4 Protiv Pay For Performance Alternatives

Why Owners Are Searching for a Protiv Alternative

If you are looking for a Protiv alternative, you are usually in one of three situations.

First, your version is going away. According to Protiv's own sign-in page, the legacy Protiv 1.0 app sunsets in two to three months. ConnectTeam, JobTread, Timescapes, and Contractor Foreman users will migrate to 2.0. ClockShark and Exact Time users will not.

Second, your software isn't supported. Protiv's homepage lists connectors for Aspire, Procore, Jobber, QuickBooks Time, LMN, Boss, Paycom, and Salesforce. Housecall Pro is not on that list, and ServiceTitan is still marked as "in discovery."

Third, the pay model doesn't fit how your team earns. That third reason is the one most owners skip, so we will start there.

Selling vs. Non-Selling Performance Pay

Before you compare software, decide which kind of performance pay your team actually needs. There are two kinds, and every tool on this list was built for one of them.

Selling tech performance pay is for technicians who can grow the ticket. A service tech on a call can recommend a repair, sell a replacement, or add a maintenance plan. Their pay tracks the revenue they generate, so more revenue means more money in their pocket.

Non-selling tech performance pay is for technicians whose work is scoped and priced before they arrive. Install crews and maintenance routes fall here. They can't grow the ticket, so their pay tracks efficiency: finish the job in fewer hours than budgeted, and share in what that saves.

Keep that split in mind. It decides which of the four alternatives below fits your shop, and it explains exactly where Protiv sits.

How Protiv Works

Protiv is a non-selling platform at its core. Protiv describes its main model as labor savings: a crew beats the labor budget on a job, route, or phase and shares the savings. Each bonus item is called a ProPay.

From there, Protiv layers on more targets. On its homepage, four are live today:

• Labor savings
• Billable percentage
• Produced hours
• Produced revenue

Labor cost percentage and gross margin are both marked "Soon." On top of the targets, you choose bonus shapes (single, group, or phased), set rules per branch, and run approvals. Approved bonuses sit in a 15-day hold, and a Held Bonus Ledger pulls callbacks back out of future statements.

That depth is the point for a multi-branch landscaping operation, which is where most of Protiv's customer logos come from. For a small service shop, it is a lot of machinery to set up and explain to a crew.

On cost, Protiv's pricing page lists $20 per active worker per month, billed quarterly, with a $99 monthly minimum. Enterprise pricing starts at 250+ workers.

Now that you know what Protiv does, here is how each alternative compares, starting with the one built for selling technicians.

1. TeamBuyIn

Best for: selling technicians on Housecall Pro or Jobber.

TeamBuyIn calculates commissions from completed jobs in Housecall Pro or Jobber. You set the rules, review and adjust each payout, approve it, and export it for payroll. Each technician sees how every dollar was calculated.

The structures TeamBuyIn supports include percentage of revenue, percentage of profit, fixed dollar payouts, split commissions, employee-specific rates, revenue tiers, job size tiers, and user-specific tiers. According to TeamBuyIn's homepage, 350+ technicians use it and more than $500,000 in commissions have been processed.

What TeamBuyIn does not do (yet)

TeamBuyIn does not track time. There is no labor savings or expected-vs-actual calculation. If you are coming from Protiv, moving to TeamBuyIn means changing your pay structure from watching hours to watching revenue.

How a revenue tier creates labor savings

Remember the goal of labor savings from the Protiv section: lower your labor cost as a percentage of revenue. A revenue tier set at your break-even point does the same job, as long as you measure it per pay period. A tech who finishes jobs faster completes more jobs that week, crosses the threshold sooner, and earns more.

Here is a hypothetical example. Assume a labor cost target of 20% of revenue and a technician paid $30 per hour for a 40-hour week.

1. Weekly labor cost: $30 × 40 = $1,200
2. Break-even weekly revenue: $1,200 ÷ 0.20 = $6,000
3. Set the tier: the tech earns 10% on revenue above $6,000 that week.
4. The tech produces $7,500: $7,500 − $6,000 = $1,500 over the threshold
5. Bonus: $1,500 × 0.10 = $150
6. New labor cost: ($1,200 + $150) ÷ $7,500 = $1,350 ÷ $7,500 = 18%

The tech took home $150 more, and your labor cost dropped from 20% to 18%. That is the same outcome labor savings chases, measured through revenue instead of the clock.

One honest caveat: this only works when your technicians produce enough revenue to clear the threshold. If revenue per tech runs low, the tier never pays or can't trigger in a fair way, and the plan loses credibility with the team fast. If you are new to structuring this, start with our performance pay fundamentals.

2. Per4mance.io

Best for: non-selling crews with no CRM to connect.

If TeamBuyIn is the fit for selling technicians, Per4mance.io is the closest match to Protiv's labor savings model with simpler setup. Per4mance.io is built by Unisonworx Inc. in Oklahoma City, and it runs on time tracking.

