Free field service management software, and where the limits are
FSM Navigator's Free plan gives you a dispatch board, a technician app and invoicing for up to 5 users, with no credit card and no time limit.
Free for up to 5 users, no credit card, no time limit.
A board, an app and an invoice
It's 7:10 on a Monday. Two techs are already rolling, the third is texting to ask which address is first, and the schedule lives in a photo of a whiteboard. You don't need a six-month software project to fix that. You need a board, an app on every phone, and a way to send the invoice before the truck leaves the driveway.
That's the job of free field service management software. Below is what FSM Navigator's Free plan covers, what it doesn't, and how to tell a real free plan from a trial with a countdown on it.
What the Free plan covers
Free for up to 5 users, no credit card, no time limit. Here's what's in it.
Dispatch board and calendar
Schedule and assign work by hand on a visual board, with SLA tracking on every job.
Jobs with the details that matter
Each job carries its customer, location, priority, SLA deadline and notes, from first call to completion.
Technician app for iOS and Android
Techs see what's assigned to them, update status and add notes from a native app.
Offline-first
The app keeps working in a basement with no signal and syncs on its own when the phone reconnects.
GPS location and Navigate
See where your technicians are, and let them tap Navigate to open the job address in their phone's maps app.
Customer records
Every customer and service location in one place, with their jobs, invoices and history.
Invoicing
Invoice from the job and send PDF invoices, up to 100 a month.
Notifications
Email and mobile push notifications, with push quiet hours each person sets for themselves.
Security controls
Encryption in transit and for stored personal details, multi-factor authentication, role-based access and an audit log of significant actions.
When a tech marks a job en route, in progress or complete, the change shows on the dispatch board, which refreshes on its own through the day, so the office sees it without a phone call. Techs mark themselves available when they start and off duty at the end of a shift, and the board shows each tech's status, so the office can see who's off duty before assigning work. See the scheduling and dispatch board and the technician mobile app for the full walkthrough.
Free plan vs free trial: what's the difference
The two words get used as if they mean the same thing. They don't.
A free plan is a permanent tier. You don't pay and it doesn't expire. In exchange it has limits: fewer users, a monthly cap on something, or features that stay off until you upgrade.
A free trial is time-boxed access to a paid plan. You get everything that plan does for a set number of days, and then you pay or you stop.
Neither is a trick. They answer different questions. A trial tells you whether the paid product fits your shop. A free plan lets you run real work on it for as long as it fits, and it should tell you plainly where it stops.
FSM Navigator offers both and keeps them separate. The Free plan is free for up to 5 users, no credit card, no time limit. Pro and Enterprise each come with a 14-day free trial. Sign up free, then start a 14-day Pro or Enterprise trial from your account. A payment method is collected when the trial starts and isn't charged until the trial ends.
Questions to ask any free field service software
- Who counts as a user? Here, every active user counts, office staff included. Five users might be four techs and you.
- What's capped each month? On FSM Navigator Free, it's invoices: 100 a month.
- Is the technician app included, and does it work without signal? Yes on both. The iOS and Android app is on Free, and it's offline-first.
- Can customers pay online? Not on Free. That starts on Pro.
- What happens at user six? You move to a paid plan, priced per user. The pricing page has the numbers.
- Is the "free" offer really a trial? Look for a day count. If there is one, it's a trial.
Where the limits are
Free is built for running the day by hand. These are the things it doesn't do, and they're the usual reasons a shop moves to Pro.
You assign every job yourself
On Free, a person puts work on the board. Pro adds intelligent dispatch: it matches technicians by availability, current workload, proximity and SLA urgency, and keeps rebalancing through the day as conditions change. Dispatchers can still reassign anything by hand.
Customers can't pay online yet
Free sends PDF invoices. Pro adds a customer portal where customers send a service request, check job status, approve quotes and pay by card or bank transfer (ACH) through Stripe, with payments settling to your own Stripe account. A platform fee applies to online payments; see pricing. The invoicing and payments page covers how it works.
100 invoices a month
If you bill more than 100 invoices in a month, Pro removes the monthly cap.
No photos, forms or timesheets
Job photos (up to 10 per job), job forms and checklists, customer signatures, time tracking and timesheets, and mileage tracking are Pro.
No books sync or repeat work
QuickBooks Online sync, recurring jobs, service agreements, pricebook quotes, online booking and Google review invites are Pro. Customer rating requests go out on every plan. Inventory, van stock and work orders are Enterprise.
