Hearth is the better pick for most HVAC and home service contractors in 2026: its flat subscription (around $1,799 per year for Pro, per Capterra listings) carries zero per-job dealer fees, reaches a wider credit range with a network of 18+ lenders, and funds projects up to $250,000. FTL Finance is the better pick for low-volume shops that want free enrollment and a lender built specifically around HVAC tickets, as long as jobs stay under its $35,000 consumer loan cap.
Key takeaways
- Hearth charges a flat annual subscription (Capterra lists Pro at $1,799 per year plus a $99 setup fee as of 2026) with $0 dealer fees on funded loans.
- FTL Finance has free contractor enrollment and, contrary to a common claim, offers no-fee standard programs; contractor fees apply only when you choose its promotional rate buy-down products.
- Loan size is the biggest hard difference: Hearth's lender network goes up to $250,000, while FTL's consumer loans run $1,000 to $35,000 per its state licensing disclosures.
- Hearth serves homeowners with FICO scores as low as 550 through one soft-pull application; FTL says 80% of applicants get approved across its Standard, Risk-Based, and Partner programs.
- FTL Finance has operated since 1996, holds a BBB A rating, and is common inside HVAC manufacturer dealer programs, so some contractors already have access.
Quick verdict
Choose Hearth if you finance more than a handful of jobs a year, sell promotional offers, quote projects above $35,000, or serve customers with rough credit. The flat fee plus multi-lender approvals beats a single lender once volume is real. Choose FTL Finance if you are a smaller HVAC shop that wants zero fixed cost, sticks to standard-rate loans on typical replacement tickets, or already has FTL access through a manufacturer dealer program. There is no scenario where paying for both makes sense; the deciding inputs are annual financed volume, average ticket, and how often you pitch promotional rates.
Hearth vs FTL Finance at a glance
| Feature | Hearth | FTL Finance |
|---|---|---|
| Model | Marketplace of 18+ lending partners | Direct lender with a partner second-look option |
| Contractor cost | Flat subscription, roughly $1,499 to $4,999 per year by plan (Capterra, 2026) | Free enrollment; fees only on optional promotional programs |
| Per-job dealer fee | $0 | $0 on standard no-fee programs; varies on rate buy-downs |
| Loan amounts | $1,000 to $250,000 | $1,000 to $35,000 consumer; $2,500 to $50,000 commercial |
| Credit floor | FICO as low as 550 | Not published; three programs cover "all types of credit," 80% approval claim |
| Application | Soft pull, offers from multiple lenders at once | Decision typically within about 15 minutes per FTL's materials |
| Funding speed | As fast as 24 hours after loan completion | Varies by program and documentation |
| Bundled tools | Quotes, contracts, invoicing, Hearth Pay, AI add-ons | Financing portal and training only |
| HVAC manufacturer programs | No | Yes, appears in several dealer programs |
| Track record | Founded 2016; 20,000+ pros, $500M+ funded per its site | Founded 1996; BBB accredited with an A rating |
Fee model and true annual cost
The fee models are close to opposites. Hearth charges a fixed subscription and never takes a cut of a funded loan, which makes your financing cost predictable regardless of volume. Software listing sites Capterra and Software Advice show Hearth at $1,499 per year for Essentials, $1,799 for Pro, and $4,999 for Elite, plus a one-time $99 setup fee, as of 2026. Hearth itself now quotes plans through a sales call rather than a public price list, so treat those figures as a strong estimate and confirm before signing. Our full Hearth fee breakdown walks through every line item.
FTL Finance flips that structure: enrollment is free, and its approval-programs page states contractors can offer free programs or "more competitive ones that include a fee." In plain terms, standard-rate loans cost you nothing, and you pay a contractor fee only when you choose a promotional product, such as a reduced-rate or 0% style offer, because someone has to fund that rate discount. FTL does not publish those fee percentages. If you want the mechanics of how buy-down fees eat margin across the industry, see our guide to dealer fees in contractor financing.
Winner: FTL Finance for shops financing only a few standard-rate jobs a year; Hearth once subscription cost divides across steady volume.
Loan sizes and project fit
Loan caps are the clearest hard line between these two. FTL's state licensing disclosures list consumer loans from $1,000 to $35,000 and commercial loans from $2,500 to $50,000, with availability varying by state. That range covers nearly every straight HVAC replacement: Angi's 2026 data puts full HVAC replacement between $5,000 and $22,000 with a $7,500 average. Hearth's lender network funds $1,000 up to $250,000 with terms of 2 to 12 years, which matters the moment a job grows past equipment swap territory: full duct replacement plus a heat pump conversion, HVAC folded into a larger remodel, or whole-home electrification work. If your ticket mix ever crosses $35,000, FTL simply cannot write the loan.
