Eviction service companies vs in-house landlord filing tools

Eviction service vs software is a custody question, not a feature checklist: a full-service shop, commonly cited around $475, typically runs the file for you, while an in-house landlord filing tool keeps the packet, the authorized e-file, and every deadline in a dashboard you can open. Court fees and third-party invoices stay due on both paths. If you cannot export the notice, the sworn petition, and the hearing date without asking a vendor, you do not hold the case.

Eviction Wizard helps landlords organize eviction documents, submit through the court's e-filing system, request a process server, and track every deadline — in one dashboard. Eviction Wizard AI Partners, LLC is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice.

Key takeaways

• A full-service eviction company sells a logistics package. In-house software sells a case file you operate. Public comparisons often cite a service fee around $475; that figure is a hedge, not a quote.
• On the organizer path you review, confirm, and authorize filing. You remain the filer. A shop may coordinate filing — confirm who the court will treat as the plaintiff.
• Court fees and third-party fees sit outside both a $149 Document Organizer fee and a commonly cited service invoice unless the quote says otherwise.
• Custody is the comparison: who holds tenant name, property address, rent amount, lease dates, proof of notice, the case number, and the hearing date after you pay.
• Senate Bill 38 (Texas SB 38) still applies. A vendor cannot waive a sworn petition, precinct venue, or citation by a sheriff or constable.
• Hire an attorney when the case needs strategy or an appearance. Hire a shop when you want logistics run for you. Use a dashboard when you want the file in your hands.

Contents

• What a full-service eviction company actually sells
• What an in-house landlord filing tool actually holds
• Who controls the case file after you pay
• How a commonly cited service fee compares to organizer pricing
• How to walk a case file before you hire either path
• Texas rules neither vendor can waive
• How Eviction Wizard handles this
• When a service shop or an attorney is the better hire
• Frequently asked questions
• The honest bottom line

What a full-service eviction company actually sells

Landlords type eviction service vs software when a neighbor names a shop that “handles the eviction.” That sentence is a job description. A full-service eviction company is a logistics vendor. It is not, by default, a law firm, and it is not a dashboard you own.

The typical package is clerical coordination. Someone populates a notice from the lease you send, tracks the notice period, prepares a petition, walks it toward the court’s e-filing system, and coordinates service. You get status by phone, email, or a portal the vendor controls. Public comparisons often cite a figure around $475. Treat that number as commonly reported, not as a bid for your county.

Praise the shop for the load it takes. A landlord who files one residential case every few years does not want to learn a county’s Justice of the Peace (JP) map, an e-filing portal, or a process-server roster. Some shops keep process-server relationships or partner with attorneys when a case stops being routine. That is why the category sits between a free PDF kit and a commonly reported $1,500–$3,000 attorney engagement.

The category also has a custody habit. The notice, proof of delivery, stamped petition, case number, and hearing date often live in the shop’s file. You ask for copies. If you later hire counsel for an appeal, the attorney rebuilds the record from whatever the shop emails.

Read the quote as a bill of materials. Ask whether the commonly cited service fee includes the JP filing fee, citation by a sheriff or constable, a process server for eviction notice, or a later writ. Ask who the court will treat as the filer, and whether the shop is doing clerical work or referring you to an independent attorney. A service company is a good hire when you want someone else to run the errands. It is a poor hire when you assume $475 bought representation, court costs, or a file you can open without calling anyone.

What an in-house landlord filing tool actually holds

An in-house landlord filing tool is a case file with a transmission step. Eviction software for landlords should carry one residential case along a fixed spine: notice, deliver, notice period, file, citation, hearing, judgment, appeal, writ, possession. The product is not a cheaper shop and not a lawyer. It is clerical continuity you operate.

The first object is field consistency. Upload the lease. The tool may extract tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates into the forms you selected. You review every field. You edit what the extraction missed. A property-management nickname is not the caption of a sworn petition. Extraction is a clerk. You are the reviewer.

The second object is routing you still confirm. For a Texas address, a precinct / JP helper can propose the court commonly associated with that location, including typical filing-fee context and an e-filing portal link. The result is framed as based on the information you provided. It is not a guarantee of venue. You confirm the court. If two maps disagree, call a lawyer before you spend a filing fee.

