Yardbook is free. Trade Caddy is $49/mo. An honest look at when free lawn care software is the right answer and when it quietly costs you more.
Yardbook has a free tier that is genuinely free rather than a trial, and it is widely used by solo lawn care operators. Any honest comparison has to start by saying that beating free on price is not possible, so this article is about when free is the right call and when it is not.
The short version
| Trade Caddy | Yardbook | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $49/mo | $0 (ad supported) |
| Paid tiers | One, at $49 | Business and Enterprise, roughly $35 to $50/mo |
| Per-user charges | $10/mo per additional user | None |
| Advertising in the product | No | Yes on the free tier |
| Route optimization | Included | Not a headline feature |
| Free trial | 30 days, no card | Free tier, indefinitely |
Trade Caddy figures are ours. Yardbook figures come from publicly listed plan information rather than a direct quote from their pricing page, so treat them as indicative and confirm before deciding. Prices checked on each company's own pricing page on 2 September 2026.
When free is the right answer
It genuinely often is, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
- You are just starting and have a handful of customers.
- Your route is small enough that you already know the best order to drive it.
- You are not sure yet whether the business is going to be your main income.
- You do not mind advertising inside the tool you use daily.
When free starts costing you
The cost of free software is rarely the software. It is the hour a week you spend working around it, and the jobs that fall through the gap.
One missed mow on a $50 recurring account is $50. Two of those a month and you have paid for a subscription without noticing. That maths only works once you have enough customers for things to get missed in the first place, which is exactly why free is right early and wrong later.
Where Trade Caddy is the better choice
- You have enough recurring stops that route order actually matters.
- You want no advertising in front of you or your customers.
- You want photo documentation attached to the customer permanently, for when someone disputes what you did.
- You want QuickBooks sync without moving up a tier.
About these numbers
Everything here comes from each company's own published pricing page, not from a review site. Software pricing moves, and plan contents move with it, so check theirs before you decide anything. If something below is out of date, it is a mistake rather than a sales tactic, and it will be corrected.
This comparison covers list pricing and what is included at each tier. It does not attempt to rank the software itself. Every one of these products is used successfully by real businesses.
Prices checked on each company's own pricing page on 2 September 2026.
Try it against your own route
The honest way to settle this is not a comparison table, it is your own customer list. Trade Caddy is $49/mo flat, $10/mo per additional user, with a 30-day free trial and no credit card to start. Put a week of real jobs in it and see whether it holds. If it does not, you have lost a week and no money. If it does, you know what you are switching from and exactly what it costs.
Get Trade Caddy
Scheduling, invoicing, online booking, and QuickBooks sync. Run your whole trade business from your phone.