Best Tradify Alternatives in Australia (2026): 8 Options Compared

The best of the Tradify alternatives Australia has in 2026 is InvoiceSonic for anyone whose real use of Tradify is the invoice at the end of the job. If you only need a compliant PDF now and then, the free tradie invoice template on this site builds one in the browser with no signup. If you genuinely roster staff, ServiceM8 is the closer swap because it charges per business instead of per user. We put all eight through one test: what does this cost a crew of one, three and five a year, and is it priced by the head or by the business?

Quick comparison

For reference, the tool you are replacing: at the time of writing Tradify is AUD $48 (Lite), $52 (Pro) or $62 (Plus) per user per month, ex GST. It is not in the table because it is the incumbent, not an alternative. "Confirm seats" means the vendor did not publish how its price moves as you add people.

How we tested: the per-user test. Three questions per tool. Is the price per user or per business? What does a crew of one, three and five cost a year on it? And if it is cheaper than Tradify, what did you give up — scheduling, job cards, timesheets, or all three?

Here is the arithmetic that sends people looking. Tradify Pro is AUD $52 per user per month ex GST at the time of writing. That is $624 a year for one person, $1,872 for three and $3,120 for five. Add the 10% GST and a crew of three is $2,059.20 out the door. That is normal per-seat pricing, not a rip-off, but the bill grows with every extra van, whether or not that person ever logs in.

Who fails the test. Only one alternative here is a job-management swap that is not priced by the head: ServiceM8, at AUD $29, $79, $149 or $349 per month including GST at the time of writing, for the whole business. Fergus publishes a monthly price but not how it scales with users. Everything else is cheap because it schedules nobody. If you never open Tradify's calendar, the per-user price buys you nothing; if you open it every morning, none of the cheap options replaces it.

1. InvoiceSonic — Best overall

InvoiceSonic is the right swap when the part of Tradify you use is the quote and the invoice. It builds a tax invoice in about a minute, sends it, tracks when it is opened and chases the unpaid ones — for one published Pro price, not a price per head on the van.

On the per-user test it is the cheapest paid option here for a sole trader: A$168 a year billed annually at the time of writing against $624 for one Tradify Pro seat, or A$456 a year back for giving up a scheduler you were not using. Accepted quotes convert to invoices in one click, deposits can be taken up front, and progress claims go out as separate invoices. Bank transfer and PayID carry no InvoiceSonic transaction fee, so a $4,800 bathroom fit-out lands as $4,800, and ABN, BSB and 10% GST handling are built in.

Pros

• A$168 a year billed annually at the time of writing, price-locked while the subscription is active.
• Online quote acceptance, one-click conversion to an invoice, and deposits taken before you start.

Cons

• No scheduling, job cards, timesheets or staff management, and no materials or cost tracking per job. If that is what your Tradify seats are for, this is not the swap.
• No native Android app — Android users add the web app to the home screen — and the free plan stops at 3 saved invoices, 1 tracked send and 1 reminder a month.

Price: at the time of writing, the free plan is A$0 and the first invoice needs no sign-up or credit card; Pro is A$19 a month, or A$168 a year billed annually — A$14 a month, saving A$60. The 7-day Pro trial requires a card. Best for: sole traders who quote and invoice but never roster anyone.

2. Invoice-Generator.com.au — Best free tool

Invoice-Generator.com.au is a free tax invoice generator that builds a finished PDF in your browser with no signup, no watermark, no ads and no invoice limit. It is the right tool for the week you cancel Tradify and have not decided what replaces it.

The tradie invoice template is pre-set with an ABN field, a 10% GST line and a live compliance checklist, and nothing you type leaves the browser. There is a separate free quote generator for the front end of the job. It is the only tool here that costs A$0 whether you are one tradie or five — and that is also why it fails everything else: no sending, no tracking, no reminders, no client list, no scheduling.

Pros

• Free forever, no signup, no watermark, no invoice limit, at any crew size.
• The compliance checklist catches a missing ABN or GST line before the builder's office does.

Cons

• It generates a PDF only — no sending, tracking or reminders, so overdue invoices are still your phone calls.
• No saved customer list and no payment collection, so a repeat client is re-entered every time.

Price: free, always. Best for: tradies leaving Tradify who send a handful of invoices a month and want the paperwork right.