The third object is transmission, not strategy. The packet is formatted from commonly used court form templates. You read the sworn petition, then review, confirm, and authorize submission to the court’s e-filing system. In Texas, that system is often eFileTexas. The organizer is not eFileTexas. You remain the filer. See court e-filing for eviction.

The fourth object is the later stages form-fillers drop. A process-server request in the same dashboard is for landlord notice delivery: browse independent process servers and track acceptance through proof of service. That request does not replace constable or sheriff citation service. Deadline tracking keeps citation, trial, appeal, and writ as separate objects.

Optional attorney review of the packet is a completeness check, not representation. An Attorney Directory lists independent attorneys, not employees or agents. Portfolio bulk filing and team seats are coming, not live. Launch is Texas first, county by county; Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are next and are not live. You open the file, authorize the filing, and still pay court and third-party fees.

Who controls the case file after you pay

Custody is the comparison that survives the invoice. After you pay, someone holds the working copy: the lease and addenda; the notice and any notice to pay rent or vacate; proof of delivery; the sworn petition; the case number; the citation return; the hearing date; any judgment; the appeal window; and the writ request. Tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates have to match across those objects.

On the service-company path, those objects often sit in the shop’s system. You have what they forwarded. That can be enough for a landlord who wants a single phone number. It is not enough when the five-day appeal window opens on a Friday and the shop is closed, or when counsel cannot reconstruct the notice method from a status email.

On the in-house path, those objects sit in a dashboard you can open. You uploaded the lease, reviewed the extracted fields, and authorized the e-file. You can hand an independent attorney a packet instead of a narrative. Eviction document organization is this custody problem with a checklist attached. If the shop holds a draft, you wait for their revision cycle. If you hold the draft, you edit property address before you authorize filing. Under the 2026 Texas venue rules, a wrong-precinct filing is dismissed, not transferred.

Object in the file	Full-service shop	In-house filing tool	Attorney file
Tenant name, property address, rent amount, lease dates	Held by the vendor	Extracted for your review; you edit	Counsel’s work product if retained
Notice and proof of delivery	Typically in the shop’s file	In the dashboard you open	If counsel prepared or collected it
Sworn petition and e-file stamp	Shop coordinates; confirm who is the filer	You authorize; you remain the filer	Firm files as counsel if retained
Hearing date, judgment, appeal, writ	Status you request	Tracked through possession	If still retained

The table is a custody map, not a ranking. Buy the column that matches who you want holding the working copy after the check clears.

How a commonly cited service fee compares to organizer pricing

A service invoice, a document-organizer fee, an attorney retainer, and a court filing fee are four different bills. The cost of an eviction is the stack, not the first number a neighbor remembers.

The Document Organizer fee is $149 per case. Founding members lock $149 for life. As of 2026, that is the waitlist price, not a bundled “eviction, including the court.” Build your case free — pay only when you file. The fee covers notice options populated for review, a filing packet from court form templates, e-filing you authorize, and tracking through writ. Court fees and third-party fees appear before you approve them.

A full-service shop is often cited around $475. Ask what the quote swallows. Some packages are document prep and filing coordination. Some include a process-server invoice. Some still leave JP filing, citation, and the writ on your card. Do not treat $475 as $149 plus magic, and do not treat it as a $1,500 attorney substitute.

Typical attorney fees are commonly reported at $1,500–$3,000, and some public comparisons cite $1,500–$5,000. Those figures buy representation. See attorney eviction fees. A shop that partners with a lawyer is still two purchases unless the engagement letter says otherwise.

Texas court lines stay outside both vendor fees unless a quote includes them. JP filing fees are commonly reported in the tens of dollars. Writ fees are commonly reported around $150–$200. Citation and process-server invoices vary by county and vendor. Court fees and process server fees belong on every path.

Path	Commonly reported fee	Court and third-party fees	What you buy / who holds the file
Document organizer	$149 per case; founding members lock $149 for life	Separate — shown before you approve them	Packet, authorized e-filing, tracking; you remain the filer
Eviction service company	Often cited around $475	Often still separate — read the quote	Logistics package; shop typically holds the file
Attorney representation	Commonly $1,500–$3,000; sometimes cited $1,500–$5,000	Usually separate unless the engagement says otherwise	Advice, strategy, appearances; the firm holds the file if retained
DIY forms or guides	Often $0–low for the PDF	Still due in full	A form; you hold email and folders

Two mistakes collapse this table. The first is treating $149 and $475 as the same product at different prices. One is a file you operate. The other is a shop that operates a file. The second is treating $475 as counsel. If possession will be contested, pay for a lawyer and keep the packet organized.

