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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. Start free, then choose Starter, Pro, or Max when you need messaging, calling, recording and transcription, AI, and a business number. 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 | Available in ShineCRM. 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 | Starter, Pro, and Max include monthly AI credits for Suds AI follow-ups, with a second supervisor AI reviewing every auto-send. | Kate AI Receptionist answers calls at $1 per call, and Kate Estimator AI prices jobs from photos. 1 2 |
| Texting and marketing | Starter, Pro, and Max include two-way texting on your business number, with published monthly SMS allowances. | 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 | Starter, Pro, and Max include in-app calling, opt-in recording, transcripts, and AI summaries with published monthly minute allowances. | 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 forms and a customer portal are available in ShineCRM. | Online booking is a $10/month add-on; automated lead capture is $10/month. 1 |
| Users | Free includes up to 3 users. Starter, Pro, and Max include 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
Free for the essentials. Paid plans start at $69.99/month with unlimited contacts and users. Connect your own Stripe account for online payments. Paid plans add Square Tap to Pay in person and zero ShineCRM markup on payment processing. Only the Free plan carries a 0.4% ShineCRM fee on Stripe card payments, so a paid plan processes those Stripe payments 0.4% cheaper than Free.
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, while ShineCRM has Free plus paid plans starting at $69.99/month. Markate's metered extras and per-user charges can close the sticker gap. ShineCRM's paid plans include unlimited users and add 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 Free 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.
No. Free has no time limit. Upgrade only when you need a business number, messaging, AI, or other paid-plan features and allowances.
Sources
Verified July 2026. If anything here is out of date, tell us and we will fix it.
Start on Free. Upgrade when you need the paid messaging, AI, and storage allowances.
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