Job management software for tradies: which one fits your business
There is no single best job management software for tradies in Australia. ServiceM8, Simpro, Tradify, Fergus, AroFlo and Jobber all hold the job, the quote and the invoice and sync with your accounts; the right one depends on your team size, your kind of work and whether you run Xero or MYOB. Below is who each one fits, then the four gaps every one of them leaves.
How to get this live in your business
The jobs are in your text messages. The week is in a paper diary on the dash. The quotes get written on the couch at nine at night, because that is the only time there is. It works until it doesn’t: a job gets double-booked, a quote never goes out, and a finished job sits for a fortnight before anyone invoices it.
In short
The problem
Jobs live in texts and a paper diary, and quotes get written at night on the couch, so things slip.
Why it persists
Choosing a system feels like a big decision, and every vendor says theirs is the one. The right choice depends on your team, your work and your accounts.
What we would automate
Not the job system. You pick that. We work the gaps around it: the missed call, the quote nobody follows up, the job never invoiced, the invoice nobody rings about.
What stays with a person
Choosing the system, pricing the quote you will be held to, and arguments about what was agreed.
Take the spec to Claude, ChatGPT or Copilot. The sentence to paste is one click away.
Want the whole thing by email?
This paper, plus the rest of the library. One click to stop them.
The short answer: six, and who each fits
All six do the core job: book the work, quote it, send the tech, invoice it, and push the invoice into your accounts. Where they differ is who they were built for. Read the “fits” column first and the price last.
| System | Who it fits | Accounting it syncs with | Starting price |
|---|---|---|---|
| AroFlo | Australian and New Zealand trades from sole traders to teams of 40 or more technicians, with compliance and asset work in the mix. | Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks | From $80 per user a month, minimum 3 users (GST not stated) (source) |
| Fergus | Trade crews of roughly 1 to 20, by the vendor's own description, from sole traders up. | Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks | See vendor (a promotion was running when checked) (source) |
| Jobber | Home service businesses: cleaning, lawn care, handyman, plumbing, electrical, HVAC and similar residential work. | Xero (Connect and Grow plans, one way into Xero), QuickBooks Online | See vendor (source) |
| ServiceM8 | Trade and service contractors (electricians, plumbers, HVAC, locksmiths, pest control) who run the day from a phone or iPad. | Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online | Free plan for 1 user; paid plans from $29 a month (AUD, inc GST), priced by jobs a month (source) |
| Simpro | Businesses running service, project and maintenance work together: electrical, HVAC, fire protection, security, solar, commercial maintenance. | Xero, MYOB | See vendor (priced on request) (source) |
| Tradify | Trade businesses from sole traders to larger teams: electricians, plumbers, gasfitters, HVAC and property maintenance. | Xero, MYOB, QuickBooks Online | From $48 per user a month (AUD, ex GST) (source) |
Read from each vendor’s own website on 9 October 2026, in alphabetical order. Prices change and promotions come and go, so check the vendor’s pricing page before you sign up. We do not sell any of these and take nothing for recommending one.
1. Where your week goes now
A customer texts on Tuesday. You reply from a roof. By Thursday the job is three messages, a photo and a note on the back of a docket, and only you know it exists. The diary says Friday, but the diary is in the other ute.
None of that is carelessness. It is a business that grew past what a phone and a diary can hold. A job management system gives every job one home, so the quote, the booking, the photos and the invoice sit in the same place and anyone in the team can see them.
2. Four questions that pick the system
Answer these before you book a single demo. They narrow six to one or two.
How many of you are there?
Some systems price per user and some by jobs a month. A solo operator and a crew of fifteen land on different answers. Work out what each costs at your size, not at the headline.
Homes or commercial sites?
Residential service work wants fast booking and quick quotes. Commercial and maintenance work wants sites, assets, recurring visits and compliance records.
Quick quotes or project work?
Fixing a hot water system is a quote and a visit. A fit-out is stages, progress claims and variations. If you do both, check the system holds both.
Xero or MYOB?
Every one of the six syncs with Xero, though Jobber only on some plans. Fewer list MYOB. If your bookkeeper runs MYOB, check that first.
Then take the free trial on your one or two and run a real week through it. Most of these vendors offer one. How it feels on a phone, on site, with dirty hands, tells you more than any feature list.
3. The four gaps none of them closes on its own
Whichever you choose, it holds the job once the job exists, and it moves the invoice to your accounts once someone raises it. That is worth having. What it does not do is anything before a job exists, or anything that needs a person rung. Those are the four places the money still leaks.
| Where it leaks | What the job system does | What closes the gap |
|---|---|---|
| Missed call before a job exists | Nothing. Every one of these systems starts once a job is in it, and a call nobody picks up never becomes one. | Booked After Hours standard |
| Quote sent, nobody rings for a decision | Sends the quote, and some send an email reminder. Nobody picks up the phone and asks. | Quote Out standard |
| Job done, no invoice raised | Moves the invoice to Xero or MYOB once someone raises it. If the job is never marked complete, nothing moves. | Invoice Out standard |
| Invoice overdue, only email reminders | Xero can email reminders. Nobody rings, and a promise to pay is not recorded as a date anywhere. | Debtor Chasing standard |
Two of the four are so common we built the standard into a product. The missed call is Booked After Hours: your number answered when nobody can get to it, at any hour, with the job written into your system during the call and real emergencies put through to you. $119 per month, flat, no call caps. The overdue invoice and the quote waiting on a decision are Get Paid: a real phone call against your Xero ledger, the pay link sent mid-call and the promised date written back. $199 per month, no call caps, no per-minute charges.
Rather build it yourself? Each standard in the table is free and open: the checks in order, the exceptions, and a test you can run. The thread through all four is one job number carried from the first call to the payment, which the quote to invoice paper walks through step by step.
4. Keep the one you pick
We do not sell job management software and we will not build one. You choose the system that fits your business, and we join the gap work to it, so the job written from a call lands in the same place your team already looks.
ServiceM8 and Simpro connect out of the box, and each has a page that lists, action by action, what we can and cannot do inside it: ServiceM8 and Simpro. Anything else on this list we can connect too, whether or not it has an open API. Where a system has no public API, such as Tradify, the call arrives today as an enquiry for you to convert rather than a finished job.
Already on one of the six? Do not switch to fix a gap. Switching is weeks of retraining, and the gaps above follow you to the next system.
5. Where to start
- 1
Answer the four questions
Team size, homes or commercial, quick quotes or projects, Xero or MYOB. Write the answers down before any demo.
- 2
Trial one or two, with a real week
Put live jobs through it, from the phone, on site. Get your bookkeeper to look at what lands in the accounts.
- 3
Move the jobs out of your texts
Every open job goes in, with the customer, the address and the quote. The diary retires.
- 4
Then close the gap costing you most
For most trades that is the missed call or the overdue invoice. Fix one, watch it for a month, then the next.
You pick the system. We work the gaps around it.
The missed call answered and written into ServiceM8 or Simpro during the call, and the overdue invoice rung about against your Xero ledger. Flat monthly prices, no call caps. Hear the call first.