Free janitorial software: what is really free, and what is only a trial

Not one free product that does everything a janitorial company needs. The paid janitorial platforms combine bidding, scheduling by building, time clocks, inspections, supply tracking and monthly invoicing. No vendor we checked gives all of that away.

What you can do is cover each job with a free tool. Bidding: a free calculator and proposal template. Shifts, clock-ins and checklists: Connecteam for up to 10 users, or DoTimely Essential for more. Recurring small accounts with a crew app: a free cleaning scheduler. Invoices: a free invoicing tool such as Wave Starter. It takes more of your own time to keep the pieces in step, which is the real price of free.

Bidding is the step where free tools go furthest, because a bid is arithmetic plus a document. The arithmetic: cleanable square feet divided by a production rate gives hours per visit; hours times visits a month times your loaded labor cost gives labor; add supplies, overhead and margin for the monthly price.

Our free commercial cleaning calculator does that math and shows each step, so you can check it against your own numbers. The cleaning proposal template turns the result into a proposal with scope, schedule, price and terms. Neither needs an account. Paid bidding modules add saved templates and a record of open bids, which matter once you send several bids a week.

For the walk-through before the bid, use a written checklist so two buildings are measured the same way: floor types, restroom fixtures, trash points, access and alarm, and the days and hours the client wants.

Inspections with scores a client can see. A forms tool can hold an inspection checklist, but scoring, trends by building and a client portal are what janitorial platforms charge for.

Workloading: working out hours from a building’s tasks and frequencies, room by room. Free calculators use one production rate for the building.

Invoices with net terms and statements. Commercial clients pay on invoice, so pair your free scheduler with an invoicing tool.

Supply tracking by site, and budgets against actual hours per building.

It fits small recurring accounts that behave like homes: an office cleaned once or twice a week, a dental practice on Saturdays, the common areas of a small building. You book the account once, it repeats, the cleaner sees the address, the access notes and the checklist on their phone, clocks in, and the hours land in your payroll export.

It does not fit contract janitorial work. 40 visits a month is used up by two five-night accounts. Clients who need an invoice with terms cannot be billed from it. There is no inspection scoring, no bid pipeline and no night-shift supervisor view. If that is your business, use the free tools above for bidding and clock-ins, and plan for a janitorial platform when the contracts justify it.

When you pass 10 people on a free workforce plan. When you bid often enough that rebuilding each proposal costs you an evening. When a client asks for inspection reports. When payroll disputes start because hours by building live in texts. At that point, price the paid tools at the size you expect to be next year: CleanGuru prices by users, Swept by locations.

A commercial cleaning company can start at $0 by splitting the work: a free calculator and proposal template for bids, Connecteam or DoTimely for the crew, and a free invoicing tool for billing. Nobody gives away a full janitorial platform, and the janitorial vendors that look free on a search page are offering a trial or a demo.

If your commercial work is a handful of small weekly accounts next to residential cleaning, Broombook Free will run them alongside your homes for $0. If your business is contracts, nights and inspections, we are the wrong tool, and it is better you hear that from us now.