Skimmer vs Pool Runs for a pool route in 2026.

Skimmer's three plans as it publishes them, and Pool Runs' one

0 to 49 poolsGetting Started$49a month, 49 locations included$1 a serviced location, with $49 the least you pay.Leaves out

• Route optimization
• Quotes and estimates
• Job management and the schedule
• Recurring work orders
• Required checklist items
• LSI and dosing calculator
• Live phone support

It allows 5 photos a visit and charges $0.029 for each service text.

50 to 1,000 poolsScaling Up$98a month, 49 locations included$2 a serviced location after the first 49.Adds, on this plan only

• Route optimization
• Quotes, jobs and the schedule
• Recurring work orders
• Required checklist items
• LSI and dosing calculator (Orenda)
• LaMotte integration
• Sunbit consumer financing
• Productivity reporting
• Broadcast emails
• Live phone support
• Unlimited service texts

It allows 20 photos a visit, and new customers get the first month free for a limited time.

Over 1,000 poolsEnterpriseCustompricing from salesVolume rate per location, quoted by Skimmer.Adds

• Custom reports and integrations
• Public API
• Priority support
• Dedicated success manager

It allows 30 photos a visit, and every Skimmer plan includes unlimited techs and admins and a 30-day refund guarantee.

Pool RunsOne core plan$45a month, 50 properties included$1.75 a property past 50, up to 200, counted in a month it has a completed visit.Included at $45

• Route optimization
• Quotes with e-signature, jobs and work orders
• Recurring work orders
• Required checklist items and readings
• LSI calculator and dose suggestions
• Documents and e-signature
• Customer portal with payments and autopay
• Two-way QuickBooks Online sync
• Inventory with AI receipt scanning
• GPS and a time clock
• Income, expenses and P&L reports
• Broadcast email
• Fresh Movers, recently sold homes with pools
• An AI assistant that answers from your records

It includes unlimited users and technicians. Over 200 properties, we price the plan with you, and the match-and-beat promise still applies.

Add-onsSold on top of any plan

$99a month for AI Phone at its launch price, which answers inbound calls.

$150a month for the Marketing Suite of email and one-way SMS campaigns with review requests.

from $198a month for Bookkeeping by a bookkeeper who works only with pool companies.

$0.029a service text on Getting Started, with texts included on Scaling Up.

Monthly cost of Pool Runs and Skimmer Scaling Up at five sizes

Monthly, list price	60 pools1 tech	120 pools2 techs	200 pools3 techs	300 pools5 techs	500 pools8 techs
Pool RunsCore plan	$62.50$45 + 10 × $1.75	$167.50$45 + 70 × $1.75	$307.50$45 + 150 × $1.75	Volume pricingPriced with you	Volume pricingPriced with you
Scaling Up	$120$98 + 11 × $2	$240$98 + 71 × $2	$400$98 + 151 × $2	$600$98 + 251 × $2	$1,000$98 + 451 × $2
Pool Runs costs less by	$57.50a month	$72.50a month	$92.50a month	Match and beatany lower price	Match and beatany lower price

Skimmer's Getting Started plan stops at 49 pools, so every size here is priced on Scaling Up. Techs are shown for reference only, since neither company charges per user. Over 200 properties, we price the plan with you, and the match-and-beat promise still applies.

Your size120 pools · 2 techsAdd AI phone answering to both

Pool Runs$167.50$45 + 70 × $1.75

$240$98 + 71 × $2

At 120 pools, Pool Runs comes to $167.50 a month and Skimmer’s Scaling Up to $240, so Pool Runs costs $72.50 less.

Read on getskimmer.com/pricing, Skimmer's AI Phone page and poolruns.com/pricing on October 21, 2026, billed monthly. Skimmer bills a serviced location once a month however many visits or bodies of water it has; Pool Runs bills a property once it has a completed visit that month. Card and ACH fees are set by each payment processor and left out. Prices change, so check each site before you decide.