Winner: Hearth.
Approvals and credit range
Approval odds decide how many quoted jobs turn into funded jobs. Hearth runs one soft-pull application that shops 18+ lenders at once and can serve FICO scores down to 550, a floor most single lenders will not touch; we explain the mechanics in how Hearth's lender network works and what the 550 minimum means in practice. FTL counters with three stacked programs: Standard for strong credit, Risk-Based for higher-risk scores, and a Partner program as a second source when a homeowner fails FTL's own criteria, with no hit to the homeowner's credit score for applying. FTL states 80% of homeowners get approved across that stack. Both approaches beat a single-product lender, but a marketplace generating competing offers gives marginal-credit homeowners more paths to a yes, and it prices the same borrower against multiple lenders instead of one.
Winner: Hearth, narrowly.
Speed at the kitchen table
Speed is nearly a wash, and both are fast enough for in-home selling. FTL's program materials cite loan decisions in about 15 minutes, and dealer sites report homeowners applying from the contractor's tablet mid-visit. Hearth's soft-pull prequalification returns monthly payment options in minutes without a hard credit check, which changes the sales conversation from "can you afford $9,400" to "does $180 a month work," and funded loans can pay out in as little as 24 hours per Hearth's own pages. Because the soft pull removes the homeowner's fear of dinging their credit just to look, Hearth's flow gets more homeowners to actually run the numbers during the visit. Our in-home estimate walkthrough shows the step-by-step.
Winner: Hearth, on the strength of the no-risk soft pull.
Tools beyond the loan
Contractor tooling is where the two stop being comparable. FTL Finance is a lender: you get the financing portal, finance training, and support, and you run your business elsewhere. Hearth bundles quotes with monthly payments printed on them, digital contracts, invoicing, and Hearth Pay payment processing into the subscription, with newer plans adding AI answering and follow-up. If you already run a field service platform that handles quoting and payments, the bundle is redundant. If you are still quoting from a legal pad, the bundle is a real chunk of the subscription's value. See our HVAC software stack guide for what a full setup looks like either way.
Winner: Hearth.
HVAC specialization and dealer programs
FTL Finance has spent since 1996 concentrated on HVAC and home improvement lending from its Saint Charles, Missouri base, and it shows up inside manufacturer dealer programs, so plenty of HVAC contractors already have FTL access bundled with their equipment line. That produces real advantages: loan products shaped around typical replacement tickets, underwriting that considers household income and not just score, and reps who speak HVAC. Hearth serves every home improvement trade and treats HVAC as one vertical among many. For a shop that values a lender who knows what a condenser costs and is already wired into its distributor relationships, FTL's focus is worth something Hearth cannot match.
Winner: FTL Finance.
Pricing side by side
| Cost item | Hearth | FTL Finance |
|---|---|---|
| Enrollment | $99 one-time setup (per Capterra, 2026) | Free |
| Entry plan | Essentials, $1,499 per year | Not applicable |
| Standard plan | Pro, $1,799 per year | Not applicable |
| Top plan | Elite, $4,999 per year | Not applicable |
| Fee per funded standard-rate loan | $0 | $0 on no-fee programs |
| Fee per funded promotional loan | $0 (0% offers are lender credit-card products) | Contractor fee, varies by program; not published |
One nuance on promotions: Hearth's 0% options come through lender credit-card offers rather than contractor-funded buy-downs, so the homeowner gets the promo and you still pay nothing per job. With FTL, promotional rates are contractor-subsidized. How that math works industry-wide is covered in our 0% APR financing explainer.
What contractors and homeowners say
User sentiment on both platforms is mixed, which is normal for consumer lending. Hearth holds roughly 1,090 Trustpilot reviews as of mid-2026; praise centers on individual reps and the sales lift from monthly-payment quoting, while complaints center on auto-renewal terms and payment processing delays. Read the renewal clause before you sign, and see our roundup of field reports from Hearth contractors for the longer version. FTL Finance carries a BBB A rating with accreditation since 2021 and 19 complaints on file, a modest count for a 30-year-old lender; WalletHub's small set of user reviews praises easy approvals for repairs while a few borrowers report friction on collections and payoff handling. Neither platform shows the pattern of systemic complaints that killed confidence in some larger financing names.
