Is ServiceM8 or Tradify cheaper?

It depends on the shape of your business rather than on the products. For one person doing under 30 jobs a month, ServiceM8 is free and Tradify is £34, so ServiceM8 wins outright. For a team, ServiceM8 usually wins again, because its paid plans include unlimited users while Tradify charges from £34 for every extra seat. Tradify becomes the cheaper option when one or two people are running high job volume, because it has no job counter at all and ServiceM8 would have stepped you up to £59 or £119 by then.

What is the main difference between Tradify and ServiceM8?

The pricing model, and it changes everything downstream. ServiceM8 prices by monthly job volume with unlimited users on paid plans. Tradify prices per user with unlimited jobs. That means ServiceM8 gets more expensive as you get busier, and Tradify gets more expensive as you hire.

Does Tradify have a free plan like ServiceM8?

No. Tradify offers a 14-day trial that converts to a paid per-user plan, with no free tier underneath it. ServiceM8 has a genuinely free plan for one user and up to 30 jobs a month that does not expire.

Which is better for a sole trader?

Of these two, ServiceM8, mostly because you can run a small book on it for nothing and Tradify starts at £34 a month. But both are built around dispatch and job cards for field-service teams, so a one-person business quoting and invoicing pays for scheduling machinery it rarely opens. That is worth knowing before you pick either.

ServiceM8 vs Tradify

These two get shortlisted together constantly, and they are priced on opposite principles. ServiceM8 charges by how many jobs you run each month, starting free for up to 30 jobs and stepping up to £25 for 50, £59 for 150 and £119 for 500. Tradify charges per user, from £34 a month for one seat, with no free tier and no job counter. So the cheaper one is not a fixed answer: it depends on whether the thing that grows in your business is the work or the headcount.

The short answer

ServiceM8's bill goes up when you get busier. Tradify's goes up when you hire. Work out which of those two things is about to happen to you, and the choice makes itself.

ServiceM8 vs Tradify, side by side

Feature	ServiceM8	Tradify
What you are charged for	Jobs per month	Users per month
Entry paid price (UK)	£25/mo (Starter), 50 jobs	£34/mo per user (Lite)
Free plan	Yes, up to 30 jobs a month, 1 user	No, 14-day trial then paid
Cost of a second person	£0, paid plans carry unlimited users	Another full seat, from £34/mo
Cost of a busy month	Can push you into the next tier	Nothing, seats are what you pay for
Higher tiers	£59 (150 jobs), £119 (500), £269 (1,500+)	Pro £37, Plus £44, both per user
Add-on costs	Not published on the pricing page	Instant Website £10/mo, texts 10p each
Prices published in	Pounds, on a UK pricing page	Pounds, on a UK pricing page

Which one should you pick?

Choose ServiceM8 if

you have or expect to have more than one person using it, and your job volume is steady enough to sit inside a tier. Unlimited users on every paid plan is the single biggest cost difference between these two, and it is the reason a three-person firm running 100 jobs a month pays £59 on ServiceM8 and over £100 on Tradify. The free tier at 30 jobs a month is also the most generous entry point of any app in this category, so it costs nothing but time to find out.

Other ServiceM8 alternatives →

Choose Tradify if

you are one or two people doing high job volume, or if you want your software bill to be the same number every month regardless of how the work lands. Per-seat pricing is the model that does not punish a good month, which matters more than it sounds when the alternative is a tier jump in your busiest week. Tradify's job-sheet and certificate handling is also the deeper of the two for trades that have to leave paperwork behind on site.

Other Tradify alternatives →

Questions people ask

Is ServiceM8 or Tradify cheaper?: It depends on the shape of your business rather than on the products. For one person doing under 30 jobs a month, ServiceM8 is free and Tradify is £34, so ServiceM8 wins outright. For a team, ServiceM8 usually wins again, because its paid plans include unlimited users while Tradify charges from £34 for every extra seat. Tradify becomes the cheaper option when one or two people are running high job volume, because it has no job counter at all and ServiceM8 would have stepped you up to £59 or £119 by then.
What is the main difference between Tradify and ServiceM8?: The pricing model, and it changes everything downstream. ServiceM8 prices by monthly job volume with unlimited users on paid plans. Tradify prices per user with unlimited jobs. That means ServiceM8 gets more expensive as you get busier, and Tradify gets more expensive as you hire.
Does Tradify have a free plan like ServiceM8?: No. Tradify offers a 14-day trial that converts to a paid per-user plan, with no free tier underneath it. ServiceM8 has a genuinely free plan for one user and up to 30 jobs a month that does not expire.
Which is better for a sole trader?: Of these two, ServiceM8, mostly because you can run a small book on it for nothing and Tradify starts at £34 a month. But both are built around dispatch and job cards for field-service teams, so a one-person business quoting and invoicing pays for scheduling machinery it rarely opens. That is worth knowing before you pick either.

A third option, and it is ours

Neither, if you are on your own

You are on your own, with no plans to hire, and the part you actually need is quoting, invoicing and getting paid rather than dispatch and job cards. Both of these are field-service platforms with a scheduling desk built in, and a sole trader ends up paying for the desk either way: £25 a month minimum on ServiceM8 once you clear 30 jobs, £34 on Tradify from the first day.

This page is published by SoloDesks, which is a quoting and invoicing app for one person, at a flat £12 a month with a free plan that does not expire. It has no crew dispatch and no job cards, so it is not a replacement for either product above if you need those. It is the cheaper answer if you do not.

Start free SoloDesks vs ServiceM8 SoloDesks vs Tradify

Weighing up more than these two? See our comparison of eight invoicing apps for UK tradespeople, including Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, with every price dated and linked to the page it came from.

ServiceM8 pricing is as of August 2026, taken from ServiceM8's UK pricing page. Tradify pricing is as of August 2026, taken from Tradify's UK pricing page. Plans and prices change, and neither figure is converted between currencies by us. Verify on each product's own site before you buy. ServiceM8 and Tradify are trademarks of their respective owners. SoloDesksisn't affiliated with or endorsed by either, publishes this comparison itself, and earns nothing if you choose one of them.