As we are writing this article right now, BookingKoala is undergoing some sort of attack on its platform (supposedly) and making it unusable for many people. But in the days prior, their app update broke a lot of things for their current customers, with some reporting weeks of loss revenue and customer complaints because the platform was not working correctly.
For a full deep-dive into what is going on with BookingKoala, you can check our deep-dive on the current issues of BookingKoala.
Anyway, if you are currently an unhappy customer of BookingKoala, here are some alternatives. Note that we included our software first because we have a natural bias to it (teehee). But this article is also an honest assessment of the alternatives that are available to you.
BookingKoala Alternatives Comparison Chart
Cleaning Business App
Features
Ideal for
Trial Period
Pricing
Pricing
Klean CRM
- Automated text customer reminders
- Financial analytics dashboard
- No extra charges for text messages
- Customer database
- Send invoice and quotes
- Free add-on account
- Online booking portal for customers
- Cleaner GPS tracking
Great for companies just starting out or smaller companies
30-Day Trial
$19.95 per month
Jobber
- Automated text customer reminders
- Financial analytics dashboard
- Customer database
- Send invoice and quotes
- Integrates with Google Maps
- Great mobile interface
- Embeddable online booking form
- Expensive
- Canceling your account can be difficult
Great for companies wanting to expand beyond cleaning
14-Day Trial
$29 to $349 per month
ZenMaid
- Automated text customer reminders
- Financial analytics dashboard
- Customer database
- Send invoice and quotes
- Embeddable online booking form
- Expensive as you add more cleaners
- Limited to 40 appointments per month on lowest tier
Extensive social media prescence
14-Day Trial
$19 to $529 per month
Launch27
- Automated text customer reminders
- Financial analytics dashboard
- Customer database
- Send invoice and quotes
- Similar to BookingKoala
- Extremely unintuitive user interface
- Onboarding is slow and complicated
- Much more expensive than BookingKoala or Klean CRM
Most similar to BookingKoala
14-Day Trial
$75 to $299 per month
Why Consider Alternatives to BookingKoala?
In addition to the current issues that are plaguing BookingKoala, making it unusable and causing lots of lost revenue and customer complaints, there might be other reasons you might want to look for alternatives to BookingKoala, including it:
- Being too complicated to use
- Too expensive
- Too many bugs
- Too short of a trial period
- Too many features
How to Choose The Right BookingKoala Alternative
Selecting the right software is not a one-size-fits-all decision. It requires careful evaluation of your company’s size, operational workflow, and long-term goals. Here are a few questions to consider when making your decision:
Do you plan on controlling your schedule or letting customers book online?
Do you want customers to contact your company first to schedule or do you want them to book online? Letting your customers book online might be a good idea if you have 20+ cleaners but it does add a lot of maintenance overhead maintaining time slots that customers are allowed to automatically book.
What stage is your business in?
Are you still small and starting out? If so, you probably don’t need complicated software that takes weeks to figure out. Because you want to get up and running quickly and don’t need all the features that are in some of these apps.
What are your primary business needs?
Are you more focused on scheduling and appointment management, or do you also require robust invoicing and CRM capabilities?
Do you need industry-specific tools?
For companies specializing solely in cleaning, solutions like ZenMaid and Launch27 offer features that cater directly to your unique challenges—such as managing recurring appointments and automating customer reminders.
What is your budget?
Ensure that the software you choose not only fits your operational needs but also aligns with your financial plan. Consider the potential return on investment in terms of saved time, improved customer satisfaction, and increased efficiency.
How scalable is the solution?
As your business grows, the software should be able to handle more jobs, more customers, and more complex operations without requiring a complete overhaul of your systems.
By asking these questions and weighing the strengths and limitations of each platform, you can make a more informed decision that supports your business now and into the future.
In-Depth Look at Each Alternative
Klean CRM
Klean CRM is our app and we built it with ease-of-use in mind. We made this software with the small business owner in mind, or those just starting out in the cleaning industry. So we keep the frills to a minimum and made it extremely easy to start using. We do this so you can spend time working on your business instead of learning how to use complicated software. You should be up and running within an hour of signing up for our software.
But easy-to-use doesn’t mean feature-light. We wanted to build a robust and cost-effective management solution that has all the essentials a cleaning company would need to manage their day-to-day business. Unlike more generalized field service platforms, Klean CRM zeroes in on the core needs of cleaning businesses, by providing the following in our app:
- Customer database
- Booking calendar
- Cleaner management
- Financial analytics dashboard (reporting profit/cost, average price per clean, etc)
- Automated text reminders to customers
- Automated reminders to cleaners
- Send quotes
- Send invoices
Additionally, we will personally onboard every client if they choose to.
