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In this article
By Toby Downs
Three years ago, a plumber in Christchurch told me he was running a six-person team off a whiteboard, three separate spreadsheets, and a notes app. He was losing about four hours a week just tracking down job status updates. He switched to Tradify. Within a month he had that time back.
Job management software has become a genuine competitive advantage for NZ trade businesses -- the ones using it quote faster, invoice same-day, and never lose track of what's billable. The ones not using it are still chasing staff on the phone at 5pm.
This comparison covers the three platforms that actually matter for NZ tradies: Tradify, Fergus, and ServiceM8. Plus a note on when Simpro makes sense (hint: it usually doesn't for small teams).
Quick verdict
| Software | Best for | Price (NZD, ex GST) | NZ-built? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tradify | Most NZ small trade businesses | $48-62/user/month | Yes (Auckland) |
| Fergus | Growing teams wanting job costing | ~$65-95/month flat | Yes (NZ/AU) |
| ServiceM8 | iOS-first, Apple device users | ~$35-130/month | No (AU) |
| Simpro | 20+ staff, complex projects | $200+/month | No (AU) |
Tradify
The short version: Built in Auckland, designed specifically for NZ and Australian tradies, and it shows. Tradify is the default choice for most NZ plumbers, electricians, builders, and HVAC techs starting out with job management software.
Tradify's pricing is per-user, which matters for small teams:
- Lite: $48 NZD/user/month -- quoting, invoicing, scheduling, Xero/MYOB/QuickBooks sync
- Pro: $52 NZD/user/month -- adds job photos, recurring jobs, progress invoicing, timesheets, health and safety forms
- Plus: $62 NZD/user/month -- adds AI tools (SmartRead for bills, SmartWrite for descriptions), purchase orders, bulk invoicing, reporting
For a two-person operation, that's $96-124/month. For a five-person team, $240-310/month. It adds up, but so does the time you save.
The 4.8/5 rating from 9,000+ reviews is unusually high for business software. Most of the criticism in reviews centres on the per-user pricing feeling expensive once teams grow past six or seven people.
What Tradify does well:
The quoting workflow is fast. A tradie can build a quote from the van, attach photos, send it for online acceptance, and convert it to a job card in under five minutes. The Xero integration is reliable -- invoices sync automatically, payments show up without manual reconciliation.
Appointment reminders (Pro and above) have a measurable impact on no-shows. Customer communications history means whoever answers the phone can see what was promised without hunting through email.
What to watch:
Per-user pricing means costs scale with your team. At eight users on Pro, you're at $416/month. Weigh that against what an admin/scheduling tool saves you.
Best for: Sole traders and teams up to about 10 people who want a solid, NZ-focused tool with minimal setup friction. If you're new to job management software, start here.
Start a 14-day free trial at Tradify
Fergus
The short version: Also built here (NZ/Australia), Fergus takes a flat monthly fee rather than per-user pricing, which makes it cheaper at scale. The job costing is stronger than Tradify, and the supplier integrations (100+) are genuinely useful for material-heavy trades.
Fergus pricing:
- Basic: From 53AUD/month( 58 NZD at current rates) -- job cards, quoting, invoicing, Xero/MYOB/QuickBooks, scheduling
- Professional: From 75AUD/month( 82 NZD) -- adds GPS tracking, purchase orders, job phases, checklists, files and photos, full reporting, health and safety tools, phone support
The flat rate is the critical difference. Five users on Fergus Pro costs roughly the same as one user on Tradify Pro.
Tip
Fergus's flat pricing flips the economics at around four to five team members. Below that, per-user Tradify is usually cheaper. Above it, Fergus tends to win on cost.
What Fergus does well:
Job costing is Fergus's genuine advantage. The Professional plan tracks materials, labour, and margin per job in real time. If your margins are getting squeezed and you don't know exactly where, Fergus's job costing will show you. The supplier integrations (Rexel, Plumbing World, Ideal Electrical, and 100+ others) pull in supplier invoices automatically and match them to jobs, which eliminates a huge chunk of manual data entry.
The 25,000+ trade businesses using Fergus globally is a meaningful number -- it means the support team and development roadmap are backed by real volume.
What to watch:
The interface is more complex than Tradify's. Staff need a proper onboarding session. Fergus offers a free one-hour product specialist session, which helps.
