It's November. You've sat through three sales calls, you like one of the tools, and the rep wants a signature by Friday so you can "go live January 1." The order form is two pages. The field service software contract it points to runs twenty. You'll read the price, skim the rest, and sign.
That's how most owners end up in a contract they can't get out of. The price is rarely the problem. The problem is the clause about renewal notice, the early termination fee, or the payment processing that only works with the vendor's own merchant account.
This post walks through nine terms to check before you sign, what a fair version of each looks like, and the questions to ask the rep. Where it helps, we show you how FSM Navigator handles the same term, so you have something concrete to compare against.
One note: this is general information, not legal advice. For a multi-year agreement, have your lawyer read it.
Why field service software contract terms matter right now
On October 29, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission and several states sued a restaurant software and payments company in federal court in California. The FTC alleges a list of practices that will sound familiar to anyone who has tried to leave a software vendor:
- a written notice of "intent not to renew" due 30 days ahead, which the FTC says was not clearly disclosed in the enrollment flow
- an early termination fee of $150 for every month left on the contract
- add-on subscriptions customers say they never agreed to
- cancellation requests routed through retention pitches and multiple teams
- round-the-clock support advertised in every package that customers say they couldn't reach
These are allegations. The FTC's own release says the court will decide the case. But the case is a useful checklist, because every one of those problems starts as a line in a contract that someone signed without reading.
Here's what the termination fee alone can look like. Illustrative example: you sign a two-year deal, the software doesn't work for your crews, and you want out after 10 months. At $150 per remaining month, 14 months left is $2,100 to leave, on top of whatever you pay the next vendor. That's the cost of not reading term 3.
1. Term length and how renewal works
What to look for: how long the first term is (monthly, one year, two years), whether it renews automatically, and for how long it renews. A one-year contract that renews for another full year is common. A two-year contract that renews for two more is worse.
The trap: a notice window. "Renews automatically unless you give written notice 30 (or 60, or 90) days before the end of the term." Miss the window by a day and you've bought another year.
Ask the rep: "Does this renew automatically? For how long? How much notice do I have to give, how, and will you remind me before the window closes?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: paid plans bill monthly or annually. You can cancel online anytime in Plans & Billing, and access continues to the end of the period you've paid for. Annual plans renew for another year unless you cancel, and we email the account Owner 30 days before they do.
2. How you actually cancel
What to look for: who can cancel, where, and how. "Written notice to our legal department by certified mail" is a very different thing from a button in your account.
The trap: cancellation that can only happen by phone or chat, where the person on the other end is measured on keeping you. The FTC says multiple customers report getting no response and still being charged.
Ask the rep: "Show me the cancel button. Who in my company can press it?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: the account Owner cancels from billing settings. After the paid period ends, the account moves to the Free plan and keeps its data. Users above 5 are deactivated, since Free is free for up to 5 users.
3. Early termination fees
What to look for: any fee for leaving before the term ends. Look for words like "early termination," "remaining contract value," "acceleration," or "liquidated damages."
The trap: fees calculated on every month left, or a clause that makes all remaining payments due at once. Some agreements also tie hardware leases or financing to the software contract, so leaving the software triggers a balance on the other.
Ask the rep: "If I leave in month 8, what do I owe, in dollars? Is any hardware, loan or financing tied to this agreement?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: there are no cancellation fees and no setup fees. Cancelling doesn't refund the period you've already paid for, so you keep access, but the current period isn't refunded. There's no hardware to return. The app runs on your techs' own iOS and Android phones.
4. Free trial terms
What to look for: whether a card is collected, when the first charge happens, and what the trial turns into when it ends.
The trap: a trial that quietly becomes an annual plan, or a "free" plan that turns out to be a trial with a deadline.
Ask the rep: "Is this a free plan or a trial? If it's a trial, when do you charge my card, for what plan, and will you warn me first?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: there are two separate offers, and they shouldn't be confused.
- The Free plan is free for up to 5 users. No credit card, no time limit. It's a plan, not a trial.
- The 14-day trial of Pro or Enterprise starts from your account after a free signup. A payment method is collected when the trial starts and isn't charged until the trial ends.
We email you 3 days before the trial ends. If you don't cancel, the trial continues on the plan and billing cycle you picked, and the card is charged when the 14 days are up. Cancel before then and you aren't charged.
5. How you're charged: per user, per tech, or per "seat"
What to look for: what the price is per. Per technician, per user, per truck, per location and flat-rate pricing all add up differently as you grow. Check whether office staff, dispatchers and part-timers count.
The trap: a minimum seat count, or seat increases that can't be reversed until renewal.
Ask the rep: "Does my office manager count? If I add two techs for summer and drop them in October, what do I pay in November?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: pricing is per user, per month, and anyone who logs in is a user, office staff included. Pro and Enterprise have no user limit. Seats you add are charged right away for the rest of the billing period. Seats you remove come off at your next renewal. Deactivated users don't take a seat.
