Tradify vs ServiceM8: Best for UK Tradespeople in 2026?
Tradify wins our Tradify vs ServiceM8 UK head-to-head for most tradespeople, with Android support, built-in gas and electrical certificates, and UK phone support tipping the balance. ServiceM8 is the better buy for all-Apple teams, and it usually costs less. All prices below are verified from both UK pricing pages as of July 2026.
| Tradify Top pick | ServiceM8 | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | £34 to £44 per user/month | £0 to £269 per month, per business |
| Pricing model | Per user, unlimited jobs | Unlimited users, capped monthly jobs |
| Android app | ✓ Yes | ✗ iOS only |
| Free plan | ✗ 14-day trial only | ✓ 1 user, 30 jobs/month |
| Gas & electrical certificates | ✓ Pro and Plus | ✓ Growing and above |
| Accounting sync | Xero, QuickBooks, Sage | Xero, QuickBooks, MYOB |
| Phone support | ✓ UK freephone | ✗ Email and chat only |
| Best for | Most UK trade businesses, especially mixed-device teams | All-Apple teams that want unlimited users |
Table of Contents
Tradify vs ServiceM8: pricing
The two tools price in completely different ways, and this decides the comparison for a lot of businesses. Tradify charges per user: Lite is £34, Pro is £37 and Plus is £44 per user per month, with a custom plan for larger teams. ServiceM8 charges per business with a cap on monthly jobs: Free is £0 for one user and 30 jobs, Starter is £25 for 50 jobs, Growing is £59 for 150 jobs, Premium is £119 for 500 jobs and Premium Plus is £269 for 1,500 or more.
Every paid ServiceM8 plan includes unlimited users, so it usually works out cheaper for teams. A three-person firm doing 100 jobs a month pays £59 on ServiceM8 Growing, against £111 for three Tradify Pro seats. A busy sole trader flips the maths the other way: 200 jobs a month means ServiceM8 Premium at £119, while Tradify stays at £37 for one Pro user.
Watch the extras on both sides. Tradify charges £10 a month for its Instant Website add-on and £0.10 per text message, while ServiceM8 bundles SMS allowances into paid plans and offers ServiceM8 Phone from £15 a month. Both offer a 14-day free trial, and ServiceM8’s Free plan is a real long-term option for a sole trader doing under 30 jobs a month.
Quoting
Tradify is the stronger quoting tool for planned work. All plans include instant quotes with pricing and markups, Pro adds quote options with online acceptance, templates and automatic reminders that chase approval for you, and Plus adds kit bundles for parts and labour plus SmartWrite, its AI description writer. For gas and electrical engineers, Pro and Plus also produce compliance certificates, so a CP12 comes from the same app as the quote.
ServiceM8 is quicker on the doorstep. You can build a quote on site, have the client sign it on your iPhone or iPad, and send quotes by SMS from any plan. Its AI Smart Helpers are included even on the Free plan, though proposals and bundles only arrive on Growing at £59 a month.
If quoting is the main thing slowing you down, our guide to the best quoting software for UK tradespeople compares dedicated options beyond these two.
Scheduling
This one is close to a draw, and the deciding factor is what phones your team carries. ServiceM8 lets you schedule jobs from the office or the van, with staff notified instantly by push notification, and recurring jobs are included on every plan. It is a polished dispatch experience, but only if everyone in the field has an iPhone or iPad, because there is no Android app.
Tradify’s scheduler syncs with Google Calendar on all plans, and Pro adds automatic appointment reminders for customers plus subcontractor scheduling, so you can assign work to subbies and see them alongside your own staff. Plus adds service reminders for boiler services and other repeat maintenance. If you use subcontractors or run a mixed fleet of iPhones and Androids, Tradify is the only practical choice here.
Invoicing and payments
ServiceM8 has the edge for getting paid on the spot. Tap to Pay on iPhone takes card payments with no extra hardware, online invoices accept Apple Pay, and partial and progress invoices plus supplier invoice importing are included from the £25 Starter plan. It syncs with Xero, QuickBooks Online and MYOB.
Tradify counters with progress invoicing, deposits and retentions on Pro, invoice reminders that chase payment automatically, and bulk invoicing on Plus. Card payments run through Stripe, and it syncs with Xero, QuickBooks Online and Sage, including CIS compatible invoices sent straight through to Sage. That Sage sync matters: plenty of UK trade businesses run Sage, and ServiceM8 does not connect to it.
Support
Tradify wins support comfortably. It offers free training, live demos, a help centre and UK freephone numbers, so you can ring a person when your invoicing breaks on a Friday afternoon. Its 4.8 out of 5 Trustpilot score from more than 9,000 reviews regularly singles out the support team.
ServiceM8 offers 24/7 email and chat support on all paid plans, with self-serve help only on the Free plan. There is no phone support at all. The chat is responsive and the help documentation is thorough, but if you want to talk to a human, that settles it.
Which should you pick?
Pick Tradify if anyone in your team uses Android, if you need gas or electrical certificates in the same app as your quotes, if you run Sage, or if you want phone support. Pro at £37 per user per month is the plan most UK trade businesses should start with, because that is where certificates, progress invoicing and subcontractor scheduling live.
Pick ServiceM8 if everyone in the field carries an iPhone and you want the lowest bill for a team. Unlimited users on Starter at £25 a month is hard to argue with, and the Free plan suits a new sole trader doing fewer than 30 jobs a month. Just be realistic about your monthly job numbers before committing, because the caps push busy firms up tiers quickly.
Still weighing up other options? See how both stack up against the wider field in our roundup of the best job management software UK tradespeople can buy.
A job management app runs the work you have already won, but it will not win you the next job. If your website is not bringing in enquiries, that is the other half of the equation. Trader Launch builds websites for UK tradespeople from £995. Get a free quote.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tradify or ServiceM8 cheaper?
ServiceM8 is usually cheaper for teams because every paid plan includes unlimited users: a three-person firm doing 100 jobs a month pays £59 on Growing versus £111 for three Tradify Pro seats. Tradify is often cheaper for busy sole traders, because ServiceM8’s job caps push high-volume businesses into the £119 and £269 tiers while Tradify stays at one per-user fee.
Can I switch from ServiceM8 to Tradify, or the other way round?
Yes. Both tools let you export clients and job data, and both offer a 14-day free trial so you can test the move before cancelling anything. If you sync with Xero or QuickBooks Online, your invoice history stays safe in your accounts package either way, but expect to rebuild templates, recurring jobs and price lists by hand.
Does ServiceM8 work on Android phones?
No. ServiceM8’s field app runs on iPhone and iPad only, and the company has been clear it is staying Apple-only. Office staff can use the web dashboard on any device, but anyone out on the tools needs an iOS device. If your team carries Android phones, Tradify is the practical choice, since its app runs on both platforms.
Both tools will pay for themselves within a month if they get you off paper and spreadsheets. Run a week of real jobs through each trial and the right one will make itself obvious.
