Pool Brain charges per technician. BlueRoute is free forever with no per-tech fee. Compare cost, features, and how switching works.
Pool Brain prices by headcount: $55 a month for every technician, plus a $10 admin seat. The month you hire, your software bill goes up. The month you hire again, it goes up again.
BlueRoute costs nothing at any team size. Not a trial, not a free tier. The software is free permanently, and BlueRoute makes money only when your customers pay you through the platform: 3% on cards, 1% on ACH, published upfront. If you already accept card or bank payments, you are already paying someone for that. The full model is in our guide to free pool service software.
The structure matters as much as the totals, so here it is in full: Pool Brain charges per technician, and one seat carries the admin role. That is why their headline number reads $65: one tech at $55 plus the $10 admin seat. Check the arithmetic against your own invoice.
Pricing verified September 2026 from publicly listed plans.
| Your team | Pool Brain | BlueRoute |
|---|---|---|
| 1 tech (carries the admin seat) | $65/mo ($780/yr) | $0 |
| 2 techs | $120/mo ($1,440/yr) | $0 |
| 3 techs | $175/mo ($2,100/yr) | $0 |
| 5 techs | $285/mo ($3,420/yr) | $0 |
Larger teams: whether additional admin seats are required above one is not published; if they are, the five-tech figure understates Pool Brain's cost. The one-, two-, and three-tech rows are unaffected.
The three-tech row is the one to sit with. A three-tech operation pays Pool Brain $2,100 a year in software before a single payment is processed, and payment processing runs separately through Nuvei, where rates are not published and depend on your application. On BlueRoute the same operation pays $0 in software, and processing is the whole bill: 3% cards, 1% ACH, no per-transaction fee, with next-business-day payouts.
The cost cliff is the structural point. Hiring your next tech adds $55 a month on Pool Brain and $0 on BlueRoute. Software that charges by headcount taxes the exact moment your business grows.
To see how Pool Brain stacks up against every other platform, not just BlueRoute, see our comparison of every major pool service platform.
A comparison page that pretends the other product does nothing well is an ad. Here is what Pool Brain brings that BlueRoute currently does not:
Yes. Every feature, no paid tier, no seat limit, no trial clock. Routes, chemistry logs, invoicing, AutoPay, customer texting, the customer portal, and service history are all included at $0 a month.
BlueRoute makes money when your customers pay you through the platform. Cards are 3%, bank transfers are 1%. That is the whole model, spelled out on the pricing page. If you never process a payment through BlueRoute, you never pay anything, and the software still works.
Your customers, routes, and service history come with you. The data and portability page covers exactly what BlueRoute imports and exports, because switching out should be as easy as switching in.
Send me your Pool Brain export and I will have your route running before your next service day. I do the import myself, and I will tell you honestly before you start what will and will not carry over. There is no onboarding fee, no contract, and no minimum term.
I am the founder and the developer. When you email support, it comes to me.
- TommyYes. BlueRoute is $0/month with every feature included and no per-tech fee. Revenue comes from payment processing only: 3% cards, 1% ACH.
As of September 2026: $55/month per technician plus a $10/month admin seat, with one tech carrying the admin role. One tech is $65/month; three techs are $175/month ($2,100/year). Processing runs separately through Nuvei with unpublished rates.
Yes. Export your customers, routes, and service history and send it in. The founder does the import personally, with an honest read on what carries over before you start.
No. No per-technician fee, no seat limit, at any team size. Hiring your next tech costs nothing on the software side.