We're biased, not hiding it. We make Yamate, and it's one of the names above. This page sorts apps by the job they do, and the deeper comparisons link to each vendor's own pricing page.
How we picked
This page ranks jobs, not brands. We listed what a solo Australian tradie has to get done — quote, invoice, get paid, keep books, pay people, meet a site's paperwork — and put them in the order they start costing money. Product names appear only where an established Australian option exists, and those products are compared on the job management page, with every price read at the vendor's own page on 17 August 2026.
What you actually need, in order
| The job | Do you need it? | What good looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Quoting and invoicing | Do you need it?Yes — first | What good looks likePriced on site in minutes, GST handled, a way to pay on the invoice |
| Job management | Do you need it?Yes, once you juggle more than a few jobs | What good looks likeEvery job in one list with its photos, notes and history |
| Accounting / BAS | Do you need it?Yes, at tax time | What good looks likeWhatever your accountant will actually accept |
| Getting paid | Do you need it?Built in, not separate | What good looks likePayment on the invoice; automatic reminders you approve |
| Payroll | Do you need it?Only once you employ someone | What good looks likePayslips, super timing, records kept |
| Safety / compliance paperwork | Do you need it?Only if a site asks for it | What good looks likeDrafts you review and sign, never "done for you" |
| Measuring, takeoff, plans | Do you need it?Trade-specific | What good looks likeUsually a tool your trade already knows about |
| Time tracking, GPS, fleet | Do you need it?Rarely, for a solo | What good looks likeSkip until a crew makes it a real problem |
1 · Quoting and invoicing — start here
What it has to do
Turn a job into a priced quote while you are still standing in front of it, then turn the accepted quote into an invoice without retyping. Most tools clear that bar — what separates them is how many taps it takes on site, and whether the invoice carries a way to pay.
- Quote on site, not from memory at 9pm.
- GST handled correctly, and the right document type. See what a tax invoice must contain.
- A payment method on the invoice — every extra step the customer takes is another week.
- Follow-up, because most quotes are not lost, they are forgotten.
The call: ServiceM8, Tradify or Yamate if you want it inside a job app; a free template and the invoice generator if you are not paying for anything yet.
Go deeper: best quoting apps · best invoicing apps
Free, right now, no sign-up: a quote template and builder for your trade, and a tax invoice generator.
2 · Job management — once the jobs pile up
What it has to do
Hold every job in one place with its photos, notes, quote, invoice and history, so nothing lives in your head or a text thread. For a crew, add scheduling — who is where, tomorrow.
This is the crowded category. The established Australian options are ServiceM8, Tradify, Fergus, and for bigger contracting businesses simPRO and AroFlo. They do not charge on the same axis, which matters more than any feature list — some charge per person, one charges by how many jobs you do a month, and two do not publish a price at all.
The call: pick on the charging axis, not the feature list. Per-seat pricing punishes a growing crew; per-job pricing punishes a busy month.
Go deeper, with every price read at the vendor's own page and dated: best job management software in Australia.
3 · Accounting and BAS — the one you do not skip
What it has to do
Keep the books your accountant will accept and get your BAS lodged. This is a different job from running your work, and it is the most common category confusion in the trades — a job management app is not accounting software.
The call: ask your accountant what they want before you pick. Being handed books in a format they already work in is worth more than any feature you will compare online.
Free help here: your first BAS · cash vs accrual GST · GST calculator · tax set-aside calculator
4 · Payroll — only once someone works for you
What it has to do
Pay people correctly, produce a payslip within one working day, get super to the fund inside the window, and keep the records. Since 1 July 2026 super timing is much tighter than it used to be, which is the part that catches new employers out.
The call: buy nothing until you have someone to pay. When you do, the super deadline is the part to get right, not the payslip.
Before you hire: the ordered checklist · what a first employee really costs · payday super due date calculator
5 · Safety and compliance paperwork
What it has to do
Produce the safety documentation a site requires — most often a SWMS for high-risk construction work — and keep your licences, tickets and insurance dates somewhere you will see them before they lapse.
The call: buy a document drafter and a date reminder, nothing more.
6 · The trade-specific ones
What it has to do
Measuring and takeoff, cable calculators, fall height apps, paint coverage, plan markup — worth having, and nobody can recommend them generically, because a sparky's list and a landscaper's list have nothing in common.
The call: ask two people in your trade what they actually open, and buy that.
What you can skip, at least for now
- Separate time tracking, as a solo. It becomes real with a crew.
- GPS and fleet tracking, until you have vehicles you are not driving.
- CRM. Your job list is your customer list at this size.
- A separate quoting tool and a separate invoicing tool. If they do not talk, you retype every job twice, which is how the second one stops getting used.
- Anything you would only open once a quarter. An unused app is worse than none, because you still half-trust it.
How to choose without losing a weekend
- Work out your charge-out rate first. No app fixes underpricing — the calculator takes five minutes.
- Shortlist two, never six. Comparison is where weekends go.
- Trial with a real job, not the demo data. Every product looks fine in a webinar.
- Count the taps on the on-site path. That number is what you will live with.
- Check what it costs at your size, not at the headline — per-person and per-job pricing diverge fast.
- Ask your accountant before you commit to the books half.
The verdict, restated
Two apps, in this order. Get quoting and invoicing right first — it is the only category that decides whether money arrives, and ServiceM8, Tradify and Yamate are the established Australian options, with free templates until you are ready to pay for one. Add the books second, in whatever your accountant already works in. Add payroll the day you put on a hand, and safety paperwork the day a site asks for it. Everything else waits until it is a problem you can name in one sentence.
See what one app doing the lot looks like — try the demo, no sign-up →Yamate covers the first category and part of the second: quoting on site, invoicing with a payment method attached, chasing late payers, and your GST, tax and profit per job shown as estimates as you earn rather than at year end. It does not do inventory or multi-crew project management — if that is your business, the job management page above is the honest place to start. Sign up before 30 September 2026 and lock in the Founder plan at $19/mo — forever. It's $29/mo after that, three people included. No lock-in, cancel anytime. Prices in AUD.
FAQ
How many apps does a tradie actually need?
Most solo tradies run well on two — one for the work, one for the books. A third arrives when you take on people, and a fourth only when a specific job forces it, such as safety paperwork for a commercial site.
What's the difference between a job management app and accounting software?
Job management runs the work: quotes, jobs, invoices, photos, scheduling, chasing. Accounting runs the books: BAS, profit and loss, year end. Most trade businesses use one of each and connect them, rather than expecting either to be good at both.
Do tradie apps work without internet?
It varies, and the detail matters more than the claim — check each vendor's current documentation. Whatever the app does locally, anything that leaves your phone (a text, a card payment, a lookup, a sync) needs a connection.
Are the free ones any good?
At low volume, a free tier can genuinely be enough to start on. The limits are usually jobs per month or number of users rather than features, so the real questions are whether your volume fits and what moving costs once it does not.
Should I use my accountant's software or my own?
Usually both, connected: theirs for the books, yours for the work. Trying to run jobs out of accounting software is where most of the frustration in this category comes from.
Go deeper
General information for Australian tradies, not financial, legal or purchasing advice. Yamate makes one of the products described here and says so wherever it appears. Other products are named without any affiliation; their features and prices change, so check each vendor's own page before deciding. This page describes what was true in August 2026.