The app is ideal for companies in the following niches:
- Residential cleaning
- Office cleaning
- Short-term rental cleaning
- Pressure washing
- Window washing
- Carpet Cleaning
- Junk removal
Key Strengths:
Industry-Specific Design: Klean CRM has been built with cleaning companies in mind. This means that its features—from managing customer leads to scheduling recurring appointments—are tailored to meet the everyday challenges of the cleaning industry.
Comprehensive CRM Functionality: The platform excels in capturing and nurturing customer relationships. With advanced lead tracking and a centralized dashboard for managing appointments and invoices, it empowers cleaning companies to optimize both sales and service processes.
Workflow Automation: Automating routine tasks such as invoicing and appointment reminders helps reduce administrative overhead, allowing teams to focus on service quality and customer satisfaction.
Affordability: Priced at just $19.95 per month, Klean CRM offers an attractive solution for small to medium-sized cleaning companies looking for a feature-rich yet budget-friendly option.
Ease of Use: Its intuitive interface means minimal training is required, ensuring that teams can adopt the system quickly and effectively.
Potential Limitations
While our app is a strong contender in the cleaning industry, its focus on CRM and workflow automation may mean that it lacks some of the broader operational features found in all-in-one platforms. Additionally, customization options might be more limited compared to solutions designed for larger enterprises with more complex needs.
We did not build a customer portal in the first version. The reason is because when we used BookingKoala, we thought the feature was buggy, needless, and overly complicated. There were times that customers booked slots that were not available, complained because they were unable to book, or were quoted the wrong price when they booked online. We thought it was a much smoother and more effective option to build an app that you had full control over.
With that said, we will be releasing a customer portal in the future—but we want to release it when we know it works as intended and is simple to use.
And to be completely frank, our app is tailored for smaller cleaning companies, and not multi-million dollar companies that are looking for more extensive reporting and tracking options.
We built our app to be ideal for companies just starting out, not needing to overly complicate their operations.
Customer Support:
We have videos that show you how easy it is to use the app. We also have a well-documented written guide. We also reach out to new users to ask if they want to schedule a 1-on-1 call to be personally onboarded.
Any issues that users face, they can reach out to us via e-mail or chat and we will help them with it.
Jobber
Jobber is a versatile field service management software that caters to a wide range of service industries, including cleaning, landscaping, and HVAC. While not solely focused on cleaning companies, Jobber has built a strong reputation for its robust scheduling, invoicing, and customer communication features.
Jobber has a pretty sleek mobile user interface and integrates directly with GPS services like Google.
Key Strengths:
Robust Scheduling & Dispatch: Jobber’s calendar and dispatch tools are designed to handle multiple teams and jobs simultaneously, making it ideal for businesses with a larger workforce.
Comprehensive Invoicing: The platform supports customized quotes, estimates, and invoicing, ensuring that financial management remains streamlined.
Customer Relationship Management: With detailed client profiles and follow-up automation, Jobber helps businesses maintain long-term customer relationships.
Scalability: Its flexible pricing model and rich feature set make it suitable for both small businesses and larger enterprises.
Potential Limitations:
Industry Generalist: Since Jobber caters to a variety of service industries, some cleaning-specific needs (like recurring appointments and cleaning checklists) might not be as tailored compared to specialized solutions.
Learning Curve: With a comprehensive feature set, new users may require additional training to fully leverage the system’s capabilities.
ZenMaid
ZenMaid is a solution developed exclusively for maid services and cleaning companies. Its design is laser-focused on the unique challenges of scheduling recurring appointments, managing multiple cleaning teams, and ensuring excellent customer communication.
Although ZenMaid’s Starter plan starts at only $19, that does not allow you to add any cleaners (other than yourself). And it also maxes out at 40 appointments per month. So most likely, you will have to upgrade to a more expensive plan if you have more than one booking per day.
Key Strengths:
Cleaning-Specific Features: ZenMaid’s features include automated appointment reminders, recurring service scheduling, and client management tools that are finely tuned for the cleaning industry.
Efficiency Boost: Automated emails and text reminders reduce no-shows and streamline daily operations.
Ease of Use: The interface is simple and intuitive, reducing the time needed for staff training.
Affordable Pricing: ZenMaid offers competitive pricing with plans that are particularly attractive for smaller cleaning companies looking for a cost-effective solution.
