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Markate is a value-priced service operations platform popular with solo operators. ShineCRM is built only for exterior cleaning and goes deeper on the quote, recurring plans, and follow-up, with everything included in one price instead of metered add-ons. Facts below come from Markate's own site.
Straight up: Markate's base price is lower than ShineCRM's for very small teams, and we would rather tell you that than have you discover it mid-comparison. The real differences are in what is metered versus included, how much the customer can do on a quote, and what the AI actually does for your pipeline.
| Capability | ShineCRM | Markate |
|---|---|---|
| Built for | Exterior cleaning only (8 verticals) | Broad field and home service businesses 2 |
| Options your customer can toggle on a quote | Included. Customers toggle optional add-ons, pick a service frequency per line, and choose a package tier, with the price recomputing live. | Markate advertises professional estimates and an AI photo estimator; customer-toggleable options, per-line frequency choices, and live recomputing do not appear in its published materials. 2 |
| Discounts that fire automatically | Discount rules trigger off what the customer selects and recompute live on the quote. | Not shown in Markate's published materials. 2 |
| AI | Suds AI drafts follow-ups on business events and, only where you opt in per automation, sends them, with a second supervisor AI reviewing every auto-send. Included. | Kate AI Receptionist answers calls at $1 per call, and Kate Estimator AI prices jobs from photos. 1 2 |
| Texting and marketing | Two-way texting on your business number included, web and mobile. | SMS notifications advertised; marketing texts are metered (SMS drip at 10¢ per SMS, blasts at $10 setup plus 5¢ per segment). 1 2 |
| Business-line calling | Call from the app on your business number, with opt-in recording, transcripts, and AI summaries. | Kate AI answers inbound calls; an in-app operator softphone does not appear in Markate's published materials. 1 2 |
| Online booking and lead capture | Embeddable lead form and customer portal included. | Online booking is a $10/month add-on; automated lead capture is $10/month. 1 |
| Users | Unlimited users | Base plan covers the owner; team members are $5 per employee per month. 1 |
Markate facts are drawn from their official pricing page and help documentation as of July 2026, linked in the numbered sources below. Their product changes; always confirm current details on their site.
Pricing
ShineCRM
One Early Adopter plan at $49/month (full price $99). 30-day free trial. Full product access, unlimited users, no per-seat tiers. You connect your own Stripe or Square account and pay only your processor's own rate: ShineCRM adds zero markup on payment processing.
Markate
Owner Operator plan at $49.95/month, or $39.95/month billed annually. Team members add $5 per employee per month. Many capabilities are metered add-ons: Kate AI Receptionist at $1 per call, online booking $10/month, lead capture $10/month, SMS campaigns per message. 14-day free trial, no contract.
ShineCRM serves eight exterior cleaning verticals. See all industries →
Frequently asked
It depends on the add-ons: Markate's base plan is $39.95 to $49.95 a month versus ShineCRM's $49, and Markate's metered extras (per-call AI answering, per-message campaigns, booking and lead-capture fees) plus per-user charges close any sticker gap fast. ShineCRM is one price with everything included, unlimited users, and zero markup on card processing.
Depth where washing businesses make money: quotes the customer builds themselves (options, frequencies, packages, live pricing), recurring plans with clean revisions, and Suds AI actually working your pipeline (estimate follow-ups, review requests, rebooking) rather than answering the phone. ShineCRM is also built only for exterior cleaning, so per-pane and per-square-foot pricing are native.
Export your contacts to CSV and import into ShineCRM with column mapping, rebuild your service library from your existing pricing, and run the next week of real jobs on the free period before switching fully.
Yes. ShineCRM supports CSV contact import. Map columns on upload and your customers land in the CRM ready for estimates and scheduling.
Early Adopters get a 30-day free trial on the single $49/month plan. Full product access from day one.
Sources
Verified July 2026. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
30-day free trial. Everything included, nothing metered.
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