3. ServiceM8 — Best like-for-like swap on price

ServiceM8 is Australian-built job management that runs a job from enquiry to payment, and the only tool here that does what Tradify does without charging by the head. Paid plans are per business, which is the argument for switching.

The free plan covers 30 jobs a month and includes scheduling — the only free scheduling in this list. Paid plans are AUD $29, $79, $149 or $349 per month including GST at the time of writing, for the business, not the head. The $29 tier is $348 a year, already less than one Tradify Pro seat at $624. A crew of three on the $79 tier is $948 against $1,872; five people on the $149 tier is $1,788 against $3,120. Three jobs a day burns the free 30 in ten working days.

Pros

• Paid plans are per business, not per user, so putting a third tradie on the tools does not add $624 a year.
• The free plan includes scheduling, which nothing else here offers for nothing.

Cons

• The field app is iPhone and iPad only, so it is not a like-for-like swap for a crew on Android handsets.
• The free plan's 30 jobs a month is short-lived for a busy crew.

Price: at the time of writing, free for 30 jobs a month, then AUD $29, $79, $149 or $349 per month including GST. Best for: crews already on iPhones who want Tradify's job management without the per-seat bill.

4. Fergus — Best for materials and longer jobs

Fergus is job management for plumbers, electricians and builders on longer jobs, and it tracks materials, supplier bills and labour against each job. That is the gap people notice on any invoicing-first tool: the invoice is tidy but nobody knows what the job cost.

On the per-user test it is unresolved rather than a pass or a fail. Fergus publishes from AUD $53 a month for Essentials and $77 for Professional at the time of writing, but did not state how that moves as you add users, so ask before migrating a crew. At the entry price that is $636 and $924 a year — between one and two Tradify Pro seats.

Pros

• Materials, supplier bills and labour tracked per job, so you find out which jobs made money.
• Built for multi-visit work rather than one-hour call-outs.

Cons

• No free plan, so there is no way to run a month on it for nothing.
• Desktop-office-centric and more system than one person on the tools needs.

Price: at the time of writing, from AUD $53 (Essentials) or $77 (Professional) per month. Best for: plumbing, electrical and building firms with an office running longer jobs on materials.

5. Square Invoices — Best for getting paid on the spot

Square Invoices gives you unlimited free invoices, estimates and automatic reminders, and the customer pays by tapping a card link. For a tradie in a driveway waiting on a $480 call-out, that beats a feature list.

It passes the per-user test on paper — free at any crew size — but the cost has moved, not gone. Online card payments are 2.2% at the time of writing, which is $110 on a $5,000 job. A three-tradie business turning over $300,000 a year with everything on card pays $6,600 in fees, more than double five Tradify Pro seats.

Pros

• Unlimited free invoices with estimates and automatic reminders.
• Clients pay by card straight from the invoice, so money often lands the same day.

Cons

• 2.2% on online card payments is $110 on a $5,000 job and $6,600 on $300,000 of billings.
• No scheduling, and milestone schedules and estimate auto-convert are Plus only.

Price: at the time of writing, free, or Plus at AUD $30 per month; 2.2% on online card payments. Best for: tradies whose customers want to tap a card and who price the fee into the job.

6. Zoho Invoice — Best free app that actually sends

Zoho Invoice is free — Zoho states no cost and no contracts — and unlike a PDF generator it sends the invoice, saves the client and keeps the history — the strongest A$0 option here for sending and a paper trail.

It passes the per-user test the cheap way: nothing costs nothing, at any crew size. What you give up is the whole job side — no scheduling, job cards, timesheets or materials against a job. The other trade-off is the surroundings: it is the front door to a large suite, and real support is a paid-suite affair. Sending an invoice from a ute with one hand is a lot of screen.

Pros

• Genuinely free with no contract, and it sends and stores invoices rather than only building a PDF.
• Australian GST and ABN handled properly, plus invoicing in 19-plus languages.

Cons

• The interface is dense, and it is the entry point to a large upsell suite.
• Support is aimed at paid-suite customers, and there is no job management at all.

Price: free at the time of writing. Best for: tradies who want sending, tracking and a saved client list for A$0 and can live with a busy interface.

7. Bookipi — Best simple invoicing off the phone

Bookipi is a simple invoice app that syncs between web and mobile, and it lists overdue reminders and recurring invoices even on the free plan.

