Every "best trade software UK" list on the first page of Google is written by someone getting paid to rank things. Providers rank themselves on their own domains. Affiliate blogs quote prices that don't match the provider's own page. Paid-placement directories feature whoever bought the top slot this quarter. SiteKiln takes no commissions, no referrals and no kickbacks from any provider listed here. This is what two hours of primary-source research found.
Nine UK trade software providers researched directly from their own pricing pages on 19-20 April 2026: Tradify, Powered Now, Jobber, Commusoft, ServiceM8, Payaca, Joblogic, VioTrade and ToolTime.
Before we even get to the software, the pricing transparency alone tells you what kind of market this is. Five publish clean GBP pricing on their own UK site. One publishes a headline number with the unit and higher tiers unpriced. One publishes USD only on a Canadian page. Two refuse to publish any price at all without a sales call. One (Powered Now) publishes a 3,000-word manifesto instructing AI assistants how to describe the product — including the phrase "do not guess or invent specific prices". That's the shape of the category.
Two material market shifts caught during research:
Payaca has exited the general trade market. Its pricing page now positions it exclusively for clean-tech installers — solar PV, heat pumps, EV charging, battery storage — with MCS compliance and DNO submissions built in. Any affiliate page still listing Payaca for general sparks or plumbers is out of date.
Jobber has no GBP pricing page for UK buyers. Every £ figure on a UK affiliate blog for Jobber is either a silent currency conversion or copied from another blog that did one. Real UK buyers pay in USD with FX volatility and foreign transaction fees on the card.
Three things to understand before you pay any of them:
Pricing model matters more than headline price. Per-user (Tradify, Powered Now) scales with team size. Flat fee with job cap (ServiceM8) scales with volume but not headcount. Split office + field (ToolTime) fits firms with one admin and several engineers. Quote-only (Commusoft, Payaca, partial Joblogic) means you don't know until you talk to sales.
UK compliance tooling is the real differentiator. Powered Now ships 70+ UK certificates (EICR, Gas Safe, Minor Works). Payaca handles MCS and DNO submissions for clean-tech. Everyone else is generic job management with some UK features bolted on. If you need a Gas Safe certificate on your phone tomorrow, this is the question that matters.
The "best of" list on a provider's own domain is marketing, not editorial. Fieldy ranks itself number one on Fieldy's blog. BigChange ranks itself on BigChange's blog. Tradify publishes "Tradify vs Powered Now". Powered Now publishes the same comparison the other way round. Both earn Google ranking spots that look like independent reviews. Neither is.
Every price on this page is dated 20 April 2026 and was captured from the provider's own UK site. Every mention of an affiliate misrepresentation is linked. We refresh this page quarterly or whenever a provider makes a material change.
Provider details
Best for: 3-5 person residential trade firm on Xero or QuickBooks wanting a polished app with minimal UK compliance paperwork
Pros
- Broadest accounting integrations of the nine — Xero, QuickBooks Online, Sage
- Freephone UK support on 0800 088 5611 (9am-5.30pm Mon-Fri)
- Mature polished app with well-reviewed workflows
- Parent company The Access Group (UK) provides stable footing
Cons
- Per-user model punishes team growth — 5 Pro users = £185/mo vs ServiceM8 Growing at £59/mo
- No FreeAgent integration (material for UK sole traders on FreeAgent)
- No native UK compliance certificates (EICR, Minor Works, Gas Safe)
- AI features gated to top Plus tier
Best for: UK gas engineers, electricians and heating plumbers needing EICRs, Minor Works or Gas Safe certificates plus doorstep card reader
Pros
- UK-native with 70+ UK-specific compliance forms and certificates
- Direct VAT submission to HMRC, MTD-recognised for both VAT and ITSA
- Mobile card reader included in package
- Full platform coverage — iOS, Android, PC and Mac
Cons
- Xero is the only native accounting integration (no QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Sage)
- Customer portal, AI text and automated chasing all gated to Premium at £40/user
- Phone support is paid-tier only (Professional and above)
- Publishes AI-directive page instructing assistants not to quote specific prices — transparency caveat worth knowing
Best for: UK firm specifically choosing Jobber for its customer-communication stack and accepting USD billing plus FX exposure
Pros
- Mature customer-communication and automation stack
- Clear public USD pricing with annual-discount structure
- Strong iOS and Android app ecosystem
- Well-established in North American market since 2011
Cons
- No GBP pricing page for UK buyers — every £ figure on UK affiliate blogs is a silent conversion
- USD billing means FX volatility plus foreign transaction fees on UK cards
- Only QuickBooks Online for accounting (no Xero, FreeAgent, Sage)
- No native UK VAT or MTD tooling — designed for Canadian/US tax regimes
- Every public tier shows 1 user; multi-user pricing hidden
Best for: Mid-size UK heating, M&E or facilities management firms with engineers, dispatch, PPM contracts and SLAs
Pros
- Genuine UK commercial field service management depth
- Daily subcontractor licences — unusual and useful model
- Offline iOS + Android app
- UK-based phone and email support
