True cost calculator
The sticker price is one of two lines.
Pool software gets sold on the monthly fee. If the vendor also runs your cards, the rest of the bill can arrive as a slice of your card volume, on a different statement, in a different month. Put both lines on the same page and compare the actual quote instead of guessing.
Cost calculator inputs and results
Results
WaterMark
You pay for technicians. Card processing goes straight to Stripe at Stripe’s own published rate, and each company banks its own homeowner money.
Flat-fee software
One software price at any size, with the vendor’s margin recovered inside your card rate. The software line holds still; the processing line grows with you.
Per-pool metering
A base fee plus a charge on every serviced location. The software line is the one that grows: every pool you win raises it.
Every formula on this page
No hidden coefficients, no “contact us for the real number.” Here is the whole calculator, written out. If any of it looks wrong to you, change the input and watch it move, or email us and we will fix the page.
The card rate everyone shares
Both the processing lines start from the same published number so the comparison is about the shape, not about who found a better rate. We use Stripe’s published standard US online card rate, 2.9% + 30¢ per successful charge. Your real rate can differ: card mix, in-person versus keyed, and volume all move it.
WaterMark: per tech, payments passed through
The base subscription is $59/mo standard and it already includes 2 technicians; each active tech beyond those 2 adds $20/mo through the tenth and $15/mo from the eleventh. The first 50 verified companies hold a $49 Founding-50 base; that Founding 50 rate is theirs for life, and this page uses whichever base is live right now. Card payments run on Stripe Connect with zero WaterMark markup, so the processing line here is exactly the published rate above, nothing added, which is why there is no spread box to fill in for this column.
Monthly billing is the default. Annual billing costs 10 times monthly, so 2 months are free: the standard base is $590 a year, plus $200 a year for each added tech through the tenth and $150 a year from the eleventh. Full annual refund within 30 days of the annual charge, none after. Upgrades prorate as credit.
Flat-fee software: one price, spread inside the card rate
This shape charges a single monthly software fee regardless of your size, and keeps that fee flat as you grow by earning on the payments instead. The trade is real and it is not automatically a bad deal. It is just a deal whose second half is quoted as a percentage rather than a dollar amount.
If a vendor does not publish its processing rate, this input lets you model one without treating the placeholder as fact. We default it to 0.50% as an editable scenario, not because we measured any specific vendor. If yours publishes a rate, put the real difference in the box. If the true spread is zero, set it to zero, and at enough technicians this column will beat us, and this page will say so.
Per-pool metering: the meter runs on locations
A monthly base plus a charge on each serviced location. Published per-location pricing in pool software commonly runs around $1–$2 per serviced location on top of a monthly base, so the defaults here are $98 base and $2 per pool, both editable. We assume no processing spread on this shape by default, because the meter is where this model earns. If your quote includes a payments markup, add it to the flat-fee box and compare that way.
What is deliberately NOT in these numbers
- Onboarding, training, and implementation. Some platforms charge for these and some run them as a project measured in weeks. WaterMark’s is $0 and self-serve, but we left the line out entirely rather than assign a number to anyone else’s.
- Contract length and early termination. Every WaterMark plan is month to month and cancellation is a self-serve button in your own account. Term commitments are common elsewhere. Check before you sign.
- Optional usage and add-ons. On our side that means texting over the included monthly allowance, AI over the included allowance, and Xero as an optional
$15/moaccounting sync. Two-way QuickBooks Online sync is included free. - Interchange-plus versus flat-rate pricing. Real processing statements have more shapes than one percentage. This page models the common flat-rate quote because that is what gets sold to route businesses.
- Whether the software actually does the job. Cost is one axis. A cheap tool your techs will not open is not cheap. That is what the comparison page is for.
This is a modeling tool, not a quote. The competitor columns describe pricing shapes, not any specific company’s offer, and every one of their inputs is a default you should replace with the real numbers from the vendor you are actually weighing. We do not know any other vendor’s processing spread. That is precisely the point of the exercise, and it is why that field is yours to set rather than ours to assert. WaterMark’s own figures come from our live published pricing and Stripe’s published rates, both current as of 2026 and both subject to change. Nothing on this page is a guarantee of your costs or your savings.
Straight answers
Why does pool software pricing need a calculator at all?
Because software and processing can be separate lines when the vendor also runs your cards. Enter the processing rate from the quote, add it to the software fee, and compare both pricing shapes on the same basis.
What does WaterMark charge on top of card processing?
Nothing. Card payments run on Stripe Connect, each company banks its own homeowner money, and WaterMark adds zero platform markup on Stripe’s rates. That is why our processing line on this page is identical to the published rate, and why we do not need a spread box.
Does a flat monthly price always cost more?
No, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Set the spread to 0.00% and a flat fee will beat our per-tech math for any company running enough technicians. That is arithmetic, not opinion. Our point is narrower: you should know both numbers before you choose. Ask for the processing rate, enter the quoted difference here, and let the totals answer.
What if I’m a solo operator?
Then run it free for 30 days. The trial is the whole $59/mo plan with no credit card: the offline field app, chemistry and dosing, invoicing, and emailed customer recaps. Texting and the AI features run on capped trial meters until you add a card. There is no permanent free tier.
Where do the default assumptions come from?
The card rate is Stripe’s published standard US online rate. WaterMark’s prices are our live published prices, read from the same source that bills you. The two competitor columns use round, editable placeholders in the range this category publishes. They describe shapes, not companies, and they are defaults precisely because we would rather you replaced them with a real quote.
Run it against a real quote.
Get the other vendor’s processing rate in writing, put it in the box above, and see the year. Then come see whether the software is any good.
Prefer a third-party source? WaterMark is listed on Capterra - the profile is new, so reviews are still arriving; the product data there was verified by their research team.