Skimmer and Pool Runs features compared

Read October 21, 2026	Pool Runs
Run the route
Scheduling and recurring visits	Included: Core plan	Higher plan: Route Builder on every plan; the Schedule on Scaling Up, $981
Route optimization	Included: Core plan, reorders a day's stops	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $98
Tech app that works with no signal	Included: Stops, readings, doses, checklists, photos, videos2	Included: Stops, readings, checklists, photos3
Photo service reports	Included: Emailed after each visit, with readings, photos and a video link	Included: 5 photos a visit; 20 on Scaling Up4
Service videos	Included: Up to 90 seconds a stop, for the customer or the office	Not on their site: Not on their site
Required checklist items and readings	Included: Core plan, with photo-required items; a stop can't close until they're done5	Higher plan: Required checklist items on Scaling Up, $98
Recurring work orders	Included: Core plan6	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $98; one-time work orders on every plan
Jobs and job management	Included: Core plan	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $98
GPS	Included: Core plan	Not on their site: Not on their site
Water chemistry
Readings and doses logged at the stop	Included: Core plan, typed or spoken with voice logging	Included: Every plan
LSI calculator with dose suggestions	Included: Core plan, worked out for each pool's gallons	Higher plan: Orenda calculator, Scaling Up, $98
Test-kit integration	Not offered: Not offered	Higher plan: LaMotte, Scaling Up, $98
Equipment records	Included: Scan the equipment label to fill in make, model and serial	With warranty end dates; plan not stated7
Customers and billing
Customer portal	Included: Pay, autopay, visit history with readings and photos, quotes, documents and service requests	Included: Included, with payments
Card, ACH and auto-pay	Included: Through Stripe8	Included: Online payments on every plan
Quotes approved online	Included: With e-signature, core plan	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $989
Documents and e-signature	Included: Agreements, change orders and waivers from templates, signed by email or on the tech's phone10	Not on their site: Not on their site; quotes are signed on Scaling Up
Customer financing	Not offered: Not offered	Higher plan: Sunbit, Scaling Up, $98
QuickBooks Online sync	Included: Two-way11	Included: One-way, Skimmer to QuickBooks12
Customers rate each visit	Not offered: Not offered; review requests go by text with both add-ons	Service feedback; plan not stated13
Office
Inventory	Included: Truck and warehouse stock, shopping list and fuel log	Not on their site: Not on their site14
Ordering from your supplier	Not offered: Not offered	Included: Heritage ordering, every plan15
Reports	Included: Revenue, A/R aging, profit per pool and route, tech payouts, chemical usage, route efficiency	Higher plan: Financial reports on every plan; productivity reporting on Scaling Up
Income, expenses and P&L reports	Included: Core plan	Add-on: A monthly P&L from the Bookkeeping service, from $198 a month16
Time clock	Included: Core plan	Not on their site: Not on their site; the app times each stop17
Team alerts	Included: Email or push alerts you route by event18	Included: Office Alerts on every plan19
Users and technicians	Included: Unlimited, no fee	Included: Unlimited, no fee
Phone, texting and growth
Service texts (on the way, visit done)	Add-on: Communications, $50, with 1,000 texts, then 3¢ each	Add-on: $0.029 a text on Getting Started; unlimited on Scaling Up
Two-way texting with customers	Add-on: $80 with both add-ons20	Not on their site: One-way texts only21
Business phone line and calling	Add-on: Communications, $50: calls on web and the app, ring groups, phone menu, voicemail22	Not on their site: Not on their site
Workflows, campaigns and review requests	Add-on: Engage, $50, with workflows from 24 triggers23	Add-on: Marketing Suite, $150
Broadcast email	Included: Core plan	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $98
Recently sold homes with pools	Included: Fresh Movers and lead routes, plus pool discovery24	Not on their site: Not on their site
AI
AI phone answering	Add-on: In Communications, $50, with the number and texting25	Add-on: AI Phone, $99, calls only26
An assistant that answers from your records	Included: Core plan	Included: AI Insights, for all customers27
AI receipt scanning	Included: Reads a supply-house receipt into truck stock28	Not on their site: Not on their site
Plans and support
Starts at, billed monthly	$45 with 50 properties included	$49 for 0 to 49 pools; $98 on Scaling Up from 50
How you're charged	Per property serviced; $1.75 each from 51 to 200, then volume pricing	Per location serviced; $1 or $2 each, by plan
Free trial	30 days of the core plan29	First month free on Scaling Up, a limited-time offer; 30-day refund guarantee
Live phone support	Included: On every plan	Higher plan: Scaling Up, $98