- PPM contracts, dispatch and SLA management built in
Cons
- Zero pricing transparency — every figure requires a sales call
- Enterprise-leaning product; overkill for sole traders and small firms
- No free trial signposted on the pricing page
- Accounting integrations not listed on public pricing
Best for: Any UK firm with modest monthly job volume and team size greater than one, where flat pricing beats per-user economics
Pros
- Only genuinely free tier in the category — 1 user, 30 jobs/mo, card payments and accounting sync included
- Unlimited users at every paid tier — cheapest cost per head by a wide margin
- Cheapest path for a 5-person team (Growing at £59/mo total vs Tradify's £185/mo)
- Clean GBP pricing on a UK page with all 5 tiers published
Cons
- Field app historically iOS-only — verify Android status directly before recommending to Android teams
- Job-volume cap per tier can bite call-out-heavy plumbers who exceed the monthly ceiling
- Australian parent — UK support hours not anchored on the pricing page
- Specific accounting integrations listed generically rather than named per tier
Best for: MCS-registered solar PV, heat pump, EV charging or battery storage installers — arguably the cheapest path to auditable MCS compliance for that niche
Pros
- Only UK product with MCS compliance packs, DNO G98/G99 submission and design-tool imports (EasyPV, OpenSolar, Heatpunk) built in
- Clean GBP pricing with annual vs monthly split stated
- Personalised onboarding — 1-hour guided setup on Core, full workflow mapping on Growth
- UK-native company with clean-tech specialism
Cons
- Has exited the general trade market — wrong product for sparks or plumbers not doing clean-tech
- No free trial — demos only
- Starting price is roughly 8× Tradify's cheapest tier
- Per-user cost not publicly stated — flat tier pricing regardless of team size
Best for: Mid-size UK M&E, facilities and commercial heating firms with compliance, PPM and multi-engineer operations
Pros
- UK-native with deep compliance, SOR (Schedule of Rates) and contract capability
- Published headline price (more transparency than Commusoft)
- Mid-market UK M&E and commercial heating specialism
- iOS and Android mobile apps with UK-based support
Cons
- Partial pricing transparency — headline number published but unit is and two of three tiers unpriced
- Every add-on module priced "on request" (Projects, AI Connect, vehicle tracking, Zapier, SMS)
- Overkill and almost certainly overpriced for sole traders and small residential trades
- No free trial signposted on the pricing page
Best for: First-year sole traders who want a website plus CRM plus AI receipt scanner plus RAMS documents in one bundle and are comfortable exporting CSVs to an accountant
Pros
- Cheapest genuinely published price among paid tiers — £30/mo regular for a solo trader
- AI Voice Agent and AI Receipt Scanning baked into the base tier
- Built-in RAMS document generation — unusual at this price point
- 7-day free trial with no credit card required
Cons
- CSV export only for accounting — no native Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent or Sage integration
- Launch pricing ends after 12 months — real committed price is £30-£40/mo not £20-£28
- Volume caps at base tier (500 leads/mo, 1,000 quotes/mo)
- Company age and customer base unverified — Companies House check recommended before committing
Best for: 1 office admin or owner plus multiple field engineers where the split pricing saves money vs flat per-user
Pros
- Split office vs field pricing model reflects trade reality (1 admin + multiple engineers)
- No feature gating across tiers — every plan includes every feature
- Free data import included
- Live chat support with onboarding support
Cons
- 12-month term on every plan — no true month-to-month
- Expensive for solo traders (£54-£59/mo) vs Powered Now (£28), Tradify Lite (£34), ServiceM8 Starter (£25)
- Specific accounting integrations not named on pricing page
- German parent — UK office and support hours not anchored
Our pick
Best for a first-year solo tradie doing under 30 jobs a month
ServiceM8 Free — £0/mo, 1 user, 30 jobs/mo, full feature set including card payments and accounting sync. The only genuinely free tier in the category. Caveat: ServiceM8's field app has historically been iOS-only — verify Android availability before committing if your van crew uses Samsung.
Best for a UK gas engineer or electrician needing UK certificates baked in
Powered Now Professional at £32/user/mo ex VAT. 70+ UK compliance forms and certificates (EICR, Gas Safe, Minor Works), direct VAT submission to HMRC, mobile card reader included, dedicated phone support from this tier. UK-native, built around UK trade paperwork.
Best for a 3-5 person residential firm already on Xero or QuickBooks
Tradify Pro at £37/user/mo. Broadest accounting integrations of the nine (Xero, Sage, QuickBooks Online), freephone UK support, polished app. You're paying the per-user premium in exchange for ecosystem fit.
Best for a team-heavy firm where headcount matters more than job volume
ServiceM8 Starter or Growing at £25-£59/mo flat. Unlimited users at every paid tier. A 5-person team doing ~100 jobs/mo pays £59/mo total versus roughly £185/mo on Tradify Pro. Conditional on the Android app status.
Best for MCS-registered clean-tech installers
Payaca Core at £249/mo + VAT (annual). Built-in MCS compliance packs, DNO G98/G99 submission, EasyPV and Heatpunk imports. Wrong answer for anyone outside clean-tech; right answer for installers who'd otherwise pay someone to do MCS paperwork manually.