6. Payment processing and other fees
What to look for: whether you're required to use the vendor's own payment processing, what it costs per transaction, and what other fees sit outside the subscription price.
The trap: a low or $0 subscription that's paid for by higher per-transaction rates, or fees that show up on your customers' invoices without your say. Processing costs on a busy service business can dwarf the software bill.
Ask the rep: "List every fee I could pay besides the subscription: processing, per-invoice, per-text, onboarding, data export. Which ones can I turn off?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: online payments run through your own Stripe account, and payments settle there. A platform fee applies to online payments in addition to Stripe's processing fees; the rate is listed on our pricing page, not hidden in the terms. Invoicing itself doesn't require online payments. There are no setup fees.
7. Price changes
What to look for: whether the vendor can raise prices mid-term, how much notice you get, and whether there's a cap on increases at renewal.
The trap: "Pricing subject to change" with no notice period, or a renewal at "then-current list price" after an introductory discount runs out.
Ask the rep: "Is my price locked for the term? How much notice do I get before an increase, and can I cancel without penalty if I don't accept it?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: annual billing saves about 20% compared with paying monthly.
8. What happens if a payment fails
What to look for: what happens to your account, and your data, the day a card is declined.
The trap: an account that locks the moment a payment fails, in the middle of a Monday dispatch, or a clause that lets the vendor terminate and delete data after a short delinquency.
Ask the rep: "If my card expires, how long until my techs can't see their jobs? Do I get a warning?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: if a subscription payment fails, the account goes read-only for a short grace period. Your team can still sign in and see everything, but can't create or edit records. A warning email goes out before the grace period ends. Pay before it ends and you stay on your plan. If the balance is still unpaid, the account moves to the Free plan and keeps its data.
9. Getting your data out
What to look for: whether you can export your customers, jobs, invoices and history yourself, in what format, at what cost, and how long the vendor keeps your data after you leave.
The trap: export only on request, an export fee, or a deletion clause that starts the day you cancel.
Ask the rep: "Can I download all my data myself today, on the plan I'm buying? What happens to it 30 days after I cancel?"
How FSM Navigator handles it: the account Owner can download the whole company's data on every plan, Free included, with no export fee. Customers, invoices and financial reports export to CSV, and invoices download as PDF. Cancelling a paid plan doesn't delete anything; the account moves to Free and keeps its data. If an Owner deletes the account, it's deleted immediately with no export window, so export first. The full rules are in our terms.
One more: promises made in the sales call
Support hours, uptime, response times, "dedicated onboarding." If it matters to you, it should be written in the agreement or a linked policy, not just in the deck. The FTC's allegations include a support promise it says customers couldn't use.
Ask for the support hours and the uptime commitment in writing. FSM Navigator targets 99.9% monthly uptime on Pro and Enterprise, with service credits as the remedy; the terms are on our SLA page. Every plan includes email support, and Enterprise gets prioritized handling. Response targets and support hours are on the same page.
A one-page checklist to take to the call
Print this and fill it in for every vendor you're comparing:
- First term length, and what it renews into
- Notice window to stop renewal, and how notice is given
- Who can cancel, and where
- Early termination fee, in dollars, at month 8
- Trial or free plan, card collected, first charge date
- Price per user, per tech or flat; do office staff count
- Every fee outside the subscription, including payment processing
- Price lock for the term; notice before increases
- What happens on a failed payment
- Self-serve data export, format, cost; data retention after cancel
- Support hours and uptime, in writing
If a vendor won't answer any line in writing, that's your answer.
For a broader view of what to compare beyond the contract, see how to choose field service software. And if part of what you're signing up for is replacing a separate booking tool, read why a booking app and field service software belong in one tool before you pay for two contracts.
FAQ
What should I look for in a field service software contract?
Check the term length and renewal, the notice window to cancel, how cancellation works, early termination fees, trial terms, how pricing scales, fees outside the subscription, price-change rules, failed-payment rules and how you export your data.
Can a software company charge an early termination fee?
Many agreements include one, often calculated on the months left in the term. Whether a particular fee holds up is a legal question. Before signing, ask for the dollar amount you'd owe if you left early.
What is an auto-renewal notice window?
It's the period before the end of a term when you must tell the vendor you don't want to renew. Miss it and the contract usually renews for another term. Ask how long it is and how notice must be given.
Does FSM Navigator have a contract or cancellation fee?
No cancellation fees and no setup fees. You can cancel from billing settings any time; your plan runs to the end of the paid period and then moves to the Free plan with your data kept.
Is FSM Navigator's free plan a trial?
No. The Free plan is free for up to 5 users with no credit card and no time limit. Pro and Enterprise have a separate 14-day free trial, which collects a payment method when it starts.
Read the terms, then try the software on your own jobs before you commit. Try Pro free for 14 days.