Comparison
dronelist vs a spreadsheet
Most drone operators run their business on a spreadsheet, and for a while that is the right answer. A spreadsheet is free, it is yours, and it bends to any workflow you invent. This page is about where that stops being true.
Pick a spreadsheet when
A spreadsheet is genuinely the right tool while you can hold the whole pipeline in your head, and it costs nothing to keep using one.
- You are pre-revenue or quoting a handful of jobs a year.
- Your pricing is unusual enough that no tool models it.
- You want your data in a file you control, with no account attached.
- You already have a spreadsheet that works and nothing about it annoys you.
Pick dronelist when
dronelist is a CRM for one operator. It runs the pipeline up to an accepted proposal, and shows the margin on a quote before it goes out.
- You have lost a job because you followed up too late, or not at all.
- You do not know which of your services actually makes money.
- You rebuild the same quote from scratch every time.
- You want a client to accept a quote without printing anything.
Side by side
| dronelist | a spreadsheet | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free plan, or Pro at $20/mo ($200/yr). 14-day Pro trial, no card. | Free |
| Setup | Sign up, add your services and rates | Already open on your machine |
| Reminds you to follow up | Yes, quiet deals surface in a weekly digest | Only if you remember to look |
| Margin on a quote | Calculated before you send it | Whatever formula you wrote, if you wrote one |
| Sending a quote to a client | A browser link the client accepts or declines | Export to PDF and attach it to an email |
| Knowing if it was opened | Yes | No |
| Price book | A service catalogue every quote pulls from | Copy the last row and edit it |
| Equipment and insurance expiry | Records with expiry reminders | A tab you have to remember to open |
| Fits an unusual workflow | Within the shape of a CRM | Completely |
Questions
Before you choose.
What operators ask before they switch, or decide not to.
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Not on day one. A spreadsheet holds a pipeline fine while you can remember every open conversation. The moment you cannot, the cost of a spreadsheet stops being zero: it is the job you forgot to chase.
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Three things, mainly. It tells you when a deal has gone quiet without you looking. It calculates the margin on a quote before you send it, from your own rates and time. And it gives the client a link they can accept, so you know the quote arrived and what happened to it.
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Yes. Clients and contacts import from CSV, which is what a spreadsheet exports.
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The free dronelist plan covers clients, pipeline, proposals, the price book and equipment records. What it does not include is the agents and the record of what a finished job actually paid.
The CRM for the hours you are not flying.
Start free. Add a client. Run one agent. See the margin on the first quote.