Jobber alternatives for a one-person trade
We make one of the alternatives, so read this knowing that. What follows is still the honest version: why people leave Jobber, who shouldn't, and what the real options are with prices attached. If you finish it and stay put, the page did its job.
Why people look for a Jobber alternative
People look for a Jobber alternative when the bill stops matching the business. Jobber is a team platform first, so its entry plan is priced for a single user on a product designed to add more, and the features that justify the price — dispatch, crew scheduling, staff management — are the ones a one-van business never opens. The second trigger is the trial: 14 days is enough to try it, not enough to see a full month of your own invoicing cycle.
Who should stay on Jobber
Anyone with people on the tools. If you dispatch crews, hand jobs between staff, or someone in an office is running the schedule, Jobber is built for exactly that and switching to a one-person tool would be a downgrade. Its price is fair once the seats are full.
Jobber is built for growing teams with dispatch, a scheduling desk and staff to manage. Switching software costs you a weekend and a month of small annoyances, so it needs to buy you more than that.
The options, with prices
Four honest shapes of answer. Prices as published by each company, read on the dates shown.
SoloDesks
£12/month, flat
If you're leaving over the price for one person. Priced per business rather than per seat or per job, with a free plan that has no card and no expiry. Quotes, invoices, payment chasing and a job calendar — and nothing else, which is the trade-off. No team seats, no dispatch, no timesheets.
Tradify
From $47/mo (per user)
Tradify is priced per user and aimed at trades businesses with a few people on the tools. Worth a look if what pushed you off Jobber was the product rather than the pricing model — though check that its model suits you better before you move, because a like-for-like swap solves nothing.
ServiceM8
From $0 (up to 30 jobs/mo)
ServiceM8 prices by monthly job volume, stepping up through tiers as you do more work. Worth a look if what pushed you off Jobber was the product rather than the pricing model — though check that its model suits you better before you move, because a like-for-like swap solves nothing.
Accounting software you already pay for
If invoicing is the only part you actually use. If you're already paying for bookkeeping software for Making Tax Digital, it almost certainly raises invoices too. One subscription instead of two. You lose the job-side of things — the calendar, the quote-to-invoice flow, the chasing — so it depends whether you were using those.
Stay where you are
If it works and the price doesn't hurt. Migrating costs you an evening of exporting, a week of muscle-memory, and the small risk of losing a client record you only notice needing in eight months. That's a real cost. If Jobberis doing the job and the bill isn't the thing that brought you here, the honest advice is to close the tab.
Before you switch anything
- Export first, cancel second. Clients, invoice history, anything with a number on it. Do it while you still have an account.
- Keep six years of records. That's how long HMRC can ask you to produce them, and “it was in the old app” isn't an answer.
- Don't move mid-job. Finish and invoice what's open, then switch on the quiet week. Half a job in each system is how a quote goes missing.
- Carry your invoice numbering across. Start the new system at the next number in your sequence, not back at 1. Gaps and restarts are the first thing an HMRC enquiry picks at.
Questions people ask
- What is the best Jobber alternative for a sole trader?
- It depends why you're leaving. If it's the price for one person, a flat-priced one-person tool like SoloDesks (£12/month, free plan below it) is the direct answer. If it's a missing feature, another team product is more likely to have it — and if you have staff, Jobber is probably still the right call.
- Is there a free Jobber alternative?
- SoloDesks has a free plan with no card and no expiry: 10 quotes, 10 invoices and 10 emailed PDFs a month, with unlimited clients and jobs. ServiceM8's free tier is more generous on job count at 30 jobs a month. Between those two, pick on which limit you'd hit first.
- Should I switch away from Jobber?
- Anyone with people on the tools. If you dispatch crews, hand jobs between staff, or someone in an office is running the schedule, Jobber is built for exactly that and switching to a one-person tool would be a downgrade. Its price is fair once the seats are full.
- Will I lose my data if I move off Jobber?
- Export before you cancel, not after — clients, past invoices and anything you might need for HMRC. Most job software can export clients and invoices to CSV or PDF. Whatever you move to, keep a copy of your old records for at least six years: that's how long HMRC expects you to be able to produce them.
If the price for one person is the problem
That's the one we were built to solve. Start on the free plan, no card, and see whether a month of your own work fits.
Pricing shown for Jobber and other named products is as of July 2026, taken from each company's own published pricing page, linked above. Plans and prices change — verify before you buy. All product names are trademarks of their owners; SoloDesks isn't affiliated with or endorsed by any of them, this comparison is our own, and we make one of the products listed.