Grunlo vs. Yardbook: an honest comparison.
Yardbook is the “free” option a lot of solo and small lawn-care operators start with. Here's what you actually get with each — including the ways Yardbook is the right tool for the job today, and the ways it isn't.
No credit card required · Keep your Yardbook account active during your trial
Who is each one really for?
If you only read one section, read this one.
You might prefer Grunlo if…
- You’re ready for the “free with ads” phase to end — you want a clean, ad-free product that respects your customer relationships.
- You want route optimization, a customer portal, and a referral program built in — not bolted on or unavailable.
- You’re hiring or about to hire your first crew member — user permissions, a real field tech app, and time tracking matter now.
- You want a real customer support email that goes to people who actually built the product.
- You want monthly billing — pay for what you use; cancel any time without a phone call.
You might prefer Yardbook if…
- You’re a one-person crew with under 20 customers and you’re not ready to spend anything on software.
- You don’t need user-permission management, route optimization, or formal customer-portal access.
- You’re comfortable with a tool that monetizes via affiliate offers and supplier partnerships rather than a subscription.
Feature-by-feature, no fluff.
We pulled these from Yardbook's public pricing and feature pages. Where we say a competitor wins, they win.
| Feature | Grunlo | Yardbook |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing & contract | ||
|
Starting plan
Listed monthly price for the entry tier.
|
$59 / mo (Starter, Up to 5 users) | $0 (ad / partner-supported) yardbook.com/pricing |
|
Mid-tier plan
Paid tier with GPS, bulk messaging, and more.
|
$129 / mo (Pro, Up to 25 users) | $34.99 / mo (Business) yardbook.com/pricing |
|
Top-tier plan
Plan with QuickBooks sync and branded portal on the Yardbook side.
|
$249 / mo (Business, Up to 150 users) | $49.99 / mo (Enterprise) yardbook.com/pricing |
|
Staff users included
How team seats are handled on default tiers.
|
Up to 5 users · Up to 25 users · Up to 150 users | Employee access on free tier; see Yardbook for paid caps |
|
No third-party ads in your dashboard
Yardbook is supported by partner offers and ads inside the product.
|
||
| Annual contract required? | No, monthly | No, monthly |
| Cancel from settings page (no call required) | ||
| Customer communications | ||
| Missed-call text-back | Business+ | |
| Two-way SMS inbox (shared with team) | Pro+ | |
| SMS marketing campaigns | ||
| Dedicated business phone number | Pro+ | |
| Voicemail transcription | Business+ | |
| Field & dispatch | ||
|
Automatic multi-stop route optimization
Solver-style reordering for shortest drive time. Yardbook lists “Routing” on free plans; compare against true optimization.
|
Pro+ | yardbook.com/pricing |
| Live GPS field tracking | Pro+ | Business+ yardbook.com/pricing |
|
Field tech mobile app (no install)
Browser-based; no app store install or per-seat charge.
|
||
| Photos before/after on every visit | ||
| Time clock with overtime & approval | ||
|
Weather-aware rescheduling
Outdoor-service-specific; rain pushes mowing forward automatically.
|
||
| Customer-facing | ||
| Customer portal (jobs, invoices, photos, payments) | ||
| Online estimate approval (with signature) | ||
| Branded customer subdomain | Enterprise only yardbook.com/pricing | |
| Recurring jobs & visit calendars | ||
| Built-in customer referral program | ||
| Money | ||
| Online card payments | ||
| Auto-invoicing on job completion | ||
| QuickBooks Online sync | Business+ | Enterprise only yardbook.com/pricing |
| Stripe Tax (auto sales tax) | ||
| Tiered estimates (good/better/best) | ||
| Data & trust | ||
|
Export data to CSV from settings
Customers, jobs, invoices, and more.
|
||
|
Small team support
We are a small product company; complex issues can reach the engineers who build the software.
|
||
| Public app marketplace / large integration list | ||
Grunlo prices match our homepage and are read live from this site’s plan catalog · Sources cited above · Last verified May 2026. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we'll correct it.
No ads in your tool. No partner offers in your customer-facing pages.
Yardbook's "free" tier is supported by supplier partnerships and product placements — that's how a free product stays free. Grunlo is paid software, full stop. Your dashboard, your customer portal, and your invoices belong to your business, not to whoever bought the ad slot this quarter.
- No upsell banners in the dispatcher view, the field tech app, or the customer portal
- No partner offers attached to your invoices or estimate emails
- Your customer relationships are yours; we do not promote third parties to your customers
Real route optimization, not "view stops on a map".
Yardbook lists routing on its free tier, but it is not the same as solver-based reordering. Grunlo runs multi-stop optimization against real drive times, respects fixed appointments, balances trucks, and recomputes when the day changes.
- Auto-order tomorrow's stops for shorter drive time, every day at end-of-day
- Drag-drop manual override with travel-time recalculation in real time
- Multi-crew aware — the optimizer balances stops across your trucks
When the “free” tier stops fitting, the upgrade path is the work.
Yardbook works for a one-person crew with a small customer list. The moment you grow — first hire, first commercial customer, first time you need real reporting — you have to migrate. Grunlo's plan tiers are built for that growth path: Starter for solo, Pro for small crews, Business for serious operators. Same data, same product, just more capacity.
- Solo today, 5-truck crew next year, 15 trucks the year after — same platform, no migration
- User permissions, time clocks, and shift management ready when you hire
- Branded customer portal grows with your brand — no rip-and-replace
Already on Yardbook? We’ll do the import for you.
We import your customers, jobs, recurring schedules, and invoices for free. Run both accounts in parallel for two weeks. Photos and notes are the trickiest part to move — we handle that on a free 30-minute migration call. Talk to us about switching →
What people ask before they switch.
Everything you need to know before getting started.
Try Grunlo alongside your Yardbook account.
Run both for two weeks. If we're not the better fit for your business, you'll know by the end. Your Yardbook account stays active — you cancel only when you decide.
No credit card required · Free import from Yardbook · Cancel Yardbook on your own timeline