Break-even math for an HVAC shop
The honest math is simpler than most comparisons admit. If you only ever sell standard-rate financing, FTL's no-fee programs cost $0 per year and Hearth costs about $1,898 in year one (Pro plus setup), so FTL wins on pure cost at any volume. The picture changes when promotions enter. Promotional buy-down fees across the industry commonly run several points of the financed amount, so on a $12,000 replacement even a 6% fee is $720 per job: two promo-financed jobs a year and you have passed Hearth Pro's price, ten of them is $7,200 against Hearth's flat $1,799. Since promotional offers are exactly what closes hesitant buyers on $10,000+ tickets, most growth-mode shops end up leaning on them. FTL does not publish its fee schedule, so run your own quote through both before deciding; our HVAC financing program roundup has the wider field if neither fits.
Choose Hearth if
- You finance ten or more jobs a year, or plan to, and want cost per funded loan trending toward zero.
- You regularly pitch promotional offers to close hesitant homeowners.
- Your quotes can exceed $35,000, now or after you add ducts, heat pumps, or remodel scope.
- Your customer base includes credit scores in the 550 to 650 band.
- You want quoting, contracts, and payments bundled with financing.
Choose FTL Finance if
- You finance a few jobs a year and cannot justify any fixed subscription.
- Your tickets sit comfortably in the $5,000 to $35,000 replacement range.
- You stick to standard-rate loans and rarely subsidize promotions.
- Your equipment manufacturer's dealer program already includes FTL access.
- You want a lender that has done nothing but home improvement credit since 1996.
Final verdict
Hearth wins this comparison for the majority of HVAC and home service contractors because the things that grow revenue (higher approval rates across credit tiers, promotional offers without per-job fees, and a $250,000 ceiling) all sit on its side of the table, for a fixed cost around $1,799 a year. FTL Finance is not a consolation prize: for a low-volume shop selling standard-rate loans on normal replacement tickets, free beats flat fee, and FTL's HVAC focus and manufacturer relationships are genuine strengths. Decide on your last 12 months of numbers: count financed jobs, note how many needed a promo rate to close, and check your largest ticket against the $35,000 line. If you land with Hearth, our guide to picking the right Hearth plan covers the next decision.
How we put this together
We compared both platforms' fee models, loan ranges, approval programs, and tooling using Hearth's pricing and product pages, FTL Finance's approval-programs and licensing disclosure pages, plan prices from Capterra and Software Advice listings, review data from Trustpilot, WalletHub, and the Better Business Bureau, and 2026 HVAC cost data from Angi. Neither company briefed us. Figures were last verified in July 2026; confirm current terms with each provider before enrolling.
Frequently asked questions
Does FTL Finance charge contractors dealer fees?
Not always: FTL's approval-programs page states contractors can offer free no-fee programs, with contractor fees applying only to more competitive promotional products such as rate buy-downs. Older comparisons that describe FTL as a pure dealer-fee lender are out of date. FTL does not publish the fee percentages, so ask for the current program sheet.
What is the maximum loan amount with FTL Finance vs Hearth?
FTL Finance consumer loans run $1,000 to $35,000 (commercial up to $50,000) per its licensing disclosures, while Hearth's lender network funds projects from $1,000 up to $250,000. For standard HVAC replacements averaging $7,500 per Angi's 2026 data, both caps are fine; for large conversions or remodel-adjacent work, only Hearth reaches.
How much does Hearth cost an HVAC contractor in 2026?
Capterra and Software Advice listings as of 2026 show Hearth at $1,499 per year for Essentials, $1,799 for Pro, and $4,999 for Elite, plus a $99 setup fee, with no per-job dealer fees. Hearth no longer publishes prices on its own site, so confirm your quote on the sales call.
Which platform approves more homeowners?
Hearth generally reaches deeper into weak credit because one soft-pull application shops 18+ lenders and can serve FICO scores as low as 550. FTL counters well for a direct lender: its Standard, Risk-Based, and Partner programs cover all credit types, consider household income, and FTL states 80% of applicants get approved.
Can I get FTL Finance through my HVAC equipment manufacturer?
Often yes: FTL Finance appears in several HVAC manufacturer and distributor dealer programs, so check with your equipment rep before enrolling directly, because you may already have access with negotiated terms. Hearth is not manufacturer-integrated and is sold directly to contractors as a subscription.
Is it worth using both Hearth and FTL Finance together?
For most shops, no: Hearth's multi-lender network already provides the fallback coverage that would justify a second platform, and you would be paying its subscription while splitting volume. The one setup where both can coexist is a manufacturer FTL program you get essentially for free, kept as a secondary option beside a primary Hearth subscription.
