- Tradify and Powered Now charge per user per month (from £34 and £28); ServiceM8 charges by jobs per month with unlimited users (free for 30 jobs, £25 for 50, £59 for 150, £119 for 500); Jobber bills in dollars (Core $49, about £36); Commusoft is quote-led and aimed at firms with six or more staff. All ex VAT.
- For a one-van firm ServiceM8's free tier or Powered Now is the cheapest start; for three to ten engineers Tradify or ServiceM8 Growing; Commusoft for heating firms past ten staff with contracts and servicing schedules.
- None of them find the work. MyTradeBuddy's CRM is included with booked surveys and has no per-user fee, which makes it a different purchase rather than a sixth option on the same list.
The five, on one page
Prices below are the published UK starting prices in September 2026 as reported by DashLink, TradePlanr and The Builder's Verdict, ex VAT. They change, so check the vendor's page before you sign. The point of the table is the pricing model, not the exact pound.
The models differ more than the features do. Two charge per seat, so an extra engineer is an extra bill. One charges by job volume with unlimited users. One bills in dollars. One is quoted.
| Tool | How it charges | From | Built for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tradify | Per user per month | £34 a user | Small to mid trade firms; strong quoting and job cards |
| ServiceM8 | By jobs per month, unlimited users | Free (1 user, 30 jobs); £25 for 50 jobs; £59 for 150; £119 for 500 | Firms that would rather pay per job than per seat; good mobile app |
| Powered Now | Per user per month | £28 a user | Sole traders and small teams; simple quotes and invoices |
| Jobber | Per user tiers, billed in USD | Core $49 a month (about £36) for one user | US-led home services software with a UK following |
| Commusoft | Quote-led contract | Not published; aimed at six or more staff | Heating and plumbing firms with service contracts and larger teams |
| MyTradeBuddy CRM | Included with booked surveys; no per-user fee | See pricing | Survey-led trades who want the work and the software in one system |
Tradify
Tradify is the default choice for a lot of UK plumbers and electricians: quotes from a price book, job cards, scheduling, invoicing, Xero and QuickBooks sync, a solid app. It charges per user, so a firm with an office manager and four engineers is paying five seats. DashLink's 2026 pricing guide notes the extras that push the bill up as you add users and modules. If you want the most polished quoting flow and can live with per-seat pricing, it is hard to fault.
ServiceM8
ServiceM8 is the odd one out on pricing: unlimited users, priced by the number of jobs you complete a month. A one-person firm doing under 30 jobs pays nothing; 50 jobs is £25, 150 is £59, 500 is £119. That suits firms with several engineers and a modest job count, and punishes high-volume small jobs. The mobile app is among the best in the group. It is Australian-built and UK support runs through partners, which some firms mind.
Powered Now
Powered Now is UK-built and aimed squarely at sole traders and small teams: quotes, invoices, certificates for gas and electrical work, and a straightforward app, from £28 a user. It is the simplest of the five to start on and the least ambitious about scheduling and automation. If your admin problem is invoices and certificates rather than a busy multi-engineer diary, it may be all you need.
Jobber
Jobber is a US home-services platform with a strong client-facing side: online booking, quotes the customer approves on their phone, automated reminders and follow-ups. Core is $49 a month for one user, which is about £36 at 2026 rates, and it bills in dollars, so the bill moves with the exchange rate. UK specifics (VAT handling, Gas Safe paperwork) are thinner than the UK-built tools.
Commusoft
Commusoft is built for heating and plumbing companies with service contracts, landlord certificates and larger teams. Pricing is quote-led and it is aimed at firms with six or more staff on an annual contract. For a firm of that size with servicing schedules to run it is the most complete tool here; for a three-van firm it is more system than you need and more contract than you want.
How to choose
Count seats and jobs. If you have more engineers than jobs per month would suggest, ServiceM8's model is cheaper; if you have a small team doing lots of small jobs, per-seat pricing wins. Check the certificates your trade needs are built in. Try the mobile app on a real job before the office looks at the dashboard, because the engineers decide whether software gets used.
Then ask the question none of the five answer: where does the work come from? Every tool above is a place to put jobs you already won. MyTradeBuddy's CRM for trades does the same quoting, scheduling and invoicing with no per-user fee, and it comes as part of a system that generates the demand, answers the phone and chases the quote, billed per booked survey. If all you need is software, buy one of the five; if the diary is the problem, it is a different purchase. Best software for plumbers covers the accounting and quoting tools around them.
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Frequently asked questions
There is no single best. Tradify for polished quoting with per-user pricing, ServiceM8 if you have more engineers than jobs, Powered Now for a sole trader who mainly needs invoices and certificates, Commusoft for a heating firm past ten staff. Pick on pricing model and the mobile app your engineers will use.
Published starting prices in 2026: Tradify from £34 a user a month, Powered Now from £28 a user, ServiceM8 from free to £119 a month by job volume with unlimited users, Jobber from about £36 for one user, Commusoft by quote. All ex VAT.
ServiceM8's free tier covers one user and 30 jobs a month. Most others offer a trial rather than a free plan.
For a trade business they are usually the same purchase: the job, the customer record, the quote and the invoice in one place. A general sales CRM leaves scheduling and invoicing to other tools.
None of the five do; they manage work you already won. MyTradeBuddy pairs a CRM with demand generation, an AI receptionist and quote follow-up, billed per booked survey.