If you run a trade business in Australia, sooner or later you compare ServiceM8 and Tradify. Both are good. Neither is perfect. The right one for you comes down to about five questions, and most comparison pages skip the ones that actually decide it.
The short answer: ServiceM8 charges by the job, with as many users as you like, so it suits a crew sharing a modest job count. Its app is iPhone and iPad only. Tradify charges per person and never counts your jobs, so it suits one or two people pushing serious volume, and it runs on Android. Run your own numbers before you trust anyone's verdict, including ours.
| The decision row | ServiceM8 | Tradify |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | By job count, users free | By user, jobs free |
| Phones | iPhone and iPad only | iPhone and Android |
| Offline on site | ✓Yes, syncs later | Reviewers say it wants signal; test it |
| AU compliance certificates | Built in for licensed trades | Not its strength |
| Complex quotes and stages | Built for dispatch work | ✓Options, variations, project stages |
Prices and features as published by each vendor on 19 August 2026, worked out in the sections below.
Which one is cheaper?
It depends which you have more of relative to your job cap.
Add people and ServiceM8 stays the same price, so a crew sharing a modest job count usually wins there. Add jobs and Tradify stays the same price, so a small team pushing high volume usually wins there. Both publish their prices, so this is worked straight from their pricing pages on 19 August 2026, in Australian dollars.
- ServiceM8: Free $0 for 30 jobs a month (1 user), Starter $29 for 50 jobs, Growing $79 for 150, Premium $149 for 500. Users are unlimited on every paid plan.
- Tradify: Lite $48, Pro $52, Plus $62, per person per month, unlimited jobs. One wrinkle: Tradify's prices exclude GST and ServiceM8's page does not say either way, so add your 10% where it applies before comparing.
A solo sparkie on 45 jobs a month pays $29 on ServiceM8, $48 on Tradify. Under 50 jobs a month, ServiceM8's cheapest tier wins outright, before the people-versus-jobs pattern even applies. A 4-person crew on 140 jobs pays $79 flat on ServiceM8, $192 on Tradify. Flip it: a 2-person outfit knocking out 400 small jobs a month needs ServiceM8's $149 plan, while 2 Tradify seats cost $96. Extra hands are free on ServiceM8. Volume is free on Tradify. Hardly anyone does this 10 minutes of arithmetic before signing up, and it settles most cases on its own.
| Crew | ServiceM8 | Tradify |
|---|---|---|
| Solo sparkie, 45 jobs a month | ✓$29 | $48 |
| 4-person crew, 140 jobs a month | $79 | $192 |
| 2-person outfit, 400 jobs a month | $149 | $96 |
Monthly software cost only, from each vendor's own pricing page, 19 August 2026. Add GST where it applies.
Does ServiceM8 work on Android?
No. ServiceM8's app runs on iPhone and iPad, full stop. Tradify runs on both. If half your crew is on Android and staying there, that settles it: pick Tradify, because no feature list beats the phone already in their pocket.
Which one works offline?
ServiceM8. It keeps working with no signal and syncs when you are back in range, which earns its keep in basements, new estates and half the hinterland. Reviewers consistently say Tradify wants a connection for most things. Do not take their word or ours: both give you a 14-day free trial, so spend one of those days on your worst-signal site and see for yourself.
What about compliance certificates?
ServiceM8 has Australian compliance forms built in, electrical certificates of compliance and the like, done on site with the job. If you issue them every week, that is hours of double handling gone. If you never issue one, it is a feature you will never open.
Which one handles complicated quotes better?
Tradify. Quotes with options, variations and stages, the way carpenters, landscapers and renovators quote, are the shape of work it was built for. ServiceM8 is at its best when the work is get the call, do the job, invoice on the doorstep. If you tap cards on the doorstep too, the terminal fees are worked out in the Zeller vs Square fee comparison.
What do the extras cost?
Texts, mainly: 10c a message on ServiceM8 past your plan's bundle, 20c on Tradify. Both sit alongside your accounting software rather than replacing it. If you text reminders on every job, do that arithmetic too, because the subscription is never the whole bill.
Why owners actually switch
Not because the features fall short. What wears them down is that the app runs one job at a time, and nothing reads across the business. We set these apps up for clients and build on top of them, so we see the aftermath of a lot of these decisions. Your app knows job 4,182 got invoiced. It has no idea Tuesdays are quietly dying, or that one builder now owes you a third of your month. So we build the layer that does the reading: a morning report pulling your jobs, money and bookings into one short page. From where we sit, which app runs underneath matters less than the brochures say. Clinic owners hit the same wall with their booking software, which is why we ran the same five-question comparison for Cliniko and Halaxy.
Where to start
Pick the one that fits the phones your crew already carries, your job count and the way you quote. Then make it earn its keep. We build the systems on top of whichever app you run: same-day quote follow-up, missed-call capture, the morning report above, everything approved by you before it reaches a customer. You can see it working on our demonstration website for a tradie business.
If you want your job app doing more than logging jobs, answer a few short questions. The 60 minute consult is $295, credited toward a build.