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Redline vs Markate: one plan, or start at $0.

Redline is free to start: the chat, contacts, pipeline, calendar and repeating visits cost $0 for one person. Markate is one paid plan with optional add-ons like online booking and a customer portal. For cleaning companies and small crews, both are worth a look.

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The short version

Redline's Free plan handles the schedule and the customers by chat, including biweekly and monthly visits saved as presets. Solo at $29 a month adds invoices and card pay links. When you hire, Team at $129 a month covers 3 seats with a dispatch board and a tech app.

Markate is a service operations platform that combines CRM, scheduling, dispatch, routing, invoicing, payments and automation for small field service businesses: cleaning, landscaping, electrical, painting, general contracting, pressure washing and holiday lighting. It has a drag-and-drop calendar, online card payments, QuickBooks Online sync and SMS and email marketing.

Markate's pricing page lists a single plan at $39.95 a month billed annually, or $49.95 a month billed monthly. Employee app access is $5 per employee a month. Online booking, a branded customer portal and Zapier are add-ons at $10 a month each. The trial is 14 days with no card.

Setting up a biweekly clean

New client: Priya Shah, 210 Lake St in Arlington, 3 bed 2 bath, biweekly clean, $165 a visit. First one next Wednesday morning.

Priya Shah and a $165 biweekly clean are ready to confirm. Next Wednesday at 9am is open, and you're already in Arlington at noon for the Moreau clean.

Book 9am?

Yes. Use my Biweekly clean preset.

Booked Wednesday at 9am. Open the visit and pick Biweekly clean under repeat; it fills in every other Wednesday and keeps the 2.5 hour visit length.

Saved repeat presets keep the cadence and visit length. Chat books the first visit; the preset builds the series.

Redline and Markate, side by side

	Redline	Markate
How you use it	Chat first. You message it ("invoice Sullivan for the roof job") and it updates contacts, jobs, the calendar and invoices, asking you to confirm before it changes customer records. Web and iPhone.	A platform with screens for CRM, scheduling, dispatch, routing, invoicing and automation.
Free plan	Yes. $0 with no end date: AI chat, contacts, pipeline, calendar, scheduling assistant, Quick-Sort and a Pro Page. 1 seat and 4,000 AI credits that don't refill.	No free plan. 14-day trial, no card.
Starting price	Solo at $29 a month, or $23 a month billed yearly. 7-day free trial on the web.	One plan at $39.95 a month billed annually, or $49.95 billed monthly, per its pricing page.
Seats	Free and Solo: 1. Team ($129 a month): 3. Team+ ($299 a month): 10, plus extra seats at $29 each.	Employee app access at $5 per employee a month.
Quotes	Itemized quotes by chat, including from a site photo, with an optional deposit %. Good, better and best options and tax are in the Quote composer (Solo and up). Saved as drafts; you email the customer from your own Gmail. No quote link, online approval or e-sign today.	See their site.
Invoicing and payments	Solo and up. Branded card pay links on your own Stripe account, no Redline fee on top. Card only, US dollars. Overdue flags at day 3, 7 and 14.	Invoicing with online card payments. QuickBooks Online sync.
Scheduling	Every plan. Suggests up to 3 open slots, groups visits in the same town, sets up repeating visits with one save. No calendar sync, no online booking.	Drag-and-drop calendar. Online booking as a $10 a month add-on.
Dispatch	Team and up. Dispatch board, tech app, assign jobs by chat, crew chat. Techs tap their status; there's no GPS.	Dispatch and routing.
What Markate has that Redline doesn't	Not in Redline today.	Online booking (add-on), a branded customer portal (add-on), Zapier (add-on), QuickBooks Online sync, SMS and email marketing, routing.
What Redline has that Markate doesn't	A Free plan with no end date.	Markate lists a trial, not a free plan.

Markate details come from Markate's own website, checked October 2026. Plans and prices change, so confirm on their site before you decide.

Who should pick which

Pick Markate if

You want clients booking cleans online and logging into a portal
You send SMS and email campaigns to past clients
You want routing for a crew that covers a lot of addresses a day
Your bookkeeper wants QuickBooks Online synced
You want to connect other apps through Zapier

Pick Redline if

You're cleaning houses yourself and want the schedule free
You'd rather type "book Shah next Wednesday at 9" than drag boxes around a calendar
You want every recurring client's cadence saved as a one-tap preset
You want a free Pro Page that takes quote requests
You'd like a dashboard that shows what's done but not invoiced

Questions contractors ask

What does a three-person crew cost on each?

On Markate's listed prices, one plan at $39.95 a month billed annually plus $5 a month per employee on the app. On Redline, three people is Team at $129 a month, or $103 a month billed yearly, with the dispatch board and tech app included. Markate costs less on list price for a small crew; compare the features you'd actually use.

Can my cleaning clients book online with Redline?

No. Redline has no online booking or client portal. New clients can send a quote request from your free Pro Page, and it lands in your contacts as a lead.

How many visits can a Redline series hold?

Up to 52 visits per series, ending after a set number of visits or on a date. You can move or cancel any single visit without touching the rest. See recurring jobs.

What else should a cleaning business compare?

See Markate alternatives and how Redline handles cleaning schedules.

Put your recurring clients in for free.

Redline's Free plan has no end date. Save your cadences as presets and fill in each client's visits with one save.