Potential Limitations:
Limited to Cleaning: While its industry focus is a strength, companies offering a broader range of services might find the lack of versatility limiting.
Feature Depth: For larger companies that require a more comprehensive suite of business management tools (beyond scheduling and reminders), ZenMaid might feel a bit basic.
Launch27
Launch27 is very similar to BookingKoala and was one of the first apps in the market that addresses the specific needs of cleaning companies. The customer booking interface is one that BookingKoala customers will be very familiar with.
It offers an all-in-one solution with tools for online booking, scheduling, invoicing, and even marketing integrations, ensuring that cleaning companies can manage both their operations and customer engagement from one platform.
Key Strengths:
Integrated Online Booking: Launch27 excels in simplifying the booking process, allowing customers to schedule services online effortlessly.
Comprehensive Dashboard: The centralized dashboard offers visibility over all operations—from scheduling and invoicing to customer communication and employee dispatch.
Marketing Tools: Integrated email and SMS marketing functionalities help cleaning companies nurture customer relationships and build brand loyalty.
User-Friendly Interface: With a focus on usability, Launch27 minimizes the administrative burden and allows cleaning companies to focus on service delivery.
Potential Limitations:
Niche Focus: Although this specialization benefits cleaning companies, those with evolving needs that extend beyond cleaning might need to look for additional integrations or supplemental software.
Pricing Variability: Pricing tends to vary based on the features selected and the scale of operations, which might require a careful cost-benefit analysis for growing businesses.
Key Considerations When Choosing a Software Platform
1. Ease of Use & User Experience
For many cleaning businesses, the success of software adoption hinges on ease of use. An intuitive interface means less time spent on training and more time focusing on service delivery. Platforms like ZenMaid and BookingKoala are known for their straightforward user interfaces, while Jobber and HouseCallPro, with their extensive feature sets, may require a more substantial learning curve.
2. Scalability
As a cleaning company grows, its operational software must adapt to increasing demand and complexity. Jobber and HouseCallPro offer robust solutions that scale well with larger teams and multiple service types. However, if your business is smaller or highly specialized in cleaning, ZenMaid or Launch27 might offer just the right balance of functionality and simplicity without overwhelming you with unnecessary features.
3. Mobile Capabilities
In the field service industry, mobile access is essential. Nearly all the platforms reviewed—Klean CRM, Maid Central, Jobber, HouseCallPro, ZenMaid, and Launch27—offer mobile or a mobile-optimized app. The key is to evaluate whether the mobile interface meets your needs for on-the-go scheduling, real-time communication, and route optimization. Jobber, in particular, has built its reputation on mobile efficiency, making it a top contender for companies with a large mobile workforce.
4. Industry-Specific Features
While general field service software can be adapted for cleaning businesses, solutions that are tailored to the cleaning industry—like ZenMaid and Launch27—often include specialized features such as recurring scheduling, cleaning checklists, and automated customer notifications. These features can significantly streamline operations for companies that handle regular cleaning appointments.
5. Cost Considerations
Pricing is a crucial factor, especially for small businesses with tight budgets. Most platforms offer tiered pricing, where you can choose a package that fits your current needs and upgrade as your business grows. ZenMaid tends to be more budget-friendly for smaller companies, whereas Jobber and HouseCallPro might represent a larger upfront investment but offer more comprehensive tools for scaling operations.
Final Thoughts
For small cleaning companies, efficiency and simplicity are paramount. While Jobber, ZenMaid, and Launch27 each offer unique advantages, their complexity, plethora of settings, learning curve, and higher price points can be obstacles for businesses that need to get up and running quickly. They are ideal for companies that have a larger workforce and are well-established. Some of these apps also offer some accounting and HR functions so that may be useful as a secondary tool to your main accounting and HR software.
However, we believe Klean CRM stands out as the best cleaning business app for small companies by providing all the essential features you need—without the steep learning curve or unnecessary extras. While Klean CRM doesn’t have all the extra features that some cleaning companies may not need, it gives you 100% of the features cleaning companies need to get setup and running. And at a fraction of the cost of other cleaning business CRMs.
If you’re looking for a powerful yet simple tool that helps you manage customer communications, streamline scheduling, and keep your finances on track, Klean CRM is the clear choice. Give it a try with the 30-day free trial, and experience firsthand how its streamlined interface and robust functionality can transform your cleaning business operations for the better.
This comprehensive review should serve as a starting point in your search for the ideal cleaning business management software. As technology continues to evolve, staying informed about the latest updates and user experiences will ensure that your business remains competitive and ready to meet new challenges head-on.