1. 1Skimmer's Getting Started plan ($1 a location, $49 minimum) is for 0 to 49 pools and leaves out route optimization, quotes, job management, the Schedule, recurring work orders and required checklist items. Scaling Up is $98 with 49 locations, then $2 each, for 50 to 1,000 pools.
2. 2The Pool Runs app completes stops, readings, dosages, checklists, photos and videos with no signal and syncs them when it reconnects, though writing a quote needs a connection.
3. 3Skimmer's own Q&A page says techs can finish stops, log readings, tick off checklist items and take photos with no connection, and the data uploads when they reconnect.
4. 4Skimmer allows 5 photos a visit and 20 a location on Getting Started, 20 and 40 on Scaling Up, 30 and 50 on Enterprise.
5. 5In Pool Runs a checklist item can be required or photo-required, and a reading can be required on every visit or after a set number of visits without one. The app won't complete the stop until they're done.
6. 6In Pool Runs a work order type can repeat, for example a filter clean every 3 months, and comes back due for the office to schedule.
7. 7Skimmer's August 2026 release notes describe equipment records with Details, History and Warranty tabs, with warranty end dates worked out from the coverage you pick, though its pricing page doesn't name a plan.
8. 8Card and ACH payments run through Stripe, which charges its own processing fees.
9. 9Skimmer customers open a quote from an email and approve it by typing their name, and techs can capture a signature in the app, on the Scaling Up and Enterprise plans. We found no service agreements or other documents to sign on its site.
10. 10Pool Runs documents cover service agreements, estimates, change orders and waivers, built from templates or your own PDFs. Send them by email or have the customer sign on the tech's phone, and you get a signed PDF with an audit trail.
11. 11Pool Runs has a two-way sync with QuickBooks Online that covers customers, invoices, payments and items, so payments recorded in QuickBooks come back into Pool Runs.
12. 12Skimmer's QuickBooks Online FAQ, updated September 8, 2026, says its integration only sends data from Skimmer to QuickBooks, and changes made in QuickBooks don't update Skimmer.
13. 13Skimmer's September 2026 roundup describes customers rating each visit from the service email, with private ratings per stop and per tech, without naming a plan.
14. 14Skimmer has shopping lists, a readings report and Heritage ordering, but we found no stock tracking on its site.
15. 15Skimmer lists its Heritage integration on every plan, and Heritage ordering (search, quote, order and track) launched July 21, 2026.
16. 16Skimmer lists financial reporting on every plan. Its Bookkeeping add-on, from $198 a month, has a bookkeeper send a monthly P&L, balance sheet and cash flow.
17. 17Skimmer's help center says its app times each stop from when the tech opens it until they tap Finish. We found no clock in or out on its site.
18. 18Pool Runs team alerts cover about 25 events, such as a skipped visit, an approved quote, a paid invoice, a signed document or a missed call, and you pick who gets each one by email or push. A fully custom alert is a workflow, which is in Engage.
19. 19Skimmer lists Office Alerts on every plan, which flag operational exceptions in the app and by email.
20. 20Two-way texting in the Pool Runs shared inbox needs both add-ons: Communications for the number and texts, Engage for the inbox. Communications alone sends texts such as on-the-way notes.
21. 21Skimmer's help center says service texts come from a single Skimmer number that doesn't accept calls or texts, and that Marketing Suite SMS is one-way.
22. 22Communications gives you a business number with calls in the browser and the iPhone and Android app, ring groups, a phone menu, voicemail with transcription and number porting, plus the AI voice agent and 400 voice minutes a month.
23. 23Engage workflows start from 24 triggers, such as a form submitted, an invoice paid or a quote accepted, and can send texts and emails, alert staff, request reviews and create tasks, with 10 starter recipes. Steps that text, review requests included, need Communications too, $80 for both.
24. 24Fresh Movers finds homes with a pool that sold in the last 7 to 180 days in a ZIP code you search, with the sale details and the new owner's name and mailing address, and lead routes turn them into a door-knocking route in the app. Pool discovery finds backyard pools from satellite imagery and homeowner lookup finds likely contacts, both on the plan's monthly credits.
25. 25The Pool Runs voice agent answers calls, recognises the caller, looks up the account, takes messages and drafts a work order for the office to confirm, without booking appointments itself. Communications includes 1,000 texts and 400 voice minutes.
26. 26Skimmer calls $99 a month its launch price, and its page describes answering inbound calls on your existing number, recognising customers, transfer rules and capturing leads into work orders, with no mention of texting.
27. 27Skimmer released AI Insights to all customers on July 20, 2026. It reads your data without changing it, and leaves out stored cards and gate codes.
28. 28Photograph or upload a supply-house receipt and AI reads the vendor, items, quantities and prices for you to check and add to a truck's or warehouse's stock. In the US it can also post the purchase to QuickBooks with the image attached.
29. 29The Pool Runs free trial covers the core plan. The Communications and Engage add-ons aren't part of it.

Read on each company's pricing, feature and help pages on October 21, 2026 at monthly billing. “Not on their site” means we found no mention of it, though it may still exist. Prices and plans change, so check each site before you decide.