The catch is volume and currency. Free stops at 3 invoices a month, which is a fortnight for most people on the tools. Starter is US$9.99 a month at the time of writing, about US$119.88 a year, and Professional is US$52 a month — the same digits as one Tradify Pro seat, in a different currency, which is the problem with USD pricing: your statement moves with the exchange rate.

Pros

• Overdue reminders and recurring invoices even on the free plan.
• Web and mobile stay in sync, so an invoice started on site finishes at the table.

Cons

• 3 free invoices a month is far too few for a working tradie.
• Priced in US dollars, so the AUD cost moves with the exchange rate.

Price: at the time of writing, free for 3 invoices a month; Starter US$9.99 per month; Professional US$52 per month. Best for: part-time and maintenance tradies who want billing off the phone and nothing else.

8. Xero — Best when your bookkeeper already uses it

Xero is accounting software rather than job management. It belongs on this list because Tradify pushes to Xero and MYOB, so a lot of people cancelling Tradify already pay for Xero and can invoice from it the same afternoon.

It fails the per-user test in the sense that matters: it schedules nobody, so it replaces the invoicing half of Tradify and none of the field half. There is no free plan, and for a sole trader it is more software than the job needs. With staff and a quarterly BAS, buying invoicing separately starts to look like paying twice.

Pros

• Invoicing, bank feeds, GST and BAS in one system your accountant already knows.

Cons

• No free plan, and no scheduling, job cards or timesheets — only half a Tradify replacement.
• More accounting software than a one-van operation needs.

Price: paid plans available — check current pricing. Best for: trade businesses whose books are already run in Xero by a bookkeeper.

What to look for in a Tradify alternative

The switch is rarely about features. It is about paying per head for a scheduler one head uses. Check these six before you migrate.

• Whether the price is per user or per business. This one line decides your five-year cost — $52 per user per month is $624 per person per year, while $79 per business per month is $948 for everybody.
• Whether you open the scheduler. Look at last month. If jobs went in the calendar and got dragged around, keep paying for job management. If you booked by text, you are funding a feature you never use.
• What runs on Android. ServiceM8's field app is iPhone and iPad only, and InvoiceSonic has no native Android app either — Android users add the web app to the home screen. Check before buying licences for a crew on Samsungs.
• How a quote becomes an invoice. One-click conversion of an accepted quote removes the most common retyping job of the week; our roundup of invoicing software for tradies compares that.
• Deposits and progress claims. Over a few thousand dollars you want a deposit up front and staged claims after it — see invoice payment terms in Australia for what goes on the document.
• A proper Australian tax invoice. Where you are registered for GST it must carry the words "Tax invoice", your identity and ABN, the date, a description of the work, the GST amount, and the buyer's ABN for sales of $1,000 or more. The full list of tax invoice requirements is on this site and at the ATO.

Which one should you choose?

Price the year, not the month. At the time of writing a solo tradie pays $624 on Tradify Pro, A$168 on InvoiceSonic Pro billed annually, $348 on ServiceM8's entry tier, $636 on Fergus Essentials, or A$0 on the free generator, Zoho Invoice or Square before card fees. For a crew of three it is $1,872 against $948 on ServiceM8's $79 tier. The question is which one stops you paying for something you never open.

• If you are a sole trader who never opens the scheduler → InvoiceSonic on Pro, and put the A$456 back in the van.
• If you send a few invoices a month and want to pay nothing → the free tradie invoice template.
• If you roster a crew and everyone is on an iPhone → ServiceM8, starting on the free 30-job plan.
• If your jobs run for weeks and materials are the problem → Fergus, with the per-user question settled on the trial.
• If customers want to tap a card at the door → Square Invoices, with the 2.2% in your rates.

When not to use InvoiceSonic or a free generator. If you actually schedule staff, Tradify is worth its money and you should stay on it. Allocating jobs to people, job cards with site photos, timesheets and a push to Xero or MYOB is real work, and $52 per user per month ex GST at the time of writing is a fair price for a business that uses it. InvoiceSonic does none of that, and a free PDF generator does less again. If you want that job management without the per-seat bill, ServiceM8 prices per business and puts scheduling on its free plan — though its field app is iPhone and iPad only, so an Android crew has no like-for-like swap here. Our electrician invoicing comparison splits it the same way.

Frequently asked questions