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.
We used all five, properly
September 2026. Same made up business, the same week of jobs run through ServiceM8, Tradify, Fergus, Xero and Yamate, over 16 hours in each, a screenshot kept for every claim. The tester works for Yamate, so the limits are published with the scores, and where a rival beat us it says so.
| App | Usability score (out of 100, 68 is average) | The short version |
|---|---|---|
| Yamate (ours) | 77.5 | Easiest of the five on a phone, and the home screen tells you the one thing to do next. Nothing else did that. |
| Tradify | 52.5 | Simplest competitor to learn. Could not give a customer money back against an invoice, texts to customers are one way, and a trial nag sat on every screen. |
| Fergus | 50.0 | The deepest tradie features of the four competitors, supplier bills match themselves to the job. The price is learning it, sign up starts a 5 step course of about 30 minutes. |
| ServiceM8 | 47.5 | Solid at getting jobs to a crew. A lot of what it does is sold separately as add ons, and the home screen opened on a trial banner, a promo and an ad for a phone call. |
| Xero | 37.5 | Hardest to use on site, about 45 seconds to the first screen opened fresh. Still the one of these five that lodges payroll with the ATO, pays super and handles BAS. |
What we counted, same job in every app. Yamate was 2 taps or less from home to all 8 everyday screens, a new quote was 2 taps against ServiceM8's 3. A new customer was 2 taps in Fergus and Xero, 3 in Yamate, and Yamate's form was 7 fields filled in under 7 seconds. Trying before buying, Yamate's demo is 1 link with no sign up, the other four all want a sign up first. And the best single document of the five was Xero's quote on the customer's phone. Fair is fair.
What the walk caught in ours
Two real ones. Undoing a disputed invoice quietly switched the reminder texts off, and a supplier order changed a job's profit on a screen that never showed it. Both fixed in the builds of 29 and 30 September 2026. That is what the benchmark was for.
Every snag we hit in the other four, app by app
All measured 22 to 24 September 2026, on our own trial accounts, screenshots on file. Any of it can change the day a vendor ships a fix, which is why the date matters.
ServiceM8
- In a phone browser it barely works, pages wrap and scroll sideways, the settings form was unreachable, and one screen says settings cannot be changed from mobile devices.
- On the day of a job the web version has no start job or on my way actions at all.
- Deposits on quotes are a paid add on. So is seeing what a job cost you, recurring jobs, safety forms and spreadsheet export.
- Some add ons marked Free would not switch on during the trial, so you cannot try the thing being sold.
- Quote emails open with Dear comma when no first name is set, and the stock wording calls your priced quote an estimate pending site inspection.
- Our internal note became the subject line of the customer's email. Nothing warned us.
- The customer's accepted quote stayed at the old figure while the job total moved, and nothing asked her to approve the difference.
- A booking never tells the customer it exists.
- Invoice numbers are the job number, so you cannot carry on your old invoice book.
- No way to mark an invoice disputed or write off a bad debt, those states do not exist in it.
- The item picker silently swapped what we typed for the nearest sample item.
- A text can go at 10.35pm, there is no quiet hours rule.
- Its green on white buttons fail the readability standard across the site and app.
Tradify
- Cannot give a customer money back against an invoice. Their own help says credit notes only happen through Xero, the workaround is a line with a minus price.
- Texts to customers are one way and marked do not respond.
- A saved quote lost three of its four lines on our account. Once, and we wrote it down when it happened.
- Sending email was blocked until two step security was set up, on day one.
- Text reminders sit behind Upgrade to Unlock during the trial, and an upgrade nag sits on every screen from day one.
- A booking is never sent to the customer.
- A customer record opens with nine tabs before the record even exists.
- Required field stars on fields that are not actually required, and one starred field saved while empty.
- Settings run strictly A to Z across twenty pages, so related settings sit apart.
- Free text typed into two drop downs was accepted and saved.
- The website claims Australia's number 1 and promises profit with no source given for either.
- Plenty of grey on white text fails the readability standard, 29 pairs on one screen.
- The job page advertises notes and photos it will not give you on that plan.
Fergus
- Booking is drag only on a calendar, near impossible one handed on a phone, the pixel you let go on sets the time and every booking is an hour.
- The customer list's search did not filter at all on our account, and global search could not find an existing customer.
- New version on a quote gave no feedback, we made four versions by accident, and the customer's old link kept showing the old version with no notice.
- Un-accepting a quote voided the job with no confirmation, then let the work run to completion on the voided record.
- The default deposit is 50% with no legal check. The NSW cap is 10%.
- Three paragraphs of Fergus marketing boilerplate print on every quote, in your name.
- The customer's quote page scrolls sideways on a phone, and our quote carried a date a day early.
- A zero dollar deposit invoice marked approved and paid appeared in the ledger on its own.
- It showed raw server crash pages to the browser, twice, with the server's own file paths in them.
- Its practice entries sit in amongst your real records.
- No safety method statements and no high risk work prompts, safety is one mark as hazard free tick.
- Its booking form collects the customer's mobile with no text consent asked.
- Its pricing pages never say whether GST is in the price, and two of its own pages disagree on the card fee.
- A supplier bill you enter by hand cannot carry a line until you have built a price book.
- A dead link on the landing page, white on orange buttons that fail the readability standard, and a 9MB page.
Xero
- About 45 seconds to the first screen opened fresh, then the better part of a minute more per section, and some screens drew blank until a reload.
- A UK payroll screen appeared inside our Australian account.
- It said Changes saved while quietly throwing away the street line we typed. Twice.
- A draft invoice can be approved with no due date, and nothing warns you.
- Invoice numbers restart at one, no prompt to carry on your old book.
- The customer's quote carried no ABN and no expiry date by default.
- Quotes and invoices cannot go by text at all. Email only.
- A new customer does not show under Customers until they have been invoiced, and the no results message does not tell you that.
- Every line on a quote forces an account pick and a tax rate pick. Accountant decisions, on a tradie's quote, on site.
- A bill cannot be pinned to a job without buying the Projects extra.
- The address lookup steered our typed street into a different suburb in another state, and the wrong address flowed through to the export with nothing questioning it.
- The export it produced was a file Xero itself would refuse to import back.
- Powered by Xero sits on your customer's document.
- The money screen opened on 0.00 and 0.00 with the real money tucked under one draft, below a setup panel and an app marketplace.
- The sign up page runs a countdown timer takeover, and the real price is the small figure under the promo figure.
- The invoice list did not fit a small phone screen.
How we tested
One tester, who works for Yamate, which is a conflict a proper study would not have, so discount us as hard as you like. Every app got the same business, the same scripted week and the same two screen sizes, and over 16 hours each, which flatters all five equally. Usability scored on the standard scale. Prices are not from this walk, they are read at each vendor's own pricing page and dated wherever this site quotes one.
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 simPRO's pricing page was not reachable to us, so we have no price for it.
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 November 2026 and lock in the Founder plan at $19/mo — forever. It's $29/mo after that, and both include up to 3 people. Got a crew? The Company plan is $59/mo for eight people, then $15/mo each. No lock-in, cancel anytime. Prices in AUD.
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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.