How to walk a case file before you hire either path

Choose the vendor after you can name the file. Four fields decide whether you have a routine packet or a counsel problem: tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates. Walk them before you send a lease to a shop or upload it to a dashboard.

1. Collect the source documents. Pull the signed lease, every addendum that changes occupants or rent, and the payment ledger. If a property-management suite holds a different rent figure than the lease, stop.
2. Confirm tenant name. Use the name as it appears on the lease, including every adult tenant you intend to name. A nickname on a work order is not the caption of a sworn petition.
3. Confirm property address. Street, unit, city, and county. In Texas, that address is also how a precinct helper proposes a JP court. Wrong precinct is dismissed, not transferred. If the property sits on a precinct line, hire a lawyer before anyone files.
4. Confirm rent amount. Monthly rent and the unpaid period. If the only issue is unpaid rent and this is the first delinquency in the lease term, Texas Property Code section 24.005 describes a notice to pay rent or vacate before a standard notice to vacate. Whether that rule applies is a counsel question.
5. Confirm lease dates. Start date, end date, and whether the tenancy continued month-to-month. Holdover after a fixed term is not the same file as mid-term nonpayment.
6. Name the ground, then stop if it is not routine. Commercial use, Housing Choice Voucher (Section 8) tenancies, alleged retaliation, and forcible entry each change the legal work. Summary disposition under the 2026 rules is for unauthorized occupancy and forcible entry, not routine nonpayment.
7. Decide who will hold the working copy. If you want a shop to run logistics, ask how you get copies and who the court will treat as the filer. If you want the file in a dashboard, you review, confirm, and authorize the e-file yourself.
8. Only then send or upload. Upload the lease and treat the extracted tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates as a draft — or send those same four fields to a shop or attorney and keep your own copies.

Open the lease first. Then buy the job the facts need.

Texas rules neither vendor can waive

Senate Bill 38 (SB 38, 89th Legislature) applies to eviction suits filed on or after January 1, 2026. Rule 510 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure is the specialized procedural rule. A commonly cited $475 shop invoice, or a $149 organizer fee, does not rewrite the statute. For the map, use the 2026 Texas eviction law changes.

Notice delivery is listed, not chosen for you. As of 2026, the statute describes in-person delivery to an occupant 16 or older, mail, conspicuous posting, and electronic delivery only if the parties agreed in writing. This article will not tell you that a method is sufficient. Check the lease. Consult a Texas attorney.

First-time-late unpaid rent has an extra step. When the only issue is unpaid rent and the tenant has not been late during the lease term, a notice to pay rent or vacate is required before a standard notice to vacate. Whether a prior late fee or a partial payment counts as a delinquency is fact-and-law work. The default notice period is still three days unless the written lease sets another period. Covered properties may still need a 30-day notice under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act). Day counting follows section 24.0042: exclude the trigger day, count weekends and holidays, and roll a last day that falls on a weekend or holiday to the next business day.

The suit starts with a sworn petition (section 24.00505). On the organizer path, you remain the reviewer and the filer. On the shop path, confirm who swears and who the court treats as the plaintiff. File in the JP precinct of the property. A wrong-precinct filing is not cured by transfer. When confirmation is not obvious, hire an attorney before anyone files. A Texas JP court precinct helper is based on the information you provided, not a guarantee.

Citation is still law enforcement. A sheriff or constable makes a diligent effort to serve the citation and petition by the fifth business day after filing. Do not conflate that clock with landlord notice delivery. Trial is generally set 10 to 21 days after the petition is filed, hedged for county practice. Appeals still use a five-day window; SB 38 adds a sworn good-faith affirmation — keep that high-level and call counsel. Summary disposition is for unauthorized occupancy and forcible entry only, not routine nonpayment; the occupant has four days to respond. Only law enforcement executes a writ of possession. Self-help lockouts and utility shutoffs remain illegal. None of this is a guaranteed timeline or outcome.

How Eviction Wizard handles this

Eviction Wizard is built for the in-house column in this comparison: you hold the working file, you remain the filer, and you can still hand the same packet to an independent attorney. It is not built to replace a shop’s phone number or a lawyer’s advice.

