BookingKoala vs CleaningMetrics

Built for 27 industries, vs built for yours.

BookingKoala is a capable booking platform that serves everyone from cleaning companies to barbers and tutors. Recurring residential cleaning has its own numbers: true profit after cleaner labor, churn, lifetime value, per-job payouts. This is an honest look at what changes when the platform is built around exactly one business, yours.

Why does serving 27 industries eventually show?

A platform built for every appointment business has to stay general. Bookings, forms, schedules, and coupons work the same whether you cut hair or clean houses, so that is where the product invests. The numbers that decide whether a cleaning business is actually working (profit after cleaner labor and processing fees, churn on your recurring roster, what a weekly client is worth over two years) are specific to this industry, and a horizontal platform reports around them: revenue, payments made, cancellations logged.

CleaningMetrics only has to be right about one business. The recurring client is the unit of everything: profit is computed per booking net of labor and Stripe fees, churn and lifetime value are live instead of assembled, every cleaner's pay is calculated per job the moment work completes, and the AI analyst answers questions in the language of cleaning, not of appointments.

BookingKoala vs CleaningMetrics, line by line.

What you are trackingBookingKoalaCleaningMetrics
Built forAny appointment business: cleaning, pet grooming, barbers, tutors, 27+ industriesRecurring residential cleaning, from the ground up
True profit (after labor AND processing fees)Revenue and provider-payment reports; no profit or job costing net of labor and feesLive on every booking, net of cleaner labor AND Stripe fees
Paying your cleanersPayroll auto-calculated per job; you trigger pay runs that push funds to providers' Stripe or PayPal accountsPer-job pay calculated the moment a job completes: crew splits, tips, and bonuses tracked, one-click payout records, 1099-NEC built in
Churn + retentionCancellation-reason reports and average revenue per customer; no churn rate trackingTracked monthly with at-risk client alerts
Client lifetime valueNot offered as a metricLive LTV per client, on the customer profile
Hiring pipelineHiring module (forms, quizzes, contracts); full onboarding on the $197 Premium planOne 6-step pipeline from application to hired, included in Pro
Built-in AINoneAI analyst trained on your cleaning numbers: profit, churn, LTV, per-cleaner
Online bookingCustomizable instant-quote forms with zip-based pricing; multi-step forms on Premium onlyAddress lookup auto-fills beds/baths/sqft + shows an instant price
Customer app / portalWeb account only; its customer app has been listed as coming soon since 2022Installable, branded customer app (PWA)
Cleaner mobile appiOS and Android provider app with GPS clock in/outiOS and Android cleaner app, included on every plan
Pricing model$27 / $57 / $197 per month and up to $597; price scales with providers, storage, and marketing contact countFlat tiers ($199 / $349 / $499), unlimited cleaners, any team size
MigrationSelf-serve import tool; done-for-you setup referred to a paid third partyDirect CSV import from BookingKoala, running in under an hour

Frequently asked questions

What is BookingKoala, and who is it actually built for?
BookingKoala is a booking and scheduling platform for appointment-based service businesses, from home cleaning to pet grooming, barbers, and tutors. It is strong at the front of the business: customizable booking forms with instant quotes, a website and theme builder, smart scheduling, coupons, gift cards, and referral tools.
BookingKoala starts at $27 a month. Isn't that cheaper?
At the entry price, yes, but the plans are sized by provider count, storage, and marketing contacts, and the features cleaning businesses lean on sit higher up: SMS notifications and GPS clock-in start on the $57 plan, and marketing campaigns and full hiring onboarding are on the $197 Premium plan, with bigger plans running to $597. CleaningMetrics runs $199 Launch, $349 Grow, $499 Scale, and no tier is sized by provider count or contact list, so the price does not climb as your team or list grows.
What does CleaningMetrics track that BookingKoala doesn't?
The profit side of the business. BookingKoala reports revenue and provider payments; CleaningMetrics shows true profit on every booking, net of cleaner labor and Stripe fees, plus live churn rate, client lifetime value, and at-risk client alerts. It also answers plain-English questions about those numbers through a built-in AI analyst.
How is paying cleaners different between the two?
BookingKoala auto-calculates payroll per job, and then you run payments: pick a pay period, review, and push funds to each provider's Stripe or PayPal account. CleaningMetrics calculates each cleaner's pay the moment a job completes (crew splits, tips, bonuses, and one-time payments included) and keeps a running balance per cleaner. You pay however your team already gets paid and record it in one click, with W-9 collection and 1099-NEC forms handled at year end.
Can I move my data from BookingKoala to CleaningMetrics?
Yes. CleaningMetrics supports direct CSV import from BookingKoala: clients, recurring schedules, pricing, and notes come across. Most owners are fully running in under an hour, and you can export everything back out anytime.

Comparing other tools? See ConvertLabs vs CleaningMetrics, Jobber vs CleaningMetrics, Housecall Pro vs CleaningMetrics or Spreadsheets vs CleaningMetrics.

A platform that speaks recurring cleaning.

Booking, scheduling, per-job cleaner pay, true profit, retention, hiring, and an AI analyst: all from the same data, all built for cleaning. Join the waitlist and we will let you know the moment your founding member spot is ready.

Join the waitlistBook a demo