PoolBoss vs Skimmer
PoolBoss vs Skimmer: flat pricing by pool count versus per-pool billing. Compare pricing, chemical tracking, and what's included on each plan.
PoolBoss
$29
Startup — per month
Skimmer
$200
per month
That's money back in your pocket every year
$2,052
Estimate from published rates, September 2026. Skimmer: $2 per serviced location per month, $98 minimum - their Scaling Up tier, where route optimization and quotes & estimates first appear. Their $1/location Getting Started tier ($49 minimum) excludes those. Assumes one pool per serviced location.
Skimmer bills per serviced location, so the bill grows every time you add a pool. Route optimization sits on their Scaling Up tier, at $2 a location with a $98 minimum. Ours is flat by tier and stops climbing - the same software at 40 pools or 400.
Route optimization, quotes, job management and scheduling sit on Skimmer's Scaling Up tier. We don't have tiers like that. Every plan gets everything, and the free plan is a real plan, not a trial.
Bring your customers, pools, routes and visit history across from a spreadsheet. Stay on the free plan up to 20 pools while you decide. No card, no clock, nothing to cancel if you walk away.
PoolBoss and Skimmer are both pool-specific software with routes, chemical tracking, and proof-of-service reports. The main difference is pricing: Skimmer charges per serviced location, PoolBoss charges a flat rate by pool-count tier with a free plan. Skimmer is more established; PoolBoss is cheaper and simpler to predict.
| Feature | PoolBoss | Skimmer |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Flat by pool-count tier | Per serviced location |
| Price with route optimization | $0 (20 pools) | $98/mo min ($2/pool) |
| Free plan | Yes | No - first month free, then $98+/mo for route optimization |
| Chemical tracking | Yes | Yes |
| Route management | Yes | Yes |
| Route optimization | Every plan, including free | Scaling Up tier only |
| Offline mobile app | Yes | Yes |
| Customer portal | Yes | Yes |
| Full API access | REST API and webhooks, every plan including free | Enterprise tier only |
What’s behind the paywall
You do get them on Skimmer — on Scaling Up, at $2 per serviced location, $98/mo minimum
Including Free — up to 20 pools, no card
Everything in that second column is on the free plan. You can have it running this afternoon.
Start freePoolBoss is flat by pool count and never charges per tech or per seat, so the bill flattens out. Here is the same growth on each tool, from a starter route to a large fleet.
| Pools | Skimmer | PoolBoss |
|---|---|---|
| 20 pools | $98/mo | Free |
| 50 pools | $100/mo | $29/mo |
| 100 pools | $200/mo | $29/mo |
| 250 pools | $500/mo | $79/mo |
| 500 pools | $1,000/mo | $249/mo |
| 1,000 pools | $2,000/mo | $249/mo |
Skimmer bills per serviced location with a monthly minimum. PoolBoss bills a flat rate by pool-count tier, so your price is predictable and stops climbing as the route grows. For a growing route, flat pricing is usually the cheaper path.
The same goes for connecting your other tools. Skimmer keeps full public API access for its Enterprise tier. PoolBoss includes its REST API and webhooks on every plan, Free too.
Skimmer's advantage is maturity, not feature count. PoolBoss matches it on offline sync and a customer portal. What Skimmer has is the longer track record, the bigger installed base, and the years of first-mover polish that come with being the established name.
On the day-to-day, they're close: both do recurring routes, structured chemical readings, and proof-of-service. The decision usually comes down to whether you'd rather pay per pool or a flat rate.
Not a promise — the actual screens
You already know what Monday looks like in Skimmer. Here is the same day in ours, start to finish — including the tools they put on the higher plan. Nothing on this page is on a paid tier.
Routes are assigned, stops are in driving order, and anything that needs a decision is sitting at the top. You're not planning the day - you're glancing at it and pouring coffee.
Dashboard — every plan, including free
Stops today
38
▲ 4 vs last Monday
Techs out
3 of 4
Tomas starts 7:00
Needs review
2
1 chemistry · 1 overdue
Collected this week
$4,180
▲ $610 vs last week
| Technician | Route | Progress | Est. finish | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Marcus BellTruck 2 | Westside Monday | 2 / 12 | 2:40 PM | ON ROUTE |
Dana ReyesTruck 1 | North Loop | 5 / 14 | 3:15 PM | ON ROUTE |
Tomas KineTruck 3 | Commercial — East | 0 / 8 | 4:50 PM | STARTS 7:00 |
Ray TolliverTruck 4 | Fill-ins & callbacks | 3 / 4 | 11:20 AM | ON ROUTE |
Optimizing shows you the new order first and tells you what it saves. Keep it or throw it away - nothing reorders behind your back, because you have reasons for your order that the software doesn't know about.
