CentriWebFor ServiceM8 vs Tradify, team size and job volume decide most of it. ServiceM8’s Australian plans are priced by the number of jobs a month, with unlimited users on every paid plan, while Tradify charges per user per month. simPRO sits at the larger end, with an office application, estimating, stock and maintenance planning built for trade businesses that run an office team as well as crews in the field.
Everything below comes from each vendor’s own pages as at November 2026, so check their pages for current prices. ServiceM8 shows Australian dollars including GST; Tradify’s Australian page shows Australian dollars excluding GST. simPRO’s website would not open for us, so we could not confirm its pricing: check simPRO’s pricing page directly.
ServiceM8, Tradify and simPRO at a glance
| ServiceM8 | Tradify | simPRO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Job management app for trade and service businesses | Job management for contractors and service businesses | Field service management platform with office and mobile apps |
| How it charges | By jobs per month; unlimited users on paid plans | Per user per month | Check their pricing page |
| Who maintains it | The owner or office manager | The owner or office manager | Usually an office or operations person |
| Who it suits | Sole traders to larger crews doing many short jobs | Small teams that want a set price per person | Larger trade businesses with estimating, stock and maintenance work |
How ServiceM8 charges
ServiceM8’s Australian pricing page lists prices in Australian dollars including GST:
- Free: $0, one user, 30 jobs a month
- Starter: $29 a month, 50 jobs
- Growing: $79 a month, 150 jobs
- Premium: $149 a month, 500 jobs
- Premium Plus: $349 a month, 1,500 jobs, with extra jobs at 20c each
The page says the Free plan is the only one that limits users. Paid plans include an SMS allowance, with extra texts at 10c each, and card payment fees fall as you move up the plans. If you go over your job limit, the page says work continues for another seven days. There is a 14-day free trial.
How Tradify charges
Tradify’s Australian pricing page lists per-user prices in Australian dollars, excluding GST:
- Lite: $48 per user a month
- Pro: $52 per user a month
- Plus: $62 per user a month
- Custom: price by request, for large teams
Lite covers job management, scheduling, quoting and invoicing, online payments and Xero and QuickBooks Online sync. Pro adds an enquiry form and inbox, quote options with online acceptance, quote and invoice reminders, timesheets and subcontractor scheduling. Plus adds service reminders, purchase orders, job service reports, reporting and AI tools for bills and descriptions. The trial runs for 14 days with all features.
ServiceM8 vs Tradify by team size: worked examples
These use the published prices above, as at November 2026. Tradify’s figures are shown with GST added so they compare with ServiceM8’s GST-inclusive prices.
- Sole trader, about 40 jobs a month. ServiceM8 Starter covers 50 jobs for $29. Tradify Pro for one user is $52 plus GST, about $57.20.
- Owner plus five, about 120 jobs a month. ServiceM8 Growing covers 150 jobs for $79, whatever the headcount. Tradify Pro for six users is $312 plus GST, about $343.20.
- Fifteen staff, about 400 jobs a month. ServiceM8 Premium covers 500 jobs for $149. Tradify Plus for fifteen users is $930 plus GST, about $1,023.
The pattern is clear: ServiceM8 gets cheaper per person as the team grows, and Tradify gets cheaper per job when jobs are long and few. A two-person crew doing three big jobs a week may find Tradify’s per-user price easier to predict. Check the extras on both: SMS, card fees and add-ons change the real monthly figure. To see what ServiceM8 can connect to, read our guide to ServiceM8 automation and integrations.
Where ServiceM8 is strong
- Unlimited users on paid plans, which suits growing crews and casual staff.
- Quoting tools on every plan: the pricing page lists quote options, online quote acceptance, quote follow-up and electronic signatures across all plans, with proposals and electronic forms from Growing up.
- Online bookings on all plans.
- Its integrations page lists sync with Xero, MYOB and QuickBooks Online, plus connections through Zapier and Workato, and an open API.
Where Tradify is strong
- A simple price per person, easy to budget when the team is stable.
- Its features page lists enquiry management, quoting, estimating, job costing, timesheets, subcontractor management and purchase orders, with apps for iOS and Android.
- Quote and invoice reminders from the Pro plan, which helps a small team that is on the tools all day.
Where simPRO is strong
simPRO’s help guide describes it as a field service management platform for trade and service businesses, with:
- Simpro Premium, a browser-based office application, and Simpro Mobile for technicians on iOS and Android
- quoting and estimating, including take-off templates and estimating from digital plans
- job costing that tracks estimated against actual costs, with profit and loss reporting
- stock management, transfers, stock takes and purchase orders
- customer asset records and recurring maintenance planning as an add-on
That is a bigger system than the other two, which suits an electrical, plumbing, fire or HVAC business with estimators, a warehouse or maintenance contracts. It also means more set-up and training, so plan for it.
Phones on site: iPhone and Android
All three run on a phone, but check the detail if your crew uses Android. ServiceM8’s pricing page says its Android app is almost identical to its iOS app, while listing a few features, such as meeting recording and sketching diagrams, as iOS only. Tradify’s features page offers apps for iOS and Android. simPRO’s help guide says Simpro Mobile runs on iOS and Android.
Before you commit, put the app on the oldest phone anyone in the crew carries and run a real job through it: open the job, take photos, fill the form, get a signature and send the invoice. If that is slow or fiddly on site, staff will stop using it.
What to check before you switch
- Your accounting software. Confirm the sync works with your Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks file, and what passes across: clients, invoices, payments.
- Your real job count. Pull last year’s invoices and count jobs per month, including the busy months. That decides your ServiceM8 plan.
- Who needs a login. Count apprentices, casuals and subcontractors. That decides your Tradify bill.
- Getting data in and out. Ask how customers, price lists and job history come across from your current system, and how you would export them later.
- Who will set it up. simPRO in particular needs time spent on price lists, templates and stock before it pays off.
Which suits your team?
- Sole trader or small crew, lots of short jobs: ServiceM8 is usually the cheaper fit.
- Two to ten people, fewer and longer jobs, steady headcount: Tradify’s per-user price is easy to plan around.
- Office team, estimating from plans, stock or maintenance contracts: simPRO is built for that level. Get a quote from simPRO directly.
Whichever you choose, job software runs the job once you have it. Winning the job is a separate task, and our guide to CRM vs job management software explains when you need both. If Jobber is on your list too, see Jobber vs ServiceM8.
Where a system built and looked after for you fits better
All three are off-the-shelf tools, and for many trades businesses one of them is enough. Gaps show up around the edges: enquiries arriving from the website, missed calls and social messages that never reach the job software, quotes that go quiet, and jobs that finish without a review request. Connecting those to the job software, and looking after the connections when apps change, is where a built system earns its keep. Our guide to following up a quote shows the follow-up worth automating.
It does not suit everyone. If you do mostly repeat work, if you enjoy setting up your own tools, or if the standard plan already catches every enquiry, stay with the plan. Our automation work is for businesses where that gap is costing jobs.
For builders and trades: if you would rather not run the follow-up yourself, PreBuild, a CentriWeb partner, brings in homeowner enquiries, builds the trust to be chosen and keeps in touch with every homeowner until they decide.