Software pricing seems straightforward until you try to apply it to a franchise network.
Most business software charges per user. One seat, one monthly fee. It works well enough for a single company with a fixed team. But franchise networks aren’t a single company. They’re a network of semi-independent businesses, each with their own staff, managed by a head office that needs visibility across all of them.
Per-user pricing wasn’t designed for that structure. And when you try to make it fit, things get awkward fast.
The per-user problem in franchise networks
Think about what “users” actually means in a franchise network. Head office has admin staff, operations managers, maybe a finance team. Each franchisee needs access. Their office admin probably needs access too. And then there are the field operatives — the people actually doing the jobs.
A modest 20-unit network with three users per franchise is already 60 seats before you’ve even counted head office. At typical field service software rates of £30-50 per user per month, that’s £1,800-3,000 monthly. And it only goes up from there.
But the cost isn’t even the worst part. The worst part is the conversations it creates.
“Does she really need a login?”
Per-user pricing forces franchisors into an uncomfortable role: gatekeeper of software access. Every new user is a line item, so every access request becomes a cost decision.
Does the franchisee’s partner who covers on Fridays need a full seat? What about the admin who only runs reports once a week? The new operative who’s still in training?
These are questions nobody should have to ask. They slow down adoption, create friction with franchisees, and turn software into a political issue rather than a productivity tool. The whole point of bringing in software is to make things easier — not to create new arguments about who’s allowed to use it.
How per-franchisee pricing works differently
Per-franchisee pricing ties the cost to network size, not headcount. You pay for each franchise unit in your network. Everyone who needs access — at head office, at the franchise, in the field — gets it. No seat limits. No gatekeeping.
This changes the dynamic completely:
Costs are predictable. You know exactly what you’ll pay based on how many franchisees you have. No surprises when a franchisee hires a new operative or when head office brings in a temp during busy season.
Adoption is frictionless. New starter on Monday? Add them. No purchase order, no budget approval, no waiting for the next billing cycle. The faster people are using the system, the faster you see the benefit.
It scales with the right metric. Franchise networks measure growth in units, not headcount. Your software costs should track the same number. Adding your 25th franchise should be exciting, not a trigger for renegotiating your software contract.
What franchisees think about it
Franchisees notice pricing models too — especially when they’re the ones paying or contributing to shared costs.
Per-user pricing penalises franchisees who invest in their team. Hire a second operative? Your software costs go up. Bring on an admin to handle bookings? Another seat. It creates a perverse incentive to limit access to the very tools that help people do their jobs.
Per-franchisee pricing removes that tension entirely. A franchisee with two operatives pays the same as one with six. The cost reflects the franchise, not the team size. Franchisees can scale their teams without worrying about software overhead, and head office doesn’t have to police logins.
The hidden cost of per-user workarounds
When per-user pricing feels expensive, people find workarounds. Shared logins. One person entering data on behalf of others. Operatives phoning the office instead of using the app because “we don’t have enough seats.”
These workarounds defeat the purpose of the software. You lose the audit trail of who did what. Data entry gets delayed or delegated, so it’s less accurate. And the field operatives — the people generating the actual job data — are the first to be locked out because they’re seen as occasional users.
In a jobs-based franchise, the operative completing the job is the most important user in the system. Their data is what flows up to the franchisee and then to head office. Cutting them out to save on per-seat costs is a false economy.
What this looks like in practice
Jobs360 uses per-franchisee pricing. Head office and your first franchise are free — no time limit, no credit card required. From the second franchise, it’s £20 per franchisee per month. Every plan includes unlimited users.
That means a 25-unit network pays £480 per month, and everyone — head office staff, franchisees, their admin teams, every field operative — has full access. Compare that to a per-user model where the same network at three users per franchise would cost £2,250-3,750 per month, and you’d still be having arguments about who gets a login.
Choosing the right model for your network
If you’re evaluating software for your franchise network, ask the pricing question early. Not just “how much does it cost?” but “how does it cost?”
Per-user pricing works for single businesses with stable teams. But franchise networks aren’t that. They’re growing, distributed operations where dozens or hundreds of people need access across multiple locations. The pricing model should reflect that reality, not fight against it.
Jobs360 is franchise management software built for jobs-based networks, with simple per-franchisee pricing and unlimited users on every plan. See what it does or get in touch to find out how it works for your network.