ServiceM8 charges by monthly job volume and includes unlimited logins. Tradify charges per user. That one difference settles most cases: crews with more people than jobs usually do better on ServiceM8, and crews with more jobs than people usually do better on Tradify.
I don't sell either product. I set them up, connect them to Xero and the rest of your stack, and build the bits they leave out, which is why this compares the two the way a 5 to 20 person trades business would use them.
At a glance:
- ServiceM8 charges by job volume, unlimited users on every plan, from $29/month.
- Tradify charges per user, from $48/user/month, regardless of job volume.
- Both are now overseas owned: ServiceM8 is Australian, and Tradify was bought by the UK's Access Group in October 2024.
- Small crew doing lots of quick jobs, or on iPhone? ServiceM8 usually costs less.
- Growing crew doing fewer, bigger jobs, want job costing and purchase orders? Tradify usually costs less.
- Multi-stage builds with progress claims? Neither, look at NextMinute or Ascora instead.
What they both handle fine
Both cover the same core loop: quote a job, schedule it, dispatch a tech, log time and materials, invoice, get paid, push the numbers into Xero. If you're comparing the two at all, you already know that's the shape of the problem. The real differences show up in how well each step holds up once real staff and real job volume are running through it every day, not in a demo.
Quoting and job scheduling
ServiceM8 builds quotes off job cards, with a badge and status system that tracks where each job sits in the pipeline, and a dispatch board for sending staff to the right site. It's fast to use for a crew doing lots of short, similar jobs. Tradify leans on price list management, so materials and labour rates live in a library you build once and reuse, plus kit bundles on the higher tiers for standard job types. Scheduling syncs with Google Calendar, and subcontractors can be scheduled the same way as staff. If your jobs are more varied and you want repeatable pricing behind each quote, Tradify's structure does more of that work for you.
Timesheets
Both have digital timesheets your crew fills in from their phone. ServiceM8's own product pages describe an automated export of shift times through to Xero, MYOB or QuickBooks as a timesheet, which is a genuine time saver if payroll accuracy is your main gripe. Tradify's timesheets capture the same information, but several independent side-by-side write-ups describe getting that data into payroll as needing more manual handling than the invoice sync does. Worth testing both against your actual payroll process before you commit either way.
Invoicing and Xero sync
Both sync jobs and invoices to Xero so you're not typing the same numbers twice. ServiceM8 exports completed jobs as invoices. Tradify markets a two-way sync, invoices, bills and payments flowing both directions in something closer to real time, which gives a tighter view of cash flow if that matters to you.
"Sync" covers a lot of ground. Part payments, credit notes and multiple GST rates are where tools quietly differ. Run a handful of real jobs through whichever one you're trialling before you move your whole team's invoicing onto it.
The mobile app, in the field
ServiceM8 built its name on iPhone. Android has closed most of the gap, but crews on iPhone still tend to report the smoothest day-to-day experience. Tradify runs evenly across both platforms, which is worth something if your crew's phones are a mixed bag, and on most Kiwi job sites, they are.
Pricing at your headcount
This is where the structural difference bites. ServiceM8 charges by monthly job volume with unlimited users on every tier, so adding people costs you nothing and adding jobs costs you everything. Tradify charges per user, from $48 a month on its entry plan as at July 2026, so the bill tracks your headcount and ignores how busy any of those people are.
So the cheaper option flips on the shape of the work rather than the size of the team. A tight five-person crew smashing through callouts can end up paying more on ServiceM8 than on Tradify, because job volume is what moves them up a tier. A fifteen-person crew doing long renovations can pay a fraction of their Tradify bill, because those fifteen people barely touch the job caps. The crossover is job volume per head.
The tier-by-tier maths, the worked numbers at 5, 10 and 20 staff and exactly where the crossover sits are in what ServiceM8 actually costs once your crew grows. Run it against your own job log rather than a generic table, and check both pricing pages directly, because these figures move more often than you'd think.
Where each one runs out of road
ServiceM8 is built for quick-turnaround service work: one or two visits, job done, invoice out. Multi-stage builds, staged progress billing and detailed job costing are thinner here than in Tradify, and if you're managing variations across a multi-week job, you'll feel that gap fast.
Tradify covers more ground on job costing, purchase orders and kit bundles for standard job types. Its weak spot is the pricing model itself: every person you add costs more, whether they're generating more billable work or not, and unlike ServiceM8 there's no free tier to test the water, just a 14-day trial.
Which one fits you
- Pick ServiceM8 if you're mostly running call-out or service work, one or two jobs per visit, a small close-knit crew, and you're on iPhone. Unlimited users without a per-head cost is hard to beat at that shape of business.
- Pick Tradify if your crew is growing steadily, your job volume per person is lower or steadier, you want proper purchase orders and job costing built in, and your team's phones are a genuine mix of Android and iOS.
- Pick neither if you're running project-based construction or renovation work that needs staged progress claims, site diaries and a proper build timeline. That's NextMinute or Ascora territory. I go through the wider field in the full comparison of job management software for NZ tradies.
What neither does well
Neither tool does much once the job's done. A quote gets accepted, a job wraps up, a customer needs a follow-up that isn't a text template, and you're back to exporting a CSV and copy-pasting it into whatever handles the rest, whether that's a review request, a subcontractor's invoice, or your own reporting. That gap is the work I do: wiring the bits around these tools so your data moves without someone retyping it by hand. If that's the kind of afternoon-eater you're dealing with, have a look at what I build, or just get in touch and tell me what's slow.
Common questions
Is ServiceM8 or Tradify cheaper for a small trades business?
It depends on your job volume as much as your headcount. ServiceM8 charges by job volume with unlimited users, so a small crew doing plenty of quick jobs can land on a cheap tier. Tradify charges per user regardless of volume, so a small crew doing fewer, bigger jobs can come out ahead there instead. Work out your monthly job count before comparing sticker prices.
Does ServiceM8 sync with Xero automatically?
Yes. ServiceM8 pushes invoices and shift timesheets through to Xero, and describes the timesheet export as automated. It's worth testing on a handful of real jobs, including your GST setup and part payments, before moving your whole team over.
Does Tradify have two-way Xero sync?
Yes, Tradify markets a two-way sync for invoices, bills and payments, giving a more real-time view of cash flow. Getting timesheets specifically into payroll has historically needed more manual handling than the invoice sync, so check current behaviour against your own payroll process before deciding.
Which is better for a bigger crew, ServiceM8 or Tradify?
For a busy 15 to 20 person crew running high job volume, ServiceM8's flat job-based pricing usually comes out cheaper because you're not paying per head. For a crew doing fewer, longer jobs, Tradify's per-user cost may not grow as fast as ServiceM8's job tier. Run the maths against your real job count as well as your team size.
Can I move my data if I switch between ServiceM8 and Tradify?
Both allow exports, but neither guarantees a clean, complete migration between systems. Pull a full export of your job history, quotes and customer records before you cancel anything, and open the export to check it reads while you still have access to fix gaps.
Do ServiceM8 or Tradify handle multi-stage building projects well?
Not particularly. Both are built around a quick-turnaround, service-style job flow rather than staged builds with variations and progress claims. If that's your work, NextMinute or Ascora are a better starting point, both purpose-built for that shape of business.
What I'd do in your position
Trial whichever one matches your job shape for a full billing cycle, not a week. That's long enough to see where the seams show, which is usually the only way you find out what's missing. If you land on neither, or you already run one of these and the gaps are costing you real hours, that's exactly what a Workflow Review is for.
Whichever one you run, the customer still rings to ask if the job's ready unless something texts them first. This post covers wiring that update to the status change itself.