A solar CRM tracks each lead from enquiry to signed job, but no single product does everything an installer needs equally well. Think in three jobs: design and proposals, job management, and lead follow-up. Small installers can often start with a free design tool and one other system. The bigger risk is having several systems that don't share data, with someone copying between them.
The three jobs
- 1Follow up leadsEvery enquiry has a stage, an owner and a next step.
- 2Design and proposeRoof layout, system design, pricing and a proposal the customer can sign.
- 3Run the jobScheduling, crews, photos, compliance paperwork and invoices.
How the common tools compare
| Tool | Main job | Published price | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenSolar | Design and proposals | Free for solar professionals, funded by partners | Check what its partner model means for your hardware and finance choices |
| Pylon | Design and proposals | About $4 to $10 per project, says a third-party blog; confirm with Pylon | Pay-per-project suits low or uneven volume |
| Aurora | Design and proposals | US$159 or US$259 per user a month, billed monthly; enterprise is custom | Per-user pricing adds up as the team grows |
| ServiceM8 | Job management | See its own pricing page | Common with smaller Australian trades businesses |
| simPRO | Job management | Quoted | Aimed at larger trades businesses |
| GoHighLevel | Lead follow-up and CRM | See its own pricing page | Flexible, and needs someone to build and look after it |
Prices were read on 2 November 2026, and they change. This table comes from published pages and our own setup work, so test any tool on a real job before you commit to it.
How to choose
- Count your quotes and jobs a month: per-user or per-project pricing can flip which is cheaper
- Check that it exports your data, and try the export
- Check how it connects with your job software, accounting and rebate paperwork
- Check whether it records the photos and serial numbers your regulator asks for, or if that sits elsewhere
- Ask who will look after it day to day
- Trial it on a real recent job, not a demo
Connect them before you add another
Most of the waste comes from the gaps between systems: a lead that never reaches the sales team, a signed quote typed again into job software, and a serial number copied by hand into a certificate form. Before you buy anything new, draw how one job moves from enquiry to paid, and mark each place where someone retypes something. Fix the worst of those first. A simple connection often does more than a new platform.
When a custom CRM makes sense
A custom CRM is worth considering when your team works around the software every day, or several paid tools still don't share data. It costs more to build and needs looking after, so try a simple integration first if that would fix the problem.
We connect the tools you already pay for, or build a custom CRM when that is the better choice. See AI and workflow automation for the work that runs on top. If you are still working out what lead follow-up should look like, start with shared or exclusive solar leads.