Route optimization — on Skimmer's higher tier; on ours, every plan, including free
Routes › Westside Monday
| # | Customer | Address | Notes | Service | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jennifer Reyes | 412 Catalina Dr | — | Weekly clean | COMPLETED |
| 2 | The Alvarez Pool | 88 Saguaro Way | — | Weekly clean | COMPLETED |
| 3 | Marco's Cantina▲ moved up 2 | 1500 Gulf Blvd | Side gate | Commercial | IN PROGRESS |
| 4 | Holloway Residence▲ moved up 1 | 27 Mesa Verde Ct | — | Weekly clean | 11:40 AM |
| 5 | Sandra Whitfield | 9 Palm Hollow Ln | Gate code 4417 | Weekly clean | 12:05 PM |
| 6 | Bayview Condos▼ moved down 3 | 2200 Shoreline Dr | Check in at office | Commercial | 12:45 PM |
| 7 | Priya Raman | 18 Ocotillo Ct | — | Weekly clean | 1:20 PM |
| 8 | Dale Ferris | 705 Ironwood St | Dog on site | Bi-weekly | 1:55 PM |
Readings go in, the dose comes back, the photo attaches. If the phone drops signal behind a gate the visit still saves and syncs when it comes back. Nobody re-enters anything at the end of the day.
Mobile app — iPhone and Android, works offline
88 Saguaro Way · 18,000 gal · Salt
The visit lands the second it saves - readings, photos, time on site, who was there. When a customer calls asking whether anyone came out, you're not calling the tech to ask. You're reading them the answer.
Customer record — every plan, including free
Customers › The Alvarez Pool
Tomas found a cracked filter housing at a commercial site. He quoted it on his phone, the customer approved it, and it became an invoice with a payment link - no re-typing, no waiting for someone to get back to the office.
Quotes & invoicing — on Skimmer's higher tier; on ours, every plan, including free
Invoices › INV-1042
| Description | Qty | Rate | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|
| Filter housing replacementPentair Clean & Clear 150 — cracked lid seat | 1 | $189.00 | $189.00 |
| LaborTomas Kine · 2.0 hrs @ $85/hr | 2 | $85.00 | $170.00 |
| Monthly service — MarchCommercial weekly | 1 | $0.00 | $0.00 |
That's the whole day - and every screen on it is on the free plan.
Start freeSwitching from Skimmer
You don’t have to pick a cutover day, and you don’t have to cancel anything to try it. Run both for a couple of weeks if you want — the free plan doesn’t expire.
Pull your customer and pool list out of Skimmer. Save it as CSV. You don't have to clean it up, rename a single column, or match it to a template of ours.
Step one of fourWe match your columns to ours automatically and show you exactly what we found - row by row, including anything we couldn't read and any column we're about to ignore. Nothing is written until you confirm.
Customers, then poolsPast visits and their chemical readings import the same way, so a customer who's been on your route for three years still looks like it. Then build your routes and you're running.
Same afternoonWhat actually comes over?
Customers, pools and their specs, routes with stop order, and past visits with their chemical readings - chlorine, pH, alkalinity, hardness, CYA, salt and temperature.
Do I have to cancel Skimmer first?
No. Nothing here asks for a card, so you can run both until you're satisfied and cancel on your own schedule.
What if the file is a mess?
Most of them are. The preview flags the rows it can't read and the columns it isn't using, so you fix them before anything is created - not after.
What if I import the same file twice?
Customers, pools and visit history are matched and skipped rather than duplicated, using your old system's record IDs when the export includes them.
Will my customers get emailed?
No. Importing three years of history doesn't send three years of service reports. Historical visits import silently.
What does it cost?
Nothing. The importer is part of the product on every plan, including free.
Grab your Skimmer export and try the import. If it doesn't look right, you've lost twenty minutes.
Start freeUsually, yes. Skimmer charges $2 per pool with a $98 minimum for its plan with route optimization, so the bill grows with your route. PoolBoss is a flat rate by tier, from free up to 20 pools and $29 for up to 100.
Yes. Both log structured chemical readings to each pool's history and produce service reports. Chemical tracking is included on every PoolBoss plan, including Free.
On capabilities, the two match up: PoolBoss ships offline sync and a customer portal alongside routes and chemical tracking. What Skimmer brings is maturity, a longer track record and a larger installed base from being first to market.
Both are built for pool operators rather than IT departments. Skimmer is known for ease of use; PoolBoss is built around the same simple route-and-readings workflow with flat pricing.
For most small companies, yes. You get routes, chemical tracking, service reports, invoicing, online payments, offline sync, and a customer portal at a flat price with a free tier. The capabilities are there; Skimmer's edge is its longer track record.
Public reviews describe the opposite: Skimmer's autopay setup runs through a separate work order per customer, and per-payment processing fees aren't visible. PoolBoss's autopay is a single enrollment - the customer saves a card once from a portal link you send, and every invoice after that charges automatically with no repeat setup per customer.
Why switch
Even where a competitor checks the same box, what you switch for is how it is delivered: pool-specific, priced flat by pool count, with nothing locked to a higher tier.
Built for pools, not bolted on
Water chemistry is the job, so it's the core of the product, not a notes field. Generic field-service tools don't track it.
Flat rate by pool count
You pay by how many pools you manage. No per-seat fees, no per-pool meter, and no surprise line on the bill as you grow.
Every feature on every plan
Nothing is locked to a higher tier. The Free plan has the same features as Fleet. Plans differ only by pool count.
Works in the field
The tech app runs on any phone and keeps working with no signal, so a visit completes at the pool and syncs when you're back on.
Other comparisons
Flat-rate pricing by pool count, a free plan, and every feature on every tier. Start free today.