The workflow on their homepage is straightforward:

1. Set labor budgets by percentage of job revenue, linear foot, square foot, or piece rate.
2. Create jobs and assign classifications.
3. Employees log their hours against each job.
4. If a crew comes in under budget, they receive the remaining labor budget as performance pay.

Their customer base leans heavily toward foundation repair, with spray foam, masonry, lawn care, and HVAC also listed. They also list a sales performance feature.

The tradeoff: their homepage does not list a CRM or field service integration. Plan on creating jobs inside Per4mance.io rather than pulling them from your existing software.

3. BonusUp

Best for: small service teams of 15 technicians or fewer who want a simple bonus program.

BonusUp sits between the first two options. Like Per4mance.io, it includes a time clock. Like TeamBuyIn, it supports commission.

BonusUp was founded by Brandon Lazar, who ran a window cleaning business for 15 years and also founded NinjaVA. It was previously called HourlyIQ. Its Bonus Wizard supports hourly plus bonus, commission, and revenue sharing. The employee app handles clock in and clock out, and a Highlight Reel shows team wins on a shop TV.

On cost, the BonusUp pricing section lists $149 per month billed monthly or $120 per month billed annually, for a maximum of 15 active technicians.

Before you commit, check how actively it is being developed. Their Updates page was last modified in June 2023, and the homepage announces sales commission tracking "this Fall" without naming a year. Ask what has shipped since.

4. P4P Software

Best for: lawn care and landscaping owners already following Mike Andes' P4P method or running Homeworks.

Of the four alternatives, P4P Software is the most time-clock-driven. Their homepage calls it "a time clock on steroids." Crews clock in and out of jobs, and the software compares budgeted hours against actual hours to calculate performance pay.

Integrations are the limiting factor. According to the P4P FAQ, P4P has a one-way integration with the Homeworks CRM that brings over customer data and employee time clocks. No other integration is listed, so if you run different software, expect to enter jobs by hand.

The same FAQ notes that P4P is not payroll software. It exports a payroll breakdown you then run through QuickBooks, Gusto, or another processor. For quality control, it pairs with a "yellow slip" system: when a customer complains, the fix time gets added to the crew's job time, which cuts into their performance pay.

Where P4P stands out is the education around it. Training runs through P4P University, and there is a P4P book and a crew field guide.

Pick the Protiv Alternative That Matches How Your Technicians Earn

Go back to the split we started with. If your technicians sell, you need a platform that pays on revenue and pulls jobs from your field service software. That is TeamBuyIn on Housecall Pro or Jobber.

If your technicians don't sell, you have two paths. Keep a time-based labor budget with Per4mance.io, BonusUp, or P4P Software, and accept more manual job entry. Or move to a per-pay-period revenue tier set at your break-even labor cost, like the hypothetical example in the TeamBuyIn section.

Your next step: write down whether your team sells, which field service software you run, and your target labor cost as a percentage of revenue. Then book a time with us, and we will show you whether TeamBuyIn can run your pay plan.

FAQs about alternatives to Protiv

What are the best ProTiv alternatives?

The four main ProTiv alternatives for pay for performance are TeamBuyIn, Per4mance.io, BonusUp, and P4P Software. TeamBuyIn fits selling technicians on Housecall Pro or Jobber. Per4mance.io, BonusUp, and P4P Software fit time-based, non-selling crews.

Does ProTiv integrate with Housecall Pro?

Housecall Pro is not on the connector list on ProTiv's homepage. ServiceTitan is listed as "in discovery." If you run Housecall Pro, TeamBuyIn connects to it directly.

How much does ProTiv cost?

ProTiv's pricing page lists $20 per active worker per month, billed quarterly, with a $99 monthly minimum. Enterprise pricing starts at 250+ workers.

What happens to ProTiv 1.0 users?

According to ProTiv's sign-in page, Protiv 1.0 sunsets in two to three months. ConnectTeam, JobTread, Timescapes, and Contractor Foreman users migrate to 2.0. ClockShark and Exact Time users do not.

What is the difference between selling and non-selling pay for performance?

Selling pay for performance rewards technicians for the revenue they generate through upsells and recommendations. Non-selling pay for performance rewards crews for finishing scoped jobs in fewer hours than budgeted.

Which ProTiv alternative tracks time the way ProTiv does?

Per4mance.io, BonusUp, and P4P Software all include a time clock. Per4mance.io is the closest match to ProTiv's labor savings model. TeamBuyIn does not track time.

Can I replace a labor savings plan with commission?

In most cases, yes. Set a revenue tier at your break-even labor cost and measure it per pay period, so faster technicians complete more jobs and cross the threshold sooner. It only works if your technicians produce enough revenue to clear that threshold.