Five users, then a paid plan
Free stops at 5 users. Paid plans have no user limit, from 2 technicians to 200 and beyond.
If one of these is a mild annoyance, stay on Free and move up when it pinches. If two or three of them cost you every week, the Pro trial is the better test.
Is free field service management software enough to run on?
For a crew where one person builds the schedule and knows every tech by name, often yes. A shared board, techs updating status from their phones and invoices going out from each job covers most of a normal day.
It gets thin in three places. The first is the morning a tech calls out sick and someone has to rebuild the day by hand. The second is when customers start asking to pay by card from a link. The third is when you need proof of work, like photos or a signature, attached to the job. Those are Pro problems, and it's fine to hit them. That's what the limits are for.
The point of starting on Free is that you find out with your own jobs, your own techs and your own customers, not a guided tour. If you're still weighing your options, our guide to choosing field service software walks through the questions, and the comparison hub lays out other approaches side by side. Moving off a shared sheet? Start with when a scheduling spreadsheet stops working.
Four steps to your first invoice
- Create your account. No credit card.
- Invite up to 4 more users. Your techs install the app from the App Store or Google Play.
- Add a few customers and put tomorrow's work on the board.
- Send your first PDF invoice when the first job closes.
Plan and billing set-up details live in the plans documentation.
Keep reading
Scheduling and dispatch board
How the board and calendar work on every plan, Free included.
Technician mobile app
The iOS and Android app your techs use, offline-first.
Invoicing and payments
Invoicing on Free, and online card and ACH payments on Pro.
Pricing
Every plan, side by side, with per-user prices.
Compare approaches
Other ways to run the office, compared plainly.
Pricing models
Per user, flat tiers or quote-only, and how to total what you'd pay.
Questions About the Free Plan
Is FSM Navigator's free field service management software really free?
Yes. The Free plan is free for up to 5 users, no credit card, no time limit. It's a permanent plan, not a trial. It includes the dispatch board and calendar, the iOS and Android technician app, customer records and invoicing with PDF invoices up to 100 a month. Features like intelligent dispatch, online payments and the customer portal are on Pro.
What's the difference between a free plan and a free trial?
A free plan is a permanent tier with limits, such as a user cap or a monthly cap. A free trial is time-boxed access to a paid plan that ends after a set number of days. FSM Navigator has both. Free covers up to 5 users with no time limit. Sign up free, then start a 14-day Pro or Enterprise trial from your account. A payment method is collected when the trial starts and isn't charged until the trial ends.
Who counts as a user on the Free plan?
Every active user, technicians and office staff alike, so an owner who also runs the board counts as one of the 5 users. A shop with four techs and one person in the office fits on Free. When you need a sixth user, you move to a paid plan, priced per user, and paid plans have no user limit.
Is there a free FSM app for technicians?
Yes. The native iOS and Android app is included on the Free plan. Technicians see their assigned work, update status, add notes and tap Navigate to open the job address in their phone's maps app. The app is offline-first, so it keeps working without signal and syncs when the phone reconnects.
What happens if I send more than 100 invoices a month?
The Free plan includes up to 100 invoices a month, and the next one waits for the following month or an upgrade. If you regularly bill more than that, Pro removes the monthly cap and adds online payments by card or bank transfer through the customer portal, plus QuickBooks Online sync. Pro is priced per user; the pricing page has current prices and the platform fee that applies to online payments.
Can my customers pay online on the Free plan?
Not on Free. The Free plan sends PDF invoices your customers can pay the way they do today, and you record the payment. Online payments by card or bank transfer (ACH) through the customer portal start on Pro, with payments settling to your own Stripe account. A platform fee applies to online payments in addition to Stripe's processing fees; the pricing page has the details.
Does the Free plan include technician GPS location?
Yes. Technician GPS location is included on every plan, Free included, so the office can see where technicians are. Technicians can also tap Navigate to open the job address in their phone's maps app. FSM Navigator doesn't plan the drive itself; the phone's maps app takes it from there.
Is my data secure on the Free plan?
The same security controls apply on every plan. Data is encrypted in transit, personal details are encrypted where they are stored, accounts support multi-factor authentication, access is role-based, and an audit log records significant actions. Card payments, available on Pro, are processed by Stripe, so card details never touch FSM Navigator servers. The security page has more detail.
Current prices and the platform fee are on the pricing page, and the security page covers how your data is protected. More field service software comparisons.
Run Tomorrow's Schedule on Free
Free for up to 5 users, no credit card, no time limit.