technician's day. That's genuinely useful, but it's a different thing from route optimization, where the software itself calculates the most efficient order and assignment of jobs based on drive time, not just who has an open slot.
That distinction matters more in HVAC than in most trades, because a big share of the day is often unplanned — a scheduled tune-up next to a same-day no-cool emergency call, both needing to fit into the same tech's route without blowing up the rest of the day.
How the major HVAC platforms compare
| Software | Built for HVAC | Route optimization | Pricing model | Best fit | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Midpoint | Built for route-based trades, HVAC included | Automatic drive-time sequencing, re-optimizes on any change | Per-tech, scales from a solo operator up | HVAC companies who want tech routing calculated automatically instead of assigned by hand on a dispatch board | Not a full CRM or invoicing platform — built to run alongside one, or replace a manual dispatch process directly |
| ServiceTitan | Enterprise HVAC & home services | Dispatch board with GPS tracking; an AI add-on can re-evaluate assignments periodically on higher tiers | Quote-only; operators commonly report roughly $125–$400+ per tech/month, plus $5,000–$25,000+ implementation | 10–20+ tech shops with the budget and process maturity for a full revenue-ops platform | Expensive, complex onboarding, and pricing isn't published anywhere — you won't know your real cost until a sales call |
| Housecall Pro | General home services, HVAC included | Manual dispatch board with GPS tracking; no automatic route re-sequencing | Published pricing, roughly $59–$169/mo depending on tier, custom above that | Residential-focused shops with 1–10 techs who want a clean mobile app and fast setup | Reporting and route intelligence cap out below ServiceTitan and dedicated routing tools as you grow |
| FieldEdge | Built specifically for HVAC, plumbing, electrical | Manual dispatch board; strongest on service agreement tracking, not route optimization | Quote-only; operator-reported figures vary widely, commonly cited around $200–$600/mo depending on team size | 2–15 tech shops already anchored to QuickBooks who want tight accounting sync | Mobile app is functional but less polished than ServiceTitan or Housecall Pro; routing is still a manual, drag-and-drop task |
| Service Fusion | HVAC, plumbing, electrical | Dispatch board; assignment by proximity is a manual judgment call, not automated | Flat rate, unlimited users — commonly cited around $150–$390/mo depending on source and tier | Growing shops with a lot of office/support staff who benefit from the flat, per-company pricing | Interface looks dated next to newer tools; several HVAC users note they're still manually judging which tech is closest each morning |
| Workiz | Multi-trade, HVAC included | Dispatch board with GPS/location tracking, built around inbound call handling | Free "Lite" tier for up to 2 users; paid tiers commonly cited in the $150–$350/mo range once add-ons are included | Small-to-mid HVAC or multi-trade shops that get a high volume of inbound calls to book and dispatch | Base price is misleading — per-user fees, phone/SMS, and payment processing add-ons push real cost well above the advertised starting price |
Pricing reflects commonly reported figures from vendor pages and third-party operator research as of 2026 and varies significantly by team size, contract terms, and add-ons. Several of these vendors don't publish pricing at all — confirm current cost directly before deciding.
Where Midpoint fits
Most of the platforms above are dispatch boards: an office manager or dispatcher still decides which tech goes where, then drags the job onto that tech's calendar. That works, but it puts the route-planning burden on a person doing mental math about drive time, tech location, and job urgency — every single morning, and again every time an emergency call comes in mid-day.
Midpoint automates that specific piece. Recurring maintenance visits and one-off service calls both get assigned and sequenced by actual drive time and tech availability, and the route re-optimizes automatically when an emergency call gets inserted or a job runs long — instead of a dispatcher manually reshuffling the rest of the day by hand.
The fastest way to see the difference: pull up your dispatcher's actual schedule from a busy day last week — the one with an emergency call inserted mid-morning — and run it through a trial of whichever tool you're evaluating. Most dispatch boards will show you the same manual reshuffling you already did by hand; a route optimization tool should show you a better sequence than the one you actually ran.
When a competitor might make more sense
If you're a 10+ tech shop with dedicated marketing spend and revenue-ops needs — membership programs, financing options, call-tracking attribution — ServiceTitan's breadth covers ground Midpoint isn't trying to cover, and the price tag is likely justified by the additional revenue tools alone.
If your bookkeeping runs entirely through QuickBooks Desktop and that sync is non-negotiable, FieldEdge's accounting integration is more mature than a routing-first tool can offer.
If your office runs a lot of part-time or seasonal support staff, Service Fusion's flat, unlimited-user pricing can be a real cost advantage over per-seat platforms, routing limitations aside.
If a high volume of inbound calls is your actual bottleneck rather than route efficiency, Workiz's call-handling features may solve the more urgent problem first.
Where Midpoint tends to win the comparison is HVAC shops with enough daily change — emergency calls, seasonal maintenance surges, multiple techs covering overlapping territory — that manual dispatch has become a real time cost, but that don't need (or want to pay for) a full enterprise revenue-ops platform.
See your actual dispatch day, automated.
Run a real day's worth of jobs through Midpoint and see how the route compares to what your dispatcher built by hand.
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