Basic plan lacks purchase orders, GPS tracking, and full reporting. For most growing businesses, Professional is the realistic entry point.
Best for: Trade businesses with four or more staff, or anyone doing material-heavy work where job costing matters. Electricians and plumbers with multiple concurrent jobs often find Fergus earns back its fee within weeks.
ServiceM8
The short version: Australian-built, iOS-focused, and carrying a genuinely impressive affiliate program (80% of revenue for 12 months -- but that's for referrers, not buyers). For users, ServiceM8 is a strong option if your team runs iPhones and iPads, and the job count-based pricing can be cheaper than per-user models for small operations.
ServiceM8 pricing is based on job volume, not user count:
- Free: 30 jobs/month, 1 user
- Starter: 50 jobs/month, unlimited users
- Growing: 150 jobs/month, unlimited users
- Premium: 500 jobs/month, unlimited users
Specific prices aren't published prominently (they vary by region), but the NZ/AUS tier runs roughly $35-130 NZD/month depending on plan. The per-job model, combined with unlimited users, makes it attractive for teams where job volume is predictable and user count is high.
What ServiceM8 does well:
The iOS app is the best-in-class mobile experience of the three. It works offline, loads instantly, and includes features like Tap to Pay on iPhone (useful for taking payment on-site), voice-activated Smart Assistant, and Siri shortcuts. If your team is on iPhones and values a polished mobile experience, ServiceM8 edges ahead.
The AI tools are integrated across all plans -- AI-drafted client emails, AI quote and invoice descriptions, and AI report building. For a trades business owner who hates writing emails, this is genuinely useful.
Xero, QuickBooks, and MYOB integrations are included. The GPS tracking, scheduling, and client communications tools are solid.
What to watch:
Android users get a limited-feature "Lite" version. If half your team runs Android phones, this is a meaningful constraint.
ServiceM8 is Australian-focused in its support and some compliance features. It works fine in NZ, but Tradify's NZ-specific context (IRD, local suppliers, NZD-first pricing) is more native.
Warning
ServiceM8's job limits can catch businesses out during busy periods. A seasonal trade business might burn through a 150-job monthly limit in a good summer week. Upgrade costs are real -- check your average monthly job volume before choosing a plan.
Best for: iPhone/iPad-first businesses, or operations where job count-based pricing is cheaper than per-user models. Strong choice if you value mobile-first design and AI writing tools.
What about Simpro?
Simpro is enterprise job management software with pricing that starts around $200-300/month and scales significantly from there. It handles complex multi-phase projects, large teams, and detailed financial reporting at a depth the above three don't match.
The honest assessment: for most NZ small trade businesses, Simpro is overkill. The implementation takes weeks and often requires paid professional setup. If you're running 20+ staff, managing commercial fit-outs, or need WIP (work in progress) accounting at a granular level, talk to a Simpro partner. If you're a four-person electrical firm, Tradify or Fergus will do everything you need at a fraction of the cost and friction.
How to choose
Start with team size and devices:
- Solo operator or 1-3 staff, iPhone: ServiceM8 free or Starter is worth trialling first.
- 1-5 staff, mixed devices: Tradify Pro is the safe default. NZ-built, easy onboarding, strong reviews.
- 5+ staff or material-heavy work: Fergus Pro. Flat pricing saves money; job costing and supplier integrations are the difference-makers.
- 20+ staff, complex commercial work: Simpro or talk to an advisor.
The questions that actually matter:
- Do you need job costing per job (tracking margin)? Fergus Pro does this best.
- Is your whole team on iPhones? ServiceM8 has the best iOS experience.
- Do you want flat-rate pricing so costs don't scale with headcount? Fergus wins.
- Do you want the simplest onboarding with a NZ-native product? Tradify.
All three offer 14-day free trials with full features. Run a real trial week -- process five actual jobs through it. That will tell you more than any comparison article.
The bottom line
If you're running a small NZ trade business and have no idea where to start: Tradify. It's built here, priced reasonably for small teams, and 9,000 reviews averaging 4.8/5 is hard to argue with.
If you've got four or more staff and materials costs are eating your margin: Fergus Professional. The flat pricing and job costing will pay for themselves quickly.
If your team runs iPhones and you want the slickest mobile experience: ServiceM8.
The whiteboard and spreadsheets had their day. Any of these three will make you faster, reduce admin, and make it significantly harder to lose billable time in the cracks.