Most software for christmas light installers charges you before you’ve hung a single strand. Strandr runs about $197 a year. Holiday Home Concepts runs $90–$130 a month. Tinsel CRM is around $828 a year. Jobber starts at $39 a month and climbs to $599, and QuoteIQ’s flat-rate tiers run $29.99 to $699 a month (compared in our QuoteIQ alternative review) — all billed through July, when your ladders are in storage.
Free christmas light software sounds like it shouldn’t exist. It does, and this guide covers exactly what you get for $0, where the money actually comes from (so you know there’s no trap), and how free stacks up against the tools charging four figures a year.
No credit card, no trial clock, no feature limits. Start free on LightQuoter →
What “free” actually includes
Skepticism is the right instinct. Most “free” software in the trades is a 14-day trial or a gutted starter plan designed to force an upgrade. So here’s the full list of what LightQuoter’s free tier includes — which is to say, everything:
- Satellite roofline measurement. Enter an address, trace the roofline on satellite view, get exact linear footage with automatic roof pitch adjustment (6/12, 8/12, and so on). No ladder, no site visit.
- Visual light mockups. Draw lights on a Street View photo of the customer’s actual house. Day/night preview with realistic glow, plus wreaths, garland, tree wraps, and column lights.
- Instant quoting. Per-linear-foot pricing with install and takedown fees, and 1-, 2-, and 3-year contract options with multi-year discounts. The quote builds itself from the measurement.
- Digital signatures. Customers review, pick a contract term, and sign online.
- Online payments. Stripe-powered deposits and balance payments, with automated balance reminders and a Pay Now invoice page.
- Job management. Drag-and-drop Kanban pipeline, calendar views, up to five color-coded crews, and route optimization with turn-by-turn navigation.
- Takedown scheduling. January removals get their own view, booked alongside the install.
- Seasonal renewals. Last year’s customers queue up automatically with one-click renewal offers built from their original mockup.
- Dashboard and CRM. Pipeline value, win rate, customer profiles, payment history, and Google review requests when a job completes.
Unlimited quotes. Unlimited jobs. Unlimited users. No credit card at signup. And because it’s browser-based, it doubles as a christmas light app — the same account works from a phone in the driveway, a tablet at the kitchen table, or the desktop at night.
Where the money comes from (the honest answer)
Nobody builds software for charity, so here’s the model: when your customer pays you through LightQuoter via Stripe, a 2% platform fee applies on top of Stripe’s standard processing (2.9% + $0.30). That’s the entire business model — plus one optional plan, Pro at $497/year, which removes the platform fee for contractors who’d rather pay a flat annual number.
Two things follow from that. First, you never pay until a customer pays you. Quote fifty jobs and close none — you owe nothing. Second, the software only makes money when you make money, which means it’s built to help you close jobs, not to upsell you into a premium tier. You can also record cash and check payments manually without any fee at all.
Compare that to the math on a subscription. A $99/month tool costs $1,188 a year whether you book ten jobs or two hundred — and for a seasonal business, you’re paying through eight months of silence. On $50,000 of payments collected through LightQuoter, the 2% fee is $1,000. On a slow first season collecting $10,000, it’s $200. The cost scales with the business instead of taxing it — and once you’re past roughly $25,000 collected, Pro at $497/year is the cheaper of the two, which is exactly the point at which a flat fee starts to make sense. For the full pricing landscape, see our guide to christmas light installation pricing.
Free vs. paid: the head-to-head
Here’s how the free tier compares to the paid field, using list pricing as of 2026 (prices change — check each vendor’s site):
| Tool | Annual cost | Measurement | Mockups | Payments | Takedown scheduling |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LightQuoter | Free + 2% on collected payments (or Pro $497/yr, 0% fee) | Satellite | Street View, day/night | Stripe built in | Yes |
| Strandr | ~$197 | Photo-based | Photo-based | Needs add-on | No |
| Holiday Home Concepts | ~$1,080–$1,560 | Photo-based | Photo-based | Limited | No |
| Tinsel CRM | ~$828 | No | No | Yes | No |
| Jobber | ~$468–$7,188 | No | No | Yes | No |
The design-first tools (Strandr, HHC) do mockups well but leave you stitching together a second tool for scheduling and payments. The CRM-first tools (Tinsel, Jobber) run the operation but can’t measure a roof or show a homeowner their house lit up. The full breakdown of every option lives in our best christmas light installation software roundup.
Who free software fits
Just starting out
If you’re launching this fall, your money should go to inventory, insurance, and a good ladder — not software subscriptions. Free software means your first quote looks as professional as the ten-year operation across town, before you’ve spent a dime. Start with our step-by-step guide to starting a christmas light installation business, then set up your quoting stack for free.
Solo operators and small crews
You’re the installer, the estimator, and the office. The value here is speed: satellite measurement plus instant pricing means you quote from the kitchen table in minutes instead of driving to the property. More quotes out, faster, wins more of the season. Our christmas light quoting software guide covers that workflow end to end.
Established businesses cutting overhead
If you’re already paying $800–$1,500 a year across a design tool and a CRM, moving to free software is a straight margin play. Run both side by side for a week of real quotes and compare — switching costs nothing but the time to look.
How to get started (10 minutes, actually)
- Create a free account — email and password, no card.
- Pull up a real address — one of last year’s jobs is perfect. Trace the roofline on satellite and check the footage against what you actually installed.
- Set your pricing — your per-foot rate, install and takedown fees, and multi-year discount structure. Use our christmas light pricing calculator if you’re still dialing in rates.
- Send yourself the quote — see the mockup, the contract options, and the signature flow exactly as a customer would.
If the measurement is tight and the quote looks better than what you sent last year, you’ve just replaced a subscription with $0.
FAQ
Is there really free christmas light software?
Yes. LightQuoter’s base tier is free forever — satellite roofline measurement, visual mockups, quoting, digital signatures, job scheduling, takedown scheduling, and renewals, with no credit card and no feature limits. The only cost is a 2% platform fee on payments you collect through Stripe, so you pay nothing until a customer pays you first. There is one optional paid plan — Pro, $497/year — which drops that fee to 0%; the free tier stays free forever either way.
What’s the catch with free christmas light software?
With LightQuoter, the model is simple: quoting, scheduling, and job management are free, and a 2% fee applies only to payments processed through the platform (on top of standard Stripe processing). There are no seat limits, feature gates, or trial clocks, and the only upgrade that exists is the optional Pro plan at $497/year for a 0% platform fee. The catch to watch for elsewhere is “free trials” that convert to $90–$300/mo subscriptions after 14 days.
How does free software compare to paid tools like Strandr or Tinsel CRM?
Strandr (about $197/yr) leads on photo-based design but needs a separate tool for scheduling and payments. Tinsel CRM (about $828/yr) is feature-complete but has no satellite measurement. LightQuoter covers measurement, design, quoting, signatures, payments, scheduling, and takedowns in one free tool — the trade-off most installers care about is cost, and free wins.
Can I run a real business on the free tier, or is it just for beginners?
The free tier is the product — unlimited quotes, unlimited jobs, unlimited users, every feature. Solo operators use it to look professional from day one, and established crews use it to drop a $1,000+/yr software bill without losing capability.
The bottom line
The question isn’t whether free christmas light software exists — it’s whether there’s any reason left to pay a subscription for a seasonal business. Measure a real roof, build a real quote, and decide with your own numbers on the screen.
Quote your first job in the next ten minutes. Create your free LightQuoter account →