You build the case first. Build your case free — pay only when you file. The Document Organizer fee is $149 per case. Founding members lock $149 for life. Court fees and third-party fees are separate and should appear before you approve them.

Upload the lease. The tool may extract tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates into the forms you selected. You review and edit. Extraction is not a finding that the notice is legally sufficient.

Enter the property address. For Texas properties, the helper proposes the precinct and JP court commonly associated with that location, including typical filing-fee context and e-filing portal information, framed as based on the information you provided. You confirm the court. The helper is not a guarantee.

When the packet is ready, you submit through the court’s e-filing system. You review, confirm, and authorize. You remain the filer. Case number and hearing information come back to the dashboard you already open.

Request a process server from the same place you keep proof of delivery. Browse independent process servers. Track notice delivery from acceptance to proof of service. That request does not replace citation service by a sheriff or constable.

If you want counsel, use the Attorney Directory. Those attorneys are independent — not employees or agents. Optional attorney review of the packet is a completeness check before you authorize filing, not representation. You can hire the independent attorney and still keep the file.

Tracking stays on after the stamp: citation, hearing, judgment, appeal, and writ. Launch is Texas first, county by county. Florida, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada are next and are not live. Portfolio bulk filing and team seats are coming, not a current claim.

When a service shop or an attorney is the better hire

Some files need a shop. Some files need a lawyer. Some files need both, plus a dashboard.

Hire a service company when you want logistics run for you: one residential case, no appetite for an e-filing portal, and you accept that the working copy will live with the vendor. Ask for the line items on a commonly cited ~$475 quote. Ask who the court will treat as the filer. Keep your own copies of the lease, the notice, and every email they send.

Hire an attorney when the file is not routine. Contested possession, a commercial lease, a Section 8 tenancy, an entity that may not appear through a non-lawyer, notice-method doubt, precinct-line doubt, or an appeal all sit in the representation column. Typical attorney fees are commonly reported at $1,500–$3,000, and sometimes cited $1,500–$5,000. That range is not a bid, and it is not what $475 bought. The eviction wizard vs attorney split still applies: counsel argues and advises; software organizes.

Keep a dashboard even when you hire the other two. Counsel should not rebuild tenant name, property address, rent amount, and lease dates from a shop’s status thread. Payment during the case is a legal question. The first-time-late pay-or-vacate rule makes that sharper as of 2026. Consult a Texas attorney. Form-fillers, property-management suites, and DIY guides occupy other shelves. None of them waives SB 38. Only law enforcement executes a writ.

Frequently asked questions

Does a ~$475 eviction service include court fees?

Not unless the quote says so. Public comparisons often cite a service fee around $475. JP filing fees in Texas are commonly reported in the tens of dollars. Writ fees are commonly reported around $150–$200. Citation and process-server invoices are separate lines. Ask for a bill of materials before you compare that invoice to a $149 organizer fee.

Who is the filer if I use in-house eviction software?

You are. You review every document, confirm the packet, and authorize submission to the court’s e-filing system. The software organizes and transmits at your direction. Your name — not the vendor’s — is the filing party the court treats as the plaintiff. A service company may coordinate filing; confirm that caption before anyone submits.

Can I use a service company and still keep my own case file?

Yes, if you insist on copies. Keep the lease, the notice, proof of delivery, the petition, the case number, and every court stamp. An in-house dashboard is built so you do not have to chase those objects. If you later hire counsel, the attorney needs the working copy, not a summary of phone calls.

Is Eviction Wizard a full-service eviction company?

No. Eviction Wizard is a document organizer and e-file workflow. It is not a law firm and does not provide legal advice. You remain the filer. The Document Organizer fee is $149 per case. Court fees and third-party fees are separate. A shop that runs logistics for you is a different purchase.

When should I hire an attorney instead of a shop or software?

Hire counsel when possession will be contested, when an appeal is likely, when the tenancy is commercial or subsidized, when an entity may not appear through a non-lawyer, or when you doubt notice method or precinct. Check the lease. Consult a Texas attorney before you treat any delivery method as sufficient.

The honest bottom line

Eviction service vs software is not a contest to see who can print a notice cheaper. A full-service shop, commonly cited around $475, sells logistics and usually holds the working file. An in-house landlord tool sells a packet you operate — $149 to organize, e-file you authorize, and track through writ — with court and third-party fees still separate. If you want that file in a dashboard you can open, join the Eviction Wizard waitlist.